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The "I just ordered/bought/got my new/refurb iMac" thread [merged]
- Thread starter sackboy
- Start date
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In Yosemite, don't look at the use of memory, look at the pressure.
http://support.apple.com/fr-fr/HT201464#memory
32GB is overkill for the apps you mentionned ; with those apps, you would be fine with 8GB, and very very confortable with 16, even if you use Lightroom or Photoshop.
my memory graph is practically non existent. lol
I did have some issues with using launchpad. i would click the icon and nothing happened then when i clicked the app in Finder it would work.
they had me do a RAM dump by powering on the mac and holding CommandOption P R all at the same time until i heard the second chime. since then no issues with anything at all and everything seems a little faster than the initial install
Pleasantly surprised by how much cooler the new iMac runs, guess that's 5 years of progress.
2010 iMac: 120W display on, 46W display off
2015 iMac: 73W display on, 28W display off
2010 iMac: 120W display on, 46W display off
2015 iMac: 73W display on, 28W display off
New retina 5k imac
Well, it's been a bit of a roller coaster week. I fried my 2009 27" i7 2.8ghz iMac over the weekend trying to install the owc data doubler. I broke the display port connector and shorted the logic board. So, new computer it was....
I hadn't really kept up with the iMac too much and forgot that the retina iMac came out just a few months ago. So I started digging. I'm a big proponent of buy once cry once, so I loaded up an iMac with 16gb ram (With another 16 to come from owc), 1tb ssd, 295x graphics, i7, the works.
Well, the next day I realized that was all a bit insane, so I cancelled. A little later, I poked around the refurb store and saw a confit that was nearly what I wanted. I7, 16gb ram, 1tb ssd, but with the 290 graphic chip. I hit the bid anyway, wishing the 295 was available a refurb. Set it up last night and checked system info to double check the SSD size. What did I find? Lo and behold, apple sent me one with a 295x!
I couldn't believe it, I wound up saving about $1000 all in by going refurb and got exactly what I wanted. Part of me wonders if my machine was my cancelled custom build but I doubt it. Anyway, very happy apple refurb customer.
Sorry for the long post.
Well, it's been a bit of a roller coaster week. I fried my 2009 27" i7 2.8ghz iMac over the weekend trying to install the owc data doubler. I broke the display port connector and shorted the logic board. So, new computer it was....
I hadn't really kept up with the iMac too much and forgot that the retina iMac came out just a few months ago. So I started digging. I'm a big proponent of buy once cry once, so I loaded up an iMac with 16gb ram (With another 16 to come from owc), 1tb ssd, 295x graphics, i7, the works.
Well, the next day I realized that was all a bit insane, so I cancelled. A little later, I poked around the refurb store and saw a confit that was nearly what I wanted. I7, 16gb ram, 1tb ssd, but with the 290 graphic chip. I hit the bid anyway, wishing the 295 was available a refurb. Set it up last night and checked system info to double check the SSD size. What did I find? Lo and behold, apple sent me one with a 295x!
I couldn't believe it, I wound up saving about $1000 all in by going refurb and got exactly what I wanted. Part of me wonders if my machine was my cancelled custom build but I doubt it. Anyway, very happy apple refurb customer.
Sorry for the long post.
Just got my first ever Apple computer, a 21 inch iMac. Learned a lot about how the OS works already tonight. Just gotta get my SMS relay working, the option isn't showing up on my phone so I'll have to google around and find some tricks to get it going. Otherwise I'm super thrilled with it. So perdy!
My very first Apple computer
Hi guys, my new iMac 5K with i7, M290X, 512GB SSD, 24gb RAM (adding 16gb myself) should be arriving today ! With all the negative things being said about the M290x, should I be nervous ? The most demanding application will be Lightroom and light video editing this spring once I get the new Gopro 4 Black.
I have my OS X Yosemite for Dummies book in hand and ready to go !
