Need a new iMac

[Betty LaRue]

I think I’m going to be getting a new iMac. All of the talk in the other thread made me look to see what year mine is. 2013!! I thought it would say 2017!   

I’m not idly wanting it because it’s Grey-haired now, but because it has shut down on me yesterday and again today, after working an hour.

I think it’s probably dust in the innards and is getting hot, but what do I know. I don’t know come ‘ere from sic ‘em when it comes to computer innards.

 

I’ve been sussing out new machines so first I’ll need to sell a kidney. No, I won’t have a PC. Period.

will 2 TB hard drive be enough?

I'll go with 32 GB memory

i9 processor

graphic card, do I get Radeon Pro 5300 4GB or 5500 XT 8GB GDDR6?? I don’t understand much about graphic cards other than I know the best are good for gaming machines.

 

All the talk about adding memory...one machine comes with 16GB in 2x8s, so I don’t know whether to get that and have my son-in-law add two more 8s or just get 32GB outright. He has no experience with Macs but is very good with technology as a whole. He build and flies drones from tiny ones to bigger.

Whatever, to get a beefed-up one means ordering and waiting. I think if I can manage to work 30 minutes at a time getting everything copied to hard drives, I’ll take this one in for a cleaning.

Advice welcome.

 

[MDM]

Sally is correct. According to knowledgeable rumours, a new iMac is coming very soon, based on Apple’s silicon chip. If it were me, I would wait. This will change any advice given right now. 
 

One thing to say though is that graphics cards (GPU) are not just for gaming. Photoshop and Lightroom make extensive use of the GPU nowadays. The first M1 Macs have the GPU as well as the RAM on the main chip in a completely new design, which is supposed to be totally groundbreaking, and will change any advice given right now when they release the new iMacs. 

Edited April 5, 2021 by MDM

[Ed Rooney]

I plan on buying a 16GB Mac mini when they come out. I need to trade something in so I'll wait till the Apple store reopens. 

 

Liverpool will be where the government will be testing the passport licence idea. It seems to me that I had to get several jabs back in the '60s and '70s to visit certain countries. 

[Allan Bell]

 

My late 2013 iMac is working fine and do not  plan on changing it or buying a new one.  (SIGH! I suppose it will go wrong now I have said that.)

 

Betty have you tried running the nozzle from your vacuum cleaner over the cooling openings on the bottom of your iMac. It might help if it is just dust accumulation.

 

Allan

 

[Colin Woods]

I don't know how the prices are now, but when I got my iMac (also 2013) Apple were charging an enormous premium for the extra memory. You can check online for the price of buying the extra memory from a 3rd party supplier and fitting it yourself (or your son-in-law). Adding the extra memory to a iMac is very easy so there is no need at all to pay Apple to do it for you.

[MDM]

46 minutes ago, Colin Woods said:

I don't know how the prices are now, but when I got my iMac (also 2013) Apple were charging an enormous premium for the extra memory. You can check online for the price of buying the extra memory from a 3rd party supplier and fitting it yourself (or your son-in-law). Adding the extra memory to a iMac is very easy so there is no need at all to pay Apple to do it for you.

That is still the case for the iMacs but will change when they introduce the iMacs with the new chips, as the RAM is on the chip itself. They are supposed to be far more efficient in their use of RAM as in the new M1 MacBook Pro and Air as well as the Mini but It is still wise to get a lot more RAM than you think you need as it is not upgradeable after you buy.  

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by MDM

[wiskerke]

13 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I think I’m going to be getting a new iMac. All of the talk in the other thread made me look to see what year mine is. 2013!! I thought it would say 2017!   

I’m not idly wanting it because it’s Grey-haired now, but because it has shut down on me yesterday and again today, after working an hour.

I think it’s probably dust in the innards and is getting hot, but what do I know. I don’t know come ‘ere from sic ‘em when it comes to computer innards.

 

Try to vacuum it out. Try every hole or slit you see, but start at the air intake first.

