Updated 27" Retina 5K iMac

Melodeath

Melodeath

Moonbow
Feb 6, 2004
3,045
2
38
Northern VA
Didn't see a thread yet, but Apple updated the Retina iMac today. I had been eyeing the first-generation 5k iMac for production since it came out, but never pulled the trigger. Eventually, I decided I might as well wait until they update it before I buy (and replace my 2010 MBP), and now they have. I was hoping with Skylake they'd bring Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C, but oh well...typical Apple.

Any thoughts on this machine? The 21.5" is now 4k, but pretty terrible value. I'm wondering if the new 5K is also horrible value and I'm just blind with lust

I would be ordering the 4.0 GHz i7 and upgrading to the 512 SSD most likely. Probably also the better video card, just for longevity's sake
 
I have the 5K IMac. I haven't read up on the new version, but I can tell you that mine has been great. I'm amazingly very happy with it. I switched over to Mac and Thunderbolt 2 when console 2 was announced for UAD Apollo Thunderbolt only. I'm not looking to move to a different machine anytime soon. It's been flawless for me.
 
Yeah I was also considering upgrading to the Apollo 8p with Thunderbolt, but now we're looking at a $6k investment witht he iMac, so I don't know about all that haha

The updated Retina is basically more efficient CPU (Skylake over Haswell), better GPU (in theory. I dont think anyone really knows what the 395 is), twice as fast SSD (putting it on par with the MBPs) and even better screen. Not a huge update, but nice
 
I am so, SO glad I built a PC instead of waiting for these to come out. OS X is awesome, the monitors are great, etc.- and I would buy one if I had money to blow- but dollar-for-dollar it doesn't hold up, and that's even more true with the new ones.
 
I opted for a Hack this time (having previously owned a 2010 27" iMac) as the price difference was so huge and the upgradeability I had was also large. Touch wood, no problems and plenty of cash left over for a couple of other nice toys :)

I too was blind with lust until I spec'd up.
 
A Hackintosh is certainly tempting price-wise, but if the thunderbolt was flaky at all with an Apollo, then it wouldn't be worth it to me. Or if any of the iOS integrations into OS X (like iMessage or Hand-Off) didn't work that would be a bummer to me
 
I can't get iMessage to work on my Hack at all, been through tons of installs and troubleshooting and it's just purely fucked.

The new iMac looks gorgeous. if you can swing it, it will serve you well and be a joy to work on for many many years to come.
 
JeffTD said:
I can't get iMessage to work on my Hack at all, been through tons of installs and troubleshooting and it's just purely fucked.

The new iMac looks gorgeous. if you can swing it, it will serve you well and be a joy to work on for many many years to come.
Click to expand...

Technically, I can swing it; it's more that sinking feeling that I'm getting ripped off that's bothering me haha
 
I get a sinking feeling every time Apple releases a new OS update and I have to reformat my entire system to get it to work halfway decently. Hackintoshes are great, but they are not the be-all-end-all.

I'm at a point where I'd rather spend the extra and have the ease of mind, to be honest. My next computer will be proper Apple hardware and I'll be bummed for short bit time it takes for the work I do on the machine to pay for the difference.
 
JeffTD said:
I get a sinking feeling every time Apple releases a new OS update and I have to reformat my entire system to get it to work halfway decently. Hackintoshes are great, but they are not the be-all-end-all.

I'm at a point where I'd rather spend the extra and have the ease of mind, to be honest. My next computer will be proper Apple hardware and I'll be bummed for short bit time it takes for the work I do on the machine to pay for the difference.
Click to expand...

Very good points. Although, I'm still on 10.6.8, so I haven't done a software update in 4-5 years on a legit mac haha
 
Hackintosh are pretty good and it can take a bit of messing around to get it working. I was lucky with mine, I seem to recall Jeff saying he had a couple of issues. I pretty much copied someone else's build and it worked.

My iMac is still going strong. A mate of mine bought it. Still had a good value on it despite it being 5 years old. Apple holds it's price really well, which you can then put towards your next computer.
 
I have the 5k iMac and love it. Massively less fatiguing to stare at all day and silly powerful.

Unless you're at the upper echelons of the audio world, you don't need Thunderbolt 3.
 
A decked out iMac runs 2.5-3k. If you're not making that back in 2-3 months then you probably aren't making enough to warrant the purchase in the first place. In the grand scheme of audio computers are cheap.
 
JeffTD said:
A decked out iMac runs 2.5-3k. If you're not making that back in 2-3 months then you probably aren't making enough to warrant the purchase in the first place. In the grand scheme of audio computers are cheap.
Click to expand...

Well mac always felt ridiculously expensive, very nice monitors but they really charge allot for the CPU etc?
 
Totally, not gonna argue that point. I'm also not suggesting that paying extra when you don't need to, even if you can easily make the money back, is a good idea - I just believe that if you're doing the work necessary to warrant a machine of that caliber, the cost becomes negligible.

Are people going to want/pay for machines they don't necessarily need or can justify based on what the work they'll do on that machine will bring in? Absolutely, and then it makes sense for them to look into cheaper alternatives, but that also comes with an admission of "I don't really need this exact computer."
 
Looks lovely. Just curious Matt-Steele, have you ever tried bootcamp on the 5k, and ran any games? I know the 5k isn't a gaming machine, but it sure would be nice if I could run some games in Windows on it instead of building a separate rig
 
Melodeath said:
Looks lovely. Just curious Matt-Steele, have you ever tried bootcamp on the 5k, and ran any games? I know the 5k isn't a gaming machine, but it sure would be nice if I could run some games in Windows on it instead of building a separate rig
Click to expand...

Thanks Melodeath, sorry I haven't. This Mac is for audio only. I have two other pretty serious PCs that I game on and a Surface Pro 3. Sadly, I've been spending a lot of my extra time on the PS4 in Destiny the Taken King. :( No PC version.

If you're going to try gaming on this, just realize you'll probably have to game with scaling. This resolution is not meant for gaming. It is a beautiful screen though! Good luck to you!
 
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