My 2015 27 inch 5K iMac has worked perfectly and still does - upgraded the 16 GB RAM to 32 GB, and plan to upgrade the fusion drive to an SSD, will look into upgrading the Quad-Core i7 and Radeon R9 M395 2 GB graphics if possible - the display is magnificent - hope to keep using this iMac for years to come.
Picked up a 2009 MBP for $40 and an ounce of herb that I grew. put in 8gigs of ram and a new SSD. I use it or making and recording music! works perfectly!
I honestly just want to say how much your channel has improved ever since I subscribed. From the increase in your editing skills to the improved quality of your equipment! It's been awesome watching you grow and I can wait to see you get bigger! Love your videos and what you teach us! Thanks for making videos! P.S. Jealous of all those Macs ya got XP
I can't stop watching your videos. Your enthusiasm almost persuaded me to buy a mac. Then I watch videos like this. And think, nah, all that effort and you are happy it plays games? And happy that it only stuttered a few times? Yet the spec of your machine is higher than the very best imac? That's crazy. Despite I don't own a mac, probably never will. Still love for your videos. For some reason they keep coming up on my youtube. You will be big I am sure. Great content.
@@bobbyz23 Unfortunately, mine's screen started to get stuck around the corners. Apparently they ALL do this eventually. I'm really mad this wasn't mentioned anywhere :(
I picked up a 2017 5K iMac on ebay with an RX 580 and 2TB fusion for $1800 and change. when it arrived there was a slight bend in the stand and the seller refunded me $100 and I just bent it back, cant even tell. the 2017 are much better than the previous models for thunderbolt 3 and the much faster RX 570/580 cards. games great and even VR is good. I can play overwatch in 5K and runs silky smooth at 60fps! I sacrificed hyper-threading and an i5 but nothing I do is really that compute intensive where it would matter much. $1700 for a maxed out 2015 doesnt seem like a very good deal imo if you can get a 2017 for just a little more which will have 2x the GPU and TB3 for future proofing.
Well , I got the same exact same 2015 iMac 27 5K kid......, i7 4.0QC/32GB ram/R395X 4GB and 2TB fusion (Evo 860 Pro 2.5" upgrade) Plus a magic Keyboard 2 with numeric key + Track pad 2. But there is a tiny crack on the left-Top hand side of my screen, only in the edge doesn't affect the actual LED area. Guess what I got it for $7500 HKD, which is equivalent to US $960 dollars. BTW I live in Hong Kong. That's what you call " A Killer deal" ^ _^ $ 1700 USD is just way too much for an aged iMac like this, but really good performance no doubt......
Hey Luke, I just bought one of these for £933. Top spec inc 1TB flash memory. I couldn't believe when it just popped up on eBay. Only one other bidder who'd lurked, like I had, until the last minute on the auction. It was starting at £800. My max bid was £950 and I bid in the last 7 seconds. Exciting moment. When I saw it I must have subconsciously remembered watching this video. UK retail back then was £3300!! Thanks for the recommendation!
I really appreciate your videos since I have an old 2009 27"iMac which is still very useable in 2020. Keep the great content coming. Hoping you hit 200K subscribers and beyond very soon.
I got a 1440p iMac with the 2gb VRAM (GTX 775M). Works a dream for about $550usd, with an i5-4670, 8gb RAM and 1TB hard drive. It's nicely upgradable too
Actually the 2017 imac has a better display too in terms of higher nits and it is significantly brighter than the previous gen. Although that may not matter if you aren't in bright light environments anyway. Also the thunderbolt 3 ports over thunderbolt 2 is far far superior if you want to add an eGPU, LG 5k display or some raid storage to name a few.
Mine is a 5k display with a quad core i5 3.2 ghz, 16gb ram, 2gb Radeon GPU and 250gb flash drive. Just $200 from my town's University's auction. It's clean through and through and someone stole one for $150. I was able to snag 2 of them (one for my friend) :D. Mine's definitely going to be my multimedia workstation.
I have a Mid 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Core i7, 16GB Ram, and 500GB SSD. The machine is a screamer, really fast in Xcode! Despite, being more than 6 years old it runs the latest version of macOS Mojave and Xcode! Edit: The display is really bad though.
Pick up an external monitor! If you can find a thunderbolt display cheap enough, it works seamlessly with your MacBook and you can use it in clamshell mode with keyboard and mouse!
I have one of those, too. They are, indeed, great machines. Too bad I can't have any SATA III drives on the optical bay, though… By the way, seeing how you've installed Mojave on it already, you might've noticed Apple turned off sub-pixel rendering at the system level, a decision which, compounded by its archaic screen, makes all the text look like a blurry mess. This neat little trick can restore text rendering on Mojave to macOS's old, triple-resolution anti-aliased glory, with only a few imperceptible artifacts: www.howtogeek.com/358596/how-to-fix-blurry-fonts-on-macos-mojave-with-subpixel-antialiasing I tested it on the external 1080p monitor I'm using with my brand new 5K iMac (I went the Quinn from SnazzyLabs' route, instead of buying a used 2015 model), and it works great. As for the main monitor, holy hell. Not all of the text is sub-pixel rendered, but the strings that are have an effective 654 ppi of horizontal resolution, which puts them squarely in physical print territory even at close viewing distance.
Frank Ck I had the same model, and upgraded to a 2017 13 inch MacBook Pro, I couldn’t stand the horrible screen and had severe lag in windows boot camp. Best decision I could have made...
On eBay in mid-2022, I am similar configs for about half what he quoted. Now that M series is here people are dumping the Intel stuff. When it hits bottom, I am here to buy one. 😊
Bought the same model from reseller for $500 due to a slight crack in the corner. I agree... amazing value for an iMac with 5K display, especially when compared with later models.