If you don't know which that is, check out google images for imac air intake: you'll recognize your own mac and it's intake.

I agree with waiting for the new ones, if only for the rebates on the older unsold ones.

 

The Apple store will do the clean up for free (or at least they used to). It may consist of just blowing compressed air, which is not enough if vacuum cleaning hasn't helped. Opening the case up and cleaning the fan blades, and every other place where dust has attached itself, with Windex is the best. Use Q-tips on difficult locations.

Think of it as spring cleaning. We usually do it before Easter though. 😁

 

wim

[MizBrown]

MacSales (Other World Computing) has used but more recent iMacs than yours most of the time.  Consider that a 2020 or 2019 iMac may be considerably less expensive than a new M1 or M2 iMacs.   MacSales sells memory if you want to add more (up to 60 GB for that model.  More memory on the graphics card is better as others have said.   2GB graphics cards are the minimum for the current Lightroom Classic and more would be better.  Machines with Solid State Drives (SSD) are particularly nice.   MacSales is here: https://eshop.macsales.com/.

 

They didn't have anything for sale newer than a iMac Pro 2017 at this time.  They also give credit for older gear in trade.

 

 

[MizBrown]

1 hour ago, wiskerke said:

Opening the case up and cleaning the fan blades, and every other place where dust has attached itself, with Windex is the best. Use Q-tips on difficult locations.

Think of it as spring cleaning. We usually do it before Easter though. 😁

 

Opening iMacs involves taking off the display.  The intake vents are along the bottom of the screen and the exhaust is behind the stand.  A computer vac with appropriate narrow heads could vacuum the intake vents, but getting to the out take vent to vacuum that requires taking the machine off the stand.  Blowing into the intake vents is more likely to spread dust inside than anything else. 

 

Best practice with iMacs is to keep the area around them clean and not have anything under the intake vents on the bottom edge of the machine. 

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by MizBrown
n for t

[Ed Rooney]

14 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

 

Advice welcome.

 

 

Don't listen to anything I have to say.

[MDM]

27 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

 

 

Opening the case up and cleaning the fan blades, and every other place where dust has attached itself, with Windex is the best. Use Q-tips on difficult locations.

 

 

 

 

Opening an iMac -  not a job for the techologically faint hearted?

 

[wiskerke]

Just now, MDM said:

 

Opening an iMac -  not a job for the techologically faint hearted?

 

 

Which may apply to most Apple users? 😂

This kid in this video explains it all.

 

- if you cannot open it, you do not own it.

 

wim

[spacecadet]

10 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Don't listen to anything I have to say.

Ed, I find it pretty useful to listen to everything you say.

[MDM]

4 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

 

Which may apply to most Apple users? 😂

This kid in this video explains it all.

 

- if you cannot open it, you do not own it.

 

wim

 

I am not a technophobe but I would be very hesitant about opening up an iMac myself(even if I did not own it), unless there was no liability on me if things did go wrong. I will suggest to my wife that I practise on her machine but I think I know what she will say. 😂

 

Or he could have just used an external SSD. 

[wiskerke]

2 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

I am not a technophobe but I would be very hesitant about opening up an iMac myself(even if I did not own it), unless there was no liability on me if things did go wrong. I will suggest to my wife that I practise on her machine but I think I know what she will say. 😂

 

Or he could have just used an external SSD. 

 

Will that boot on a mac? Not very likely.

Yes breaking things is how you learn. My role usually is repairing stuff for my wife. Not breaking things; especially not her stuff. 🤕  🏃‍♂️..... 🏃‍♀️.....

 

wim

[MDM]

26 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

 

Will that boot on a mac? Not very likely.

