Advice on new desktop computer

[djsound]

Hi there. I'd love advice from the people that know Macs best. You. With so many products these days its a bit tricky to even figure out what to get.....so here I go....I am a graphic arts designer/music producer so I need a very powerful machine with a awesome display.....I am right now leaning towards a top of the line 27" imac......but they're expensive and id love a larger screen. I currently have a macbook pro that was attached to a 49" samsung curved display before but......the display actually sucked. The resolution was WAY to low for my liking. It needs to be similar to "retina".......49" wide is perfect for my uses so maybe there is a newer one with a higher resolution? (dell or another company maybe?)

I really like the ssd drive in my laptop.....Ive seen people say that mac minis are good maybe with external display? Would that be an option or are they not powerful enough?.......Imac pro is cool but......out of my price range for that size of display.....

Any help would be greatly appreciated! =)

 

[casperes1996]

I'd say either go with the 27" iMac or wait if you can. The Mac mini would come with a lot of drawbacks for your workload, like lacking a GPU, and dGPUs have their own bag of hurt, even though they're really cool for what they are.

The 27" display in the iMacs is really quite brilliant, so even if it's to you a bit on the small side, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Considering 5K is required to achieve "retina" on just 27" you'd also struggle finding a "retina"-quality display panel any larger without paying more than the price of the full iMac just for the display panel.

 

[djsound]

I'd say either go with the 27" iMac or wait if you can. The Mac mini would come with a lot of drawbacks for your workload, like lacking a GPU, and dGPUs have their own bag of hurt, even though they're really cool for what they are.

The 27" display in the iMacs is really quite brilliant, so even if it's to you a bit on the small side, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Considering 5K is required to achieve "retina" on just 27" you'd also struggle finding a "retina"-quality display panel any larger without paying more than the price of the full iMac just for the display panel.

Very good points! =) Thank you Casperes. I looked at a 5k imac yesterday and it was really nice.....would just love for the screen to be twice as wide. =)

 

[casperes1996]

Very good points! =) Thank you Casperes. I looked at a 5k imac yesterday and it was really nice.....would just love for the screen to be twice as wide. =)

If a Dual screen setup is something for you, you Cold always pop an LG UltraFine 5K next to the iMac for a wider overall view.
As a past owner of a 5K iMac, saving up for a new one, it really is a great screen. You can also lower the scaling factor for more screen space if you want, though I find the default 2560x1440@2x to be pretty good, and clean due to integer scaling which is nice.

 

[jz0309]

what year/model is your MBP? you might be able to drive a 4k monitor with that, just another option, possibly.

 

[djsound]

what year/model is your MBP? you might be able to drive a 4k monitor with that, just another option, possibly.

its a 2013.....and the fans go crazy these days when doing my big music projects. I think its time to upgrade .=)

 

[jz0309]

its a 2013.....and the fans go crazy these days when doing my big music projects. I think its time to upgrade .=)

yea, don't blame you ... had a 2013 MBA that I replaced with my MBP cause it was struggling with Lightroom and Photoshop ...
I have both, iMac and MBP, when it's time to upgrade. iMac I will strongly consider going the MBP route as my only computer, that just wasn't an option 2.5 yrs ago ...

 

[djsound]

yea, don't blame you ... had a 2013 MBA that I replaced with my MBP cause it was struggling with Lightroom and Photoshop ...
I have both, iMac and MBP, when it's time to upgrade. iMac I will strongly consider going the MBP route as my only computer, that just wasn't an option 2.5 yrs ago ...

Hmmm interesting....Ableton and other software are the ones causing problems on mine....because they require to switch between the two graphics cards...but I've spoken to them and they don't plan on changing that......so you're saying a newer MBP and a 4k monitor might be option? Are there any wide 49" (or so) monitors that you know of with really high res?

 

[casperes1996]

and a 4k monitor might be option? Are there any wide 49" (or so) monitors that you know of with really high res?

4K there would be the resolution. 3840x2160.
The sharpness of a display is pixels per inch. A 4K 49" panel would be ≈ 90 pixels per inch.
That's about the same as a 1080p (1920x1080) 24-25" screen.
The 5K iMac on the other hand, has a pixel density of ≈ 190, which is a whoooole lot higher, but even for retina standards a bit on the low end. The 16" MacBook Pro is ≈ 220ppi.

You could try your hand at 8K but I wouldn't recommend going for a laptop solution, if it could even drive it.

If you don't need portability, I'd still recommend the iMac. By a long shot. It'll also have much quieter fans during your music work, which could be relevant for that.

Perhaps if you can work with your current 2013 MBP a bit longer, wait until the next iMac comes around. It'll probably be some time, but maybe, just maybe, it gets a bit bigger on the display side. Only reason I say that is the trend towards smaller bezels and the 6K Pro Display XDR, nothing even remotely close to a confirmation.
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The sharpness of a display is pixels per inch. A 4K 49" panel would be ≈ 90 pixels per inch.
That's about the same as a 1080p (1920x1080) 24-25" screen.
The 5K iMac on the other hand, has a pixel density of ≈ 190, which is a whoooole lot higher, but even for retina standards a bit on the low end. The 16" MacBook Pro is ≈ 220ppi.

