Im looking at building a refurbished 27” imac. I’m on an outdated late 2007 imac now. Im a photographer using photoshop and Lightroom classic. So many choices for the rebuild im totally confused:
i7or i9, 3.6 GHz or 3.8. , how many cores, i know i need at least 32 GB Ram
2019 or 2020 model… please help!!’
Why rebuild? If you can find a Mac that meets your specs, why try?
Most Mac have limited "rebuild" capability; they are not like Windows machines and you may not even be able to buy genuine Apple parts. And 3rd party components are often substandard to Apple.
If you want to add more RAM to a model that allows that stick to Crucial and OWC. We've had great success with Crucial with a 2015 27". Be aware, the latest Macs have the RAM soldered-in as an integral part of the design and more cannot be "added in".
We have a pair of mid tier 2020 27" iMacs with 16 GB RAM and they have been flawless. Performance is quite good, but a top tier model will have somewhat higher performance.
Why rebuild? If you can find a Mac that meets your specs, why try?
Most Mac have limited "rebuild" capability; they are not like Windows machines and you may not even be able to buy genuine Apple parts. And 3rd party components are often substandard to Apple.
If you want to add more RAM to a model that allows that stick to Crucial and OWC. We've had great success with Crucial with a 2015 27". Be aware, the latest Macs have the RAM soldered-in as an integral part of the design and more cannot be "added in".
We have a pair of mid tier 2020 27" iMacs with 16 GB RAM and they have been flawless. Performance is quite good, but a top tier model will have somewhat higher performance.
It really depends how heavily you use your iMac. If you've been getting by on a 2007 model with a Core 2 Duo all this time, I wouldn't advise that you should spend the extra money on an i9 iMac unless you're looking to seriously expand/increase your workload.
Looking at i5/i7s for 27" iMacs from 2019 or 2020, here are your options -
2019
3.0GHz i5 (6 core)
3.1GHz i5 (6 core)
3.7GHz i5 (6 core)
2020
3.1GHz i5 (6 core)
3.3GHz i5 (6 core)
3.8GHz i7 (8 core)
As for the clock speed (GHz) on the i5 chips, it really doesn't matter because we're talking about really small differences (100-300MHz), so go for the cheapest i5 of these if the i7 is too expensive.
The i7 iMac is going to be the most expensive (except for the i9), so get it if you can justify the money for the extra performance. It's also better to get the i7 so it can take advantage of 32GB of RAM.
The memory (RAM) is user upgradeable, so you can get one with less than 32GB, then buy some RAM , upgrade it yourself and sell the RAM installed originally to make some money back.
ku4hx wrote:
We have a pair of mid tier 2020 27" iMacs with 16 GB RAM and they have been flawless. Performance is quite good, but a top tier model will have somewhat higher performance. The RAM is soldered-in in these models.
The RAM is not soldered in a 27" 2020 iMac.
The 2019 or later iMacs run a version of macOS that requires strictly 64-bit applications and that would exclude any Photoshop CS6 or earlier generation 32-bit software. So, you would either be on the hook for an Adobe subscription plan for compatible current applications, or in the market for non-subscription alternative applications such as the Affinity product family.
I believe that Apple will be less committed to providing new operating system features on Intel hardware going forward, and by the time you have purchased a suitably configured Apple refurbished 27-in iMac, you may find that an M2 Mac mini Pro with a reasonably priced 32-in display may provide you with improved performance for your RAM thirsty Adobe tools, more practical workspace, and future operating system support.
Over a year ago, I purchased an Apple refurbished 27-in iMac with 3.8 Ghz Core i7 (16 threads), 1 TB flash storage, and a GPU with 8GB VRAM. I deliberately acquired an 8GB RAM machine and then added two 16GB RAM modules. By the time I was done, I had spent around $2600 USD. Fast forward to this Spring and I acquired an M2 Mac mini Pro w/32 GB RAM to work with my LG 32-in 4K display. As this is now my daily driver, I am pondering the rationale of that iMac purchase.
dialabrain wrote:
The RAM is not soldered in a 27" 2020 iMac.
It's not soldered-in in any of the 27" iMacs. All have 4 user-accessible RAM slots behind a small external hatch. You might have to pull on plastic straps to remove existing, low-density RAM modules (instead of being able to get your fingers around the modules to remove them more directly).
The 27" iMac Pro also has 4 RAM slots, but on that machine, they are sealed in.
The 21.5" iMacs had 4 user-accessible RAM slots until the year that they (a) lost their optical drives, (b) got USB 3.0, and (c) became really thin. Starting in that year, most 21.5" iMacs had 2 sealed-in RAM sockets. There have been one or more 21.5" models where the RAM is not merely sealed in, but soldered-in.
Right, I already corrected that
Just to add to the confusion, if it were me I would opt for a M2 Mac mini with a 27" monitor. It will outperform any Intel iMac you could purchase.
Maybe I should have said 27" or 32". 😎
Servant of Cats wrote:
It's not soldered-in in any of the 27" iMacs.
Yes, everyone's aware of that.
Refurbished imac