The 2017 iMac is great value for an apple product. I have one too and its a workhorse. I use it every day for programming and gaming (bootcamp) and it has been performing without a hitch. Super silent fan, flawless display, stellar performance and OSX. It really puts MacBook Pros to shame.
Got mine for 950 Euro with 16GB and 512GB SSD because the glass was broken on the frame (not going into the visible space). Great value, it's the inside values that count. And this machine can handle 128GB RAM if you need it and a huge 4TB SSD disk.
Late 15'r here as well. Except I have the 3.2 i5. I converted to 512g SSD and upped to 16g RAM. Considering that a 27 inch 5k monitor refurbished is $1k, I have to agree these are a very good value. I still love mine, and it started at the bottom of the barrel!
Got one of these for my family refurbished from Apple 2 years ago to replace our old 2010 iMac and it's an awesome machine. It has a 2TB fusion drive, i5 processor and the mid tier M390 graphics card. I don't do much on it but it runs like a champ and will definitely last for quite a few years.
It's definitely wonderful and nice to look at now but wait till something goes wrong and you have to repair something within the internals of the machine. I'll stick to the classic Mac Pro dual Xeon processor version all day long
Very nice review! I am super proud and happy that back in time I bought my iMac 5K late 2015 fully specter, till now it still runs 4K videos like a 1080p, insanely! I only those MacBook Pro were so crazy good like those were 2012-2015 Mac would definitely gain the computer market!
Seen your video and bought the same iMac, only my iMac has 3t memory the rest is the same as yours. Thanks to your video now I have my First iMac, never owned iMac before
Holiday returns are your best bet for a decent price on an almost new Mac! I bought an open box 27" 3.8 Ghz 2017 iMac 5K. Barely handled at all! Once a retailer takes back an Apple product (or any large ticket item really), even if it has only been sold for a day; they can't really sell it as new. So it gets re-sold for $300 - 400 less just like that!
@@PassionPainNDemonsStreetwear Ok, cool, I can pick one up with a 6700k, 4gb gpu, 32gb ram, 2.12tb fusion drive (gonna change the hdd tho) for $1100 USD and have been looking for average prices
Starman I would recommend finding one with an SSD (much faster) even if it’s 1300$ with an SSD... it will save you the time and money to do all that( take out fusion and put hdd) 2015?
This one is intended for content creators and gamers. Cost to performance ratio is acceptable for such a heavily maxed out iMac. The rest of us can do with far less at a more reasonable price point. When compared to the $1100 base 2017 iMac, there’s no contest with the $1800 2015 5K rig. Here is where the value truly exceeds the price..For once, Luke didn’t feel ripped off and it showed in his review.
Love your videos. They are always helpful and informative to the T. I was gifted a 27" 2014 1tb Fusion i5 and upgraded the ram 24 but decided to look around on ebay to see what was out there and landed on a 27" 2015 1tb ssd 32 ram and i7 for $300 per bidding. I know I could have upgraded ssd my self on the 2014 but I kept seeing reviews on how solid this one was.
The last Mac OS 10.14 (Mojave), is compatible with with most egpu boxes. Now even the apple store is selling the official supported Blackmagic egpu with 580. It s 100% officially supported and working out of the box. (btw i don t recommend it ) @@bradhaines3142
I’ve used two versions (low end and maxxed out) of the 2015 5K iMac, and neither was a disappointment. The 4.0GHz i7 version I used had been upgraded with a hefty 2TB SSD and 32GB of RAM, and I was editing immense 4+GB PSB files. The thing just performed under pressure. But yes, the fan noise was apparent. I can only guess that the Radeon RX 580 equipped versions are capable of a 1.5x speedup in similar Photoshop tasks, but obviously at a quite steep cost.
The main reason the past years iMac 5K is decent value is because it comes with a 5K display. I hear the 2015 skylake model (mentioned here) also had a noticeably improved screen and better thermals (mostly due to the first iMac 5k having Haswell architecture, and the new 2015 model having the more efficient skylake architecture) over the original 2014 model.
another great video man love the videos on the Macs that hit the price to performance window. you did mention that you where working on a new editing Mac and this was a surprise and its something on my radar now.
I found one of these at the E-waste section at my local dump today. Plugged it in and turned it on. It looked like it was doing great but is taking forever to boot. I've done a bit of research and it looks like the HD might be dying. So I'm going to give swapping it for an ssd a try and see what happens :)
wonder how this would handle Destiny 2. I recently started playing Destiny 2 thanks to it being free and even on the lowest settings on my MacBook Pro it still runs better than what I'm used to on PS4 (i'm not using a PS4 Pro, if that makes much of a difference on Destiny 2). It actually runs well enough for me to consider buying the expansion and not playing on PS4 anymore, despite me having a fully leveled character...
i got a like-new example for $1,000 on craigslist a while back. It worked well for being a mac, but I rely on being able to use windows as well. Bootcamp didn't want to work properly, and I sold it for a profit. I made 300 dollars on it. I built a PC. If you can get one in good condition for a really good price, then yes it's very worth it. If you need a mac.
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Great review and wish your channel continued successful!!!
If you bought Fuji X-T3 for video, don't buy it! 7th gen Core processor is horrible for HEVC playback. 8th gen has no issue whatsoever. I would suggest get the new Mac mini + Sonnet GFX + Vega 56 + a decent monitor. It's very close to base model of iMac Pro performance.
I've had this exact same iMac with the exact same specifications since it was a current model. Only difference is I used faster RAM (2133 MHz instead of 1867 MHz DDR3, which works fine). Never any complaints about the performance, and the display is fantastic (aside from image retention, which is unfortunately very common on the 2014/2015 5K iMac).