Hi guys, my new iMac 5K with i7, M290X, 512GB SSD, 24gb RAM (adding 16gb myself) should be arriving today ! With all the negative things being said about the M290x, should I be nervous ? The most demanding application will be Lightroom and light video editing this spring once I get the new Gopro 4 Black.
I have my OS X Yosemite for Dummies book in hand and ready to go !
I wouldn't sweat it unless you plan on doing a lot of gaming. I wanted the 295X frankly more for the vram than anything else since I run a second display. If it doesn't work for you, just bring it back.
FWIW, my GPU diode is at 54c right now at rest.
I just came here to say I ordered a new 5K iMac, but this post made me cancel it. I ordered the base configuration and only added the 512GB SSD. I'll upgrade the RAM myself. Skipped the i7 upgrade. I don't think I'll notice the extra 500 MHz and I think 4 physical cores will be fine versus the 8 logical.
I plan on hooking up my old 24" LCD as a second monitor. I'm sure there is a good chance I will one day change it to a 4K LCD. Will the retina iMac power its own screen and an external 4K screen? Is the 4GB video card necessary to do so?
I kinda feel bad, didn't mean to scare anybody into cancelling their order. I don't know that the 290x would be problematic for driving 2 displays, I just figured the extra headroom would be helpful. i'll try to check the vram usage tonight when I get home to tell you how much its using.
Mine powers a second 4K LCD no problem with the 290X. In fact, I had a third 1920 x 1200 screen attached to the second thunderbolt port too and it worked.
Decisions, decisions . . .
Hi, all. New poster to this forum. As you can tell from my user name, we are about to a buy a new iMac. I am having a bit of trouble picking the best option and would love your advice. Here's what I'm thinking:
We've gotten every inch we can out of our 2007 iMac -- it's got a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and 4 GB of RAM and beach balls pretty much whenever I want to even think about opening a photo or editing a video. It's been outmatched for a good while, but we were't in a position to replace it. Now we have reached the point where we have to do so and I am pretty sure I am going with a refurb. There are two appealing choices, both 27" (and both of which I'll likely upgrade aftermarket to 32GB RAM):
1. 3.4GHz, 8 GB RAM, 1TB hard drive, and the 2GB graphics card. This is $1659.
2. 3.5GHz, 8 GB RAM, 3TB Fusion drive, and the 4GB graphics card. This is $2289.
I'd love the latter option, which is essentially top of the non-5K line (putting aside the memory upgrade, the only option missing is the 1TB flash drive in lieu of the Fusion drive, and I'm not sure that's really better considering the relative capacity). But I wouldn't mind saving $630 either.
My kids generally limit their use to Office products and surfing the web. I edit a lot of photos, but only lightly using Aperture and have no interest in switching to Photoshop any time soon (but likely will use Pixelmator if necessary). My photo library, however, is around 10K photos and growing. I also edit video, both from smartphones and a Gopro. But no 4K, at leats not yet.
Recognizing that even the lowest end 21.5" machine would be blazing compared to my current system, we finally reach my questions:
1. How much of a plus is the Fusion drive day-to-day, particularly if we really only turn our computer off when we are on vacation? And how reliable do we think it is considering flash memory often dies for no apparent reason at least when using memory cards? (I realize we are talking 3TB v. 1TB, but I don't mind expanding via an external drive if I have to.)
2. How much of a benefit is 3.5 GHz chip over the 3.4 GHz chip? I've seen the various benchmark scores, but they are meaningless to me.
3. How much of a benefit is the better graphics card, particularly as I don't really use our computer for games.
4. Any overall advice as to which system I should buy? Arguments for buying new? If so, any particular configuration?
Thanks in advance for any and all insight!
