27-inch iMac

roccles · 18 Aug 2019 at 19:41

My wife want to buy a new iMac for her business. She is a designer so mainly using inDesign, Photoshop and illustrator. She wants the 27 inch version and I can see that there is a

3.0GHz 6-Core Processor with Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz with Radeon Pro 570X for £1749

or a

3.1GHz 6-Core Processor with Turbo Boost up to 4.3GHz with Radeon Pro 575X for £1949

We are not sure which one to go for. Is the better graphics card mainly for video editing and gaming?

I would be looking to upgrade RAM myself after purchase which ever model we go for.

What would you guys suggest?

Thanks

bloodiedathame · 18 Aug 2019 at 19:45

There's really very little in it between the two. An unnoticeable difference day to day in those apps.

roccles · 18 Aug 2019 at 22:31

bloodiedathame said:
There's really very little in it between the two. An unnoticeable difference day to day in those apps.

Brilliant thank you, i think we will save the extra couple of hundred and use that to increase the RAM.

LiE · 19 Aug 2019 at 14:39

roccles said:
Brilliant thank you, i think we will save the extra couple of hundred and use that to increase the RAM.

I'd use the extra funds to get the AppleCare for peace of mind.

Steveocee · 19 Aug 2019 at 15:44

roccles said:
Brilliant thank you, i think we will save the extra couple of hundred and use that to increase the RAM.

Double check the RAM is user upgrade-able as I didn't think it was.

pcfarrar · 19 Aug 2019 at 15:46

Steveocee said:
Double check the RAM is user upgrade-able as I didn't think it was.

I bought a 27" 5K model at work recently and just upgraded it with crucial RAM there's a compartment on the back.

Steveocee · 19 Aug 2019 at 15:47

pcfarrar said:
I bought a 27" 5K model at work recently and just upgraded it with crucial RAM there's a compartment on the back.

I must be thinking of an older model then.

Feek · 19 Aug 2019 at 15:48

I think the smaller model isn't user upgradeable.

pcfarrar · 19 Aug 2019 at 15:50

Feek said:
I think the smaller model isn't user upgradeable.

Yes not since 2011 have you been able to easily upgrade the 21.5" models.

b0rn2sk8 · 22 Aug 2019 at 08:29

Internal storage is where I’d spend the extra cash, while it’s ‘upgradeable’ after the fact it’s really isn’t. If you are really competent it can be done but it involves taking the screen off and is rather difficult, there is a huge risk of breaking it. You can also say goodbye to any warranty.

Terminal_Boy · 22 Aug 2019 at 08:36

RAM can be upgraded by normal humans, SSD/HDD not so much.

As the poster above pointed out, there are many ways to mess up your expensive iMac trying this.

Options are:

1. Embrace the wallet pain of paying 3-4 times what storage would cost on a PC to future proof it.

2. Investigate external SATA options.

pcfarrar · 22 Aug 2019 at 08:46

Terminal_Boy said:
2. Investigate external SATA options.

If you want to boot from one you have to use external thunderbolt SSD's as Mojave doesn't support TRIM on anything USB connected. It's a massive pain and your far better off paying Apple for the additional storage from day one like you say.

bloodiedathame · 22 Aug 2019 at 12:53

Don't waste cash on internal storage just get some external drives like Samsung T5s. They're amazing.