You’re missing out on Thunderbolt 3, so not only are your graphics limited out of the box, but you can’t expand them. This would concern me, but at the price you paid... maybe?
I had just bought a mid 2015 27 inch iMac with the i5 6600, 16gb of ram , r9 m395x, as well as a 512gb ssd. I bought it for around $560-ish, that’s including tax and shipping. Do you think that is a good deal ?
I swapped from PC to 5k Imac 2014 i7 32gb ram 295 4gb. Its awesome for photo and video editing. The pc doesn't even get used anymore. Looking forward to next imac
Well , I got the same exact same 2015 iMac 27 5K kid......, i7 4.0QC/32GB ram/R395X 4GB and 2TB fusion (Evo 860 Pro 2.5" upgrade) Plus a magic Keyboard 2 with numeric key + Track pad 2. But there is a tiny crack on the left-Top hand side of my screen, only in the edge doesn't affect the actual LED area. Guess what,,,,, I got it for $7500 HKD, which is equivalent to US $960 dollars. BTW I live in Hong Kong. That's what you call " A Killer deal" ^ _^ $ 1700 USD is just way too much for an aged iMac like this, but really good performance no doubt......
i sold my 512GB MBPro 13 2015 and i choose my MBPro 13 2011 that was given to me by my friend. upgraded the Ram and throw in a 256GB SSD, replaced the dvd drive with a 500GB HDD for files and put a new thermal paste and viola it works great. I only upgraded it to Sierra coz I found High Sierra a bit laggy though this is a 7yr old machine.
nice video bro.getting back on the UA-cam grind real soon. just picked up a MacBook Pro today. for now. was really hoping a new iMac would've came but I guess next year!
Excellent video! While, I own two very old imacs a white 20 inch G5 with a Power PC processor (running OS X 10.4) and a white 24 inch model with an Intel processor (running OS X 10.6) not in the market for imac computers anymore. Gone are the days when Apple designed their computers for user upgrades like on my G5 imac where the RAM, Airport Card, Hard Drive, etc. are all very easy to service. Now, Apple wants us to connect what we need to our computes by using external hard drives, external blue-ray DVD players, external eGPU, etc.
a 2019 imac with the latest i5 processor is surely superior to this 5 yesr old i7 or very close, ifyou spec a brand new imac with 512 gb, and add your own ram at about 100 $ the price is only 400$ more than this one but you get a warranty of a year, its brand new with no scratches
Came by thinking about picking up an iMac from this era to use as a cheap-ish 1080p stream host and true color monitor (~$300 these days, literally the price of an un-tuned 4k monitor). Plus, being this old gives me a great excuse to pull it apart and tinker, like relocating the drive IO outside the frame (because in Apple's infinite wisdom, they sealed both inside the glued chassis).
Hello, can i ask you some questions. I will be a new imac user and i have some questions and will be happy to get a answer for people who have been in touch with these machines. I order second hand renewed imac late 2015 with these specs: 32gb ddr4, i7 6700k 4.0 ghz, r9 395x 2gb ddr5 aand 512gb ssd. I will use that for tech support because i need a big screen, the question is: This machine is will be good for tech support, any desk and etc? And what if the updates stop, the machine is continues to work with these programs or the programs will stop working after many updates and will be unusable because on windows if u use w10 and use this u will can use the programs and etc but i don't know whats the matter with the imacs...? Sorry for my bad english but i think u will understand me what i mean. Thanks in advance!
I bought mine to a friend that had a job offer in Japan. The same model, Late 2015. The original price in February 2016 was 2600€ (Euros). I bought it to him 2 months later for 1.300€. VERY GOOD DEAL. After 8 years, I only added 16GB more of RAM. so I have 32GB in total. Still today works perfect for what I want. But I think, by the end next year/early-mid 2025 I will buy the next. Probably a mac mini. Cheaper and better specs than the new iMac 24 inches.
Hello, can i ask you some questions. I will be a new imac user and i have some questions and will be happy to get a answer for people who have been in touch with these machines. I order second hand renewed imac late 2015 with these specs: 32gb ddr4, i7 6700k 4.0 ghz, r9 395x 2gb ddr5 aand 512gb ssd. I will use that for tech support because i need a big screen, the question is: This machine is will be good for tech support, any desk and etc? And what if the updates stop, the machine is continues to work with these programs or the programs will stop working after many updates and will be unusable because on windows if u use w10 and use this u will can use the programs and etc but i don't know whats the matter with the imacs...? Sorry for my bad english but i think u will understand me what i mean. Thanks in advance!
@@stiviwonder Ah sorry for again asking you… How much is the time can i use this iMac without updates like a 5-10 years more because i will use as daily work machine. Ps: On windows if i use w8 and game or program dosent support w8 i cant play or use this program. Is it here similar?
Hey Luke! I’d love to see a video on buying Mac accessories. Like keyboards, Mice, etc. I’d love to know how to score a good deal on a magic keyboard or something. I’m new to the Mac world and not sure what is and isn’t a good deal.
Luke!! This is the video I've been hoping and waiting for you to make! As I've commented before on your videos, I truly believe the 2015 27 inch iMac pro is the best value Mac product ever made, "FOR A MAC" haha loved that. I'm a die-hard PCMR gamer and IT pro of 15 years, who has nothing but bad things to say about apple, except for this one machine. I love your channel for the value propositions of older machines you present and I'm glad you pointed out the value of this one. keep up the great work!
@luke Miami - one issue: it only has Thunderbolt 2 ports. Limits future upgradability. Wouldn’t buying a 6-core i7 2018 Mac Mini and adding an external GPU perform better and have more reliable future proofing?
