What model are you buying?

[HBen]

21.5

3.1 i7
16GB
1TB FUSION
Magic Mouse + Trackpad
Wireless keyboard
SuperDrive
$2,214.51

27" LED Display 2560x1440 resolution
NVIDIA GeForce GT 660M (512MB GDDR5 Memory)
2.9GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
16GB (2x8GB Apple) 1600MHz DDR3 RAM
1TB Fusion Drive
Magic Mouse & Magic Trackpad
Apple Wireless Keyboard
Apple USB Superdrive
$2,397.00

Looks like the i7 is not yet configurable for the 27"
http://www.expercom.com/product_detail.html?p=873048

Yh but u wouldn't upgrade the ram by apple so u can minus that amount, and I wouldnt buy a SuperDrive from them either. Also would be 1gb GDDR5 as its the high end.

I was trying to say that a non BTO high end 27" would be about the same as a fully BTO 21."5

 

[bobright]

27" base model except with a Fusion drive can. not. wait.

 

[HBen]

I have a 1,5 TB USB 3.0 HDD -> 70€

Ok thanks man, is it easy to set up? (I've never used an external before)

 

[MacDouble]

Ok thanks man, is it easy to set up? (I've never used an external before)

I don't know what you mean. It's just a usb cable which you have to plug in.

 

[HBen]

I don't know what you mean. It's just a usb cable which has to plug in.

Sounds like a stupid question now! I thought u might have to configure or boot it a certain way to get it working :/

 

[CaptMike]

.

Yh but u wouldn't upgrade the ram by apple so u can minus that amount, and I wouldnt buy a SuperDrive from them either. Also would be 1gb GDDR5 as its the high end.

Yeah, It would also save you there. Waiting for BH Photo to offer more upgradable options to their list of imacs
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

SuperDrive from BH:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/871920-REG/Apple_MD564ZM_A_USB_SuperDrive.html

AppleCare at BH
with purchase of imac:

3-Year: $61.00 .

 

[HBen]

Yh but u wouldn't upgrade the ram by apple so u can minus that amount, and I wouldnt buy a SuperDrive from them either. Also would be 1gb GDDR5 as its the high end.

Yeah, It would also save you there. Waiting for BH Photo to offer more upgradable options to their list of imacs
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

SuperDrive from BH:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/871920-REG/Apple_MD564ZM_A_USB_SuperDrive.html

AppleCare at BH
with purchase of imac:

3-Year: $61.00 .

Yh exactly plus I get 3 years care standard if I buy online due to HE discount

 

[kaelell]

somebody earlier mentioned the 3TB fusion cannot be partitioned for Bootcamp, but are you saying the 1TB fusion can ?

thanks

Edit: this has been answered in another thread and yes 1TB can. something to do with a Windows limitation rather then OS x

 

[Siderz]

Maxed out 21.5".

Judging by this thread, loads of other people are.

I'm gonna need to be quick!

----------

Yh exactly plus I get 3 years care standard if I buy online due to HE discount

Really? Where does it say that?!

 

[CaptMike]

Yh exactly plus I get 3 years care standard if I buy online due to HE discount

Please fill me in on the HE discount?

 

[kaelell]

Maxed out 21.5".

Judging by this thread, loads of other people are.

I'm gonna need to be quick!

no need to panic, your writing on a board where your 90% likely to get potential iMac buyers, 20 odd names isnt an indication of alarming demand just yet.


*now if only everyone relaxed and left it late in the day to order and I will get in there first mwhahahah"

 

[Siderz]

Please fill me in on the HE discount?

HE = Higher Education.

You need to be in higher education to get the discount.

Or are you asking about the AppleCare? I'd like to know the same, I didn't know about it.

 

[HBen]

Please fill me in on the HE discount?

Higher education discount I'm in the UK and when in higher education u get a discount (kinda big discount)

21.5" base-£967.20
21.5" higher-£1,099.20

27" base-£1,318.80
27" higher-£1,495.20

Not sure what the BTO prices will be with discount though.

 

[majkom]

none of them, base one is sufficient for me, but I am not going to buy computer without ssd in 2013, and paying 200 for possibility to pay other 250 to get 128 SSD is sick... i go 2011 mac mini with ati and TB display...

 

[HBen]

HE = Higher Education.

You need to be in higher education to get the discount.

Or are you asking about the AppleCare? I'd like to know the same, I didn't know about it.