Hi, all. New poster to this forum. As you can tell from my user name, we are about to a buy a new iMac. I am having a bit of trouble picking the best option and would love your advice. Here's what I'm thinking:
We've gotten every inch we can out of our 2007 iMac -- it's got a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and 4 GB of RAM and beach balls pretty much whenever I want to even think about opening a photo or editing a video. It's been outmatched for a good while, but we were't in a position to replace it. Now we have reached the point where we have to do so and I am pretty sure I am going with a refurb. There are two appealing choices, both 27" (and both of which I'll likely upgrade aftermarket to 32GB RAM):
1. 3.4GHz, 8 GB RAM, 1TB hard drive, and the 2GB graphics card. This is $1659.
2. 3.5GHz, 8 GB RAM, 3TB Fusion drive, and the 4GB graphics card. This is $2289.
I'd love the latter option, which is essentially top of the non-5K line (putting aside the memory upgrade, the only option missing is the 1TB flash drive in lieu of the Fusion drive, and I'm not sure that's really better considering the relative capacity). But I wouldn't mind saving $630 either.
My kids generally limit their use to Office products and surfing the web. I edit a lot of photos, but only lightly using Aperture and have no interest in switching to Photoshop any time soon (but likely will use Pixelmator if necessary). My photo library, however, is around 10K photos and growing. I also edit video, both from smartphones and a Gopro. But no 4K, at leats not yet.
Recognizing that even the lowest end 21.5" machine would be blazing compared to my current system, we finally reach my questions:
1. How much of a plus is the Fusion drive day-to-day, particularly if we really only turn our computer off when we are on vacation? And how reliable do we think it is considering flash memory often dies for no apparent reason at least when using memory cards? (I realize we are talking 3TB v. 1TB, but I don't mind expanding via an external drive if I have to.)
2. How much of a benefit is 3.5 GHz chip over the 3.4 GHz chip? I've seen the various benchmark scores, but they are meaningless to me.
3. How much of a benefit is the better graphics card, particularly as I don't really use our computer for games.
4. Any overall advice as to which system I should buy? Arguments for buying new? If so, any particular configuration?
Thanks in advance for any and all insight!
1TB or 3TB, it depends on your needs, but go for a Fusion Drive: a SSD in your machine will change your experience with computers. Like a SSD, a Fusion Drive makes your machine boot in 20 seconds, your apps and documents will open faster. I had a 2007 iMac too (2.8GHZ and 6GB of RAM), the Fusion Drive has been the greatest enhancement for me.
And for the others option, it depends on your needs and budget... I would rather take the 4GB GPU than the Core i7 3.5GHZ: the GPU is nowaday animating the GUI and other effects, it helps you on Photoshop or other compatiple applications, it will make your machine last longer. So if you have the budget, go for it. If you don't, the GTX 775M is a decent GPU and your machine will be fine.
Go for the Core i7 3.5GHz CPU only if you use often heavy duty CPU apps, like video encoding or scientific calculation. If you don't, save your money anf take the Core i5 3.4GHz: you won't notice the difference in daily use.
1TB or 3TB, it depends on your needs, but go for a Fusion Drive: a SSD in your machine will change your experience with computers. Like a SSD, a Fusion Drive makes your machine boot in 20 seconds, your apps and documents will open faster. I had a 2007 iMac too (2.8GHZ and 6GB of RAM), the Fusion Drive has been the greatest enhancement for me.
And for the others option, it depends on your needs and budget... I would rather take the 4GB GPU than the Core i7 3.5GHZ: the GPU is nowaday animating the GUI and other effects, it helps you on Photoshop or other compatiple applications, it will make your machine last longer. So if you have the budget, go for it. If you don't, the GTX 775M is a decent GPU and your machine will be fine.
Go for the Core i7 3.5GHz CPU only if you use often heavy duty CPU apps, like video encoding or scientific calculation. If you don't, save your money anf take the Core i5 3.4GHz: you won't notice the difference in daily use.
Thanks. Ended up with a killer deal on refurb 5K. All baseline specs (3.5 i5, 8GB RAM (although I've already ordered 16 more), 1TB Fusion, 2GB AMD graphics card), but after a LONG visit to the store I decided it was the best bang for buck. Should arrive early next week.
