27" iMac Configuration Advice

I'm getting ready to buy a new 27" iMac and would love some advice on which upgrades to splurge on. I'm a graphic designer, working primarily in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign - usually have all three programs open as well as Bridge. I don't do any gaming and only very light video.

I'm looking to spend $2500 or less (with education pricing), and am wondering where to spend the upgrades. Definitely planning to do 16GB of RAM and then immediately fill the two additional slots with another 16GB. Beyond that, I'm having trouble deciding, specifically...

i5 or i7 Processor?
775M 2GB GDDR5 or 780M 4GB GDDR5?
1TB Serial ATA Drive or 1TB Fusion Drive or something else??

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

The 27" iMac can easily be upgraded with more memory, so that's not a problem. As for the options, definitely go for the better graphics. I don't remember if you can order the top of the line graphics with the i5. You may have to order the i7.

As for the Fusion drive, they do speed things up but they have been problematic and I believe for now I would avoid getting one. Ordering a large pure SSD instead will cost a small fortune so I don't think you'll want to go that route.

I have the same 27" model in my home office but I don't use it for any kind of graphics work but I can tell you that it's a beautiful machine with a great display - and it's fast.

Thank you so much, chscag! It looks like I can get the upgraded graphics card with the 2.4GHz i5 processor... would you recommend that or would it still be worth it to upgrade to i7. Thanks!

Unless you plan to do a lot of video editing you won't need the 4GB graphics card. Get the stock configuration with the i5 processor and 8GB RAM then order 16GB RAM from OWC or your preferred reseller. Installation is a breeze on the 27-inch iMac. I have some drum-scanned medium format and 4x5 files that are 3GB with layers, and 16GB in my Mac Mini handles them easily. 24GB in a iMac will be plenty unless you have some really huge PS files.

I also recommend spending the extra money on the 256GB SSD to use as your startup disk and keeping your working files on an external Thunderbolt drive. My setup is one 4GB TB dual-drive RAID and one 4GB USB 3 single drive for backups. The aforementioned 3GB PS files open in five to six seconds off the external TB RAID.

irenefarrimond said:

i5 or i7 Processor?
775M 2GB GDDR5 or 780M 4GB GDDR5?
1TB Serial ATA Drive or 1TB Fusion Drive or something else??

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Click to expand...

i7 (will be useful longer than the i5)
Standard video card -- its all overkill for what you're doing with it
1TB Fusion Drive -- way faster -- but get lots of external storage for your work and a way to back it up!