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Message
Which iMac to buy?
Posted on 1/28/20 at 8:22 am
Posted on 1/28/20 at 8:22 am
Wife wants an iMac. She uses it for the following:
Cricut Design Space.
Embroidery Software.
Pinterest/ Social media.
She is a teacher so some projects on that but nothing major.
Torn on which level to buy. Here are the three i have narrowed it down to. All real close in price.
21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display $1,249.00
Hardware
3.6GHz quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core i3 processor
8GB DDR4 memory
Radeon Pro 555X with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display $1,339.00
product details of 21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display
Hardware
3.6GHz quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core i3 processor
8GB DDR4 memory
Radeon Pro 555X with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
1TB Fusion Drive storage
21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display $1,399.00
Hardware
3.0GHz 6-core 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz
8GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
Radeon Pro 560X with 4GB of GDDR5 memory
1TB Fusion Drive storage
Essentially one is the base lowest price. One only has the upgraded Fusion drive. The other is the next step up with i5 processor and Fusion Drive.
Cricut Design Space.
Embroidery Software.
Pinterest/ Social media.
She is a teacher so some projects on that but nothing major.
Torn on which level to buy. Here are the three i have narrowed it down to. All real close in price.
21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display $1,249.00
Hardware
3.6GHz quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core i3 processor
8GB DDR4 memory
Radeon Pro 555X with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display $1,339.00
product details of 21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display
Hardware
3.6GHz quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core i3 processor
8GB DDR4 memory
Radeon Pro 555X with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
1TB Fusion Drive storage
21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display $1,399.00
Hardware
3.0GHz 6-core 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz
8GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
Radeon Pro 560X with 4GB of GDDR5 memory
1TB Fusion Drive storage
Essentially one is the base lowest price. One only has the upgraded Fusion drive. The other is the next step up with i5 processor and Fusion Drive.
3
Posted on 1/28/20 at 9:04 am to GatorReb
The shitty hard drives are a deal killer. The Fusion drive is an upgrade but it's still an absurd thing to put in a pricey computer in 2020. I use one for work and it sucks.
There is a 2019 iMac i3 with a 256 SSD for 1269 on the Apple refurb page, or you can pay 200 bucks to get the base iMac with the 256 SSD.
My wife wanted an iMac but I eventually convinced her to get a Mac Mini and a great display instead. Great SSD storage is cheaper every day, but I wouldn't go for the fusion and I sure as hell wouldn't live with the HDD.
There is a 2019 iMac i3 with a 256 SSD for 1269 on the Apple refurb page, or you can pay 200 bucks to get the base iMac with the 256 SSD.
My wife wanted an iMac but I eventually convinced her to get a Mac Mini and a great display instead. Great SSD storage is cheaper every day, but I wouldn't go for the fusion and I sure as hell wouldn't live with the HDD.
Posted on 1/28/20 at 9:14 am to GatorReb
Buy something else
Posted on 1/28/20 at 9:25 am to Pettifogger
quote:
The shitty hard drives are a deal killer. The Fusion drive is an upgrade but it's still an absurd thing to put in a pricey computer in 2020.
All of this. Absolutely absurd
Posted on 1/28/20 at 9:27 am to SG_Geaux
quote:
Buy something else
While i FULLY agree. My wife falls into the "ive had my macbook for 8 years and i dont want to change"
And honestly idgaf. Its her money shes made and saved on her side hustle.
But just for shits and gigs give me something comparable?
This post was edited on 1/28/20 at 9:38 am
Posted on 1/28/20 at 9:43 am to Pettifogger
quote:
My wife wanted an iMac but I eventually convinced her to get a Mac Mini and a great display instead. Great SSD storage is cheaper every day, but I wouldn't go for the fusion and I sure as hell wouldn't live with the HDD.
This. Get the SSD refurb or upgrade to an SSD.
Posted on 1/28/20 at 9:55 am to GatorReb
Same here. I purchased one a few months ago. The extent of the conversation was, “I want a Apple desktop.”
I got the $1399 version. Your wife should qualify for the education discount. If not, pick the local university, order online, then pick-up in store.
I got the $1399 version. Your wife should qualify for the education discount. If not, pick the local university, order online, then pick-up in store.
Posted on 1/28/20 at 10:01 am to pjab
quote:
ame here. I purchased one a few months ago. The extent of the conversation was, “I want a Apple desktop.”
YUP
quote:
I got the $1399 version. Your wife should qualify for the education discount. If not, pick the local university, order online, then pick-up in store.
