Too many choices, options and can't decide... 27" iMac (New Late 2012)

[craigblues]

Evening All, (possibly morning)

I am a long time reader but unfortunately never registered or posted. Well I've finally decided to pull my finger out and register. Anyhow I won't bore you with a story.

Right well up until now my desktop mac has been a 2008 iMac 2.8GHz, 4Gb RAM and 500Gb HDD (Which was the top of the range at the time). This runs alongside my Macbook Pro Early 2011; 2.7GHz i7, Currently 4Gb and 500Gb HDD.

So I have made the decision to upgrade to the new iMac 27" as its the only way in my opinion. But I am now at a sticking point. I'm going for the top spec default spec but unsure if I should upgrade to the 3.4 i7 or stick with the 3.2 i5? Then on top of that 1TB standard or the 1TB Fusion Drive?

I will eventually upgrade to 32GB Ram but I will do this at a later date plus cheaper than Apple. As that's the advantage with 27" that the Ram is accessible (only thing mind.)

Hope someone can help, as I don't want to make the wrong decision or at a later date that I should or shouldn't have done something.

Thanks in advance.

 

[FuriousGreg]

Evening All, (possibly morning)

I am a long time reader but unfortunately never registered or posted. Well I've finally decided to pull my finger out and register. Anyhow I won't bore you with a story.

Right well up until now my desktop mac has been a 2008 iMac 2.8GHz, 4Gb RAM and 500Gb HDD (Which was the top of the range at the time). This runs alongside my Macbook Pro Early 2011; 2.7GHz i7, Currently 4Gb and 500Gb HDD.

So I have made the decision to upgrade to the new iMac 27" as its the only way in my opinion. But I am now at a sticking point. I'm going for the top spec default spec but unsure if I should upgrade to the 3.4 i7 or stick with the 3.2 i5? Then on top of that 1TB standard or the 1TB Fusion Drive?

I will eventually upgrade to 32GB Ram but I will do this at a later date plus cheaper than Apple. As that's the advantage with 27" that the Ram is accessible (only thing mind.)

Hope someone can help, as I don't want to make the wrong decision or at a later date that I should or shouldn't have done something.

Thanks in advance.

Without knowing what you're planning on doing with it it's hard to give an opinion.

 

[craigblues]

I'm a Press Photographer and run a signage and vehicle solution business. I occasionally do amateur video editing, but this is not the main reason for the iMac.

I basically want an iMac which will be extremely fast, most likely faster than I need but in the same breath not over the top. But also which will last me for sometime or at least until the 3yr warranty runs out before I need to upgrade again.

 

[mainemacuser]

I'm a Press Photographer and run a signage and vehicle solution business. I occasionally do amateur video editing, but this is not the main reason for the iMac.

I basically want an iMac which will be extremely fast, most likely faster than I need but in the same breath not over the top. But also which will last me for sometime or at least until the 3yr warranty runs out before I need to upgrade again.

The fastest standard configuration is the $1,999 3.2GHz Quad i5 processor, but you can upgrade to the 3.4 GHz Quad i7.

However, the consensus is the i7 is best for users who do rendering, heavy video work etc. This where you use all the cores and threading to get the true benefits of the i7. Users who do just photo work may not see the performance boost so it might not be worth the extra $200.

There are several hard drive configurations, including the $1300 Flash drive. This is super fast, applications open immediately, no dock bouncing, but you pay big bucks for the speed. You can also go with the Fusion hard drive for $250 rather than $1300 and the Fusion drive is plenty fast. It comes in both 1 TB and 3 TB sizes. But be aware, if you use BootCamp, this will NOT run on a 3 TB drive.

You can also look at the $1,799 2.9 GHz model.I think this is the same chip as in the high end 21" iMac and it is still plenty fast. The video card on the $1799 iMac is not quite as good as the high end model, but unless you are a gamer, it probably won't make much of a difference.

Either of these models with a Fusion drive should keep you happy for the next 3 years.

Here are the benchmarks

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/11/3...w-10-25-improvement-over-previous-generation/