Time to order. Checking Specs

Sharkz · Mar 14, 2015

Last weekend I went to my local BestBuy store to get some hands on with the new 5K iMac. All I can say is wow! I was blown away how big, beautiful and simply stunning the monitor was. Just moving around and scrolling, typing on the keyboard everything about the machine just felt like quality.

So now its time to place the order. I was a little surprised that I called the closest Apple store (1hour away) and they do not stock the configuration I want so I have to order online

. I'm ready for this beast now. After playing on it for over an hour everything else pales in comparison.

These are the final specs before I order tonight. Just want to make sure nothing jumps out at someone..

27" 5K iMac

Specifications

4.0GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
512GB Flash Storage
AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4GB GDDR5
Apple Magic Mouse + Magic Trackpad
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
Accessory Kit
Apple Care protection

I'll be maxing the memory out myself as well as adding a few external hard drives of 3TB each. Just wish I could find this somewhere near me. I'm wondering how long once I order this tonight before I see it from Apple.

Coming from strictly PC world and never owning a Mac I'm hoping this beast will last for many many years to come. I'm tired of replacing computers every 3 years.

Thanks for any insights everyone.

pigoo3 · Mar 14, 2015

Sharkz said:
I was a little surprised that I called the closest Apple store (1hour away) and they do not stock the configuration I want so I have to order online .

I'm not surprised at all. Apple Stores primarily carry the stock configurations in store. As soon as you start custom configuring them…then you're talking Apple.com.

Sharkz said:
Just want to make sure nothing jumps out at someone..

8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB

I think that upgrading the ram at some point in the future will definitely happen. Luckily the 27" iMac's still have upgradeable ram.

Congrats on your choice & purchase!

- Nick

Dogbreath · Mar 14, 2015

Purchasing the Apple Care protection was an excellent choice. I hope you never need it, If you ever do, it will pay for itself. Congratulations.

Sharkz · Mar 14, 2015

Can anyone explain the difference between a WD MyCloud drive and a WD MyBook drive other then price? The Mycloud drive was about $50 more?

lclev · Mar 14, 2015

The MyCloud has special software that allows you to set it up as your own local personal cloud drive for remote backup on a network. I have one at work to backup Windows computers. It simply sits with it's own ethernet cable and I have four important computers backing up their documents to it. WD has desktop software that allows you to control it. Each machine has a separate account and separate backup folder. The admin can control it all.

The MyBook is just like any other external personal drive. It too can be used as a backup drive but you use individual machine software - like time machine - to do the backup.

If you plan to use it to backup I would not get the MyCloud for an apple computer as you don't need the software feature. Time Machine does a great job.

I hope this answers your question and I am not being too confusing.

Lisa

Sharkz · Mar 14, 2015

Thank you Lisa.
I am looking to buy 2 external drives. One for a time machine backup and the second bigger one for all my video files including go pro movies.

So with a 500SSD internal drive on the iMac what size external drive would you recommend strictly for time machine? Could I get away with 1 TB? smaller? Spending so much money already I don't want to over buy the backup HD.

I plan on buying from OWC so feel free to post the link ;-)

Also is firewire better or equal to USB 3.0?

Thanks..

pigoo3 · Mar 14, 2015

Sharkz said:
So with a 500SSD internal drive on the iMac what size external drive would you recommend strictly for time machine? Could I get away with 1 TB? smaller?

I've seen suggestions that the backup drive should be around 2x the size of the storage device it is backing up. So a 1TB drive should be fine.

Sharkz said:
I plan on buying from OWC so feel free to post the link ;-)

Other World Computing (OWC) - Performance Upgrades For Your Mac

- Nick

p.s. Sorry Lisa. Didn't realize you were viewing the thread when I repied.

lclev · Mar 14, 2015

Your backup drive should at least match your hard drive size or be larger. I tend to double the size of the backup drive for time machine. I also like to use a second hard drive for Carbon Copy Cloner. It is a cloning program that create a bootable copy of my hard drive. It works very well and if my hard drive crashes I just replace it then clone the new drive. SuperDuper is another cloning software recommended by other on the forum as being good too.

Speed of connection from what I read is Thunderbolt (Gen 1 - 10Gpbs/ Gen 2- 20Gbps) -> Firewire800 (800Mbps)-> USB 3.0 (650Mpbs) with Thunderbolt the fastest and USB 3 the slowest. Cost - thunderbolt most costly - usb 3 least cost.

USB vs Thunderbolt: Which is better? | IT PRO

Your choice is also going to be influenced by preference but these look nice:

Macsales.com - OWC Mercury Elite Pro USB 3.0/2.0, FireWire 800/400, eSATA External Hard Drives

I have not purchased them as I tend to use 7200 RPM Iomega's and a few other brands. I do like Western Digital and I admit to buying what is on sale with in my preferred brands. None of them are perfect though and all will eventually die.