 

 

Yes definitely. Macs are easy to start using external drives unless you set them not to be able to do so in hardware. I used one of those G-Tech drives to boot a 2014 MacBook Pro that had a problem with the internal drive for a few months with no problem except for having a dangling drive attached to the laptop.  These drives connects using Thunderbolt 3 or USB 3 and the computer only had Thunderbolt 1 so I used the USB 3. They are fast enough with USB 3 to run Photoshop, Lightroom, Final Cut Pro etc as long as the Mac itself is up to the job. I keep one with an operational MacOs for emergencies. The same drive can be used to start a laptop or a desktop as well. They are incredibly fast using Thunderbolt 3.

 

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by MDM

[wiskerke]

6 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

Yes definitely. Macs are easy to start using external drives unless you set them not to be able to do so in hardware. I used one of those G-Tech drives to boot a 2014 MacBook Pro that had a problem with the internal drive for a few months with no problem except for having a dangling drive attached to the laptop.  These drives connects using Thunderbolt 3 or USB 3 and the computer only had Thunderbolt 1 so I used the USB3. They are fast enough to run Photoshop, Lightroom, Final Cut Pro etc as long as teh Mac itself is up to the job. I keep one with an operational MacOs for emergencies. The same drive can be used to start a laptop or a desktop as well. They are incredibly fast using Thunderbolt 3.

 

 

 

Thank you! Never thought of that. I just open up my computer or laptop and change the drive out or add one or two. Or three.

Booting up from an external device is always possible of course, like from a USB stick a CD/DVD or a network. It never occurred to me that one would boot and run a computer permanently this way. Interesting idea and I'm sure Thunderbolt 3 would make this possible. The 2013 macs have Thunderbolt 2 I think, so it would be doable, but it would not yield the speed increase an internal SSD would bring. If at all.

 

I have just been watching this short video about the good and bad of planned obsolescence.

- After reading today's newspaper about families with Greta children.

 

wim

[MizBrown]

Changing things in a laptop is easier than in an iMac.  I'd like to have my next serious work machine be a case with monitor separate.  I've used an external drive for a boot drive for a while with an eMac (big bulky beast.

[M.Chapman]

45 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

 

Will that boot on a mac? Not very likely.

Yes breaking things is how you learn. My role usually is repairing stuff for my wife. Not breaking things; especially not her stuff. 🤕  🏃‍♂️..... 🏃‍♀️.....

 

wim

Absolutely. I have fast external 1TB SSD permanently connected to my iMac via Thunderbolt 3 for everything (MacOS, software and most data). Works really well, and saved having to open my 2017 iMac to upgrade the rather sluggish hybrid drive.

 

Mark

[Ed Rooney]

But to open my Mac, don't you need tools? Like a hammer, pliers, or an electric saw? 🤔

[MDM]

7 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

But to open my Mac, don't you need tools? Like a hammer, pliers, or an electric saw? 🤔

 

Special Torc screwdrivers do this job. Not an an iMac but definitely on MacBook Pros and Airs.

[MizBrown]

If anyone is going to do the surgery on a 27 inch 5K iMac, OWC/MacSales has how to videos and kits.  IFixit also, probably.   If you're not running an SSD, that would be a good addition besides just opening it to clean it.   I'm slightly tempted since an SSD made a significant difference in my Dell laptop.

 

Many machines open with guitar picks.

Edited April 5, 2021 by MizBrown
less certainty :)

[MDM]

21 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

 

Thank you! Never thought of that. I just open up my computer or laptop and change the drive out or add one or two. Or three.

Booting up from an external device is always possible of course, like from a USB stick a CD/DVD or a network. It never occurred to me that one would boot and run a computer permanently this way. Interesting idea and I'm sure Thunderbolt 3 would make this possible. The 2013 macs have Thunderbolt 2 I think, so it would be doable, but it would not yield the speed increase an internal SSD would bring. If at all.

 

 

I would have to test it but I don't think there is much difference if any in speed once you get it off the ground for operations that depend on RAM and/or GPU. So a little slower maybe to start up using USB 3 but no difference worth talking about if any using Thunderbolt 3. These little G-Tech drives are amazing as they are really light and very robust -excellent for backing up important images on the road as they can be carried really easily in a pocket or small pouch.

