Which iMac suits me for a teacher?

[Slick_ice18]

Hey all, recently spilled milk on my Mbp, which has rendered it basically useless, needing at least 800$ in repairs, so I have named it the Milk book pro..... but that being said I am looking into getting an iMac instead, as I am finding my iPad does everything my MBP did.

Which leads me to my question, which 27" iMac will do the job for me? I know for sure I will want to stick to a SSD, and will primarily be using the iMac for work (Create slides, write documents, etc). I suspect the first entry level model should do the trick, but I want it to be future proofed as I don't plan to spill milk on this bad boy and would like to get 6+ years from it. Does getting an i7 processor dramatically increase speed or is simply getting the 500gb SSD with the i5 sufficient?

Also, while I prefer to play games on the xbox, I do have a love for Diablo (I know it is also on xbox, but desktop is the way to go), and when the 4th instalment comes out I would love for the iMac to be capable of playing it on medium quality or better. Is the 570 GPU sufficient? or is going up a level or two worth it?

Finally, I believe they just updated the line? Do they usually update it in June? Waiting a few months isn't too big of a deal for me if it means a better comp.

Thanks everyone!

Cheers

 

[keysofanxiety]

i7 has double the virtual cores due to the hyperthreading. Not necessary but can’t help with longevity.

Honestly you’ve already made the best choice to go for an SSD. The rest is just gravy with the upgradable RAM in the 27” and dGPU. I’d always suggest get the best specs you can afford, though don’t worry about the RAM as you can chuck more in later without the Apple tax.

 

[Glmnet1]

With the i5 and 570 and SSD will be a great device! Definitely good enough for your work for the next 6+ years.

Diablo 4 isn't out so I don't know if the iMac will be good enough for sure but it should be. If you want to make sure then get one of the higher end GPU. Based on these predictions you should be fine with the base one: http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=24007&game=Diablo 4

We don't know when is the next refresh, I'm hoping for one in June.

 

[Bigdog9586]

Since you’re a teacher don’t forget to use the Apple site for education.

 

[Slick_ice18]

i7 has double the virtual cores due to the hyperthreading. Not necessary but can’t help with longevity.

Honestly you’ve already made the best choice to go for an SSD. The rest is just gravy with the upgradable RAM in the 27” and dGPU. I’d always suggest get the best specs you can afford, though don’t worry about the RAM as you can chuck more in later without the Apple tax.

awesome, thanks so much for your time!
[doublepost=1518044722][/doublepost]

With the i5 and 570 and SSD will be a great device! Definitely good enough for your work for the next 6+ years.

Diablo 4 isn't out so I don't know if the iMac will be good enough for sure but it should be. If you want to make sure then get one of the higher end GPU. Based on these predictions you should be fine with the base one: http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=24007&game=Diablo 4

We don't know when is the next refresh, I'm hoping for one in June.

Thanks for your input! Appreciate it!
[doublepost=1518044752][/doublepost]

Since you’re a teacher don’t forget to use the Apple site for education.

Appreciate it! But I would never forget about that haha!

 

[SecuritySteve]

As a Blizzard / Diablo fan myself, I've been paying close attention to that particular topic. Based off the performance of the 570 on Diablo 3 ... I would hold off until either Vega GPUs enter the consumer (non-pro) iMacs or they skip a generation to Navi. That would likely be coming out either this June at WWDC or in the Fall. I'd lean it's more likely that there will be new systems lined up at WWDC based off other rumors, such as the inclusion of ARM security chips in a desktop this year.

 

[kschendel]

There's a lot of info scattered around various threads on CPU performance. I think it's fair to summarize it as: if you are doing long CPU-bound jobs like (say) 4K video transcodes or fancy rendering, the top spec i7 can make a real difference. For ordinary work like web/email, documents, powerpoints, the occasional fiddling with a photo or three, the perceived difference will be pretty much zero.

As for gaming and the 570 etc, I'm afraid I have no idea.

I do much of our office-y stuff on an early 2009 iMac (upgraded memory and SSD); it's not especially fast, but it's usable. So yes, for typical office work you can definitely hope to get many years out of a current iMac, assuming you don't draw the random hardware-fail card.

Should you wait? I don't think we'll see a big jump in CPU performance, or at least not one that will make a difference for your work. GPU might be a different matter.

 

[Slick_ice18]

There's a lot of info scattered around various threads on CPU performance. I think it's fair to summarize it as: if you are doing long CPU-bound jobs like (say) 4K video transcodes or fancy rendering, the top spec i7 can make a real difference. For ordinary work like web/email, documents, powerpoints, the occasional fiddling with a photo or three, the perceived difference will be pretty much zero.

As for gaming and the 570 etc, I'm afraid I have no idea.

I do much of our office-y stuff on an early 2009 iMac (upgraded memory and SSD); it's not especially fast, but it's usable. So yes, for typical office work you can definitely hope to get many years out of a current iMac, assuming you don't draw the random hardware-fail card.

Should you wait? I don't think we'll see a big jump in CPU performance, or at least not one that will make a difference for your work. GPU might be a different matter.

Thanks for your story! I'm glad to here it is still quite functional.