2012 Ultra Thin iMac refresh buyers and owners thread (1 Viewer)

[Carlo_M]

Sage advice Sam, will do. Realistically, due to certain recent purchases (and I think you know which one) I won't be in the market until probably January 2014, which should give more than enough time for the Mac Pro to come out and for reviews and benchmarks to come out.

Also, a bit disappointed about lack of Thunderbolt 2 on the new iMac. I know the specs on TB1 are lightning fast, so maybe this is an unnecessary worry. But the trade off I'm doing with either the new iMac or Mac Pro will be to move media I'm working on to external storage (I can't afford 1TB SSD prices). But large RAW files, for which I'll have to do batch tasks to, and large music files always play nicer with faster throughput so I was hoping for TB2. I know most externals are only TB1 but it would have been nice to know that I could take advantage of TB2 external HDs when they eventually come out.

 

[Sam Posten]

Yeah, I can definitely see that being a marquee feature of the new Mac Pro and something that will trickle to the iMac in 2014.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

Glad I ordered my maxed out 27-inch iMac a month ago.

 

[Johnny Angell]

What does "Refresh" mean?

 

[Sam Posten]

New CPUs and disk choices, no physical changes to the form factor. Last year was totally new hardware, this year just a refresh, hopefully all new hardware with a retina 4k display in 2014. Hoping anyway, no real rumors to that effect!

 

[Johnny Angell]

Thanks, Sam.

 

[DaveF]

Did the 21" iMac get refreshed this last go around? May be buying my wife a new iMac and she likes the 21" over 27". How does the Fusion Drive compare to SSD in daily use? That's much more economical. I think reviews were positive about it.

 

[DaveF]

Aha, iMac RAM is no longer user upgradable! That affects a possible purchase. What's faster, 2.9 GHz i5 or 2.3 GHz i7? ( wondering if a mini with 3rd party monitor would be better buy than an iMac)

 

[Johnny Angell]

Aha, iMac RAM is no longer user upgradable! That affects a possible purchase. What's faster, 2.9 GHz i5 or 2.3 GHz i7? ( wondering if a mini with 3rd party monitor would be better buy than an iMac)

Well that sucks. One more way for Apple to gouge the customer for more money. So you have to take the iMac into an apple store to upgrade the memory?

 

[KeithAP]

So you have to take the iMac into an apple store to upgrade the memory?

I may be wrong but on the 21.5" iMac, the memory can't be upgraded by anyone, Apple included. You are stuck with whatever amount you get from the factory. On 27" iMac, the memory is upgradeable by the user.

Since the 27" iMac has two free memory slots, you can add 8GB (2x4GB) and bring it up to 16GB for about $100. Since it costs $200 to get the 16GB upgrade from Apple on the 21.5" at the time of purchase, this brings down the price difference between the 27 and the 21.5 by another $100 (assuming you need 16GB and are willing to do the install on the 27" yourself).

21.5 iMac, 2.9Ghz, 16GB RAM from Apple: 1,700.00
27" iMac , 3.2Ghz, 8GB RAM from Apple + 8GB from 3rd party: 1,900

Plus, the 27" iMac would have a 7,200 RPM HD (the 21.5" iMac has a 5,400 RPM drive) and a little better GPU. The other thing is with the 27" you can always just use 8GB now and decide later if you want to add more memory. With the 21.5" iMac, you have no choice, if you think you might need 16GB you have to get it at initial purchase because you can't upgrade later.

Of course, that is just one set of numbers but speaking for myself, I can't see a scenario where it makes sense to buy the 21.5" iMac unless its physical size is an issue.

-Keith

 

[Sam Posten]

Of course, that is just one set of numbers but speaking for myself, I can't see a scenario where it makes sense to buy the 21.5" iMac unless its physical size is an issue.

-Keith

I'm not clear on the numbers either but I concur in principle, there is very little reason to buy the 21.5 over the 27 at all. For a roughly 20% price differential you are getting a LOT more long term value.

 

[DaveF]

Of course, that is just one set of numbers but speaking for myself, I can't see a scenario where it makes sense to buy the 21.5" iMac unless its physical size is an issue.

-Keith

Physical size is an issue.



The 27" monitor is too big for my wife's desk and her seating position. I offered it as the first choice for next upgrade and she prefers the 21.5" monitor. (Her 24" iMac just barely fits the desk.)

 

[Johnny Angell]

I may be wrong but on the 21.5" iMac, the memory can't be upgraded by anyone, Apple included. You are stuck with whatever amount you get from the factory. On 27" iMac, the memory is upgradeable by the user.

Since the 27" iMac has two free memory slots, you can add 8GB (2x4GB) and bring it up to 16GB for about $100. Since it costs $200 to get the 16GB upgrade from Apple on the 21.5" at the time of purchase, this brings down the price difference between the 27 and the 21.5 by another $100 (assuming you need 16GB and are willing to do the install on the 27" yourself).

21.5 iMac, 2.9Ghz, 16GB RAM from Apple: 1,700.00
27" iMac , 3.2Ghz, 8GB RAM from Apple + 8GB from 3rd party: 1,900

Plus, the 27" iMac would have a 7,200 RPM HD (the 21.5" iMac has a 5,400 RPM drive) and a little better GPU. The other thing is with the 27" you can always just use 8GB now and decide later if you want to add more memory. With the 21.5" iMac, you have no choice, if you think you might need 16GB you have to get it at initial purchase because you can't upgrade later.

Of course, that is just one set of numbers but speaking for myself, I can't see a scenario where it makes sense to buy the 21.5" iMac unless its physical size is an issue.

-Keith

You're not saying 16gb is the max you can take the 27" up to are you? I've upgraded my 21" to 24gb from 8gb. I'm not sure 16gb would help that much. Surely it takes 8gb chips?

 

[KeithAP]

You're not saying 16gb is the max you can take the 27" up to are you? I've upgraded my 21" to 24gb from 8gb. I'm not sure 16gb would help that much. Surely it takes 8gb chips?

No, I was just using that as an example. Apple lets you configure it up to 32GB ($600) although other sources such as OWC are cheaper.

-Keith

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

Just had to drop of my 27-inch yesterday for repair. Display is shot. I have AppleCare, but this would have been covered under the regular 12 month warranty. I had serious banding along the lower third of the screen for a few weeks. I figured I'd get to the store and it would be like the engine knock that disappears for the garage mechanic. To my surprise, the banding reared itself as soon as they booted it up, but instead of affecting the lower third of the screen, it affected the entire lower half. Yes!! They do the repairs in store now. I did half-jokingly ask if they could replace my 1TB Fusion with a 3TB Fusion since they'd have the machine opened up. I didn't even get so much as a chuckle. Such is life. Hope to have it back by the end of the week.

 

[Sam Posten]

Bleh looks like I need to do a genius appointment, my iMac runs 24/7 and musta gone down in a power outage. On reboot I can't click on anything and get a response. Like these folks:https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6113183?tstart=0Can't boot it into disk utility either. Looks like I'm gonna have to bring my Time Machine backup with me and hope the whole disk didnt fry...

 

[DaveF]

Yikes! Hope everything can be saved!

 

[Sam Posten]

Me too, boxed up and ready to roll to DE, was headed that way tomorrow anyway for the Cabelas opening weekend fun

 

[Sam Posten]

And of course it boots perfectly here in the store, raaaaaawr

 

[DaveF]

So it's all working? At least as long as you're at the Genius Bar?