Single best upgrade option for base iMac Pro

I've been thinking about this a bit more and since you're dedicating 1 to 2 days per week on what you call your hobbies, then you're probably not just a casual user. So, I would think your first priority would be to get the additional Apple Care coverage (as you said you were going to do) and then make sure you have enough for Final Cut Pro and any other likely software updates.

Once you've done that, then I think considering your current usage, you could opt to maybe increase your RAM as suggested by as_909. My thinking here is as follows:

• I very much doubt you would have a need to upgrade the CPU - it'll still be able to run any software you can throw at it for the next 7 years (even games).
• Likewise with the GPU. And, in the extremely unlikely event you ever had to upgrade it, you will have external options available.
• There's no need to upgrade the SSD because there are so many ways to increase storage externally if/when needed. Even if you had the money for the 4TB option, I doubt this'd be enough 5+ years from now anyway, so best to stick to external options anyway.
• This leaves the RAM. You can't upgrade this externally - it has to be an internal upgrade. Today I checked and it is possible to buy 4 x 16GB RAM chips compatible with the iMac Pro for a little cheaper than what Apple will charge for the upgrade, but then you have to factor in the time/risk etc of you doing the upgrade yourself. All things considered, the price Apple is charging right now is actually reasonable. No doubt prices will drop elsewhere, so you'd save money a year or so from now, but then you've forgone the usage of that extra RAM in the meantime.

So, if it was me, make sure you have enough for the extra Apple Care and any software you need. Then, if you have the money, consider the RAM upgrade because if you do this then you'll most likely avoid having to ever open up your iMac Pro, and that's probably a good thing if you can avoid it.

Extra RAM will most likely be your biggest bang-for-the-buck. Especially if wanting to run applications concurrently. I was often hitting the limits on a 32 GB Mac Pro when running Xcode, Photoshop, etc. Often had to quit applications in order to avoid paging. Paging will drastically slow your Mac, no matter what GPU or number of CPU cores you have.

Things to also consider... what type of storage do you need? And software? Make sure to budget for those items as well. While I could have sunk lots of extra money into the iMac itself, I opted to invest in RAID storage instead. For the quantity of data I have, RAID with traditional spinning hard drives was very cost-effective. While not nearing SSD speeds, for what I do, I have very good I/O bandwidth. 600 MBps on the main data RAID, 400 MBps scratch RAID and 200 MBps Time Capsule RAID.

atojo wrote:

Or, do I just go with the base configuration and put the money into software (if/when required)?

I would go with the base configuration. First, you don't know how interested you will end up being in many of the uses you listed in the next 5+ years. You may lose interest in the more demanding applications, or find you don't have enough of a machine with only one upgrade.

Save your pennies, get some software and some new jeans. 😎

I agree with what you've said, but...

...I assume from the OP's question they're quite comfortable with the idea of doing upgrades themselves (just because of their reference to iFixit), and upgrading RAM is going to be the easiest for them to do themselves.

That said, I'm not sure I would necessarily offer a different answer, especially since they already acknowledge that an iMac Pro may be overkill for their usage. Perhaps my answer would be to not upgrade it and put the rest of the money to storage and software (as you also point out). 🙂

What I'm not sure on myself yet is whether the upgrade from the Vega 56 to Vega 64 will be worth it? Obviously it will be for pro users who actually work in the video editing/animation/virtual reality etc fields, but for users such as the OP it's hard to say. Sure you can use an external GPU, but that really seems something that you'd only want to do if you had a very specific need to meet.

atojo wrote:

I tried to mark your answer as helpful but it didn't let me! 😕

Yes, You're only allowed two.

Anyway, it is helpful so thank you for that.

You're welcome.

It's a big purchase and I guess I just wanted to try and future proof it so that it'd grow with me for 7-8 years.

Something you may want to consider is the new Mac Pro which is supposed to come out this year according to Apple. It would be more user friendly being modular, therefor easier to expand. It may be more expensive for the base model. That remains to be seen.