My New iMac

Hooray! My new development & gaming machine - the later 2013 iMac!

I wrote this blog post to record my thoughts and feelings before and after I purchased this baby:)

My open questions and the answers I got from the Apple customer service

1. I will choose a dedicated SSD, will it be PCIe based?
2. Will the 2013 iMac easy to expand memory? Similar with the later 2012?
3. If I purchase the apple care in Singapore apple website online, will it valid in case in the future I migrated to other country (for example, USA) ?
4. Will the iMac pre-installed OSX mavericks?
5. If I buy a external USB 3.0 hard drive, do you think I can install a windows 8 on it?

Upgrade it in a money-saving manner!!

Memory

Basic memory installed on the iMac is 8GB, if I choose to buy 16GB I gonna pay extra S$280 (approximate USD 224), according to my personality and habit of spending money, I will NOT do that! So does many other geeks: How to install extra RAM memory in the new iMac, actually installing extra memory for a 27 Inches iMac is fairly easy (while doing this on a 21.5 Inches iMac seems really scary, refer: 21.5-inch iMac Late 2012 Memory Installation Video, I am afraid of doing it^_^), so eventually I purchased a pair of Crucial: 8GB * 2, so I totally got 24GB.

Hard disk

The built-in 256GB SSD is my choice! I didn't choose the fusion drive (1TB HDD with built-in 128G SSD), because I want best performance; but I do need install Windows for .Net Development and gaming? I admit I am a purist at this point, I don't want Windows slows down my precious SSD, so eventually I purchased a WesternDigital MyBook Pro USB 3.0 external drive, I didn't choose a cool ThunderBold disk because it is out of a poor man's (穷屌 in Mandarin) budget.

Why iMac instead of an ultimate PC/Workstation?

There are two aspects: positive and negative

Things I like for iMac

• Gorgeous 27 inch screen
• Incredibly fast (hardware) and stable (OSX)
• Instant warming up (I can put it there for one week, and can wake it up to work within a second)
• Developer friendly, built-in terminal, SSH, ruby, gcc, JavaScript support.
• Keyboard is the king! I can achieve 80% of my work mouse less!
• Wonderful ecosystem: homebrew, QuickSilver, MacVim, iPhoto, iTunes, etc.

Things I don't like for a Windows PC

Slow, I wonder most NT developers were developing based on high performance SSD...Win XP > Windows 7 > Windows 8 > Windows 8.1

Unstable: blue screen? A few times. Unresponsive UI? Several times! Slow response when I am typing? All the time...

Much slower after 3 months...Much slower if it was kept running for several days.

There is no way to use it without mouse...

The final configuration and the invoice

Daily tech website describes the 2013 iMac's price is aggressive, IMHO, it worths the price!

Working with it

Conclusion

I love it very much! As I expected, it is deadly fast, super stable and reliable, instant warming up; When I am coding on it, I feel I am a genious who can solve problems with easy; When I am gaming on it, I enjoy and splendid image quality and ultimate performance!

It is just awesome!

--------------------------------------------------- Updated Nov 28th, I sold the original keyboard/mouse at S$120, because I prefer to use my Cherry mechanical keyboard and gaming mouse.

--------------------------------------------------- Updated May 2nd 2020, I sold this long-time loved iMac on FB marketspace, because I prefer to use my Cherry mechanical keyboard and gaming mouse.

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