I'm not gonna lie... this is going to be no more than my own personal justification thread for spending $3000 on a computer for personal home use. I don't run a business, I don't sell anything I do on my computer, and I've never spent this much money on a computer before (though it's not my first iMac).
So is it worth it?
OH YES IT IS.
Like iOS and Android, I dabble between OSX and Windows fairly often. I was primarily a Windows guy until getting my first iMac in 2009, which I loved until about 4 years later when it just felt slow and starting acting up. I sold the iMac and bought a custom PC gaming rig, which my son and I have used for the past two years. He games a lot more than me, but I use the PC for many other things and we are often fighting over it (not literally, but he's a teenager and wants his own computer now).
Anyway, my wife actually gave me her blessing on getting a new iMac because she loves editing videos of our family vacations and what not. She has been struggling with a Mac Mini that's a few years old that has a 5400 RPM HDD in it. Beach balls galore!
Given that we'll probably be using this computer for several years, I bit the bullet and ordered the 27" 5K iMac with everything maxed out (except for the SSD, which is 512 GB). The 2009 iMac we had before was a middling model and I think we spent less than $2000 for it at the time. This one topped out above $3000, but I'm really glad we upgraded everything. This computer is screaming fast!
I feel the SSD makes all the difference in the world. Prior to the PC gaming rig (which has an SSD), everything else we've had used spinning HDD's. I can say without a doubt, I will NEVER get another computer with a spinning HDD as the main drive again. Never ever ever. I was going to go with the 256 GB SSD to save some money, but having the 512 GB gives me some peace of mind that I won't fill it up right away, begging for more SSD storage space. I'm still using my external 7200 RPM HDD's for photo and video storage, but having the OS, apps, and libraries (like my Lightroom catalog) on the SSD is a great boon.
Honestly, the i7 and m395x are both probably overkill for us. Right now, we do most of our video editing in iMovie (on the Mac Mini), so nothing too intensive. But I'm starting to shoot in 4k on my iPhone 6s Plus now, so being able to smoothly edit 4k video will be terrific. And my wife will appreciate the speed increase immensely. I may do some light gaming, but I don't need to have the top of the line gaming rig anymore... my son will take over the gaming PC and eventually build his own anyway when it needs replaced.
Yes, the screen is amazing, but I'm still trying to get used to the smaller interface elements. I'm using the "default" resolution setting, which I believe is the 2560x1440 HiDPI mode, and my eyes just aren't that great anymore. I don't want to scale it up because it loses some of its clarity, but I have had to adjust some of the app settings for font sizes, etc. But watching those 4k videos on this screen is amazing! And I'm really impressed with Apple's Photos app as well, though I'll stick with Lightroom for my main catalog.
I'm impressed, but I guess I should be after paying $3000+ for a computer. I bought Applecare, so at least I can have peace of mind that I'll have a well-running computer for the next 3 years. And I expect to use the computer for 4-5 years, so spreading that cost over a few years doesn't seem too bad after all.
So is it worth it?
OH YES IT IS.
Like iOS and Android, I dabble between OSX and Windows fairly often. I was primarily a Windows guy until getting my first iMac in 2009, which I loved until about 4 years later when it just felt slow and starting acting up. I sold the iMac and bought a custom PC gaming rig, which my son and I have used for the past two years. He games a lot more than me, but I use the PC for many other things and we are often fighting over it (not literally, but he's a teenager and wants his own computer now).
Anyway, my wife actually gave me her blessing on getting a new iMac because she loves editing videos of our family vacations and what not. She has been struggling with a Mac Mini that's a few years old that has a 5400 RPM HDD in it. Beach balls galore!
Given that we'll probably be using this computer for several years, I bit the bullet and ordered the 27" 5K iMac with everything maxed out (except for the SSD, which is 512 GB). The 2009 iMac we had before was a middling model and I think we spent less than $2000 for it at the time. This one topped out above $3000, but I'm really glad we upgraded everything. This computer is screaming fast!
I feel the SSD makes all the difference in the world. Prior to the PC gaming rig (which has an SSD), everything else we've had used spinning HDD's. I can say without a doubt, I will NEVER get another computer with a spinning HDD as the main drive again. Never ever ever. I was going to go with the 256 GB SSD to save some money, but having the 512 GB gives me some peace of mind that I won't fill it up right away, begging for more SSD storage space. I'm still using my external 7200 RPM HDD's for photo and video storage, but having the OS, apps, and libraries (like my Lightroom catalog) on the SSD is a great boon.
Honestly, the i7 and m395x are both probably overkill for us. Right now, we do most of our video editing in iMovie (on the Mac Mini), so nothing too intensive. But I'm starting to shoot in 4k on my iPhone 6s Plus now, so being able to smoothly edit 4k video will be terrific. And my wife will appreciate the speed increase immensely. I may do some light gaming, but I don't need to have the top of the line gaming rig anymore... my son will take over the gaming PC and eventually build his own anyway when it needs replaced.
Yes, the screen is amazing, but I'm still trying to get used to the smaller interface elements. I'm using the "default" resolution setting, which I believe is the 2560x1440 HiDPI mode, and my eyes just aren't that great anymore. I don't want to scale it up because it loses some of its clarity, but I have had to adjust some of the app settings for font sizes, etc. But watching those 4k videos on this screen is amazing! And I'm really impressed with Apple's Photos app as well, though I'll stick with Lightroom for my main catalog.
I'm impressed, but I guess I should be after paying $3000+ for a computer. I bought Applecare, so at least I can have peace of mind that I'll have a well-running computer for the next 3 years. And I expect to use the computer for 4-5 years, so spreading that cost over a few years doesn't seem too bad after all.
