iMac replacement

[geogphotos]

I am perfectly happy with this at the moment but it won't last forever. 

 

Apologies that I haven't kept up with several related discussions, but if you can spare a few moments, what would you recommend as a replacement?

 

As the end of the tax year approaches I do have some money to invest in tech but equally could spend it on other things or just pay the tax and hang on to the rest.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

[SFL]

I am in a similar/worse situation.

 

From your current iMac, if you want an 'upgrade', it will have to be, IMO, a Mac Studio M2 with the same or more memory/storage + a monitor.

 

I am sure other people's advice, which might differ, will follow.

 

Sung

 

[Allan Bell]

If I were you I would hang on to what you have for another couple of years at least.

 

Put spare cash into 2 year fixed interest savings bond at about 4 to 5% at present.

 

When it matures seek more up to date information about changing your kit.

 

I had to change my 2013 iMac last year because Apple would not update OS any more and I was not able to update LrC to latest iteration at the time.

 

Allan

 

 

[geogphotos]

56 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

If I were you I would hang on to what you have for another couple of years at least.

 

Put spare cash into 2 year fixed interest savings bond at about 4 to 5% at present.

 

When it matures seek more up to date information about changing your kit.

 

I had to change my 2013 iMac last year because Apple would not update OS any more and I was not able to update LrC to latest iteration at the time.

 

Allan

 

 

 

 

That sounds like a plan Allan

 

Thanks👍

Edited February 28 by geogphotos

[Gervais Montacute]

The iMac I use is a 5K 27 inch retina and is 9 years old. It's got 32 GB of ram and is attached to 4 SSDs via a thunderbolt dock. It's current OS is Monterey and it's all good. All the USB's are attached to other related equipment. The Retina screen is still as new. All works. That said, I would not buy any new equipment again from Apple. What I would do if this one went down is go onto the normal sales channels and buy a 2019 or 2020 iMac Pro at a fraction of the price they were when they were new.

 

 

[geogphotos]

2 hours ago, Gervais Montacute said:

The iMac I use is a 5K 27 inch retina and is 9 years old. It's got 32 GB of ram and is attached to 4 SSDs via a thunderbolt dock. It's current OS is Monterey and it's all good. All the USB's are attached to other related equipment. The Retina screen is still as new. All works. That said, I would not buy any new equipment again from Apple. What I would do if this one went down is go onto the normal sales channels and buy a 2019 or 2020 iMac Pro at a fraction of the price they were when they were new.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your helpful comment.

 

 

[geogphotos]

I see some rumours about a possible new iMac Pro in a year or two so it seems best to wait and see. 

[Allan Bell]

5 hours ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

That sounds like a plan Allan

 

Thanks👍

 

 

👍

 

Allan

 

[Gervais Montacute]

30 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

I see some rumours about a possible new iMac Pro in a year or two so it seems best to wait and see. 

 

I haven't seen that yet. The iMac Pro I was mentioning was around 5 grand when it came out. Any new versions will cost way more than that but with a caveat. Will they be any good or at least as good as the 2019/20 models? IMO probably not.

[Nick Hatton]

I have just upgraded to a 2013 iMac Pro😀

 

[geogphotos]

1 hour ago, Nick Hatton said:

I have just upgraded to a 2013 iMac Pro😀

 

 

I have a 2007 iMac next time you want to upgrade 😁

[M.Chapman]

Ian, I'm running a similar 2017 iMac as you and am also wondering what system I'll get next. Current thoughts are;

 

Mac Mini M2 24GB RAM 1TB SSD (around £1,500 new, but I'd probably get secondhand or a refurb unit for under £1,000)

27" 4K monitor BENQ PD2705U (around £350 - yes I know it's only sRGB, but that's what I process in) or I'd hack my iMac 5K Retina display to connect to the Mac Mini

USB C hub with extra NVMe storage capability https://www.amazon.co.uk/SATECHI-Enclosure-10Gbps-Studio-Silver/dp/B0CR1WWSGN (about £90)

 

In the meantime, depending on what disk(s) you're using with your iMac and how much stuff you have installed, you might want to consider a disk upgrade? If your iMac has a Fusion/Hybrid drive (mine has a 1TB internal fusion drive which uses a small fast 28GB SSD paired with much, much slower 1TB spinning disk HDD). I've recently connected an external 1TB NVMe drive to my iMac's Thunderbolt 3 port, installed my entire system onto it and now use it as my main drive (MacOS + all software + Home folder). This external disk is faster than the SSD part of the internal Fusion drive (it provides sustained read and write speeds of around 1,300MB/s). It barely gets warm (unlike those Samsung T5 and T7 external drives) and so provides 1TB of fast storage. I picked up the enclosure for the NVMe drive secondhand for £50 and new 1TB NVMe memory for £60. The same items are available on Amazon.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thunderbolt-Certified-Tool-Free-Enclosure-EC-T3NS/dp/B08FT59SB6
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-PCIe-Gen3-NVMe-Internal/dp/B0C2WGL8DQ
 

Mark

 

Edited February 28 by M.Chapman

[M.Chapman]

These guys (https://steadycomps.com) seem to be putting together some interesting packages and have good eBay and Trustpilot seller ratings...

For example https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255369057394

 

Mark

Edited February 28 by M.Chapman

[geogphotos]

Thanks Mark and all for your helpful comments.

 

I will wait and see. All is good at the moment -----touch wood

 

👍

 

 

[Mark Scheuern]

On 28/02/2024 at 13:31, M.Chapman said:

Ian, I'm running a similar 2017 iMac as you and am also wondering what system I'll get next. Current thoughts are;

 

Mac Mini M2 24GB RAM 1TB SSD (around £1,500 new, but I'd probably get secondhand or a refurb unit for under £1,000)

27" 4K monitor BENQ PD2705U (around £350 - yes I know it's only sRGB, but that's what I process in) or I'd hack my iMac 5K Retina display to connect to the Mac Mini

USB C hub with extra NVMe storage capability https://www.amazon.co.uk/SATECHI-Enclosure-10Gbps-Studio-Silver/dp/B0CR1WWSGN (about £90)

 

 

 

 

I have a Mac Mini M2 Pro, 1 TB, but 16 GB RAM. It's amazing. If you can, though, it's of course always better to get more RAM. 

[Cal]

On 28/02/2024 at 18:31, M.Chapman said:

I've recently connected an external 1TB NVMe drive to my iMac's Thunderbolt 3 port, installed my entire system onto it and now use it as my main drive (MacOS + all software + Home folder). This external disk is faster than the SSD part of the internal Fusion drive (it provides sustained read and write speeds of around 1,300MB/s). It barely gets warm (unlike those Samsung T5 and T7 external drives) and so provides 1TB of fast storage. I picked up the enclosure for the NVMe drive secondhand for £50 and new 1TB NVMe memory for £60. The same items are available on Amazon.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thunderbolt-Certified-Tool-Free-Enclosure-EC-T3NS/dp/B08FT59SB6
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-PCIe-Gen3-NVMe-Internal/dp/B0C2WGL8DQ
 

Mark

 

 

I did the same thing. Transformed it from almost unworkably slow to feeling relatively new. The 27" 5K screen is so good and really doesn't have a direct replacement from Apple, so it's worth keeping these running for as long as possible. Whatever does end up being the replacement will no doubt cost an obscene amount.