I have the base model with an external 512gb samsung 850 evo ssd and it runs perfectly the fans never even turns on! even under render or any fake workload the cpu does not get above 70celsius.
I really do like that the I-Mac is an all in one computer, and comes with a (a rechargeable) keyboard and mouse, or the Trackpad. I went on line and check the options and pricing and at the bottom there is an option for the Pro Bundle (Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro and three other programs) that if bought each one separately, it would cost you a bit more, and you have the I-Mac with these apps installed. I will wait to see what the Next I-Mac (October/November) come with, hopefully, the new 9th Generation Intel I-9 with 6 or 8 Core, and an upgraded Radeon Video Card. Late November the 15 Inch MacBook Pro will have an Vega 16 or 20 option. Which would increase the chance of the next I-Mac will have that option also. It may be late November or December. That would be one awesome Christmas Present for myself. Thank you, Santa. I would opt for the Pro Bundle also. I have the Creative Cloud membership and will learn Premiere Pro, After Effects and Final Cut Pro X, also on the Audio, Audition and Logic Pro X. Really miss using an I-Mac. (From school). Illustrator and Photoshop will be a blast on the I-Mac, and many other of the Adobe Creative Cloud Apps, InDesign, Adobe XD, Dimension and Animate, as well as Character Animator, which also makes me think of the Emoji's on the New IOS 12 and I-Phone 10S.
I'm happy that you like your new iMac, but I feel that for less money, you could've given your '09 Mac Pro a few upgrades that could outperform that iMac. As a Windows and Mac user, I can tell you that I don't think it was wise to spend $1700 on that iMac. In my opinion, paying $1700 for a computer with dated hardware and a non upgradable GPU wasn't wise.
You're forgetting about resale value. I needed something quick that I can sell in 6 months or so, and these Macs hold their value so it won't cost me much money. Putting more money into a nearly decade old Mac Pro would be less wise
On paper the Mac Pro makes a lot of sense, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that they’re aging quickly. The processors are already lacking for Final Cut and stuff because they lack quick sync. In general they’re good but not long term
I'm prepared to claim that this thing is a certified Screamer™
where did you purchase this?
That's how I would describe my ex-girlfriend's performance in bed ! 😜
Luke Miani qd$3r
Hi. Would you still recommend this iMac in 2022? I lightly run music editing software. Cheers
jjjjjj
The cinematography. You've really stepped up your game, nice job and congrats on 30k! Here since about 4kish, can't wait till 100k!
almost 200k now!
Past 200k!
@@presidentmuhammadasyraafab7868 270!!
@Marvellous STD 315
355k
My 2015 27 inch 5K iMac has worked perfectly and still does - upgraded the 16 GB RAM to 32 GB, and plan to upgrade the fusion drive to an SSD, will look into upgrading the Quad-Core i7 and Radeon R9 M395 2 GB graphics if possible - the display is magnificent - hope to keep using this iMac for years to come.
Picked up a 2009 MBP for $40 and an ounce of herb that I grew. put in 8gigs of ram and a new SSD. I use it or making and recording music! works perfectly!
wow
Now that’s a deal not sure about loosing an ounce of herb though
@@KyleGuitarLife I grow the stuff all year long, indoor and outdoor. An ounce cost me about $5.
You sir, are a rebel. Kudos.
@@jaan-mattisaul8934Nah, its legal here
I honestly just want to say how much your channel has improved ever since I subscribed. From the increase in your editing skills to the improved quality of your equipment! It's been awesome watching you grow and I can wait to see you get bigger! Love your videos and what you teach us! Thanks for making videos!
P.S. Jealous of all those Macs ya got XP
I just bought a 2015 yesterday and I'm so excited to upgrade the RAM, SSD, and CPU and watch it race :)
Why did I think of McDonald’s when you said “value Mac”?
The dollar menu?
Too much food out lol.
I can't stop watching your videos. Your enthusiasm almost persuaded me to buy a mac. Then I watch videos like this. And think, nah, all that effort and you are happy it plays games? And happy that it only stuttered a few times? Yet the spec of your machine is higher than the very best imac? That's crazy. Despite I don't own a mac, probably never will. Still love for your videos. For some reason they keep coming up on my youtube. You will be big I am sure. Great content.
I got one of these for $550 yesterday and I can confirm they are still absolutely awesome in 2023.
Got mine for $223 off eBay Tue and loving it!
@@bobbyz23 Unfortunately, mine's screen started to get stuck around the corners. Apparently they ALL do this eventually. I'm really mad this wasn't mentioned anywhere :(
@@insertnamehere6559 To be honest this is not a common issue or you would see videos addressing this problem.
Beyond my price range for sure, but it's a Luke Miani video so I'll be watching it anyway, haha!
I picked up a 2017 5K iMac on ebay with an RX 580 and 2TB fusion for $1800 and change. when it arrived there was a slight bend in the stand and the seller refunded me $100 and I just bent it back, cant even tell. the 2017 are much better than the previous models for thunderbolt 3 and the much faster RX 570/580 cards. games great and even VR is good. I can play overwatch in 5K and runs silky smooth at 60fps! I sacrificed hyper-threading and an i5 but nothing I do is really that compute intensive where it would matter much. $1700 for a maxed out 2015 doesnt seem like a very good deal imo if you can get a 2017 for just a little more which will have 2x the GPU and TB3 for future proofing.
what's your complete specs for your imac? are you planning to unfuse your drives and just upgrade everything to SSD?
Well , I got the same exact same 2015 iMac 27 5K kid......, i7 4.0QC/32GB ram/R395X 4GB and 2TB fusion (Evo 860 Pro 2.5" upgrade) Plus a magic Keyboard 2 with numeric key + Track pad 2. But there is a tiny crack on the left-Top hand side of my screen, only in the edge doesn't affect the actual LED area. Guess what I got it for $7500 HKD, which is equivalent to US $960 dollars. BTW I live in Hong Kong. That's what you call " A Killer deal" ^ _^ $ 1700 USD is just way too much for an aged iMac like this, but really good performance no doubt......
Great job! I enjoyed this. I picked up a 2014 27”4ghz i7 32gb for under $1200. They are beautiful machines.
Hey Luke, I just bought one of these for £933. Top spec inc 1TB flash memory.
I couldn't believe when it just popped up on eBay. Only one other bidder who'd lurked, like I had, until the last minute on the auction. It was starting at £800. My max bid was £950 and I bid in the last 7 seconds. Exciting moment.
When I saw it I must have subconsciously remembered watching this video.
UK retail back then was £3300!! Thanks for the recommendation!
I really appreciate your videos since I have an old 2009 27"iMac which is still very useable in 2020. Keep the great content coming. Hoping you hit 200K subscribers and beyond very soon.
Jules Verne Reyes I have the same computer and I love it, I just put an ssd and 8 ram in mine
thank you for filming in 4K, much appreciated as this video looks so nice on my 4K TV
I got a 1440p iMac with the 2gb VRAM (GTX 775M). Works a dream for about $550usd, with an i5-4670, 8gb RAM and 1TB hard drive. It's nicely upgradable too
I just bought an iMac 2012 27" i5 3.2ghz 12gb ram GTX 680M for only $600!!!!
Although its not 5k but I think 1440p is enough for me already :D
Actually the 2017 imac has a better display too in terms of higher nits and it is significantly brighter than the previous gen. Although that may not matter if you aren't in bright light environments anyway. Also the thunderbolt 3 ports over thunderbolt 2 is far far superior if you want to add an eGPU, LG 5k display or some raid storage to name a few.
But it’s a thousand bucks more
Mine is a 5k display with a quad core i5 3.2 ghz, 16gb ram, 2gb Radeon GPU and 250gb flash drive. Just $200 from my town's University's auction.
It's clean through and through and someone stole one for $150. I was able to snag 2 of them (one for my friend) :D.
Mine's definitely going to be my multimedia workstation.
“2017 iMacs are about to get replaced, so I got a *2015 iMac.* “ Wtf?
It makes sense to me. I recently bought a 2017 iMac because the 2019 iMacs are about to get replaced.
Cheaper and easily upgraded on what will need it. That i7 will be sufficient for a very long time!
I have a Mid 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Core i7, 16GB Ram, and 500GB SSD. The machine is a screamer, really fast in Xcode! Despite, being more than 6 years old it runs the latest version of macOS Mojave and Xcode!
Edit: The display is really bad though.
Those 2012s are real screamers!
Pick up an external monitor! If you can find a thunderbolt display cheap enough, it works seamlessly with your MacBook and you can use it in clamshell mode with keyboard and mouse!
@@sneedsneed460
Yes, I am using the 27-inch ThunderBolt display with my MacBook Pro. Works great!
I have one of those, too. They are, indeed, great machines. Too bad I can't have any SATA III drives on the optical bay, though…
By the way, seeing how you've installed Mojave on it already, you might've noticed Apple turned off sub-pixel rendering at the system level, a decision which, compounded by its archaic screen, makes all the text look like a blurry mess. This neat little trick can restore text rendering on Mojave to macOS's old, triple-resolution anti-aliased glory, with only a few imperceptible artifacts: www.howtogeek.com/358596/how-to-fix-blurry-fonts-on-macos-mojave-with-subpixel-antialiasing
I tested it on the external 1080p monitor I'm using with my brand new 5K iMac (I went the Quinn from SnazzyLabs' route, instead of buying a used 2015 model), and it works great. As for the main monitor, holy hell. Not all of the text is sub-pixel rendered, but the strings that are have an effective 654 ppi of horizontal resolution, which puts them squarely in physical print territory even at close viewing distance.
Frank Ck I had the same model, and upgraded to a 2017 13 inch MacBook Pro, I couldn’t stand the horrible screen and had severe lag in windows boot camp. Best decision I could have made...
On eBay in mid-2022, I am similar configs for about half what he quoted. Now that M series is here people are dumping the Intel stuff. When it hits bottom, I am here to buy one. 😊
The quality of your videos just keeps getting better!
Bought the same model from reseller for $500 due to a slight crack in the corner. I agree... amazing value for an iMac with 5K display, especially when compared with later models.
M Johnson where did you buy? Was anything else wrong it?
The 2017 iMac is great value for an apple product. I have one too and its a workhorse. I use it every day for programming and gaming (bootcamp) and it has been performing without a hitch. Super silent fan, flawless display, stellar performance and OSX. It really puts MacBook Pros to shame.
Nice purchase there. Glad, to see you're able to get yourself a newer machine? Now, to continue building your channel with less timeline errors.
Got mine for 950 Euro with 16GB and 512GB SSD because the glass was broken on the frame (not going into the visible space). Great value, it's the inside values that count. And this machine can handle 128GB RAM if you need it and a huge 4TB SSD disk.
Well, this video made me accept a deal for the very same iMac you are talking about, great review. Greetings from Mexico.
Hola mexico
I was looking at buying one of these used. I may just get it then. Oh, and Luke, AMAZING video quality! You’re stepping it up!
Late 15'r here as well. Except I have the 3.2 i5. I converted to 512g SSD and upped to 16g RAM. Considering that a 27 inch 5k monitor refurbished is $1k, I have to agree these are a very good value. I still love mine, and it started at the bottom of the barrel!
Love the b-roll. Love the overall video. Very frugal. Subscribed.
Hi Luke I'd love for you to do a 2022 update on this video. I'm looking into buying one for around 600.
Got one of these for my family refurbished from Apple 2 years ago to replace our old 2010 iMac and it's an awesome machine. It has a 2TB fusion drive, i5 processor and the mid tier M390 graphics card. I don't do much on it but it runs like a champ and will definitely last for quite a few years.
It's definitely wonderful and nice to look at now but wait till something goes wrong and you have to repair something within the internals of the machine. I'll stick to the classic Mac Pro dual Xeon processor version all day long
Very nice review! I am super proud and happy that back in time I bought my iMac 5K late 2015 fully specter, till now it still runs 4K videos like a 1080p, insanely! I only those MacBook Pro were so crazy good like those were 2012-2015 Mac would definitely gain the computer market!
Way better performance than I expected. Actually reconsidering if I'm keen for my mac Pro 5.1 build after watching this..
6:20 You can't actually lean to see around corners, even at 5k. lol :D
Seen your video and bought the same iMac, only my iMac has 3t memory the rest is the same as yours. Thanks to your video now I have my First iMac, never owned iMac before
Holiday returns are your best bet for a decent price on an almost new Mac!
I bought an open box 27" 3.8 Ghz 2017 iMac 5K. Barely handled at all!
Once a retailer takes back an Apple product (or any large ticket item really), even if it has only been sold for a day; they can't really sell it as new.
So it gets re-sold for $300 - 400 less just like that!
Good job on this video. Good subject, too. The 27" 5K is a rock star rig.
Have my eye on this exact model since the video came out, finally got it!
27 in 5K 1TB Sata disk + 128SSD. 32GB Ram & 4GB graphic card
BEAST
How much did you pay?
Starman 1500$ USD
I wouldn’t pay no more than 1600-1700 depending what the specs are
@@PassionPainNDemonsStreetwear Ok, cool, I can pick one up with a 6700k, 4gb gpu, 32gb ram, 2.12tb fusion drive (gonna change the hdd tho) for $1100 USD and have been looking for average prices
Starman I would recommend finding one with an SSD (much faster)
even if it’s 1300$ with an SSD... it will save you the time and money to do all that( take out fusion and put hdd)
2015?
I just got my hands on mine. 4.0Ghz 27in 5k 512GB SSD 32GB RAM but the M395 no X. Should be here Thursday☺️
You really make me want a mac. I will get one eventually. Oh well to cheer myself up while I wait I'll watch some Thundercats.
WV Productions Thunder Thunder Thunder Thunder CATS roooooar 😅 😍
Good video, my family is getting an refurbished 5k iMac for Xmas
This one is intended for content creators and gamers. Cost to performance ratio is acceptable for such a heavily maxed out iMac. The rest of us can do with far less at a more reasonable price point. When compared to the $1100 base 2017 iMac, there’s no contest with the $1800 2015 5K rig. Here is where the value truly exceeds the price..For once, Luke didn’t feel ripped off and it showed in his review.
Love your videos. They are always helpful and informative to the T. I was gifted a 27" 2014 1tb Fusion i5 and upgraded the ram 24 but decided to look around on ebay to see what was out there and landed on a 27" 2015 1tb ssd 32 ram and i7 for $300 per bidding. I know I could have upgraded ssd my self on the 2014 but I kept seeing reviews on how solid this one was.
You miss something : Thunderbolt 3 !
I prefer the base 2017 model just because TB3 ! Great review and great lighting btw! :)
what do you even use it for? and don't say eGPU because macs dont really have games, or compatibility with most boxes. so that doesnt count
The last Mac OS 10.14 (Mojave), is compatible with with most egpu boxes. Now even the apple store is selling the official supported Blackmagic egpu with 580. It s 100% officially supported and working out of the box. (btw i don t recommend it ) @@bradhaines3142
I’ve used two versions (low end and maxxed out) of the 2015 5K iMac, and neither was a disappointment. The 4.0GHz i7 version I used had been upgraded with a hefty 2TB SSD and 32GB of RAM, and I was editing immense 4+GB PSB files. The thing just performed under pressure. But yes, the fan noise was apparent. I can only guess that the Radeon RX 580 equipped versions are capable of a 1.5x speedup in similar Photoshop tasks, but obviously at a quite steep cost.
The main reason the past years iMac 5K is decent value is because it comes with a 5K display. I hear the 2015 skylake model (mentioned here) also had a noticeably improved screen and better thermals (mostly due to the first iMac 5k having Haswell architecture, and the new 2015 model having the more efficient skylake architecture) over the original 2014 model.
I still love my early 2016 27" 5K iMac.
Stumble across your vid, nicely done. The only reason that stop me from buying this model is thunder bold 3
Hey Luke, keep up the good work! I am not even a Mac user, but love the videos.
another great video man love the videos on the Macs that hit the price to performance window. you did mention that you where working on a new editing Mac and this was a surprise and its something on my radar now.
I agree Luke. I have the same machine. I love it.
Haven't tried to game on it...but it works great for Photoshop and Video Editing.
Did you buy the 2015 iMac 5K on eBay? I don’t see anything close to that price on eBay for a 2015 iMac w/i7 SSD.
thats probably auction
maybe he makes up this numbers only to get clicks :) afterwards nobody can say howmuch he paid
I found one of these at the E-waste section at my local dump today. Plugged it in and turned it on. It looked like it was doing great but is taking forever to boot. I've done a bit of research and it looks like the HD might be dying. So I'm going to give swapping it for an ssd a try and see what happens :)
Ooh nice find! How did it turn out?
wonder how this would handle Destiny 2. I recently started playing Destiny 2 thanks to it being free and even on the lowest settings on my MacBook Pro it still runs better than what I'm used to on PS4 (i'm not using a PS4 Pro, if that makes much of a difference on Destiny 2). It actually runs well enough for me to consider buying the expansion and not playing on PS4 anymore, despite me having a fully leveled character...
