Which iMac is best for Affinity Designer

[CaroleG]

Can anyone please advise me.   I have Affinity Designer on the iPad Pro 2020 12.9”.   However, at 74 I find seeing the icons difficult as they are so small.   I want to invest in an iMac.   The options I have are :-

1. 2020 Apple iMac 21.5 All-in-One, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 21.5” 4K, Silver Mac OS

2.2020 Apple iMac 27 All-in-One, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Radeon Pro 5300, 27” 5K, Silver  MacOS   10.15 Catalina

3. 2020 Apple iMac 27 All-in-One, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Radeon Pro 5300, 27” 5K, Silver MacOS 10.15 Catalina

4. 2020 Apple iMac 27 All-in-One, Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Radeon Pro 5500 XT, 27” 5K, Silver MacOS 10.15 Catalina

Quite a difference in £ GBP but it’s the smooth operation of Affinity Designer (yes I will have to buy programme again for Mac) on the iMac that matters and so I won’t regret buying a less powerful machine at some time in the future.

Any advice would be a great help.   I have used PC’s for 30 odd years but Microsoft which I no longer have so it makes sense to have a desktop compatible with my iPad Pro.

[v_kyr]

Hmm, nowadays where Apple started it's transition over to it's own M1 chip based silicon, I'm not sure I would actually/yet still buy an Intel CPU based iMac. There will be probably in a few months new iMac models with their own M1 (or M2) based CPU/GPU implementations.

However, in order you need one urgently yet and now, I would better opt for an 27" iMac, since you can exchange/upgrade only on 27" iMac models the 8 GB RAM yourself easily and cheaper to more RAM (...for a 21" iMac you can't, it's unechangable glued/soldered inside). - Nowadays the more RAM the better, since there are a bunch of apps which benefit from that, especially when using a lot of apps in parallel. If you can price wise afford it, opt for the quicker Intel CPU, aka an Intel Core i7 then and also the bigger 512 GB SSD. So your number 4. or 3. would be your best choices from those you've listed.

[firstdefence]

To put it in perspective I run Affinity Designer on a 2011 and a 2015 iMac 27" and while the 2015 is considerably better, Affinity Designer runs well on the 2011 iMac, a system that is 10 years old.

[v_kyr]

51 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

To put it in perspective I run Affinity Designer on a 2011 and a 2015 iMac 27" and while the 2015 is considerably better, Affinity Designer runs well on the 2011 iMac, a system that is 10 years old.

My home iMac is even older and runs the Affinity apps on a pretty old MacOS. But I doubt that these infos are of any help for the OP here, to make an actual decision now for buying some more uptodate iMac hardware and running certain software under the latest available MacOS versions!

[firstdefence]

I think what can be taken is that any of the mentioned iMac's would be more than capable and at the end of the day it's what you are prepared to pay that is the limiter to hardware specs. 

What is the iMac going to be used for, Photo editing, graphic design, is this going to be a professional tool, or an enthusiastic creator?

 

[v_kyr]

12 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

What is the iMac going to be used for, Photo editing, graphic design, is this going to be a professional tool, or an enthusiastic creator?

These are the important points here, what is the hardware meant to be used for and which various software needs should it be ideally capable to perform/run then!

[Jowday]

Based on the many, many cries for help because of hardware and driver issues in this forum I can only recommend an older Windows 10 based machine with a lame and retired built in graphics card. Affinity has been a rock solid and quite fast experience on cheap hardware. Adobe too actually. I honestly kept myself from upgrading because it is such a pleasing and stable environment.

Just teasing the first movers and hardware enthusiasts. No OS wars please. I am OS agnostic. 

[CaroleG]

I am going to use Affinity Designer for graphic designing in layers as an aid to my hobby of making greeting cards - no photo manipulation and a minimum of pixel painting.    Thanks to everyone for their help.    I guess if it can work on an ipad successfully for me the lower specs would be ok if money is a problem.    Main problem is seeing the toolbars but I suppose as I learn it I will know where they are but some of the context icons are virtually unreadable and therefore unrecognisable.

[loukash]

2 hours ago, firstdefence said:

To put it in perspective I run Affinity Designer on a

… 2012 MacBook Pro and 2008 MacBook Pro. (And Photo and Publisher and Logic Pro X and and and…)
Works great.

