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Should I wait for a new iMAC??

R

randomdude84

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 27, 2013
36
5
Hey guys, first post here. I am in the market for a new mac. I am currently running a 2005 powerbook g4. I have saved up enough and was ready to buy the new $1999 15" rmbp but realized that I really dont need a laptop. The imac is much more suitable for my needs since I wont be traveling or in need of carrying my computer around at all.

I am not sure if there is gonna be another imac coming around the corner or not. I have only enough money to buy the $1999 27" and dont have enough to change anything.

I will be doing some home recording with pro tools, logic pro x, and using some audio interfaces to do the recording (im a musician in case you couldnt tell). I dont play games on the computer and I dont watch movies or do any video stuff.

I have a 500gb wd external hd right now so the 1tb hd that comes with the base model will be a significant upgrade for me. As far as the ram goes, im running only 1gb now so 8gb is mind blowing to me. i have no education on flash or fusion drives so im not sure what i would benefit from with those?

Anyways, what would you guys do? I can buy the newest imac but is there gonna be another one coming out soon? Do you guys also think $1999 27" will be good enough for what i need it to do without upgrading it? I dont wanna get it and then realize that i need more ram or could of benefited from the other hd choices.

Oh yeah, the icore5 vs the icore7, do i really need the 7?

Thanks guys
 
randomdude84 said:
Hey guys, first post here. I am in the market for a new mac. I am currently running a 2005 powerbook g4. I have saved up enough and was ready to buy the new base model 15" rmbp but realized that I really dont need a laptop. The imac is much more suitable for my needs since I wont be traveling or in need of carrying my computer around at all.

I am not sure if there is gonna be another imac coming around the corner or not. I have only enough money to buy the base 27" and dont have enough to change anything.

I will be doing some home recording with pro tools, logic pro x, and using some audio interfaces to do the recording (im a musician in case you couldnt tell). I dont play games on the computer and I dont watch movies or do any video stuff.

I have a 500gb wd external hd right now so the 1tb hd that comes with the base model will be a significant upgrade for me. As far as the ram goes, im running only 1gb now so 8gb is mind blowing to me. i have no education on flash or fusion drives so im not sure what i would benefit from with those?

Anyways, what would you guys do? I can buy the newest imac but is there gonna be another one coming out soon? Do you guys also think the base 27" will be good enough for what i need it to do? I dont wanna get it and then realize that i need more ram or could of benefited from the other hd choices.

Oh yeah, the icore5 vs the icore7, do i really need the 7?

Thanks guys
Click to expand...

The latest iMac was refreshed only a few weeks ago. The next refresh is not expected until late next year. Although it may be even longer considering the next generation Intel chips have been delayed due to production issues.

If you are to buy an iMac the current version is the way to go. No need to wait.

Based on your needs, I would recommend the base configuration 27" with one and only one upgrade - Fusion Drive. I honestly believe the Fusion upgrade is a must and will result in a vast perceived improvement in the overall speed of the machine.

As for the CPU upgrade, it's really up to you. I think you'll take advantage of the extra juice, but I don't think it will be significant enough in real world experience to justify the cost.

RAM you can upgrade after you purchase your Mac. On the 27" the RAM is user accessible. Although I'm willing to bet that the 8GB, especially under Mavericks, will be plenty enough for your needs.

I hope this help!
 
MikeChicago said:
The latest iMac was refreshed only a few weeks ago. The next refresh is not expected until late next year. Although it may be even longer considering the next generation Intel chips have been delayed due to production issues.

If you are to buy an iMac the current version is the way to go. No need to wait.

Based on your needs, I would recommend the base configuration 27" with one and only one upgrade - Fusion Drive. I honestly believe the Fusion upgrade is a must and will result in a vast perceived improvement in the overall speed of the machine.

As for the CPU upgrade, it's really up to you. I think you'll take advantage of the extra juice, but I don't think it will be significant enough in real world experience to justify the cost.

RAM you can upgrade after you purchase your Mac. On the 27" the RAM is user accessible. Although I'm willing to bet that the 8GB, especially under Mavericks, will be plenty enough for your needs.

I hope this help!
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for your input. I made an edit to my post after you responded though. I actually have enough for the high end 27" but you think the base with be good enough though? I guess I could consider using that 200 dollar difference to upgrade to the 1tb fusion drive like you said then.