6:20 That leaning xD
i got a like-new example for $1,000 on craigslist a while back. It worked well for being a mac, but I rely on being able to use windows as well. Bootcamp didn't want to work properly, and I sold it for a profit. I made 300 dollars on it. I built a PC. If you can get one in good condition for a really good price, then yes it's very worth it. If you need a mac.
Great review and wish your channel continued successful!!!
If you bought Fuji X-T3 for video, don't buy it! 7th gen Core processor is horrible for HEVC playback. 8th gen has no issue whatsoever.
I would suggest get the new Mac mini + Sonnet GFX + Vega 56 + a decent monitor. It's very close to base model of iMac Pro performance.
I've had this exact same iMac with the exact same specifications since it was a current model. Only difference is I used faster RAM (2133 MHz instead of 1867 MHz DDR3, which works fine).
Never any complaints about the performance, and the display is fantastic (aside from image retention, which is unfortunately very common on the 2014/2015 5K iMac).
I'm considering this imac. Is the image retention permanent like burn in? Thanks
You’re missing out on Thunderbolt 3, so not only are your graphics limited out of the box, but you can’t expand them. This would concern me, but at the price you paid... maybe?
I had just bought a mid 2015 27 inch iMac with the i5 6600, 16gb of ram , r9 m395x, as well as a 512gb ssd. I bought it for around $560-ish, that’s including tax and shipping. Do you think that is a good deal ?
I really like the videos you make on apple products you have very useful information keep up the good work💪🏻💯
I swapped from PC to 5k Imac 2014 i7 32gb ram 295 4gb. Its awesome for photo and video editing. The pc doesn't even get used anymore. Looking forward to next imac
Well , I got the same exact same 2015 iMac 27 5K kid......, i7 4.0QC/32GB ram/R395X 4GB and 2TB fusion (Evo 860 Pro 2.5" upgrade) Plus a magic Keyboard 2 with numeric key + Track pad 2. But there is a tiny crack on the left-Top hand side of my screen, only in the edge doesn't affect the actual LED area. Guess what,,,,, I got it for $7500 HKD, which is equivalent to US $960 dollars. BTW I live in Hong Kong. That's what you call " A Killer deal" ^ _^ $ 1700 USD is just way too much for an aged iMac like this, but really good performance no doubt......
i sold my 512GB MBPro 13 2015 and i choose my MBPro 13 2011 that was given to me by my friend. upgraded the Ram and throw in a 256GB SSD, replaced the dvd drive with a 500GB HDD for files and put a new thermal paste and viola it works great. I only upgraded it to Sierra coz I found High Sierra a bit laggy though this is a 7yr old machine.
Good info, appreciate the vid
nice video bro.getting back on the UA-cam grind real soon. just picked up a MacBook Pro today. for now. was really hoping a new iMac would've came but I guess next year!
Excellent video! While, I own two very old imacs a white 20 inch G5 with a Power PC processor (running OS X 10.4) and a white 24 inch model with an Intel processor (running OS X 10.6) not in the market for imac computers anymore. Gone are the days when Apple designed their computers for user upgrades like on my G5 imac where the RAM, Airport Card, Hard Drive, etc. are all very easy to service. Now, Apple wants us to connect what we need to our computes by using external hard drives, external blue-ray DVD players, external eGPU, etc.
Just bought a Late 2015, 32 GB Ram, 1 TB HD, Quad Core 4.0 GHz Intel "Core i7" processor (6700K) for $430
a 2019 imac with the latest i5 processor is surely superior to this 5 yesr old i7 or very close, ifyou spec a brand new imac with 512 gb, and add your own ram at about 100 $ the price is only 400$ more than this one but you get a warranty of a year, its brand new with no scratches
Thank you for this, I'm gonna get one for video editing. cheers
I agree I’ve got one and it’s still pretty fast
Came by thinking about picking up an iMac from this era to use as a cheap-ish 1080p stream host and true color monitor (~$300 these days, literally the price of an un-tuned 4k monitor). Plus, being this old gives me a great excuse to pull it apart and tinker, like relocating the drive IO outside the frame (because in Apple's infinite wisdom, they sealed both inside the glued chassis).
Hello, can i ask you some questions. I will be a new imac user and i have some questions and will be happy to get a answer for people who have been in touch with these machines. I order second hand renewed imac late 2015 with these specs: 32gb ddr4, i7 6700k 4.0 ghz, r9 395x 2gb ddr5 aand 512gb ssd. I will use that for tech support because i need a big screen, the question is: This machine is will be good for tech support, any desk and etc? And what if the updates stop, the machine is continues to work with these programs or the programs will stop working after many updates and will be unusable because on windows if u use w10 and use this u will can use the programs and etc but i don't know whats the matter with the imacs...? Sorry for my bad english but i think u will understand me what i mean. Thanks in advance!
I bought mine to a friend that had a job offer in Japan. The same model, Late 2015. The original price in February 2016 was 2600€ (Euros). I bought it to him 2 months later for 1.300€. VERY GOOD DEAL.
After 8 years, I only added 16GB more of RAM. so I have 32GB in total. Still today works perfect for what I want. But I think, by the end next year/early-mid 2025 I will buy the next. Probably a mac mini. Cheaper and better specs than the new iMac 24 inches.