19 minutes ago, CaroleG said:

I am going to use Affinity Designer for graphic designing in layers as an aid to my hobby of making greeting cards

3 hours ago, CaroleG said:

at 74 I find seeing the icons difficult as they are so small

Just make sure it's a 27" display then, so that you can scale up when needed. Any other specs will be just fine for you for many years to come.

[Oval]

1. all-in-one computer have some risks: what will happen if only the screen or the graphic card breaks down, …

2. the power consumption of a Mac mini (M1) is between 6.8 W and 39 W* … so much better for the earth

3. with a Mac mini you can choose the appropriate monitor or TV set

 

*iMac between 33 W and 295 W

[firstdefence]

15 minutes ago, Oval said:

1. all-in-one computer have some risks: what will happen if only the screen or the graphic card break down, …

2. the power consumption of a Mac mini (M1) is between 6.8 W and 39 W … so much better for the earth

3. with a Mac mini you can choose the appropriate monitor or TV set

To counter, iMac retina screens are sublime, even the none retina screens are dreamy. I have another 2011 27" iMac as a second screen, got it for £150 off eBay total bargain. 

As for earth, it will look after itself but why not suggest turning every other street light off in your town, change to led lights, eat carrots and walk around in the dark, or paint everything with Lit the glowiest paint ever, walk to the shop; you might have to buy a gloc so you don't get mugged, but what's a bit of life threatening experience to saving the planet, unplug the TV, Affinity forums are far more interesting lol!

[BarKeegan]

6 hours ago, CaroleG said:

Can anyone please advise me.   I have Affinity Designer on the iPad Pro 2020 12.9”.   However, at 74 I find seeing the icons difficult as they are so small.   I want to invest in an iMac.   The options I have are :-

1. 2020 Apple iMac 21.5 All-in-One, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 21.5” 4K, Silver Mac OS

2.2020 Apple iMac 27 All-in-One, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Radeon Pro 5300, 27” 5K, Silver  MacOS   10.15 Catalina

3. 2020 Apple iMac 27 All-in-One, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Radeon Pro 5300, 27” 5K, Silver MacOS 10.15 Catalina

4. 2020 Apple iMac 27 All-in-One, Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Radeon Pro 5500 XT, 27” 5K, Silver MacOS 10.15 Catalina

Quite a difference in £ GBP but it’s the smooth operation of Affinity Designer (yes I will have to buy programme again for Mac) on the iMac that matters and so I won’t regret buying a less powerful machine at some time in the future.

Any advice would be a great help.   I have used PC’s for 30 odd years but Microsoft which I no longer have so it makes sense to have a desktop compatible with my iPad Pro.

Working off a 10yr old Mac here

[R C-R]

9 hours ago, CaroleG said:

However, at 74 I find seeing the icons difficult as they are so small.

There is a trick to make it easier to tell what each of them does before you become familiar with their appearance & location:

In AD's Preferences > General, set the Tooltip delay to a very short interval (slider nearly all the way to the left). Do that & essentially every icon, button, etc. will pop up its description almost immediately.

[CaroleG]

10 hours ago, R C-R said:

There is a trick to make it easier to tell what each of them does before you become familiar with their appearance & location:

In AD's Preferences > General, set the Tooltip delay to a very short interval (slider nearly all the way to the left). Do that & essentially every icon, button, etc. will pop up its description almost immediately.

Sorry but I can’t find this on my ipad version which looks and operates fundamentally differently to desktop version from tuts I have seen.   Thanks for the thought though.

[Alfred]

54 minutes ago, CaroleG said:

Sorry but I can’t find this on my ipad version which looks and operates fundamentally differently to desktop version from tuts I have seen.   Thanks for the thought though.

On the iPad version there’s a question mark icon that you can tap and hold for as long as necessary to read the tooltips.

[wonderings]

Not sure how well it would work but can't you plug in an iPad to an external screen and use that? I know you can use an external keyboard and bluetooth mouse with the iPad pro. Maybe you can look at making what you have work rather then get a whole new computer

https://www.zdnet.com/article/can-you-really-run-the-ipad-pro-as-a-full-desk-setup-mouse-monitor-sdusb-hub-and-all-this-guy-did

[v_kyr]

Another option might be to try and use some tool like Deskreen.

