....  Regarding the Thunderbolt station, you may want to wait for the Thunderbolt 2 update.

Unless I had an 8 SSD storage array I'm not convinced I would be able to notice the difference between thunderbolt 1 or 2.

If he is using Apple display with Thunderbolt, he could just daisy chain them without bothering with hdmi.

 

No Thunderbolt display.  Just a 25" Dell and a 20" Apple Cinema Display.  With these size monitors, it probably shouldn't make a difference. 

HDMI can handle some pretty good resolution displays with no problems (even my POS work laptop, the old one, could drive my 2560x1080 display, with no visible effort), so it's just a matter of the capabilities of the graphics card.

Unless I had an 8 SSD storage array I'm not convinced I would be able to notice the difference between thunderbolt 1 or 2.

 

But this is Head-Case.

But this is Head-Case.

Exactly! Which is why you buy one now and another when they upgrade to TB2.

Tim is getting a new MBP 13".  The new ones have a different power adapter (Magsafe 2).   He needs an extra one to use in the office.  Has anyone use the Magsafe to Magsafe 2 adapters?  Do they work well or should he buy an extra power adapter?   

 

Works fine for me - I accidentally forgot my 15" rMBP power supply when I went to Houston for a funeral this summer, and my daughter's Magsafe 1 with adapter charged my 15" retina MBP just fine.

I went to check out the iMacs yesterday and I think I can live with the glare.  It wasn't really that bad even in the very bright Apple store (which has two walls of glass).  

 

Now the beg decision about which processor to get:   i5 3.2Ghz or i7 3.5Ghz?  There is about a $400 difference*.  I don't think it would be worth it to upgrade to the faster i5 processor.  The question is whether hyperthreading would actually be that useful.  I don't really don't video editing.  The computer would be used for Lightroom, math computations (that are often written by me so would probably not be able to use hyperthreading), latex, web browsing, etc.  I know this is HC so i7 but....

 

*The i7 or faster i5 would also come NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M with 2GB video memory instead of 1GB of video memory.  Not sure if this would be useful for driving the large monitor.  

 

Also, I may want 16GB of RAM at some point but can change it out later.  Is it worth just upgrading now or sticking with 8GB for a while? 

 

I am definitely going to get the 256GB SSD.  

 

Benchmarks on the different processors from http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks(32 bit single core/multi-core):

i7 3500 3506/13091

i5 3400 3400/10669

i5 3200 3251/10176

I would still get the i7, just because I am a computer whore.  Also, depending on what you're writing in (Mathematica?), there might still be some multithreading utilization.  Also, unless you stop using the computer, the OS will multitask the other programs.

i7, just because.  Also, LR and other software are almost completely CPU dependent so every bit of raw CPU power helps.  Getting a third party (e.g., Crucial, OWC) upgrade to 16GB should be cheaper, though I don't know how much cheaper.

 

Also, having more GPU memory should in theory help with driving extra monitor/more resolution.  Whether or not you'll see the difference in your computer usage is a different matter entirely.

 

Wait, you're not getting an iMac 5K?

You're getting the 27" correct? In that case I would go with the 16Gb as two 8gb sticks. Then when you go to 32gb (because you know you will) you just need to get two more 8Gb sticks. I would also go with the i7 because Head-Case.

Edited November 9, 201411 yr by morphsci

^ Forgot the 27" has 4 slots. One thing to keep in mind is how picky (or not) iMac is with different RAM sticks as it is generally recommended you use same brand/model/spec across your RAM sticks.

in my experience that is an urban myth, but I always use Crucial for my upgrades. Not always the cheapest, but has always worked for me.

Yeah, I was wondering about mixing different RAM sticks.  I've always heard that was a bad idea.    I have used OWC mostly in the past. 

 

I was not planning to upgrade the GPU to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5.  Any red flags?  The standard is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2GB GDDR5 (or 1GB with the slowest i5 processor).

Edited November 10, 201411 yr by shellylh

A plug for hackintoshes. No crashes or any need to putz around with anything since I installed Yosemite (2 days after it was released). Everything has been working perfectly after initial configuration  

Yeah, I was wondering about mixing different RAM sticks.  I've always heard that was a bad idea.    I have used OWC mostly in the past. 

 

I was not planning to upgrade the GPU to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5.  Any red flags?  The standard is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2GB GDDR5 (or 1GB with the slowest i5 processor).

 

I am currently running my former 16Gb iMac with an additional 16Gb of Crucial Ram. It works the same as before the upgrade, well except for the fact that my R code runs faster. It is the latest non retina version with an i7 and the NVIDIA 775M. 

Here it'd be cheaper getting the iMac with the 8GB RAM standard and purchasing separately the 2 8GB sticks to replace those, than ordering it configured for 16GB from Apple. And that not accounting for an eventual sale of the two 4GB sticks.

8GB x 2 from OWC is $200 and the upgrade from Apple is $180 so there is not much difference.  Of course, if I get the ones from OWC I can have 4 matching sticks in the future.  Apple's cost for 16GB of memory (if not bought with the computer) if $400, yikes. 

Edited November 10, 201411 yr by shellylh

8GB x 2 from OWC is $200 and the upgrade from Apple is $180 so there is not much difference. ...

Yep, that is why I went with the 16 Gb memory. My experience with Apple computers when bought new is that the first memory upgrade is price competitive but maxed memory is not. I am sure there are exceptions. Plus I hate wasting my drinking time having to sell shit.

Edited November 10, 201411 yr by morphsci

Shelly, 16GB (8GB x2) from Crucial is $166, so $332 for 32GB.

It seems to be possible to add 16GB (2x8) to the default 8GB (2x4) from Apple making a total of 24GB.  I am not sure if this is optimal though.  It also is unclear how you should add the memory according to discussions at the apple forum.  

8GB x 2 from OWC is $200 and the upgrade from Apple is $180 so there is not much difference.  Of course, if I get the ones from OWC I can have 4 matching sticks in the future.  Apple's cost for 16GB of memory (if not bought with the computer) if $400, yikes. 

I guessed so, but this is not the US 

You have lots of friends in the US.  I suspect that you could talk one of them into buying them for and shipping them to you.

Hehehe, sure, Ken but that's not shipping a pair of tiny IEMs, the 27" iMac is a little something. Then we have the customs, which in these times of need for the administration they won't forgive a single package. A 33% fee on whatever they decide the item is worth could make matters worse. I don't know if the iMacs are universal voltage like the iPhones or other devices, but that could be a problem for warranty purposes, supposing Apple would honor it. I guess they'd do, specially if purchasing the apple care. In any case, thanks a lot

10.10 has killed Spotlight and Mail search for me, which is annoying.

i7. Seriously.