Probably my first post in this site, and I just needed some answers before I place an order. I’m an artist who does a lot of cartooning and basic 2D animations, and I’ve been needing to upgrade from my old 2013 Celeron-powered Windows laptop to a 21.5 inch Retina iMac, while also staying below my budget (90k or lower). Right now, however, I’m stuck between the two models of the 21.5 inch Retina 4k iMacs: The quad-core i3 model and the six-core i5 model. I don’t want a PC that’s too underpowered or too overpowered, so what do you guys think? And should I keep the rest of the configurations untouched (like the RAM, GPU, Fusion Drive, etc.)? Thanks in advance! Here’s the image for a better look at the products.
I'd personally wait for the 2020 iMac to come, buy it from the Amazon, Best Buy or other US retailer then have it shipped to a freight forwarder. You avoid paying 12% VAT. It will still come out cheaper than you'd buy from Apple PH or local resller. It will probably come months before NTC approves it for importation. Freight Forwarders will send it to your Malabon address.
If you need it for work and it's an investment, just go ahead and order now. The new iMac is still a rumor at this point. And when it gets announced, don't expect it to arrive this year anyway. The 2020 iPad Pro was announced last March 2020, and we still don't have it officially. iMacs are rather future-proof, so you will get many years of productivity. I was also contemplating getting a 21.5-inch iMac since my company transitioned to a work from home setup and there's no need to bring a MacBook to places. Get the top-spec model with the Fusion Drive. My office iMac was a 21.5-inch with the 5400rpm hard drive, and it was painfully slow to boot up.
Buy a second hand that still has warranty. To op; I recommend you first get a recommendation on which model will suit you by going to a reddit community of animators like in https://www.reddit.com/r/Animators/ They are an international group so telling them your budget in dollars is preferred. Once you get which mac and specs is best suited for your needs then you search the local stores on how much that would cost here in the Philippines. Compare that to how much a brand new one will cost if bought from the US and freight forwarded to the Philippines. Check if there are second hand options in tipidpc.com that still has warranty as you will be able to save more buying used.
incase you need 2nd hand imac 21.5 2017 retina with radeon 555 inbox sm baliuag is selling 1 demo unit complete package for 45k. Catch is there is a scratch sa screen sa side part lang
Thanks! Now you mentioned about Fusion Drives, are they able to last for more than 5 years? And is the performance much better than the 5400 rpm hard drive not just in the boot-up?
I've never had a Fusion drive iMac, so I don't know about their reliability. Invest in a UPS just the same. But I bet it's definitely better than the 5400rpm hard drive.
UPS doesnt protect hard drives alone. Natural wear and tear & heat will kill HDD. My Fusion Drive died on it's 6th year after 16 hour daily use.
