Which 2017 27 iMac

ddoubleep

ddoubleep

ddoubleep

Associate
Joined
5 May 2017
Posts
1,122
Location
London
Hi All,

I'm finalising my 27" iMac spec.

Would I be better of with the i5 or the i7?

I've read over at MacRumors that the fans and heat generated by the i7 makes it hot and noisy over any previous i7 iMac. I'd want my desktop silent as mainly would use it in the evening and late at night so considering the i5.

SSD wise I'm thinking 512 but apparently is a backlog or orders for 512 configurations.

As for GFX not sure whether to get the i5 with the 580 if don't get the i7 or just grab the base and get lots more RAM. Main use is web dev, running few VMs, Lightroom and 1080/4k video editing.

Any suggestions? I did find a reseller offering a discount and another years warranty so keen to order this week.

Thanks.
 
Whatever you do, don't pay Apple for the extra memory. For example, going from 8Gb to 32Gb will cost you over £500 from Apple but if you buy 32Gb of memory afterwards, it'll be around £350. Apple are fitting 2 x 4Gb modules so for your £350 you'll end up with 40Gb (assuming you buy 2 x 16Gb modules). That's what I'm going to do.
 
I will not be paying Apple the privilege of fitting my RAM. I would grab 32GB once further funds allow and run it 8GB for the summer.
 
I would take those "loud and noisy" reports with a pinch of salt. The only difference (roughly speaking, before I get the internet police knocking down my door at 3 am) between an i3 and an i7 is how high and fast they can go. They all idle at roughly the same speed and power consumption, so as long as you aren't doing anything that taxes the cpu constantly, you'll be fine.

I could be wrong; there could be a bug with this particular i7 config, so take my advice as general advice, not specific to this exact case.
 
Try to find out the exact intel processor models for each configuration, and look up the passmark score for each one. Passmark is a very good "real world" indication of how powerful a cpu is.
 
ddoubleep said:
Hi All,

I'm finalising my 27" iMac spec.

Would I be better of with the i5 or the i7?

I've read over at MacRumors that the fans and heat generated by the i7 makes it hot and noisy over any previous i7 iMac. I'd want my desktop silent as mainly would use it in the evening and late at night so considering the i5.

SSD wise I'm thinking 512 but apparently is a backlog or orders for 512 configurations.

As for GFX not sure whether to get the i5 with the 580 if don't get the i7 or just grab the base and get lots more RAM. Main use is web dev, running few VMs, Lightroom and 1080/4k video editing.

Any suggestions? I did find a reseller offering a discount and another years warranty so keen to order this week.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I'm getting a 27-inch iMac as well. I'll get the 256GB model, and will get a USB-c 2.5-inch enclosure and a 1TB normal SSD. I'll hide that under the desk so in the end it will look clean.

The i7 model is indeed louder than the i5 model, especially with the 580 GPU but that only matters when it's at full load. While doing simple tasks, the machine will be inaudible.
 
HACO said:
The i7 model is indeed louder than the i5 model, especially with the 580 GPU but that only matters when it's at full load. While doing simple tasks, the machine will be inaudible.
Click to expand...
I'll be interested to know whether this is from personal experience or from what you've read.
 
Feek said:
I'll be interested to know whether this is from personal experience or from what you've read.
Click to expand...

There's a thread on MacRumors where people did a lot of tests and compared the i7 and i5 with the 580 and that was pretty much the conclusion across the board.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom