New 2020 27” iMac

[mikehalloran]

My wife’s b’day is Sunday and it’s time to replace her 2011. What little I’ve been able to glean is that the mic, speaker, camera and nano-glass upgrades make the new 27” iMac ideal for videoconferencing—pretty much how she makes her living nowadays. She doesn’t need a high-end model but the $500 nano-glass option will solve a lighting problem. The timing of this can’t be better.

They are already shipping but the early reviews are terrible. Whining about the bezels and use of the old form and little else. Not one has shown a picture of the back. I’m assuming that RAM is user replaceable but no review has mentioned this. If I can confirm, I’ll order the 16GB and upgrade later. Apple’s RAM prices are still insane, of course.

My machine is a 14 Core iMac Pro with a Vega 64. Nothing here that makes me want to give up mine — but her needs are different.

The 5700 XT vs Vega 64 reviews out there are for gamers using PCs. All talk about the need for extra fans and thermal shut down and bla, bla, bla... Totally useless when talking about an OE card in a Mac. Apple underclocks to improve reliability at the expense of the bleeding edge—and that’s fine by me. She doesn’t do video editing and is not a gamer anyway so I can save my money. In any case, it’s certain that the 5700 XT in the 2020 iMac is unlikely to outperform the Vega 64x in the iMP—even if the aftermarket card can be tweaked to be a little faster.

If Apple makes a similar bump to the iMac Pro, I’d consider it. I need 4TB storage onboard and want 8TB and the nano-glass. Not willing to give up but the superior cooling of the iMP, however. I was expecting the iMP to get the 8TB bump first when it was announced for the MP 7.1.

When configured to be a high-end AV machine, there’s not much price difference between the 2020 10 Core and an iMP—especially with the iMPs showing up in the Refurb Store. I consider 10GB Ethernet a must for future expandability now that these have the T2 chip. I still give the edge to the iMP but the 2020 iM blurs the lines.Why Apple didn’t go with the iMP’s superior cooling is baffling. They went with NVMe storage and the T2 plus a 7mm GPU so there’s plenty of room inside.

Lots of nonsense that this is the last Intel iMac. Really? Apple has Intel bumps scheduled for the next 2 years or more. I don’t believe we’ve seen the last version of these. In any case, that’s an issue for the Disappointeds at MacRumors—you know, the ones who begin every thread with I’m really disappointed that_fill in the blank. but weren’t planning to buy anything this year either.

A beefed up Mini is still a good machine for DP.

[cuttime]

Says DIMM slots user accessible for the 27".

https://www.apple.com/imac/specs/

[bayswater]

It looks good. No more hybrid drives. Too bad though, once you have a 27" iMac, it's difficult to find room for another one.

[mikehalloran]

It looks good. No more hybrid drives. Too bad though, once you have a 27" iMac, it's difficult to find room for another one.

Ha! I’ll be up to 5 though only 2 will be active.

Anybody want a 2009, 2010 or 2011? Me neither. Actually, there’s going to be growing pains as she learns Word 2019—still on 2008 over High Sierra. Oh hell, what else have I got going on?

[nk_e]

Two articles of interest?

https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/08 ... -imac-2020

https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/08 ... r-upgraded

[gseibert]

I'm about to order an iMac 27" 10 core, 8G ram (which I will upgrade myself with 2 16 G chips) and the 5500xt video and 1TB SSD. I'm hoping this keeps me for another 10 years like my old 3,1 MacPro tower.

[mikehalloran]

I'm about to order an iMac 27" 10 core, 8G ram (which I will upgrade myself with 2 16 G chips) and the 5500xt video and 1TB SSD. I'm hoping this keeps me for another 10 years like my old 3,1 MacPro tower.

Why only 1TB storage onboard? External drives as fast as the internal begin with the Samsung X5 and that costs about the same as the 2TB upgrade. Anything less is a lot slower—which is fine for a VI drive.

There are advantages to keeping your active projects on the boot drive including speed and APFS Snapshots restore.

[wylie1]

I was looking at getting the 10 core version 0% interest on an Apple card is tempting.
I'm just worried about the fan noise, if I can hear it while I'm working I'll find it pretty annoying.
Also not sure if only 2 TB ports is an issue.

[gseibert]

I ordered the iMac today. I went with just the 1TB SSD. I know Mike is a big fan of large internal storage and I understand his reasons, but the extra $400 for 1TB of storage was just too much for my budget. I need to get a new audio interface now and my extra funds are going towards that.