Lisa

lclev · Mar 14, 2015

pigoo3 said:
p.s. Sorry Lisa. Didn't realize you were viewing the thread when I repied.

Absolutely no problem. I love other opinions cause sometime you and others have better ideas or insights. The more the merrier!

Lisa

ethosb · Mar 14, 2015

Sharkz said:
Last weekend I went to my local BestBuy store to get some hands on with the new 5K iMac. All I can say is wow! I was blown away how big, beautiful and simply stunning the monitor was. Just moving around and scrolling, typing on the keyboard everything about the machine just felt like quality.

So now its time to place the order. I was a little surprised that I called the closest Apple store (1hour away) and they do not stock the configuration I want so I have to order online . I'm ready for this beast now. After playing on it for over an hour everything else pales in comparison.

These are the final specs before I order tonight. Just want to make sure nothing jumps out at someone..

27" 5K iMac

Specifications

4.0GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
512GB Flash Storage
AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4GB GDDR5
Apple Magic Mouse + Magic Trackpad
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
Accessory Kit
Apple Care protection

I'll be maxing the memory out myself as well as adding a few external hard drives of 3TB each. Just wish I could find this somewhere near me. I'm wondering how long once I order this tonight before I see it from Apple.

Coming from strictly PC world and never owning a Mac I'm hoping this beast will last for many many years to come. I'm tired of replacing computers every 3 years.

Thanks for any insights everyone.

I ordered a similar setup as it was not available at my local Apple Store. Ordered it on the 11th and it shipped yesterday. Delivery s set for the 19th. It shipped from CA and I live in GA.

Sharkz · Mar 14, 2015

Nick and Lisa thanks for posting. I will be going with a 1TB for cost reasons. But Lisa (there's always a but) I'm confused as to why I would need two drives for backup? Seems like overkill. I thought Time machine was the backup? Am I not understanding what Time machine does?

Sorry I'm confused I have never used Time machine before.

chas_m · Mar 15, 2015

You don't "need" two drives for backup. It's useful and handy to have both a Time Machine backup and a bootable clone backup (this is what I do). The reason a clone backup is handy is because it is bootable: you can boot from the external drive to do troubleshooting, or to keep working if you have to should the boot drive die suddenly and you have a project to finish before you can replace the drive. And other scenarios.

I actually have four externals to go with my 1TB internal drive: a 1TB clone drive (older), a 2TB Time Machine backup, a media drive (3TB) and a backup drive for the media drive (3TB).

joema · Mar 15, 2015

Sharkz said:
.....I am looking to buy 2 external drives. One for a time machine backup and the second bigger one for all my video files including go pro movies....
Also is firewire better or equal to USB 3.0? ...

You need at least two external drives, although ideally three. They can be USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt. I would not use 5400 rpm bus-powered portable USB drives. They are generally too slow. One exception is the HGST Touro S, which is pretty fast. I still would not edit video off this drive: Amazon.com: HGST Touro S 1TB 7200RPM High-Performance Portable Drive, Silver (0S03729): Computers & Accessories

You need:

(1) Media drive. Ideally this should be a Thunderbolt, AC-powered 3.5" drive. Example: 3TB G-Drive Thunderbolt: G-DRIVE® with Thunderbolt, or 2TB G-Drive USB: G-DRIVE® - Professional External Hard Drive | G-Technology

(2) Backup drive, continuously connected for Time Machine backup. It should be large enough to backup all in-use material on both internal SSD and external media drive. It need not be as fast but I still would not suggest a bus-powered portable USB drive. That said, this 4TB Seagate bus-powered drive is pretty fast (internally it's RAID0): Amazon.com: Seagate Backup Plus Fast 4TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0 STDA4000100: Computers & Accessories

Optionally:

(3) Separate backup drive, periodically connected for image backup. This you'd plug in periodically to run an image backup. Keeping it disconnected from the computer in the meantime gives isolation from problems.

Sharkz · Mar 15, 2015

Chas thanks for the explanation. Makes perfect sense why you would want one.

joema said:
You need:

(1) Media drive. Ideally this should be a Thunderbolt, AC-powered 3.5" drive. Example: 3TB G-Drive Thunderbolt: G-DRIVE® with Thunderbolt, or 2TB G-Drive USB: G-DRIVE® - Professional External Hard Drive | G-Technology

joema those drives look great including the specs. After doing some research I will definitely be going with thunderbolt instead of USB for my media drive. Just might have to pinch some more pennies. I originally budgeted $3000 for this build then bumped it $4000 for the extra Ram and drives but still won't come in under that. Ouch... But hey I'm sure it will be a great investment after all said and done. I can't wait.

I did place my order last night and Apple says Delivery is March 25-26. Just wish it was sooner. I never seen a place for quicker delivery times. Just free standard shipping. I would of paid for 2 day or whatever had they offered it.

Time to order. Checking Specs

Sharkz

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