User profile for user: hartleyhare99
hartleyhare99 Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Advice on replacing 2017 iMac.Can you help.

I am retired & currently own a 2017 iMac 3Ghz Quad Core i5 with a mere 16Gb RAM. I am running FCPX & use Topaz AI quite a lot. Most of my work is upscaling a huge library of old SD PAL footage & any filming I do is a maximum of 4K. As you can imagine Topaz can take many hours upscaling. Last night 38 minutes to upscale a 2 minute trailer!

I do not use the machine for gaming or any other such trivia.

I have a budget of around £4000, about $5000 I guess & I'd like some suggestions on what new set up I should go for.

I like the idea of a new screen & a Mac mini with the M3 chip & a mass of RAM. Ive noticed the terminology has dramatically changed over the last 6 years, so I'm not sure where to start.

I would be very interested to hear what others would suggest as a good, but affordable setup that would serve my requirements.

Many thanks

iMac 21.5″ 4K, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 19, 2023 3:12 AM

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User profile for user: woodmeister50
woodmeister50
User level: Level 7
21,237 points

Posted on Nov 19, 2023 4:42 AM

If I had a $5000 budget, I would start with an Apple Studio Display ($1599) to have a similar screen to the old iMac. Next I would get a MacStudio computer with the M2 Max 12 core CPU, 38 core GPU, 64GB of RAM and 2 terabyte SSD which comes in at $3199USD, which would total $4798USD. I don't know what the config would actually cost in your country but you could adjust RAM and storage accordingly to bring it back i to budget. Unless you are in dire need of a new computer, you nay want to wait for an M3 version.


If you want to save a bit, I would still stick with the Apple Studio Display, and go with a MacMini with the M2 Pro chip with 1 core CPU, 19 core GPU, 32 GB RAM, and 2TB storage which comes in at $2599USD bringing the package to $4198USD. But with this, you are getting close to the MacStudio which would be a much better performer.


From my limited use of video, my experience has been that you can never have too many CPU and GPU cores.



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User profile for user: woodmeister50
woodmeister50
User level: Level 7
21,237 points

Nov 19, 2023 4:42 AM in response to hartleyhare99

If I had a $5000 budget, I would start with an Apple Studio Display ($1599) to have a similar screen to the old iMac. Next I would get a MacStudio computer with the M2 Max 12 core CPU, 38 core GPU, 64GB of RAM and 2 terabyte SSD which comes in at $3199USD, which would total $4798USD. I don't know what the config would actually cost in your country but you could adjust RAM and storage accordingly to bring it back i to budget. Unless you are in dire need of a new computer, you nay want to wait for an M3 version.


If you want to save a bit, I would still stick with the Apple Studio Display, and go with a MacMini with the M2 Pro chip with 1 core CPU, 19 core GPU, 32 GB RAM, and 2TB storage which comes in at $2599USD bringing the package to $4198USD. But with this, you are getting close to the MacStudio which would be a much better performer.


From my limited use of video, my experience has been that you can never have too many CPU and GPU cores.



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Advice on replacing 2017 iMac.Can you help.

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