Hello, can i ask you some questions. I will be a new imac user and i have some questions and will be happy to get a answer for people who have been in touch with these machines. I order second hand renewed imac late 2015 with these specs: 32gb ddr4, i7 6700k 4.0 ghz, r9 395x 2gb ddr5 aand 512gb ssd. I will use that for tech support because i need a big screen, the question is: This machine is will be good for tech support, any desk and etc? And what if the updates stop, the machine is continues to work with these programs or the programs will stop working after many updates and will be unusable because on windows if u use w10 and use this u will can use the programs and etc but i don't know whats the matter with the imacs...? Sorry for my bad english but i think u will understand me what i mean. Thanks in advance!
@@Р.Т-х7р Actually the updates stopped. But you will be able to work for long time. No worries
@@stiviwonder Thanks a lot for replaying!
@@stiviwonder Ah sorry for again asking you… How much is the time can i use this iMac without updates like a 5-10 years more because i will use as daily work machine.
Ps: On windows if i use w8 and game or program dosent support w8 i cant play or use this program. Is it here similar?
@@Р.Т-х7р Yes. But do not worry. This macs hace 5 years more of life for sure.
Hey Luke! I’d love to see a video on buying Mac accessories. Like keyboards, Mice, etc. I’d love to know how to score a good deal on a magic keyboard or something. I’m new to the Mac world and not sure what is and isn’t a good deal.
Great review!
2010 Mac Pro 5.1 with 2 x 3.46 Xeon 12 core and 128GB RAM would outperform this iMac and it's even cheaper
Cycling Habit But it hasn’t a 5k Screen
Just got this bad boy for 16 with the Magic Mouse 2 and keyboard
$1600? I'm trying to find the price for these, I found one for $1100 and idk if it's a good price
Luke!!
This is the video I've been hoping and waiting for you to make!
As I've commented before on your videos, I truly believe the 2015 27 inch iMac pro is the best value Mac product ever made, "FOR A MAC" haha loved that. I'm a die-hard PCMR gamer and IT pro of 15 years, who has nothing but bad things to say about apple, except for this one machine. I love your channel for the value propositions of older machines you present and I'm glad you pointed out the value of this one. keep up the great work!
Congrats on 30k ! Btw subbed since 10 k !
YISTECH I’m also a cuber!!! AWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!
@luke Miami - one issue: it only has Thunderbolt 2 ports. Limits future upgradability. Wouldn’t buying a 6-core i7 2018 Mac Mini and adding an external GPU perform better and have more reliable future proofing?
I have the base model with an external 512gb samsung 850 evo ssd and it runs perfectly the fans never even turns on! even under render or any fake workload the cpu does not get above 70celsius.
I really do like that the I-Mac is an all in one computer, and comes with a (a rechargeable) keyboard and mouse, or the Trackpad. I went on line and check the options and pricing and at the bottom there is an option for the Pro Bundle (Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro and three other programs) that if bought each one separately, it would cost you a bit more, and you have the I-Mac with these apps installed. I will wait to see what the Next I-Mac (October/November) come with, hopefully, the new 9th Generation Intel I-9 with 6 or 8 Core, and an upgraded Radeon Video Card. Late November the 15 Inch MacBook Pro will have an Vega 16 or 20 option. Which would increase the chance of the next I-Mac will have that option also. It may be late November or December. That would be one awesome Christmas Present for myself. Thank you, Santa. I would opt for the Pro Bundle also. I have the Creative Cloud membership and will learn Premiere Pro, After Effects and Final Cut Pro X, also on the Audio, Audition and Logic Pro X. Really miss using an I-Mac. (From school). Illustrator and Photoshop will be a blast on the I-Mac, and many other of the Adobe Creative Cloud Apps, InDesign, Adobe XD, Dimension and Animate, as well as Character Animator, which also makes me think of the Emoji's on the New IOS 12 and I-Phone 10S.
Weird question, What table mat is that? Looks clean!
I have a 5k imac from 2015. Fully specked. How much can I get for it?
picked this up over the weekend with 16 BG ram 1 TB fusion 3.2 GH quad core intel i 5 for 300# in mint condition.
Your videos are great, if your new platform has the 8 GB GPU it’s one of the best platform s that anyone can find in a all-in-one.
Thanks für the advice. I'm still using a late 2009 iMac and am looking for a new one. It works fine, no Mojave though. rgds
Is this still a wise buy?
Enjoyed the video! I'm new here but I like what I see, keep up the good work! :D
What about maxing out the CMP with 2 x5690 and 48GB RAM and a supported GFX card? Just a suggestion.
Wait, those more pixels bring me no more real estate? So I can not fit more into the screen than I could with the non-retina iMacs?
PLEASE Sir,...Where did you buy the iMac!?
I'm happy that you like your new iMac, but I feel that for less money, you could've given your '09 Mac Pro a few upgrades that could outperform that iMac. As a Windows and Mac user, I can tell you that I don't think it was wise to spend $1700 on that iMac. In my opinion, paying $1700 for a computer with dated hardware and a non upgradable GPU wasn't wise.
You're forgetting about resale value. I needed something quick that I can sell in 6 months or so, and these Macs hold their value so it won't cost me much money. Putting more money into a nearly decade old Mac Pro would be less wise
I picked one of these exact models up from someone for $1000 about 5 months ago. Had to sell it sadly, but sold for $1500 on eBay.
How would it compare to your Mac Pro with a high-end GPU in it? If you don't need the 5k display, the pro seems like it would be a better value.
On paper the Mac Pro makes a lot of sense, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that they’re aging quickly. The processors are already lacking for Final Cut and stuff because they lack quick sync. In general they’re good but not long term
You got a crazy deal!