I just noticed I could only upgrade the processor on the high end 27" too. Im not a professional producer/engineer so everything i will be doing will not be high end stuff so im not really sure if i will notice a big difference in the two? maybe i will though, i guess i can go to the apple store and check em out.
 
randomdude84 said:
Thanks so much for your input. I made an edit to my post after you responded though. I actually have enough for the high end 27" but you think the base with be good enough though? I guess I could consider using that 200 dollar difference to upgrade to the 1tb fusion drive like you said then.

I just noticed I could only upgrade the processor on the high end 27" too. Im not a professional producer/engineer so everything i will be doing will not be high end stuff so im not really sure if i will notice a big difference in the two? maybe i will though, i guess i can go to the apple store and check em out.
Click to expand...

I don't think you'll see much of a difference in real life usage by upgrading the CPU based on your needs. In the end it translates into nothing more than time spent on your project. The faster processor may allow you to complete the project slightly faster because it will perform better during peak demand for processing power. If you were a professional you may want to upgrade for the sake of productivity, but otherwise I would say save your money.

The fusion drive on the other hand, will provide read/write performance improvements that will be significant and noticeable across the entire system.

Also, the GTX775M offers 103% gain in performance over the base GTX755M. Plus you do get a slightly faster CPU.That's a significant upgrade at a relatively low cost. So, if you can afford the higher end model I would suggest you go with it and add only one upgrade, the Fusion Drive.

I have the same configuration and absolutely love it.
 
MikeChicago said:
I don't think you'll see much of a difference in real life usage by upgrading the CPU based on your needs. In the end it translates into nothing more than time spent on your project. The faster processor may allow you to complete the project slightly faster because it will perform better during peak demand for processing power. If you were a professional you may want to upgrade for the sake of productivity, but otherwise I would say save your money.

The fusion drive on the other hand, will provide read/write performance improvements that will be significant and noticeable across the entire system.

Also, the GTX775M offers 103% gain in performance over the base GTX755M. Plus you do get a slightly faster CPU.That's a significant upgrade at a relatively low cost. So, if you can afford the higher end model I would suggest you go with it and add only one upgrade, the Fusion Drive.

I have the same configuration and absolutely love it.
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me. I think I will be making this purchase very soon.

By the way, im in Chicago too.
 
randomdude84 said:
Sounds good to me. I think I will be making this purchase very soon.

By the way, im in Chicago too.
Click to expand...

I'm from Chicago too :)

Too bad I'm still hesitant on buying a new iMac because I keep hearing these display issues from the internet.... Could you let me know if yours turn out to be okay?

Cheers
 
aznboi91 said:
I'm from Chicago too :)

Too bad I'm still hesitant on buying a new iMac because I keep hearing these display issues from the internet.... Could you let me know if yours turn out to be okay?

Cheers
Click to expand...

lol what issues have you been hearing about?
 
randomdude84 said:
lol what issues have you been hearing about?
Click to expand...

Image retention on previous versions of iMac from 2012. I have yet to year anything from 2013 versions yet. Something called light bleeding... Not entirely sure what that is either but it also happens to iPad 3 as well.. I'm assuming the light from the sides don't turn off completely when its supposed to? (Correct me if I'm wrong here for anybody out there who knows more about the issues than me.)

I too am also planning on getting a my own first iMac :)
 
aznboi91 said:
Image retention on previous versions of iMac from 2012. I have yet to year anything from 2013 versions yet. Something called light bleeding... Not entirely sure what that is either but it also happens to iPad 3 as well.. I'm assuming the light from the sides don't turn off completely when its supposed to? (Correct me if I'm wrong here for anybody out there who knows more about the issues than me.)

I too am also planning on getting a my own first iMac :)
Click to expand...

i dont know anything about it but i havent researched it either. im running a powerbook g4 from 2005 so im sure this new imac is gonna be nothing short of mind blowing.

by the way, i just purchased it online. its coming nov 7, i cant wait. i bought the base model 27" and changed the hd to the 1tb fusion. i get a 100 off for being a student too. its still a ton of money but its much needed. especially since i wanna do a lot of recording.
 
I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on the new iMac myself. I'm getting the $1799 + fusion for a $1999 workhorse.

I haven't heard much about image retention since green monitors went by the way side. Lightbleed? I think people look for this stuff. Every 27" I've looked at has been awesome.