This has more info

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1103022/

 

[THOPMedia]

Was initially going to go with the maxed 21" but the screen is just a bit small for me. (24" would be perfect, not sure why they don't just do a 24 and a 27. 21" - 27" is just to large of a gap IMO)

Anyway I'm going with the 27" 3.4GHz, maxed GPU (for film editing), 1TB fusion, stock RAM (already bought 32gb elsewhere for WAY less than $600)

 

[HBen]

Was initially going to go with the maxed 21" but the screen is just a bit small for me. (24" would be perfect, not sure why they don't just do a 24 and a 27. 21" - 27" is just to large of a gap IMO)

Anyway I'm going with the 27" 3.4GHz, maxed GPU (for film editing), 1TB fusion, stock RAM (already bought 32gb elsewhere for WAY less than $600)

I went through the same thinking as you, now trying to work out if the fusion drive is worth the money or not.......

 

[Siderz]

I went through the same thinking as you, now trying to work out if the fusion drive is worth the money or not.......

Here's an article arguing about whether or not the Fusion Drive is worth it - http://www.zdnet.com/mac-fusion-drive-pro-users-beware-7000006661/

I disagree with him to be honest, he took Apple's summary in layman's terms seriously, I'm sure it's a bit more complex than what they said.

Besides, the only resources professionals should have on the disk would be the OS and applications, all other resources should be on a separate drive.

 

[JustMartin]

I'm thinking maxed out 21" as well. I would rather have the choice of when I upgraded my RAM and I quite like the 3tb option for storage. But, I'm not sure I need a 27" monitor on my desk to get them. As someone else said, a 24" monitor would be ideal. But, I'm getting on ok with my 20" 2007 now, so anything I get will be a leap.

 

[Shivetya]

I will get the 27"/ i7/ 2GB NVIDIA graphics card/ 1 or 3TB Fusion/ 8 GB RAM (will upgrade later myself to 32GB).

This way it's gonna come to either US $ 2599,- (1TB Fusion) or US $ 2749,- (3TB Fusion) + the RAM upgrade.

But I will get mine only in summer 2013, waiting now for my MBA to come.

do not forget the Applecare.

Your first choice is where I am likely headed, GC+Fusion

 

[experimenthouse]

Getting the top model 27" in default configuration.

Using it for music production and a very small amount of video work mostly. Maybe a game or two.

I've got a budget of about $AU2200, but will benefit from the student discount.

iMac: $2079
Thunderbolt-F/W adapter: $35
MiniDP-DVI adapter: $30
VMWare Fusion: $54.95
Total: $2198.95

Adapters to hook it up to my audio interface and 22" monitor.

Can't afford to pay the Apple premium for RAM (particular as most vendors offer a lifetime guarantee) so if I need more, I'll upgrade it myself.

Can't justify upgrading to the i7, and don't need to upgrade the GPU.

I've also heard some things about the Fusion Drive that make me question it's viability — some people have indicated it's not a regular hybrid drive and so things could go wrong easily, so I'm not really prepared to invest in technology like that right now (I'd drop to the baseline 27" if so).

If I run into disk speed problems, I'll just buy an external SSD and run my projects from that. With current I/O speeds, I could just get a small-sized SSD and copy the data on each time I need to do some large projects.

Will also purchase AppleCare in 12 months — no need to buy it now.

 

[rnb2]

Having considered just about every configuration except the base 21" and the BTO GPU (not a gamer), I think I've finally settled on the base 27" with Fusion Drive.

For what it matters, here's my thinking:

1) I'm replacing a 2009 i7 iMac which actually performs fine for me from a CPU standpoint, and the 2.9GHz i5 in the new machine should be in the same ballpark. However, I've been booting from a variety of FW800 SSDs since I got the machine, and while this is faster and more responsive than the internal HDD, it will still be nice to eliminate the awkward setup and management hassles with the Fusion Drive.

2) The biggest single reason for the upgrade is Thunderbolt - I'm a professional photographer and my photo library lives on a 4TB RAID that can only connect via FW800 now. My working versions of my current year photos are on the internal drive for speed, but I'll be getting the Lacie eSATA Hub to hook up the RAID so that I can work directly from there going forward.

3) USB3 - I have one USB3 enclosure already; it currently houses my iTunes media, but I'll probably move that data to the internal drive and use the USB3 drive as my nightly clone of the internal instead.

4) Less reflective screen - while my screen doesn't face a window, sunlight coming into the room still causes a fair number of reflection issues, so this will be a welcome change.

