Need a new iMac for Post-processing, only.

[Tord S Eriksson]

Tord,

If you buy a new one, stay away from the bottom-end machine. It's really not all that impressive, and it's definitely well below the performance of the machines that aren't priced TOO much more.

Concur. The low-end 21.5-inch machine is what I call a "price-point machine", one from which too much functionality has been stripped, relative to the next step up.

The low-end 21.5-inch machine

• Has only two cores – unlike other iMacs, which have four.
• Does not have a Retina Display or a wide-gamut (DCI-P3) display.
• Does not have a discrete GPU.

I would suggest looking for a machine with a Retina Display, and either a Fusion Drive or a SSD. The 27-inch models are the best value, but even if one took the middle 21.5-inch one and custom-upgraded to a 1 TB Fusion Drive, the improvements (better CPU, Retina Display, discrete GPU, Fusion Drive) would be well worth the $300 extra (over the base price of the "price point" model).

I ordered the highest specced 21.5" iMac I could find at Apple.se (roughly the same specs as their low end 27" I also checked out), and ordered it with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD.

Hope it will work out as planned ;-)!

--
Tord_2 (at) photographer (dot) net
Mostly Nikon V1, V2, J5, & D600, user

 

[mostlylost]

I ordered the highest specced 21.5" iMac I could find at Apple.se (roughly the same specs as their low end 27" I also checked out), and ordered it with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD.

Personally, I think you selected a fine system well suited to the projected uses.

 

[Biallystock]

In Australia you have several non-Apple retailers who regularly discount and JB HiFi gives you an extra 1 year warranty on top of the Apple warranty for purchases over $500.

You do not have to go to the expense of OWC RAM. MSY sells Mac RAM much cheaper and without the over the top freight charges, delays and and almost non-existent foreign support of OWC.

I don't know if you have been into the Refurbished section of the Apple Store lately but there are now virtually no refurbished desktop units there and often when there is a change over of models, the refurbished models can be unjustifiably more than a new one.

 

[Biallystock]

The price you paid is too high for a non-Retina small screen.

This is the order in which I look at purchases:

1. Screen - Size and Quality

2. Price

3. Graphics Card

RAM and Hard Drive are things you can add/upgrade yourself much cheaper as you wish. As are most other hardware features on a Mac. Just about everything can be attached as a peripheral now. That is what makes Macs different to PCs. PC owners obsess about putting everything in one case, Mac owners use externals. If they really necessary.

The Apple 1Tb SSD drive is so expensive, and gives so little benefit it is easily knocked off the list. For that money you could have got a high performance and expandable external Thunderbolt array.

 

[Tom_N]

The price you paid is too high for a non-Retina small screen.

I ordered the highest specced 21.5" iMac I could find at Apple.se (roughly the same specs as their low end 27" I also checked out), and ordered it with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD.

Assuming that this is a 2017 iMac, that implies that it has a Retina 4K screen.

 

[Biallystock]

Ah, you are right, hadn't checked, they used to be non-retina.

Still it is a smaller screen and size matters!

 

[Tord S Eriksson]

The price you paid is too high for a non-Retina small screen.

I ordered the highest specced 21.5" iMac I could find at Apple.se (roughly the same specs as their low end 27" I also checked out), and ordered it with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD.

Assuming that this is a 2017 iMac, that implies that it has a Retina 4K screen.

Correct! A big step up from my early 2009 iMac!

 

[greenmanphoto]

In Australia you have several non-Apple retailers who regularly discount and JB HiFi gives you an extra 1 year warranty on top of the Apple warranty for purchases over $500.

You do not have to go to the expense of OWC RAM. MSY sells Mac RAM much cheaper and without the over the top freight charges, delays and and almost non-existent foreign support of OWC.

I don't know if you have been into the Refurbished section of the Apple Store lately but there are now virtually no refurbished desktop units there and often when there is a change over of models, the refurbished models can be unjustifiably more than a new one.

Biallystock,

I'm actually in the US, but am currently visiting Australia. I'll be returning to the US on the 7th of August, where my new iMac should be waiting for me. I've already received the RAM from OWC, and it will be installed as soon as I get there and get the computer.

Thanks for the info, though! Good to know if we end up moving here, as my wife desperately wants to do.

Sam

 

[Biallystock]

Good to know if we end up moving here, as my wife desperately wants to do.

Sam

You could do worse!

 

[Tord S Eriksson]

The iMac arrived today, and it is fantastically faster than the old one!

Most things work as I hoped they would, but I have not yet transferred all my images across!

Thanks all for input and thoughts,