Which 2019 iMac should I get(CPU question)?

[jagooch]

I've done quiet a bit of research to help me decides if the iMac 2019 is the right one for me. I am down to deciding which CPU I should get. Most people have said recommended going either with the base 3.0 or the 3.7 GHz CPU models since the 3.1 GHz CPU performance gain doesn't justify the price.

What I will be using the iMac for and some of the apps I'll be using:

• Media consumption - Youtube / iTunes / Plex Media Player
• Productivity - Email , Omnifocus, Spreadsheets
• Software Development - Intellij ,Datagrip, Docker containers, Visual Studio Code ,
• Video Transcoding / Ripping - Blu-ray to mkv , youtube-dl video conversion to mkv
• (some) light photo editing and video editing. It's something I do a few times a year, not regularly.

I plan on keeping this for the long haul. I usually change computers yearly but I'm trying to break that bad habit! eg in 2017 I bought the iMac 2015, changed my mind 6 months later and got a 2015 13" Macbook Pro, change my mind again 6 months later and got my current 2015 15" Macbook Pro( 2.5GHz i7 with 16GB RAM 512GB SSD ).

Here are the specs with price from the Apple Store ( USD ) :

• iMac 2019 27" 3.0 GHz 8GB RAM 1TB SSD Radeon 570x Wireless Keyboard w/numpad $2329
• iMac 2019 27" 3.7 GHz 8GB RAM 1TB SSD Radeon 580x GPU Wireless Keyboard /w/numpad $2629

Finally, I did consider the 2 TB SSD option for the 3.7 model. I just bought a 2TB Samsun T5 for $300, so $400 to upgrade from 1TB to 2TB seems a bit excessive. It's not completely off the table, but I might purchase another T5 when the time comes that I need it.


Thoughts on which iMac to get?

 

[wardie]

SSD - Samsung T5 isn’t a fair comparison to internal mac drive, the T5 is way slower. A closer comparison is the Samsung X5, although that uses NVMe over Thunderbolt 3 interface, so a bit of overhead versus internal iMac but a lot closer - in performance and price to Apple though. Still there tends up be an AppleTax on top...

 

[jagooch]

I ended up getting the

• iMac 2019 27" 3.7 GHz 8GB RAM 1TB SSD Radeon 580x GPU Wireless Keyboard /w/numpad $2629

I'm adding 32GB RAM so that I have plenty of room for app. According to iFixit , both the internal SSD and CPU are user upgradable , so there is room for growth in the future.

 

[ridgero]

According to iFixit the CPU is user upgradable? Thats not right. Its just a random user, who threw that in.

You theoretically can swap the CPU, yes, but does it really work? No one knows yet.