Hello! Buying a new 27 iMac in a couple days. What’s the perfect setup?
I am a web designer. So I do dreamweaver and photoshop. Mess with pictures and vids. Nothing to heavy. But I have had a windows XP for the last 12 years. I have probably wasted 1000 hours staring at my slow computer over the years. So I would like to make up for lost time. Therefore speed is of the upmost importance for me. And who knows, once I’m not limited to a slow machine I might start playing with heavier applications or playing a game or two.
I just bought a 15 inch Macbook decked out. But after much deliberation I returned it and am now getting a iMac instead. In the end I just didn’t need the portability. I have a ipad and iPhone for that. And Remote Desktop apps being what there are I can just use that if I have to code while I’m out and about.
So! What’s the best setup considering the available options while checking out? I will tell you what I am leaning towards and you please tell me if you would add or subtract anything? Thanks! I am leaning towards the following upgrades…
i7 chip ($200 upgrade)
16G ram ($200 upgrade)
512 SSD flash memory ($500 upgrade)
2G video card (free standard option - $150 for 4G card)
Magic Mouse (free standard option - too used to a mouse)
So I guess my main two questions are about the 512 SSD and the 2G video card. I will put everything large on an external drive. I will also be running VMware or bootcamp. So while 512 might be overkill today it may not be in 5 years. And do you think the 4G card is worth getting? Even if it’s over kill I want the fastest machine but while attempting to stay in budget. So I can’t max out every option. But I would like to max out the options that matter most when it comes to speed. SPEED IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR FOR ME. I plan on keeping this machine probably as long as I kept my XP (aka 12 years). Thanks for reading and your thoughts!
Ps… I am aware of the fusion drive. But I have watched every speed test the web has to offer and from what I see strait ssd drive is much faster overall compared to the fusion drive. I am also aware you can upgrade the ram yourself. However if you stick with the 8G of ram from apple they come in 4G sticks so if you wanted to upgrade to 32G you’d have to throw out the apple 4Gs anyway. So a modest upgrade to 16G of ram is the way to go. Then later if you want to upgrade to 32 then you just buy two more 8G sticks.
Bought it! Said screw it and went all out. First computer I have ever bought. My xp was given to me 15 or so years ago. I know everyone just says you’ll upgrade in a few years but I probably won’t. This will prob hold me for 10 years. If my xp did I see no reason this won’t. With the options I got I pretty much have one of the fastest computers made with read at write speeds both around 700. Even early 2013 iMacs were only getting around 300 read/write speeds. I think it was the PCI flash that made the 100% speed improvement.
27-inch iMac
$3,118.00 + tax
With the following configuration:
• 3.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
• 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X8GB
• 512GB Flash Storage
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5
• Apple Magic Mouse + Magic Trackpad
• Apple Wireless Keyboard
I bought my 27" imac exactly four years ago this week and its worked faultlessly and still feels like its brand new. It seems that they have come down a little bit in price as I paid £2200 for mine back then.
PROCESSOR2.8GHZ QUAD-CORE INTEL CORE I7
MEMORY8GB 1066MHZ DDR3 SDRAM - 4X2GB
HARD DRIVE 1TB SERIAL ATA DRIVE
GRAPHICS ATI RADEON HD 4850 512MB
OPTICAL DRIVE8X DOUBLE-LAYER SUPERDRIVE
MOUSE APPLE MAGIC MOUSE-Z
I’m still mainly a PC user though as I still struggle with the apple keyboard and mouse and the fact that you have to go to the top of the screen every time you interact with the application rather than the top of the application itself as with a PC. Those are just minor niggles but the machine itself is great and unlike the PC virtually never crashes.
I used to run parallels on it and had a couple of windows versions running on it also which was great for checking IE but I need to upgrade parallels to the new version to get then running on Mavericks.
Thanks Paul happy New Years That bugs me too about having to go to the top. I thought I came across the setting to always keep the bar visually there somewhere but couldn’t find it again. Because having to go to the top and having to wait until the mouse activates the top bar to drop down is a pain.
I’m pretty excited. Will be at my door in about 10 days. As a comparison my xp took a painful 1 minute and 30 seconds to boot up. Then another minute to be able to work with programs without delay. Watching other demos with similar setups the imac boot time is 12 SECONDS!!! And if I wanted for ***** and giggles I could open 50 programs in 5 seconds flat at boot up.
As long as my brother gets final approval from his boss him and I are going into the property management biz together very soon. I need his license. So that will give me a good year or two of hard work for my new iMac to get up and running smoothly. Looking forward to it as it’s always nice to have something to occupy my mind for awhile. Boredom does not suit me.
