Worth buying this refurb?

[oakrrl]

I've limping along with my old iMac, waiting like Godot for the promised new ones (Summer? Fall?). But I just got an opportunity to buy the following at a 15% discount:

Apple refurbished late 2015 iMac,
27" 4.0 GHz/32GB/ 1TB SSD/M395X

Apple's asking price for this is $3399, so I could get it for around $2890, plus tax.

The 1 TB SSD, extra RAM and i7 are tempting,and this will definitely be enough machine for what I do (RAW photo editing, occasional Final Cut Pro work).

BUT - no USB-C/Thunderbolt 3. Think that's a deal-breaker and I'll regret buying it when new machines come out?

 

[campyguy]

I just priced out that iMac at retail, it's a bit steep at $4k new. Besides, that shot they use of Moraine Lake and the Ten Sentinels just blows me away every time I look at it, time for a return trip there, so I can see the other 3 and the waterfall at the other end of the Lake that they don't show in that marketing shot. That iMac is a sweet computer, but…

I'm holding out. I need to buy 12-to-15 Macs for my company, two for my home offices, and one for my own use. I've read the posts here about the "iMac Pro" and updates to the iMac - Apple's transparency is one of the elements I've wanted from Apple for 20 years - tell me when your product is coming out and what it is, within reason, and I'll buy; perfect for a business person wanting to plan for the next several months.

In short, I'd consider myself nuts to buy now with the caveat that I use (and my employees use) decent computers for now and knowing more about the upcoming products than I did two weeks ago. It's not just the "new shiny stuff" that's coming out soon, but also about Apple's support of non-legacy products that's important to me as a business person as they've deemed several older Macs as "legacy" devices (my 2012 Mini Servers and late-2013 rMBPs are soon to be on that chopping block). I'm waiting.

 

[Fishrrman]

You're paying a ridiculously high premium for a 1tb SSD, no matter how you look at it (new or refurb).

I'd get one with a smaller SSD (no larger than 512gb), and supplement it with external storage (either a platter-based HDD or an external USB3 SSD).

My opinion only.

 

[oakrrl]

I just priced out that iMac at retail, it's a bit steep at $4k new. Besides, that shot they use of Moraine Lake and the Ten Sentinels just blows me away every time I look at it, time for a return trip there, so I can see the other 3 and the waterfall at the other end of the Lake that they don't show in that marketing shot. That iMac is a sweet computer, but…

I'm holding out. I need to buy 12-to-15 Macs for my company, two for my home offices, and one for my own use. I've read the posts here about the "iMac Pro" and updates to the iMac - Apple's transparency is one of the elements I've wanted from Apple for 20 years - tell me when your product is coming out and what it is, within reason, and I'll buy; perfect for a business person wanting to plan for the next several months.

In short, I'd consider myself nuts to buy now with the caveat that I use (and my employees use) decent computers for now and knowing more about the upcoming products than I did two weeks ago. It's not just the "new shiny stuff" that's coming out soon, but also about Apple's support of non-legacy products that's important to me as a business person as they've deemed several older Macs as "legacy" devices (my 2012 Mini Servers and late-2013 rMBPs are soon to be on that chopping block). I'm waiting.

[doublepost=1493399303][/doublepost]Thanks, guys. I agree, retina iMacs are overpriced; I happen to have a friend who can get me 15% discount so the top-end machine at $2900 refurb isn't ridiculously over-priced, which is why I'm tempted. Question is what the new iMacs will come in at - I suspect still over-priced, and when they come up I might not be able to get as good a new machine at that $2900 price point. Hence the dilemma

 

[kschendel]

The usual question: what do you do with the machine, and what do you want to do with it?

While I agree with Fishrrman in theory, the question is whether you can actually find a similar beast with a smaller SSD. if not, then it's sort of a moot point.

If you have your heart set on banks of 5K add-on monitors, wait. If the built-in display will do it for you, I'm not sure I see that TB3 or USB-C will change your life in any significant way, and I'd be rather inclined to buy now.

 

[oakrrl]

The usual question: what do you do with the machine, and what do you want to do with it?

While I agree with Fishrrman in theory, the question is whether you can actually find a similar beast with a smaller SSD. if not, then it's sort of a moot point.

If you have your heart set on banks of 5K add-on monitors, wait. If the built-in display will do it for you, I'm not sure I see that TB3 or USB-C will change your life in any significant way, and I'd be rather inclined to buy now.

[doublepost=1493419613][/doublepost]Thanks I think you're right about T3 and though I really like USB-c convenience I don't think it will make much difference. So I'm leaning to buy