Official Retina 5k iMac Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Definitely on my radar.....not just yet.

I own the latest (I believe 2012) 27" iMac with improved display.

Would love to upgrade today, but the way I have it spec'd out, it would cost me about $4k.

That is with a 1TB Flash drive, 16GB memory (which I would buy an additional 16GB from Crucial), best CPU and Graphic selection.

In all, it would be a totally maxxed out iMac.

Just need to buy first....

iPad Air 2 (ordered)
12" Retina Macbook Air (January/February)
Apple Watch (February)

So, those are my priorities before upgrading to the Retina iMac.

Interested to see if anyone on this forum is deciding to upgrade sooner.

 

[DaveF]

I bought a 27" iMac last year, so the Retina iMac is a few years out. And given how 1st gen Retina hardware has been underpowered in past products, waiting for the inevitable speed bump is prudent.

(I'm a bit more interested in the mac mini, as a replacement for my 24" iMac (2.9GHz core 2 duo). But I don't understand the mini's pricing and performance.)

 

[Simon Massey]

On the fence a bit. Decided I don't want the iPhone 6 as I like being able to use my phone in one hand. Cant see the point in upgrading my iPAD Air to the Air 2 as the first Air is already great and I can probably wait until the next cycle. Which leaves the iMac

I would like to have that screen but its pretty costly to get what I want. Im thinking I may stay out of this cycle and wait for the next round in a couple of years. First time I have not bought something in an Apple cycle

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dave brings up a good point.

I think waiting for another year until Apple does a speed bump on that
model would probably be the best thing to do.

 

[DaveF]

Dave brings up a good point.

I think waiting for another year until Apple does a speed bump on that
model would probably be the best thing to do.

Minimally wait for reviews. This might not be the iPad 3 of iMacs, but I say let someone else spend the $2500+ to find out

 

[Carlo_M]

Mine would be $3200+tax Ron, with the academic discount (max CPU, max GPU, 512GB SSD, Applecare). Very steep indeed.

Meanwhile using Yosemite I posted in that thread that I want all my Apple devices to have retina since Yosemite and iOS 8 (and later) are optimized for retina displays. So that means I will need to eventually upgrade my 2010 MBP.

By the time I get my finances up for the 5K iMac, Intel might get their act in gear for Broadwell, which is supposed to also bring out a much better GPU on the chipset for the 2015 rMBP refresh. And of course AMD or nVidia will also have better video cards--I always max out my MBP purchases to get the best CPU and discrete GPU, but I also want a better Intel GPU so when the rMBP is on battery savings mode, the onboard GPU will still perform relatively well.

Unless I have a financial windfall, I only have enough money for either a maxed out 2014 5K iMac or a 2015 maxed out rMBP.

I will say that in pre-2010, there was a significant power difference between a laptop and desktop for me and my needs. There were many times I would stop using my 2006 MBP and go to my 2006 WIntel desktop that I built, because I needed the horsepower. I've noticed that with my 2010 MBP, especially once I put in my 1TB SSD, it's been plenty powerful for me and all of my needs, including video, photo and music editing. It could always be a little faster, but overall it's worked like a champ even though it's now 4 years old.

I'm thinking that perhaps I don't need a laptop+desktop anymore. And a, rMBP has something that an iMac will never have: portability. Shoot. How anticlimactic. I think I just talked myself out of a 5K iMac and into a 2015 rMBP.

Unless I get a fat holiday bonus. And then I'll buy both.

 

[Ted Todorov]

I've owned many different kinds of Macs since 1984 when I got 128k original Mac in March. But never an iMac...

My 2009 MacPro is still going strong. There are now 6TB internal drives, so that beast has the potential of 27TB (!!) of internal space: (4 6TB HDs plus 3 1TB PCIe SSDs)...

 

[Sam Posten]

I'm out on this first gen, but will save pennies for the spec bump version!

 

[Johnny Angell]

Lots of fence straddling her. I figure $5K must come out of your mad money accounts. I got the 21" ( or the one down from the 27") screen 2-3 years ago and have always regretted it. Next time I get an iMac, it'll be the bigger screen. Don't know when that'll be.

 

[DaveF]

Lots of fence straddling her. I figure $5K must come out of your mad money accounts. I got the 21" ( or the one down from the 27") screen 2-3 years ago and have always regretted it. Next time I get an iMac, it'll be the bigger screen. Don't know when that'll be.

Would you be interested in a well-loved 24" iMac used only by a little old lady on Sundays? The funds would be used to give a poor neglected Mac mini a new home...

 

[Sam Posten]

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/21/high-end-retina-imac-benchmark/

 

[Ronald Epstein]

You have no idea how close I am to pulling the plug on buying this.

I am waiting to see a price on a Dolby Atmos receiver. If it's more than
what I was willing to pay, I will put the money towards the 5k iMac.

I don't know if I can wait a year for a spec bump.

 

[Sam Posten]

I definitely can. Too many other priorities including Atmos upgrades here too.

 

[DaveF]

The iMac will drive millions of pixels. Some puny Atmos receiver will only drive nine, maybe eleven, speakers. How is this even a question?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

You are right, Dave.

Atmos isn't a high priority on my list right now. I don't even know if it will ever be.

I just have the opportunity to get a great deal on an Atmos receiver and front firing
modules which is the only thing that is deterring me from a 5k iMac purchase.

Will see how this plays out over the next few days.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Gazelle will give me $995 for my current iMac. Shipping it to them will be
ultra expensive, though.

EDIT: Gazelle pays for shipping. WOW!

So, I am almost at $1k off towards a 5k iMac.

I am pricing it out right now.

I have it completely loaded in its configuration, including 32GB ram and
a 1TB SSD drive.

The only option I have not maxed out on is the graphics card.

It comes with a AMD Radeon R9 2GB card

For an extra $250 I can double that to 4GB

Question is, do I need it? The only graphics work I do is some
small image resizing in Photoshop.

Would like to hear opinions on the graphics card option.

[*]
[/list]

 

[Carlo_M]

Ron - my mentality is always to go higher on the GPU. I would think it's especially important when now trying to drive 5 million pixels, something that Apple has not done before (along with most other commercial computer companies). It will add 1-2 years of effective life to your computer.

However, in the years I've known you, you tend refresh your computers much faster than I do, so if this iMac is really going to last you 3 years, the stock GPU may be sufficient given your needs. If/when I buy mine, I will definitely be getting the upgraded GPU.

In fact, check out barefeats.com new benchmarks of a 5K iMac with the upgraded R295x GPU and 4.0GHz CPU. This is definitely the one I will be getting (with the 512GB flash memory option).

They say in the coming days they'll benchmark the 3.5GHz+R290 version, so if you have a little patience you can compare the two likely by the weekend, or early next week.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Carlo,

I really thank you for your detailed explanation. What you say makes perfect sense.

I am saving almost $200 by considering to go with 8GB memory and order 32GB of
Crucial memory from BH Photo.

That's what a lot of people on Macrumors are doing.

So, money saved is money towards a better GPU.

I am going to sit down, crunch the numbers, and see if I can afford to purchase
this iMac today.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I took a brief look at this iMac on apples web site. I could find no mention of an optical disc. Surely there's gotta be one. Also, the media card is on the back of the monitor and not the side? That would be very inconvenient.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Ron, is it cheaper to go with BH instead of buying directly from Crucial?