My 27" IMAC should be here this coming up Tuesday.
Specs I ordered:
NVIDIAGeForceGTX780M 4GB GDDR5
3.5GHz turbo to 3.9GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM-2X4GB, going to upgrade to 32GB when i get it
3TB Fusion Drive
Coming from a HP laptop-2.4GHz
Specs I ordered:
NVIDIAGeForceGTX780M 4GB GDDR5
3.5GHz turbo to 3.9GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM-2X4GB, going to upgrade to 32GB when i get it
3TB Fusion Drive
Coming from a HP laptop-2.4GHz
Hey guys, I finally pulled the trigger and bought myself the 5k (i7, 295, 24GB Ram, 1TB Fusion-Drive). I had been researching for a long time (actually since the launch of the 5k) and finally made the decision to get my hands on this machine despite all the bad posts about this machine.
Anyway, what should I say? I am so pleased with this machine. It is more than fast enough for my daily tasks (Lightroom 5, GoPro Video, Surfing, Office Products)!
I was really anxious about this fan-issue since I really hate computer with loud fans-noise. But to my surprise the fan has an acceptable tone and only kicks in in heavy tasks. I also bought myself a WD My Book 4TB external Harddrive and that external hard drive is WAY MORE louder than the fan of the m295x fan.
Coming from the Windows world and having some really high-end gaming rigs I cannot understand the rant on this forum about the fan issue. I mean, just go and buy one of those high-end nVidia or AMD cards for the desktops.... they all sound like an airplane! I had my gaming-rig cooled with a water-cooling system and the 3 big super quite fans are producing more or less the same tone as the one of the 5k mac.
I am so glad that I bought this machine and I don't have any other issue currently with it. I did a factory reset and a PRAM-resetting prior to installing any other apps.
I'm not sure if my mac is plagued by backlight-bleed since currently I don't see it (I'm not working in a pitch dark room with lots of dark material).
Anyway, if there are still some people that are hesitating to buy it... my recommendation would be to buy it. The screen is truly gorgeous and my pictures and videos never looked better (although every small failure is now really good visible).
Anyway, what should I say? I am so pleased with this machine. It is more than fast enough for my daily tasks (Lightroom 5, GoPro Video, Surfing, Office Products)!
I was really anxious about this fan-issue since I really hate computer with loud fans-noise. But to my surprise the fan has an acceptable tone and only kicks in in heavy tasks. I also bought myself a WD My Book 4TB external Harddrive and that external hard drive is WAY MORE louder than the fan of the m295x fan.
Coming from the Windows world and having some really high-end gaming rigs I cannot understand the rant on this forum about the fan issue. I mean, just go and buy one of those high-end nVidia or AMD cards for the desktops.... they all sound like an airplane! I had my gaming-rig cooled with a water-cooling system and the 3 big super quite fans are producing more or less the same tone as the one of the 5k mac.
I am so glad that I bought this machine and I don't have any other issue currently with it. I did a factory reset and a PRAM-resetting prior to installing any other apps.
I'm not sure if my mac is plagued by backlight-bleed since currently I don't see it (I'm not working in a pitch dark room with lots of dark material).
Anyway, if there are still some people that are hesitating to buy it... my recommendation would be to buy it. The screen is truly gorgeous and my pictures and videos never looked better (although every small failure is now really good visible).
Refurb Surprise
Hey guys,
I am pretty much a daily lurker, only a few posts as anyone will be able to see. Great community and with enough looking, i can find most of my answers before posting a question that has been answered a million times already.
I had to share my excitement on this. I ordered a refurb iMac as shown in the screenshot. I ordered the 2.9 i5 with only 8GB RAM, also fusion drive, even the tag on the box confirms those specs. The surprise is what they ACTUALLY sent though....they sent me an i7 with 16GB! Free upgrade, I may ALWAYS wait for a refurb from now on.