Why this specific model? I had been leaning toward a maxed-out 21.5" i7, but came to the conclusion that the i7 probably isn't necessary (I have iStat Menus running, and just about the only thing that maxes out the virtual cores is Handbrake). Once I came to that conclusion, it was really down to two virtually identical machines - 2.9GHz i5 21.5 vs 27, with the latter having a slightly better GPU. There is a $300 price difference, but since I'll be able to buy 3rd party RAM and install it myself ($50) rather than pay Apple for 16GB in the 21.5" ($200), it's really only $150 for the bigger screen and better GPU. That seems like a good trade to me.

Of course, that doesn't mean that I don't still ponder getting the 21.5" instead just so I can get it sooner

A day later, and I've changed my mind - going with the 21.5" 2.9GHz i5, Fusion Drive, and 16GB. Yes, I'll overpay for the RAM, and I won't get the 27" screen for a mere $150.

However, I feel pretty good about the decision, because I actually did some testing today to see exactly what it will be like to have the smaller screen. I have my 27" set up with multiple Spaces for different types of apps, so I went through each one and rearranged and resized the windows to the size they would be on the smaller screen (I also switched my wallpaper to black). Since the 21.5" is a few inches shorter than the 27", I also positioned the windows so they are at the correct height.

What I found was interesting, from a psychological perspective - the space looked hopelessly small when I started the process. However, by the time I got everything arranged and started working with it, I really liked it. Unlike the 27", there isn't room to put 4-5 apps on one screen, so I had to rearrange things, having 1-3 apps per space. I didn't have the constantly-updating information overload that I sometimes feel with the 27". Yes, I could do the same sort of rearrangement on a 27" screen, but with so much space, it ends up looking odd, and wasteful - why have the 27" screen if you're not going to use all of that space?

In the end, I think the 21.5" feels like it fits Apple's current ethos better - while I won't run all of my apps in full-screen mode, there is an enforced winnowing-down of what is in front of me at any one time. It feels, oddly, kinda like a big iPad (I use a combination of Magic Trackpad and Wacom tablet), with it's limited information density on any one 'screen' - this may be better for my concentration/attention span.

Interestingly, earlier this year I switched from big Canon DSLRs and lenses to the smaller, less expensive Olympus OM-D system. Technology has gotten to the point where I don't need the biggest, most expensive cameras to get the shot any more, and I feel like going with the smaller iMac is similar. I no longer need the biggest, most expensive configuration to do what I need to do. So, much like switching from a camera/lens combo that weighed 3 pounds to one that weighs a pound, I'm switching from a 30+ pound computer to one that weighs 12.5 pounds.

Also, this lets me get it sooner

 

[APPLE-FANATIC]

Won't that cost close to the high end 27", wouldn't that be a better solution especially with its upgradability..?

I think so, $2149 is what I think I calculated. I just don't have the room for the huge 27", not even if I forced it into the room. Its going in my home office and I already have 2- 24" mounted monitors currently, so this will be a 3rd. Its just too much for the room and the room is pretty big, but need space to work as well, lol. Plus even with it being slightly over in $ of the 27", I would not get the i7 processor, it would be over 2149 if I did

 

[MagicThief83]

Doubts

I'm having second thoughts as we draw closer to the order date. I was initially set on getting a maxed-out 21.5", as it will be within what I would like to spend ($ is not a factor because I can easily afford a maxed-out 27"-even with a 768GB SSD but I would opt for a 1TB Fusion drive instead), however, I think about the 680MX and it sounds like it's going to be one hell of a GPU, and I'm sure it would run all of my games, as well as those in the future flawlessly. Now bear in mind, I have a life-job, friends, etc., and am by no means an avid or purist gamer, and won't be spending my time gaming all the time. I would like to enjoy my games at decent settings (medium-high), and I can get into extended sessions once I really entwine myself with a game. The way I see, I got rid of my PS3, so even a 21.5" iMac as a gaming machine can play games better than a console, even at mid-high settings with better resolutions (aren't console games played at 720p, medium details, and capped at 30 FPS?). A 21.5" is more appropriate for my desktop setup and will allow for a cleaner, well-space layout, and will be positioned at a good distance, whereas the 27" will have to be brought forward in order to fit on my desk and I will be sitting considerably closer to it. In addition, I don't really need 27" of screen real estate (not like my job or computing needs depend on it). I'm having more doubts and can't stop vacillating between the two. I think I'm just going to go ahead with the 21.5" and if I feel it isn't powerful enough, then I may in fact convert to the 27", even though the 21.5" is ideally what I'd like to stick with. I don't want to make the same mistake of spending a little over $3000 for a computer just so that I can game properly on it (I made the same mistake with an Alienware laptop and ended up gaming only moderately). Any thoughts?

 

[Razorhog]

$ is not a factor

Your question, "Any thoughts?" surely is rhetorical.