Questions about iMac Specs!

[stephenspencer]

Hello Apple world! I have been an macbook user for about 7 years now and I've always used the lowest end machine I could get (to save the pennies), but now I am trying to step up my game in the filmmaking and music production world and I am shoveling out the doe for a nice, new, shiny and fast iMac!

I have some questions for those that are smarter than I. I know that I will be running Adobe's CS6 on the machine as well Pro Tools 10 and perhaps Final Cut if Premiere turns out to not be my cup of tea. The Mac I am looking to purchase is the 21.5' with 3.1GHz quad-core i7 with 16 GB RAM and the 1TB ATA drive.

My questions are these. Is it imperative that I have the faster processor (i7 rather than the i5) and the updated 8GB of RAM? I am trying to buy the best machine possible for my proposes while still trying to save some doe. Luckily I am eligible for a Student Discount so that helps. Do I need all that RAM and that processor upgrade to have a iMac that will run all these design/production programs successfully??

Thanks for your help!
SS

 

[Garemz]

Go with te fusion drive that will add horse power.

 

[stephenspencer]

Go with te fusion drive that will add horse power.

I read somewhere that the Fusion drive can actually cause problems for people editing a lot of large media files. Do you think thats true?

 

[bflowers]

Because you are buying the 21", RAM is going to be a bigger deal. Unfortunately, it isn't considered user upgradeable, and you get the Apple RAM Tax when you upgrade. However, that said, I think you are better off with the upgraded RAM over any additional upgrades. The Fusion drive is great, at least in my usage, but I haven't been playing with any monstrous files, so I can't speak to those claims. It might be best to contact the software makers directly and ask if there are any known issues.

The processor upgrade is reasonably priced, and I took it, but most people will spend most of their computer time at idle. So far, most tasks I've made my computer do have had minimal impact on the processor. The only thing that pushed my processor beyond 30% was a video file type conversion, and that might be more the blame of the free App I downloaded to do it.

In the end, it all boils down to your value of time and money. I, like you, typically purchased low end to mid-level machines. This time, I wanted a desktop to last a very long time, so I spent a bit more. It is ultimately up to you.

 

[WizardHunt]

I read somewhere that the Fusion drive can actually cause problems for people editing a lot of large media files. Do you think thats true?

In my opinion , I think it could and i deal with lots of media files and photos. I did not order the fusion drive just for that purpose. If by next time the iMac is renewed, and they worked out the kinks in the fusion drive then and only then will I buy one with Fusion.