Hey guys,
I am pretty much a daily lurker, only a few posts as anyone will be able to see. Great community and with enough looking, i can find most of my answers before posting a question that has been answered a million times already.
I had to share my excitement on this. I ordered a refurb iMac as shown in the screenshot. I ordered the 2.9 i5 with only 8GB RAM, also fusion drive, even the tag on the box confirms those specs. The surprise is what they ACTUALLY sent though....they sent me an i7 with 16GB! Free upgrade, I may ALWAYS wait for a refurb from now on.
Attachments
Thoughts on my 5k imac
My upgraded 27" 5k Imac( with i7, M295X, 3 TB fusion, currently only 8 Gb's of ram for now) arrived last Friday and I've been somewhat disappointed. A little bit of background. I've been using an upgraded 2012 27" Imac(3.4 GHz Intel Core i7, GeForce GTX 680MX 2048 MB, 16 Gig ram, and 1 TB Fusion Drive) and have absolutely loved the machine. I love new technology(That 5k screen...) and was able to hold off on getting the 5k imac until now.
I do a lot of video editing and I'm surprised at a few things. When I open up final cut or after effects I see the spinning beach ball quite a bit. I don't recall ever seeing this on my 2012 machine. Also, that fan...it comes on quite a bit. I was just surfing the web and watching a youtube video and the fan overpowers the volume depending on the level. I still am waiting for an extra 16 Gigs of crucial ram to arrive but its still alarming this new machine can't handle simple tasks without small hiccups. I'm assuming the 5k screen means you have to make a few sacrifices.
These complaints may sound a little nit picky but I just dropped $3300 on this imac and am in the process of selling my 2012 for $1500 but I've held off until I've decided if I'm going to keep the 5k Imac or not. Has anybody else experienced any similar annoyances?
I will wait until the ram arrives to fully test this out but for now I'm leaning on returning the 5k and keeping my 2012 until the second gen 5k imac launches this fall.
My upgraded 27" 5k Imac( with i7, M295X, 3 TB fusion, currently only 8 Gb's of ram for now) arrived last Friday and I've been somewhat disappointed. A little bit of background. I've been using an upgraded 2012 27" Imac(3.4 GHz Intel Core i7, GeForce GTX 680MX 2048 MB, 16 Gig ram, and 1 TB Fusion Drive) and have absolutely loved the machine. I love new technology(That 5k screen...) and was able to hold off on getting the 5k imac until now.
I do a lot of video editing and I'm surprised at a few things. When I open up final cut or after effects I see the spinning beach ball quite a bit. I don't recall ever seeing this on my 2012 machine. Also, that fan...it comes on quite a bit. I was just surfing the web and watching a youtube video and the fan overpowers the volume depending on the level. I still am waiting for an extra 16 Gigs of crucial ram to arrive but its still alarming this new machine can't handle simple tasks without small hiccups. I'm assuming the 5k screen means you have to make a few sacrifices.
These complaints may sound a little nit picky but I just dropped $3300 on this imac and am in the process of selling my 2012 for $1500 but I've held off until I've decided if I'm going to keep the 5k Imac or not. Has anybody else experienced any similar annoyances?
I will wait until the ram arrives to fully test this out but for now I'm leaning on returning the 5k and keeping my 2012 until the second gen 5k imac launches this fall.
I ordered a 21" 2.9 GHZ refurbished for 1100 never had a Mac before....I think it's a good buy....
BTO iMac 5k on feb 12, shipped 16, arrived 18. Couldn't be happier with the display now!!
Configuration
4.0GHz QC i7 Turboboost 4.4GHz
512GB Flash Storage
AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4GB GDDR5
Configuration
4.0GHz QC i7 Turboboost 4.4GHz
512GB Flash Storage
AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4GB GDDR5
How often does this happen of getting the free upgrade? I have read about a couple instances. Luck of the draw I guess? Congrats.