[wylie1]

I ordered the iMac today. I went with just the 1TB SSD. I know Mike is a big fan of large internal storage and I understand his reasons, but the extra $400 for 1TB of storage was just too much for my budget. I need to get a new audio interface now and my extra funds are going towards that.

Nice, I think I'm going to do the same I can't justify the Mac Pro .I prefer the storage outboard anyway.

[mikehalloran]

...
Also not sure if only 2 TB ports is an issue.

It depends. There's no HDMI port. If planning external monitors, this is something to consider. If not, TB 3 hubs exist but none extend the bus even if they may add an additional non-powered port.

There are 5 ways to connect external monitors to this or an iMac Pro:

TB 3 — connect anything with the right adapter. Most convenient

USB-C — connect anything except a Thunderbolt monitor with the right adapter

USB 3 — requires a DislayLink box ($50) and a monitor with an HDMI or DP input.

TB 3 Hub — uses a TB 3 port, of course. Many have HDMI ports and a few can connect a TB monitor. Some can be used to connect multiple displays. A true TB3 hub extends the 40Gb/S port and some have one additional USB-C port at 20Gb/S (TB2) at 15W.

eGPU — again, requires a TB 3 port and some support multiple displays

None of this may be an issue for you.

I prefer the storage outboard anyway

again, there are points to consider:

If "prefer" because VIs will load or stream faster, that hasn't been true since the ATA/IDI bus last seen on the G4. SATA made that a non-issue in the G5.

A SATA III external SSD operates less than 1/6th the speed of the internal—doesn't matter how connected since SATA III is the bottleneck. Although not an issue for most VIs, it is for some. Getting ready to move SampleTank to my internal over the amount of time it takes to rebuild the library index. I recently tested BTD on some projects stored on a SATA external — a lot slower than 1/6th the speed.

An NVMe blade (Samsung T7 etc.) over USB 3.1 operates less than 1/3 the speed of the internal.

A TB3 external such as the X5 is slower than the internal but probably not noticeable. A 1TB X5 is $4 less expensive than the 2TB upgrade.

You lose the ability to instantly restore files or accidental deletions on anything stored on the external. APFS Snapshots works on the System drive only.

It's your money, not mine. I have no oar in the water here—only giving things to consider.

My wife's new iMac has been ordered and will be the mid-point 6 core with 1TB onboard. She never runs audio or AV apps so, if it runs out of room, I'll worry about external storage then.

Around here, Time Machine is over Ethernet or wireless only. That's what HDDs are for.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Frankly, I would have gone with the larger drive. I have a 1TB on my trashcan. 2TB upgrades were about $1600. They've come way down and I'm about to drop a dime on a larger one. In a production and business machine, space can fill up fast. Add in personal stuff like iTunes and Photos, and 1TB can easily get consumed. I had to move my iTunes and Photo libraries to external spinners. I'd much prefer them on the boot drive, but I simply can't spare the space.

My production files are always on an external spinner with redundant backup spinners, of course, and I still don't have much room on the boot drive. I do keep my VIs on the boot drive and only current critical projects I need to access often. If I'm doing video editing, I have a separate set of external spinners for that.

Maybe I have more need of a lot of HD storage than the average user, but for $400, I'd get the larger drive and not give it a second thought. If you're gonna get a new machine, get the best one you can.

[mikehalloran]

… I have a 1TB on my trashcan. 2TB upgrades were about $1600. They've come way down and I'm about to drop a dime on a larger one. …

Any NVMe blade will be twice as fast as the AHCI drive you have now—even the slow ones but, because of the 2 lane bus limit, 2x speed is all that any of them can achieve. The OWC Aura has the correct pin out but so does the $17 Sintech adapter for the m2 blades. OWC sells their heat sink for $5. I’ve no idea how well some of the bulkier heat sinks fit into the 6,1.

If you’re doing this soon, give me a shout. I’m putting together a 2014 Mini for a friend and wouldn’t mind picking up a used 1TB AHCI blade for it. I’ll be giving it to him as I’m tired of walking him through Performer Lite on his Win 10 laptop. As far as I can tell, an NVMe blade Is no faster in that machine.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Thanks Mike. I'm mid project on several scores so it'll probably wait until the Fall.