 

 

[Marianne]

EDITED - First, just some random info and thoughts on Macs (switched to Mac circa 2007)

 

I spent a small fortune ($4K) on a 15 inch MacBook in February 2019 (it's a late 2018 version) and with my 2011 iMac I can use the laptop as the computer and the iMac as a monitor (I believe anything much newer won't let you do that - but I'd check maybe you can with a 2013). With my laptop I got 2.9 GHz Intel Core i9, 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4, Radeon Pro 560X 4 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB, 2 terabyte SD hard drive. 

 

By last March the "e" on the keyboard was totally gone but with the pandemic I didn't want to go to a mall - all the apple stores within 30 miles of me are in malls.

 

Now, it's only two years old and the rtosdlcn and m keys are all obliterated, with others also fading.

AND last month it started randomly doubling various letters when I type. I will have to get the keyboard replaced. 

I also need a new keyboard for my iMac and am wondering if I can buy a bluetooth keyboard from a different manufacturer though using the MacBook to run the old one as a monitor means I haven't had to replace it. Still, the quality of Apple products has really disintegrated, though iMacs are far sturdier than Macbooks, as my old one (2011) is still working.

 

I've always had both a 27 inch iMac and a laptop and like using the laptop alone as much has possible on my lap as it is easier on my neck and back. 

 

 I'd consider getting a different brand such as a Sony but the problem would be the inability to read over a decade's worth of backed up files and like you, Betty, I can't imagine giving up the benefits of the Mac: 

 

On the plus side it is blazing fast. I tried out the newest enhance features on Photoshop with various files open in PS, keynote, preview, adobe acrobat, numbers, and pages. And a couple of open browsers too. The default said it would take 5 minutes to build the new file. It took seconds. Blazing fast even with too much going on. I can't imagine a PC that would be that fast. I know my husband's drives me crazy, the trackpad on his is useless, whereas mine is super responsive. I haven't used a mouse since trackpads were introduced many years ago. Even the old bluetooth one on my iMac is amazingly responsive. So much better to use a trackpad than a mouse since I've had RA, particularly bad in my hands, since my 20's and now have osteoarthritis in them as well. My hand used to ache with the mouse. 

 

Good luck with your choices. I was looking at the iPad Air and Pro - way less expensive even with a keyboard added. Not sure if an iPad can replace a laptop but as travel is opening up, I'm considering one since this laptop is too pricey to take on the road. So intrigued by the apple pencil. Apple products can do so much, just wish they held up better. Good luck with your choices.

 

So, my recommendations:

Get an SSD - I have 2TB and it is nearly full after 2 years despite hardly any shooting this year, thanks to the size of the images taken with my Sony (42TB), so a good set of backup drives is essential. I have a large LR catalog with older images on my laptop too. 

Get 32GB RAM It is truly amazing - and will future proof it. The newest updates in PS and LR really sing with it. I would not get less than 32GB.

Ask about graphic cards - they also are needed for PS and LR - and if you ever do video I believe they also make a difference but I don't remember what I learned about them when I got my last MacBook.

The processor I have runs very hot - so don't get it. Not sure if iMacs run with the same components but I assume they do - so hope my experience helps you. 

If you have a laptop you can use to run your iMac as a monitor until the new iMacs come out, give it some thought - also the older iMac prices will probably go down then. 

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by Marianne

[Marianne]

EDIT: Didn't realize there was a way to open the MacBooks - though Apple and other approved vendors certainly can. SSDs make a huge difference - but again my husband has an SSD on his PC laptop and it is still very slow though it is also from 2019. 

 

I don't know enough about computers other than experience but SSDs are essential, I believe - and when I upgraded by getting 32GB RAM on this machine, the speed was amazing. Not sure if the graphics card also makes a difference but I've given my specs in the reply above.