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Upgrade or base?

L

lcseds

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 20, 2006
1,239
1,180
NC, USA
I like the best, but probably do not use any where the capability of these riMacs. I drool and am jealous of those buying them. I think of my 2012 Mini with the Quad Core i7 as such an antique now. Probably don't use that to it's capability. But, being a geek, I must have the new riMac. Oh, working man here, pockets do have bottoms!
Question is, order with the i7, 4GB Vid and 512 SSD or just grab a base one. I surf, rip and handbrake Blu-Ray video (only the ones I own of course), some Aperture and NIK plug ins. May do a little hiDef video but strictly family stuff.
I wonder, being a geek, if I would regret the base over the upgrades. But, it is wise to bump everything up from stock. It's a good chunk of change to do so.

What say you fellow geeks that use typically 20-40% of any systems capability but think you need 110% of the max config?
 
Yup, I would go for it. Keep the RAM at 8gb and buy some more later if you want. But certainly upgrade the processor, GPU, and SSD. It's ridiculous to buy a US$3000 computer with a hard drive in it...
 
Get the base model. I see no reason for you to need to upgrade to the maximum when it's apparent you don't need the additional GPU and processor. The only thing I'd recommend upgrading would be the RAM, and it's much cheaper to get your own RAM to put in there and not pay Apple's inflated price for it.
 
I went with base. I have a gaming PC, so GPU doesn't matter to me as long as the desktop is smooth, which it is. I have no problems with the fusion drive. In honesty I have a NAS and some extra SSD drives from other computer I may get external enclosures for and use.
 
-the i7 geekbench numbers vs the i5 might make the i7 a worthwhile upgrade...Geekbench 3 (64):16558 vs Geekbench 3 (64):11958

-As both these cards are just high end laptop gpu's I would get the m295x to future proof this Imac

-Would 100% get a pure ssd over the fusion (256ssd same price as standard 1tb fusion) the added $300 for the 500ssd might be better spent on above upgrades ($500 total) and perhaps just op for a external drive for storage?

-Stick with 8g base ram and upgrade yourself when needed... for a lot less then apple charges for ram
 
lcseds said:
I like the best, but probably do not use any where the capability of these riMacs. I drool and am jealous of those buying them. I think of my 2012 Mini with the Quad Core i7 as such an antique now. Probably don't use that to it's capability. But, being a geek, I must have the new riMac. Oh, working man here, pockets do have bottoms!
Question is, order with the i7, 4GB Vid and 512 SSD or just grab a base one. I surf, rip and handbrake Blu-Ray video (only the ones I own of course), some Aperture and NIK plug ins. May do a little hiDef video but strictly family stuff.
I wonder, being a geek, if I would regret the base over the upgrades. But, it is wise to bump everything up from stock. It's a good chunk of change to do so.

What say you fellow geeks that use typically 20-40% of any systems capability but think you need 110% of the max config?
Click to expand...

Only you will know if you will ultimately regret not getting the upgrades over the base model.

So don't traumetize yourself anymore over it. ;)
 
Since you can upgrade RAM at a later date it can be left out of this discussion.

Storage is the one area where I always wish i spent more. Even when I paid a high premium to upgrade in the past I end up regretting not going all the way a year or 2 down the road. If you have a good external setup then it's fine but be warned! :D
 
I threw down on a i7, 8GB, 512 SSD, 295. I'm a sucker for pretty pictures. Now if the wife leaves me there will be no cash to split! hahahahah
Joking of course...there is a little left. Now let's see if I can actually resist buying another newer one for three years.
Who am I kidding....
 
lcseds said:
I threw down on a i7, 8GB, 512 SSD, 295. I'm a sucker for pretty pictures. Now if the wife leaves me there will be no cash to split! hahahahah
Joking of course...there is a little left. Now let's see if I can actually resist buying another newer one for three years.
Who am I kidding....
Click to expand...

Perfect configuration. Choosing the storage is tough on those things, but I think you nailed it.
 
The OP said he recognizes he typically only uses a fraction of the capacity of the gear he buys so why would anyone recommend he bump up the CPU/memory/GPU/storage? Upgrading to a i7/16gb/m295x/512gb ssd is a $1000 increase - why wouldn't you just save that money and buy the new base model in 2 or 3 years? For his usage, he isn't likely to see any difference in performance between base and upgraded models. By the time the base model starts reaching his limits, he can sell his computer and with the money saved from not upgrading buy a new bsse model whose performance will blow away today's high end model. Tech is like cars, a rapidly depreciating asset. Unless you actually need the performance now - and the OP said he didn't - it makes more sense to get the base model more frequently rather than bling up the current model.
 
Last edited:
I bought the Base model to begin with but went ahead and returned, realized spending so much might as well get the SSD drives and upgrade now as would be tough to add alter, so went ahead and ordered the i7, 1TB SSD and upgraded GPU, waiting now. Just was not comfortable spending so much and staying with HDD drives.
 
My reasoning: Note, if you are considering spending this much money, it should *not* be a huge deal for you, otherwise, wait for the 21.5" Retina model which should be more economical next year.

1) CPU - 4.0GHz, Because a $250 upgrade for 10% base clock increase isn't too bad. And it's a 10% increase in Turbo Clock too. Makes it the fastest single core chip in existence.
2) GPU - R9 M295X - Because there's no way you buy a 5K iMac and not get the fastest GPU possible
3) SSD - 512GB SSD - Because Fusion drive is slower than pure SSD, 256GB is too small, and the 1TB upgrade for $500 on top of the 512GB price is way too much for the average person to swallow.

Not upgraded:
1) RAM - 8GB, because you can get a 32GB (2 x (2 x 8GB)) kits for $273 from Amazon, which is far cheaper than the $600 Apple wants. Highway robbery.
 
I got the base model, outside of Launchpad being a tiny bit laggy initially (which I think was attributed to waking from sleep and me having FileVault2 enabled on it which finished last night) it's been fine.

Can't seem to trigger the lag anymore right now, so it probably was just a waking from sleep thing. So base would probably be fine.

Of course if you're going hardcore in terms of rendering/image manipulation it's a different story.
 
Cool Pup said:
Get the base model. I see no reason for you to need to upgrade to the maximum when it's apparent you don't need the additional GPU and processor. The only thing I'd recommend upgrading would be the RAM, and it's much cheaper to get your own RAM to put in there and not pay Apple's inflated price for it.
Click to expand...

Wrong. Get the SSD. At least.
 
lcseds said:
I like the best, but probably do not use any where the capability of these riMacs. I drool and am jealous of those buying them. I think of my 2012 Mini with the Quad Core i7 as such an antique now. Probably don't use that to it's capability. But, being a geek, I must have the new riMac. Oh, working man here, pockets do have bottoms!
Question is, order with the i7, 4GB Vid and 512 SSD or just grab a base one. I surf, rip and handbrake Blu-Ray video (only the ones I own of course), some Aperture and NIK plug ins. May do a little hiDef video but strictly family stuff.
I wonder, being a geek, if I would regret the base over the upgrades. But, it is wise to bump everything up from stock. It's a good chunk of change to do so.

What say you fellow geeks that use typically 20-40% of any systems capability but think you need 110% of the max config?
Click to expand...

Your wife is pissed with a good reason. Never doubt this fact. Anyhow I do not think you can change processor or drive so you better go i7 and SSD. By the way, your wife is right. Buy her a new dress. I am sure she might wear it once.
 
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