OP, I don't think you'll notice much difference with the higher end.
 
Nah....pull the trigger dude. The iMacs were just updated. You are safe. Its perfect timing. You won't regret it. Enjoy!
 
randomdude84 said:
i dont know anything about it but i havent researched it either. im running a powerbook g4 from 2005 so im sure this new imac is gonna be nothing short of mind blowing.

by the way, i just purchased it online. its coming nov 7, i cant wait. i bought the base model 27" and changed the hd to the 1tb fusion. i get a 100 off for being a student too. its still a ton of money but its much needed. especially since i wanna do a lot of recording.
Click to expand...

I love Apple, but honestly. Honestly I am not convinced the Macs of today have the build quality of 5-10 years ago.
And it's not because Apple sucks or anything. It's because ramp'ed up productions, many more Mac models, simply deterriate the quality. It's near impossible to keep that sort of outragous build quality up. In 2005% I believe Apple had 5-7% of the userbase. They where still recovering and delivering excellence. Now a days, they are shipping millions of machines per quarter and have a lot more models.


It's just so you know mate. Powerbooks are legendary because of their build quality, and when they launched with Tiger on them they where called the most stable computers. Back then, Macs barely froze or anything. But reality is, that new Macs are more prone to problems.


imacs big issues have been display problems. In the older model it was dust behind the glass. That changed thanks to a new laminating display technology, so you won't have to worry about that, but it was a big issue for several generations.

The superdrive also failed for a lot of people. But the big costly was was the line of faulty graphics cards in the 2009-2011 models. Technically it was Nvidias fault, but it screwed over a lot of people who bought Macs. they simply overheated thanks to poor appliance of TP.

Since 2008 there has also been a lot of problems for people (on these forums at least) with color gamit. an uneven tint that "ruined" the display. I never felt that with my 2006 and 2008 Imacs. I liked the display. People also used to have a big problem with the glare. Said they where unusable in daylight with sun coming in from the other side of the house.
I saw that point too, but felt it was overexaggerated.



At the end of the day, you should most defintely buy the 27 Imac. Hopefully yours won't have problems, but with all electronic vendors, it's a big random ??? of how long the logic board, Harddrive and graphics card will hold. My graphics card started overheating after less than 2 years. Getting it fixed would cost me 1/4 of the price of a new machine. Those types of things have become more frequent as Apple as become more popular.
Which again is understandable.
 
luffytubby said:
I love Apple, but honestly. Honestly I am not convinced the Macs of today have the build quality of 5-10 years ago.
And it's not because Apple sucks or anything. It's because ramp'ed up productions, many more Mac models, simply deterriate the quality. It's near impossible to keep that sort of outragous build quality up. In 2005% I believe Apple had 5-7% of the userbase. They where still recovering and delivering excellence. Now a days, they are shipping millions of machines per quarter and have a lot more models.


It's just so you know mate. Powerbooks are legendary because of their build quality, and when they launched with Tiger on them they where called the most stable computers. Back then, Macs barely froze or anything. But reality is, that new Macs are more prone to problems.


imacs big issues have been display problems. In the older model it was dust behind the glass. That changed thanks to a new laminating display technology, so you won't have to worry about that, but it was a big issue for several generations.

The superdrive also failed for a lot of people. But the big costly was was the line of faulty graphics cards in the 2009-2011 models. Technically it was Nvidias fault, but it screwed over a lot of people who bought Macs. they simply overheated thanks to poor appliance of TP.

Since 2008 there has also been a lot of problems for people (on these forums at least) with color gamit. an uneven tint that "ruined" the display. I never felt that with my 2006 and 2008 Imacs. I liked the display. People also used to have a big problem with the glare. Said they where unusable in daylight with sun coming in from the other side of the house.
I saw that point too, but felt it was overexaggerated.



At the end of the day, you should most defintely buy the 27 Imac. Hopefully yours won't have problems, but with all electronic vendors, it's a big random ??? of how long the logic board, Harddrive and graphics card will hold. My graphics card started overheating after less than 2 years. Getting it fixed would cost me 1/4 of the price of a new machine. Those types of things have become more frequent as Apple as become more popular.
Which again is understandable.
Click to expand...


thanks for your input i appreciate it. the only thing that really sucked about the power book was that not even a year into having it apple released the intel processors so they so i could only go as far as leopard and then that was it. i couldnt even do that though because i had ram issues. it only came with 512mb and i could only upgrade to 1 due to the other 1gb slot having problems. its pretty much only used for hd space and itunes now.

im so pumped to have a monster of a machine. im planning on buying some nice audio interfaces to do some recording so i am gonna have a lot of use out of this new imac.
 
