Quote:
Originally Posted by Table 5
So I need to get a new 27" iMac for work. I'm looking at getting a refurbished 2019, but even so these things are getting pretty pricey...so I'm finding myself needing to make some compromises to keep the cost relatively reasonable, but not sure what elements makes the most sense to put focus on.
Out of processor speed, RAM, or harddrive type, what's the best bang for your buck? Alternatively, if you had to compromise on one, what would it be?
The things I'm trying to decide on:
Processor Speed (3.1GHz 6-core 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor vs 3.6GHz 8-core Intel Core i9)
RAM (Need at least 32GB, was hoping for 64)
SSD vs Fusion (1TB SSD vs 2-3TB Fusion)
Context: I'm a graphic designer, so use lots of Adobe Creative Suite apps, often at the same time. However I don't really do any 3D/Animation/Video.
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That i5 is a big performer for a coffee lake but that i9..... it’sa complete monster of a CPU. If you are doing video editing the CPU could be well worth it. I would personally go with the 1TB NVMe and then get external supplemental drives as storage doesn’t need to be much faster than USB 3 or fire in my opinion. Fusion drives are still mechanical, and Once you hit the HDD it will suck. In all fairness however I believe the 3TB drive has 128Gb of SSD support and MacOS is very good at managing files so there is a decent chance that your apps never make it to the HDD and stay in the SSD
For Ram The iMAC can be upgraded on your own for about 40% of the cost Apple charges and can have more than 64 even though they say it cannot. I personally know 2 who have 128 and I have 64 in mine. Have I ever utilized more than 40% of that? Once and that was when I was transcoding 2 x 4K UHD files; and even then I was at about 55% ish.
So pretty much all I’m saying is get the i9 CPU, do the ram yourself and decide on the drives dependant on what you are storing and your app suite installs.