I'd just like to add, all those calculations I did there were in 16:9 ratio. The numbers would be slightly different in ultra-wide, but in the traditional way that goes, i.e 3840x1080, well it'd actually make the numbers worse for the theoretical 49" panel.

I will add though that LG has an ultra-wide 5K. It's not as many pixels as the 27" 5K iMac, since it's, I believe 5120x2160 not 5120x2880, but it would give better PPI, closer to retina, on a larger, wider screen. I forget the name of the panel, but 9To5Mac has made a video about it once

 

[ScreenSavers]

I’d go for an i9 iMac unless you want to pay a ton (more!) for an 18-core iMac Pro. The 27 inch iMacs still have upgradeable ram as well. You can save a lot by doing that upgrade yourself.

 

[jz0309]

Hmmm interesting....Ableton and other software are the ones causing problems on mine....because they require to switch between the two graphics cards...but I've spoken to them and they don't plan on changing that......so you're saying a newer MBP and a 4k monitor might be option? Are there any wide 49" (or so) monitors that you know of with really high res?

I don't know what monitors are out there of the size, however, you could go with a 4k TV, only thing you'll have to ensure is that it supports 60Hz refresh rate, should be much cheaper than a monitor. There was a recent thread in the MBP forum where someone got a 43" 4k as a gift ...
My son just got the 16" MBP and is driving 2 4k monitors no problem.

 

[djsound]

Ya I cant afford a iMac pro. I wish. =)

and 2 4k monitors?! wow....I don't think a 4k monitor looks nearly as nice as a retina display.....those 4k are spread over a much larger area..... =/

I saw a Dell UltraSharp 49 Curved Monitor: U4919DW that is pretty nice but still only about 1800 pixels tall....so probably not good enough...

 

[hobowankenobi]

I’d go for an i9 iMac unless you want to pay a ton (more!) for an 18-core iMac Pro. The 27 inch iMacs still have upgradeable ram as well. You can save a lot by doing that upgrade yourself.

Agreed.

I would only add that I would get the biggest SSD internal that I could afford, foregoing any internal HD. External storage would give greater flexibility, upgradability, not to mention performance.

After that, I would be focused on the sweet spot for price/performance on CPU and then GPU. CPU being more critical, assuming a primary focus on 2D work, video and/or music production.

 

[retta283]

The iMacs are really excellent computers. I've been really happy with all the ones I've owned. Just purchased a 27" recently, still waiting for it to come.

A lot of monitors(and TVs) have really low pixel density. I've seen some made within the last 10 years that only have 60-70 ppi. Terrible for displaying text. Apple has usually been pretty good about PPI, but sadly they don't make consumer displays anymore. You could however look at the discontinued 27-inch Thunderbolt display, which is 1440p, or the 30-inch Cinema Display, which is 2560 x 1600. These might be too small for you though, and the pixel density is not Retina.

I've never tried to use a second monitor with an iMac, so the problem would probably be finding one that can be raised to the same height. I assume 8k would not run at full res on the iMac? 8k might be expensive but if you want some high PPI 40+ displays it might be the way to go.

 

[3SQ Machine]

I faced the same dilemma and my "test" models during the 14-day return period including two mac minis (+ samsung 4k monitors) AND a base model iMac (which I had no interest in but only picked up because it was an insane 30% off).

The base model iMac shocked the heck out of me by blowing the minis out of the water. The minis really lag with the lack of GPU and the T2 chip seems a question mark for low latency audio. They struggled mightily with the samsung monitors (issues with them specifically, but other models could also be a problem). The T2 chip also SEEMS to have audio issues when recording low latency at a 32 buffer. It was simply impossible to record at 32 (clicks and pops galore) (only 64 and up) despite the mac mini having the SAME specs as the iMac and speedy internal SSDs.

I even added an eGPU to take the load off the minis and I still had issues.

In the end, I returned ALL the Mac Minis (tried two models, base + upgraded); returned the eGPU, returned one of the samsung monitors (kept the other for my windows machine because it was a nice panel); and KEPT the base model iMac. I may have been able to get the minis to work, but I was really turned off by their finicky nature from the beginning. I so much wanted to like them as my very first mac was a mac mini core2duo. Oh well.

The bottom line is that the iMac is ideally optimized "out of the box" for excellent performance. Yes, the bezels are too big and the screen is too small (I wanted 32" 4k). But getting 32" 4K monitors to work with a mini is a royal PITA and nice ones cost $$$. Value-wise, the iMac is actually a good deal--mainly because it is truly one of the best screens for the price. You just have to feel comfortable being locked in to the form factor.

I am actually pleasantly surprised by the base model iMac for my workload. The newer hexacore intel chips really enhance multicore performance. I'm just waiting on my memory to come in and perhaps run the OS off a thunderbolt NVME after I'm convinced of stability. For now, it's handling my workload more than adequately.

My one piece of advice is to spring for the NINTH gen i5 if you can. This is a great chip and was the one on my bucket list but I had a hard time spending almost double for it when faced with the crazy deal I go on the base model.

 

[djsound]

awesome advice. thank you. I just saw that there is a new mac pro with some fancy monitor coming out? Probly over priced though hey?

 

[casperes1996]

awesome advice. thank you. I just saw that there is a new mac pro with some fancy monitor coming out? Probly over priced though hey?

If it earns you more money than you spend on it, no. Otherwise yes. It's quite pricey. Should be out tomorrow