YMark said:
I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on the new iMac myself. I'm getting the $1799 + fusion for a $1999 workhorse.

I haven't heard much about image retention since green monitors went by the way side. Lightbleed? I think people look for this stuff. Every 27" I've looked at has been awesome.

OP, I don't think you'll notice much difference with the higher end.
Click to expand...

Nice choice!

You'll be very happy with your machine.

----------
randomdude84 said:
i dont know anything about it but i havent researched it either. im running a powerbook g4 from 2005 so im sure this new imac is gonna be nothing short of mind blowing.

by the way, i just purchased it online. its coming nov 7, i cant wait. i bought the base model 27" and changed the hd to the 1tb fusion. i get a 100 off for being a student too. its still a ton of money but its much needed. especially since i wanna do a lot of recording.
Click to expand...

Here is the thing... if you look for a problem, you'll find it.

I've had at least a dozen of Apple computers and I've never felt left abandoned by Apple. If there is a problem with the display Apple will fix it. One way or the other. I ended up with a brand new macbook after almost two years of ownership because it had to be repaired for the fourth time. You can trust Apple. I'm glad you pulled the trigger. Enjoy your new amazing computer :)
 
There is no point for you to getting the $1999 model. The improved GPU won't bring you anything in terms of audio processing, so its wasted on you, and the CPU difference is negligible. I'd recommend you getting the $1799 one with the SSD (or Fusion) - would be much better for your workflow.
 
leman said:
There is no point for you to getting the $1999 model. The improved GPU won't bring you anything in terms of audio processing, so its wasted on you, and the CPU difference is negligible. I'd recommend you getting the $1799 one with the SSD (or Fusion) - would be much better for your workflow.
Click to expand...

thats what i did, i bought the base model 27" with the 1tb fusion upgrade. i cant wait till nov 7th lol.
 
randomdude84 said:
thats what i did, i bought the base model 27" with the 1tb fusion upgrade. i cant wait till nov 7th lol.
Click to expand...

Very cool. You've got an awesome machine there. Will give you years of productive creativity. Enjoy! I can't wait to get an iMac as well. Gotta wait a couple more months....but I'll get it! :)
 
Thanks guys, now i have to invest in some nice audio interfaces. probably gonna go with the mbox mini by avid which comes with a free pro tools express. maybe i will get logic pro x too
 
27" mac

It always amuses me when I see a thread about an iMac and the OP is being advised they don't need to upgrade because a faster more powerful machine won't be much different and a less powerful machine will fufil their needs.

I have just upgraded to a 27" iMac i7 with all of the specs bumped up (bar the memory - cruicial memory on it's way) from a 24" 2008 iMac. The 2008 iMac was also upgraded beyond the specs I required (at the time), however as time passed, software got more powerful, my decision to do this paid off. I know I don't really need an i7 processor, or a 3TB fusion drive now, I suspect I will in say a couple of years.

The 2008 iMac is still going strong, but struggles with video applications, the new iMac just breezes through them - and its a joy! :)
 
Deadeyeshark said:
It always amuses me when I see a thread about an iMac and the OP is being advised they don't need to upgrade because a faster more powerful machine won't be much different and a less powerful machine will fufil their needs.

I have just upgraded to a 27" iMac i7 with all of the specs bumped up (bar the memory - cruicial memory on it's way) from a 24" 2008 iMac. The 2008 iMac was also upgraded beyond the specs I required (at the time), however as time passed, software got more powerful, my decision to do this paid off. I know I don't really need an i7 processor, or a 3TB fusion drive now, I suspect I will in say a couple of years.

The 2008 iMac is still going strong, but struggles with video applications, the new iMac just breezes through them - and its a joy! :)
Click to expand...

The OP is not doing video, so that's irrelevant. There's no sense in wasting money on performance that isn't needed.
 
fa8362 said:
The OP is not doing video, so that's irrelevant. There's no sense in wasting money on performance that isn't needed.
Click to expand...

For now, yes, but if you're planning to get years of use out of a Mac then I would say go for the best possible configuration your bank account will allow.
 
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