An Unconventional but Truthful 2020 27-inch iMac Buyer’s Guide
There are many performance-focused technology buyer’s guide articles out there on the internet, but sometimes consumers might still be having a hard time deciding which two models to get even when they know the exact differences between them and the benefits of each model.
Use me as an example, when I was deciding whether to get that 5500XT or that 5700XT graphic card for my 2020 iMac, I knew exactly which one was a better fit for me, but I still struggled due to financial concerns. So if you are also having a hard time deciding what configuration you should get, I am here to offer you some insight to help you out. Just as a disclaimer, this guide is not a conventional buyer’s guide in which I offer you a lot of testing and performance scores and tell you which one is the most powerful build, this, is my truthful iMac, but all tech really, buyer’s guide.
1. Don’t worry too much about future-proofing.
Whenever you watch a common tech review video or read a tech buying guide article, people always recommend that you get the “best build” or the “most powerful configuration”.
Especially in this 2020 iMac scenario, people are telling me that I should spend that extra $500 and upgrade to the Radeon Pro 5700XT from 5500XT graphic card because it’s future-proofing. Then you might be like “Oh great, that seems like the best deal for me because if I’m already spending money to buy this iMac, I might as well get the best configuration and future proof!” But the reality is, should you really?
I have a rule of thumb when it comes to tech, it’s that technology will always devalue, while money’s value will stay the same, meaning there will always be better technology coming in the future t. Just like let’s compare the $2500 2020 iMac with the $5000 2017 iMac Pro, their performance is almost the same! One can also argue that the 2020 iMac offers even better performance. The only difference is the three-year gap between the two models. So three years ago you were considering getting an iMac and you probably wanted to future proof your iMac so you chose to spend that $5000 on an iMac Pro, but now you would probably be regretting your decision as you can literally spend half the money and get the same beast.
Personally, I’m constantly keeping up with the newest tech products, whenever there’s a new technology product coming out I always have a hard time stopping myself from buying it (especially Apple’s). That’s just us, we always want the newest products, there’s no shame in that. So future-proofing a technology, in my opinion, is just going to guilt-trip you, even more, when you want to buy a newer and better product in the future, which, I promise you, is gonna happen. But of course, I am not saying don’t get the best configuration, I am saying just get the configuration you know you need and don’t worry about spending extra to upgrade it so that you might need it in the future.
You might as well save those extra dollars, and invest them to make a bit more money, then in the future, if you really need a more powerful configuration, just get the newer one, because by then, the same exact amount of money can definitely get you a better machine.
2. Don’t waste your money on overhauling performance but also don’t go with the budget option.
I know this advice might seem a bit contradictory to the previous budget buying advice. But honestly, this is the financial guidance I believe in because you are not spending your money on stuff like luxury brands or video games that have completely no use at all for your productivity.
This computer you get has direct effects on how you perform in your work and your creativity and hence the quality of your products. So you are really investing your money into the machine to improve your work, which can help you create better content and hence score more clients. And ultimately help you to achieve your creative dreams.
I was trying to save as much money as I could on technology, on my computer, but what it resulted in me was that I didn’t even have the motivation to create and work on my computer and use my camera because the image quality was trash and the computer was just too laggy and it took so long and so much effort to complete a project. So if you are feeling bad about spending a lot of money to get a creativity machine, don’t, just work extra hard to make the money worth it.
3. Ultimately, the scores are just there to give you an insight.
People on the internet keep giving out Geekbench scores and performance scores whenever it comes to the computer build, or megapixels and image quality when it comes to a camera, but your decision on which build or model to get shouldn’t be determined by these factors. Ultimately, you just need to ask yourself the reason why you are buying this technology. Is it because you want to create with this machine? Is the performance of the machine really the primary factor to spark your creativity? I would say the answer is clearly no, as I believe the factor should be the overall user experience.
So whatever the system you like, the brand you prefer, sometimes your preference does overrule the performance. I wrote an article comparing my experience editing videos on my iMac and my PC and explains why I chose to pay a lot more for the Apple desktop than windows, simply put, I enjoy editing on iMac more even though it might offer less performance than a Windows desktop at the same price point.
It’s also just like how I, among a lot of other videographers, chose to stick with Canon EOS R even though you could argue its technical performance is comparably weaker than Sony cameras. I simply like Canon’s user interface, I like its color science and I like the feeling I have when I know I am using a Canon camera that I am familiar with, and sometimes this matters more than the performance because I personally feel good when using it.
These were some of my personal opinions on how to pick the best technology configuration you want. Just remember, ultimately, it all comes down to your personal preferences, you are already paying a lot for a productivity companion, so you might as well enjoy using it.
