iMac with Retina Display
- Thread starter mperdue
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I ordered mine on World AIDS Day (a.k.a. Cyber Monday) but it won't be here until the Holidays. I've had my Mac Pro 1.1 for almost eight years and I would use it for another 2-3 years except it can't go further than OS X Lion. We get a discount through work so that helps lessen the sting of this purchase.
I played with the base iMac Retina 5K at our Apple Store and downloaded the 4K Solar YouTube video. It looked awesome! I tried dragging large windows around the screen to see if there were any issues moving that much data around the screen and it didn't miss a beat. I think this is the only way (in 2014) to have an honest-to-goodness 5K display is to integrate the GPU with the display drivers. Current DisplayPort and HDMI cables don't have the bandwidth. Maybe in a few years it won't be a big deal, but I need a replacement Mac now and this seems like the way to maximize this Mac's life expectancy.
Besides, I heard Don was in the market for another 4K 3D camera and needs his Apple stock to go up a few more points...
I played with the base iMac Retina 5K at our Apple Store and downloaded the 4K Solar YouTube video. It looked awesome! I tried dragging large windows around the screen to see if there were any issues moving that much data around the screen and it didn't miss a beat. I think this is the only way (in 2014) to have an honest-to-goodness 5K display is to integrate the GPU with the display drivers. Current DisplayPort and HDMI cables don't have the bandwidth. Maybe in a few years it won't be a big deal, but I need a replacement Mac now and this seems like the way to maximize this Mac's life expectancy.
Besides, I heard Don was in the market for another 4K 3D camera and needs his Apple stock to go up a few more points...
If I could afford the 5k imac I would. I'm thinking of building a Mac clone with a beefy video card and get a 4k monitor.
I was looking at a Refurbished Mac Pro but by the time I had it up to spec with the iMac I was past the price point of the new iMac. Plus the refresh rate wouldn't be anywhere close to 60+ Hz.
I saw one of the new 5K iMacs in person over the weekend. It's a beautiful screen, but the price is hard to justify.
Having used a Mac for 4 years I have no trouble justifying the cost. I'll never go back to using a Windows PC.
I just replaced my 2009 vintage 27" iMac with a new one. I couldn't justify to myself the retina model. I don't do anything on my Mac that would use that high resolution. I instead opted for the Fusion drive and an upgraded processor. Speed demon.
I chose to go with the retina display because I do a lot of photography.
My Configuration...
My Configuration...
- 4.0GHz QC i7 Turboboost 4.4GHz
- 32GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM-4X8GB
- 3TB Fusion Dr (3TB+128GBFlash)
- AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2GB GDDR5
I'm having mine sent to the Apple store since no one is normally here to sign. Also, I wasn't sure when it would arrive with it coming during Christmas week so it seemed like the best option.
mperdue, I opted for the i7, but left the RAM and drive at default. I had bought a LaCie 3 TB Thunderbolt drive last Black Friday from Apple (got one of the Apple gift cards that went against the iMac's total price) so I would have enough room for videos and photos. I had been planning to get a new Mac for the last year, but it never happened. RAM is upgradable, and iFixit as well as OWC sell kits to allow replacing the internal hard drive, but not until the warranty and Apple Care are history.
The other "splurge" I made was in the GPU. I tried to read as many articles as I could to get an idea how the two GPUs compared to each other, but the only arguments I found were some reports of occasional stuttering on the stock graphics, which could easily be explained by a Yosemite issue instead of a GPU issue.
BTW, the one thing that helped push me toward the 5K Retina iMac was the dual Thunderbolt 2 (20 Gbps) ports. The refurbished iMac with the 3.7 GHz i7 I had my eye on is the 2013 model which is equipped with dual Thunderbolt (10 Gbps). I hadn't seen that mentioned in too may reviews, probably because there still aren't that many peripherals that take advantage of it.
Also, I'll be curious if our iMacs are Made (Assembled) in the USA. I thought I heard somewhere that they are. When you get yours, check the labeling.
mperdue, I opted for the i7, but left the RAM and drive at default. I had bought a LaCie 3 TB Thunderbolt drive last Black Friday from Apple (got one of the Apple gift cards that went against the iMac's total price) so I would have enough room for videos and photos. I had been planning to get a new Mac for the last year, but it never happened. RAM is upgradable, and iFixit as well as OWC sell kits to allow replacing the internal hard drive, but not until the warranty and Apple Care are history.
The other "splurge" I made was in the GPU. I tried to read as many articles as I could to get an idea how the two GPUs compared to each other, but the only arguments I found were some reports of occasional stuttering on the stock graphics, which could easily be explained by a Yosemite issue instead of a GPU issue.
BTW, the one thing that helped push me toward the 5K Retina iMac was the dual Thunderbolt 2 (20 Gbps) ports. The refurbished iMac with the 3.7 GHz i7 I had my eye on is the 2013 model which is equipped with dual Thunderbolt (10 Gbps). I hadn't seen that mentioned in too may reviews, probably because there still aren't that many peripherals that take advantage of it.
Also, I'll be curious if our iMacs are Made (Assembled) in the USA. I thought I heard somewhere that they are. When you get yours, check the labeling.
Hmmm, that now makes me wonder if the custom configuration iMacs are from overseas while some of the base models in the stores may be domestic. Or, is it a case of a random luck of the draw, like buying a Toyota Camry where most are made in Kentucky, but some are from Indiana and the rest are from Japan.
I guess we'll both find out soon!
I ordered mine online with the Fusion drive upgrade. It was shipped to my local Apple store in about 5 days. No idea if it came off the shelf or if the drive was swapped in. I'd guess the Fusion upgrade is common enough to keep some in stock.
I wonder what they're waiting for? Or maybe it's on the proverbial slow boat from China?
I haven't received any update e-mail, but I just logged into my Apple account and see they have moved the pick-up date another week!
By this time next week we should both be staring into the 5K goodness of our new iMacs! Oh, and this couldn't come a moment too soon: When I logged into my YouTube account, they said my version of Safari wasn't supported anymore. Well, I'd love to run a more modern version, but, well, you know... OS X 10.7 didn't get the new versions of Safari this week.
They're quoting a Wednesday delivery but it's still sitting in Shanghai. I'm looking forward to seeing whit it will do when it gets here. It should be considerably faster than my current iMac.