So we bought one already. We bought the $1250 one. But its sitting there unopened and im having buyers regret over if i should have upgraded to the Fusion drive. Or now wondering if i should pick the one up from the Cert Refurb site that has the SSD.
Posted on 1/28/20 at 10:10 am to GatorReb
If you want longevity, you have to get the 8th gen i5 and an SSD. Anything else will become obsolete far more quickly and/or be extremely underpowered
Posted on 1/28/20 at 10:14 am to bluebarracuda
quote:
If you want longevity, you have to get the 8th gen i5 and an SSD. Anything else will become obsolete far more quickly and/or be extremely underpowered
And they are so hard to change out.
I had a 2012 iMac, had to take off the display panel to access the drive.
I'm betting it's even more difficult today.
Posted on 1/28/20 at 10:42 am to GatorReb
quote:
So we bought one already. We bought the $1250 one. But its sitting there unopened and im having buyers regret over if i should have upgraded to the Fusion drive. Or now wondering if i should pick the one up from the Cert Refurb site that has the SSD.
I had an iMac with an HDD (like 2015/16 maybe) that became unusable at work by like 2018. It was just painful.
I'm not trying to make life difficult for you, but I'd go fusion at absolute minimum and HDD under no circumstances. The fusion I have at work is certainly better than the HDD, but it's already antiquated.
The Mac Mini we got for the house only has only a 256 SSD, but I use various external SSDs to run my photography stuff and it's a piece of cake. Basically, I'd strongly encourage you to forget "space" and get an SSD no matter how small. If you're concerned with it, sub-200 dollar 1TB external SSDs are like the size of a post it note and will be far more enjoyable to use than any HDD or Fusion drive.
Posted on 1/28/20 at 11:01 am to Pettifogger
quote:
wife wanted an iMac but I eventually convinced her to get a Mac Mini and a great display instead
Is the Mac Mini the identical thing to an iMac just with no display?
Posted on 1/28/20 at 11:19 am to GatorReb
I mean, no, because an iMac is an all in one.
Mac Mini is like an iTX build, or modern NUC.
Mac Mini is like an iTX build, or modern NUC.
Posted on 1/28/20 at 11:20 am to GatorReb
How much they charging you to upgrade to an SSD? I imagine it's not even nVME.
Posted on 1/28/20 at 11:26 am to LSU Coyote
Upgrading to a SSD is $200. Or like $180 with teacher discount. Not break the bank obviously. But my wife has saved up X amount of cash and isn’t going over. Also was just curious if upgraded was needed/ worth the money.
I don’t want her to come running to me in 1.5 years complaining about it being slow.
I don’t want her to come running to me in 1.5 years complaining about it being slow.
Posted on 1/28/20 at 11:33 am to GatorReb
quote:
Upgrading to a SSD is $200
That is like an 80% markup (actually maybe 120%), esp if just 256 or 500GB SATA.
But, I wouldn't buy a PC without u less I could easily access to change, which this is not the case.
That $180 is worth every penny. I can't tell you how dumb of a purchase any Apple product is outside of phones.
This post was edited on 1/28/20 at 11:36 am
Posted on 1/28/20 at 11:36 am to GatorReb
quote:
I don’t want her to come running to me in 1.5 years complaining about it being slow.
This is going to happen. If you don’t feel comfortable taking it apart, you can buy a crucial 500GB SSD, and external enclosure for it, and some Velcro and plug that in and attach it to the back of the screen. Start the iMac in recovery mode, format the drive, and make it the boot disk. Walah, your problem is solved for $100.
It’s ghetto, but it works (I did this for my wife’s
)Posted on 1/28/20 at 11:37 am to LSU Coyote
quote:
That $180 is worth every penny. I can't tell you how dumb of a purchase any Apple product is outside of phones.
This is ignorant. There are many use cases where macOS is superior or more convenient than windows. You can’t just compare the cost of hardware.
Posted on 1/28/20 at 11:37 am to tlsu15
quote:
If you don’t feel comfortable taking it apart, you can buy a crucial 500GB SSD, and external enclosure for it, and some Velcro and plug that in and attach it to the back of the screen. Start the iMac in recovery mode, format the drive, and make it the boot disk. Walah, your problem is solved for $100
Not if you need to buy a Thunderbolt enclosure.
If not, you are dealing with terrible USB 3.1 speeds with access latency.
This post was edited on 1/28/20 at 11:38 am
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