What are the current-gen iMacs like?

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RazorWind

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I need a mac so I can get back into the mobile apps game. Years ago, I actually built a couple of apps mostly on a Hackintosh, and I'd really prefer to go that route again, but recent experience tells me that the latest version of OS X is a royal pain to get working as a Hackintosh. I was able to get it "working," but it wasn't ever reliable. I'd rather spend the time I'd have to spend dicking around with it actually working on my app instead.

I'm really tempted to go with one of the 27" iMacs. I kind of need a nicer monitor for this anyway, and these look like the closest thing to the normal desktop experience that there is, short of the Trash Can, which is more money and hardware than I really need.

So, does anyone here have one of these? Do you like it?
 
The 2017 iMac is one of the strongest iterations ever of the iMac. Apple put together a machine that meets basically every major requirement for someone working in a creative field.

The display is 10-bit, 100% DCI-P3, 5k Resolution and does 500 nits of brightness.
RX580, though midrange for gaming, grinds Metal incredibly well. And is plenty for Final Cut Pro in 4k.

The 64GB maximum RAM will be enough for probably the next 3-5 years. And the PCI-E SSD (if you get that option) is the fastest in the industry.

The machine is solid. From every angle. And even if you think the GPU won't last, eGPU's are coming. Everything else will be plenty for a long time.

===

The only caveat of buying an iMac now, is what is coming next. The fly in the ointment is whether or not to wait for Coffee Lake in which the top processor has 6 cores and a better Thunderbolt implementation. It's also likely that Apple would consider supporting some variation of HDR in the future as well as the usual upgrades to graphics cards. If there is to be a move to Coffee Lake, it won't happen before June. So, if you need a machine now, waiting half a year for something that may or may not come out might not be tenable.
The iMac Pro is more 'future proof' but also costs 2/3rds-50% more (after considering upgrades that you'd likely want in the iMac, including getting the i7 and possibly SSD, while buying your own RAM).
 
I just bought a 2017 21.5" Retina 4K iMac with the 3.4GHz Quad Core i5, 16GB DDR4 Ram, Radeon Pro 560 4GB and 256GB SSD. The display is absolutely gorgeous, and the entire system just runs really well. This is my first new Mac in quite a few years, but so far I really like it and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
 
I drool over the iMac Pro. Alas, I can't afford a computer that costs nearly as much as my truck.
 
I would look at a loaded Mac Book Pro instead honestly.
Very capable and mobile when you want it.
 
iMacs are iMacs. It works, and they look great. I don't think you'll be disappointed, unless of course OSX isn't your thing....
 
Grentz said:
I would look at a loaded Mac Book Pro instead honestly.
Very capable and mobile when you want it.
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Almost forgot I made this thread. Sorry about that, guys.

I ended up with a relatively entry-level 27" 5K iMac, which seems plenty fine to me. It has 1TB Fusion drive, 8GB of RAM, and an i5 that clocks at (I think) 3.8GHz. It's on my desk next to my 5820K-equipped gaming PC, and compared to that, it's obviously not as well equipped for heavy lifting, but for the work I actually do on it, I can't really tell a difference.

I actually kind of agree with you that I might be better served by a MacBook Pro, since it would in fact be nice to have it be portable, but I REALLY like the monitor on this thing, and I think that alone was worth the tradeoff. This is the first computer I've used in probably ten years where I don't feel that I NEED a second display. I do wish I could buy a monitor-only version, though.

The worst part about it is the keyboard, honestly. It's neat that it's so compact, and wireless, and looks cool, but it's ultimately a horrible little mutant laptop keyboard. Obviously, I could plug a different keyboard into it, but I wish they just offered it with a non-horrible one to begin with, especially since they have their own doofy proprietary layout, meaning you need a special keyboard. The store I went to agreed to swap out the "magic mouse" for the new hotness second gen trackpad if I paid the price difference (about $50 I think), and I wish they could offer something like that for the keyboard as well. I'd have gladly paid another $50 for a wired mechanical one with Cherry Blues or something.

Edit: My cost out the door was about $2050, with tax. This is with the education pricing, which I get by virtue of working for a big state university. I think the discount is about $100 or so.

That actually seems unusually reasonable for an Apple product. I can't really imagine how I could build a PC to this spec, including a monitor this nice, wireless keyboard and trackpad for any less.
 
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Glad you found something you liked, and for the keyboard, check out the Matias for the Mac--it has all the special keys and everything and is available in clicky if you like cherry blues.

And for the record, you can just plug up a PC keyboard if you want, although you'd need to have the mac one handy if you needed the special keys and didn't remap anything on your pc keyboard. I've actually connected a Model M to my wife's Macbook once...and it was the only time I enjoyed typing on it, lol. :ROFLMAO:
 
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