19 hours ago, CaroleG said:

I am going to use Affinity Designer for graphic designing in layers as an aid to my hobby of making greeting cards - no photo manipulation and a minimum of pixel painting.

Then in term of iMacs the nr. 3 from your list should be sufficient.

 

[wonderings]

45 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Another option might be to try and use some tool like Deskreen.

Then in term of iMacs the nr. 3 from your list should be sufficient.

 

I believe you can already do that natively with an iPad Pro and a Mac running Catalina or Big Sur. 

[Fixx]

I makes no sense to buy a new intel based iMac now. Wait for M1-model, or if in a hurry or need to save cash, buy a used iMac.

[v_kyr]

2 minutes ago, Fixx said:

I makes no sense to buy a new intel based iMac now. Wait for M1-model, or if in a hurry or need to save cash, buy a used iMac.

My point of view is the same here.

In the IT (hardware & software) industry, things always progress very quickly; what you buy brand new today is usually yesterday's news anyway. Therefore one must always act wisely and with foresight.

[loukash]

53 minutes ago, Fixx said:

I makes no sense to buy a new intel based iMac now

46 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

what you buy brand new today is usually yesterday's news anyway

Guys, read again:

On 1/31/2021 at 3:16 PM, CaroleG said:

at 74 [years old]

21 hours ago, CaroleG said:

an aid to my hobby of making greeting cards

(emphasis mine)

Carole is likely not going render 4K movies of her grandchildren in the background while designing greeting cards and watching her favorite AppleTV channel at the same time…

Put things in the right perspective, folks. If Carole needs a large display iMac now, any iMac from the past, say, 3 years will do just fine for the next, say, 5 years for what she most likely will need.

[wonderings]

7 minutes ago, loukash said:

Guys, read again:

(emphasis mine)

Carole is likely not going render 4K movies of her grandchildren in the background while designing greeting cards and watching her favorite AppleTV channel at the same time…

Put things in the right perspective, folks. If Carole needs a large display iMac now, any iMac from the past, say, 3 years will do just fine for the next, say, 5 years for what she most likely will need.

I agree. Also going to the new M1 processors will have some hiccups and compatibility issues for a little bit. It will not be huge but they will be there. In this situation sticking with Intel is not a bad thing. 

[jmwellborn]

@CaroleG If you can happily afford it then I would buy the new iMac with some advice from Apple Tech support about which to purchase, depending upon what you want to use your computer for.  You may find that a 27” inch screen is overwhelming, and choose the 21” screen.  Or you may find that 27” is perfect (depends upon your eyesight issue) but that you don’t need the faster chip for your needs.  But if eyesight is a problem, you will probably find that a Mac Mini is not that much easier to read than an iPad, even though you may save the planet at @Oval’s suggestion.  The reason for buying new is that you will have outstanding telephone tech support from Apple as you get used to your new machine, which is quite different from an iPad.  And if you decide to throw caution to the winds and buy an even newer Desktop when the M1 chip comes out in a year or two, you will undoubtedly qualify for a nice trade-in from Apple.  As for age, many years ago my father gave me the best advice I have ever received:  “Enjoy each day!”   And I guarantee that you will really enjoy Designer on your new iMac!  (Ps’s’st — you would love Photo too for its possibilities for your greeting cards.)

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, loukash said:

Guys, read again:

(emphasis mine)

Carole is likely not going render 4K movies of her grandchildren in the background while designing greeting cards and watching her favorite AppleTV channel at the same time…

Put things in the right perspective, folks. If Carole needs a large display iMac now, any iMac from the past, say, 3 years will do just fine for the next, say, 5 years for what she most likely will need.

So you also read then ...

On 1/31/2021 at 3:16 PM, CaroleG said:

The options I have are :-

...

3. 2020 Apple iMac 27 All-in-One, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Radeon Pro 5300, 27” 5K, Silver MacOS 10.15 Catalina

 ...

... and we already answered which might be a good option for her from those to choose then. - Further I doubt she will certainly buy older hardware without any guarantee and support and tinker or experiment with it herself around!

 

[R C-R]

13 hours ago, CaroleG said:

Sorry but I can’t find this on my ipad version which looks and operates fundamentally differently to desktop version from tuts I have seen.

Correct. My point is you can use a short tooltip delay on the desktop version, which you may find useful because many icons & buttons are going to be small and/or their function won't be immediately obvious to you otherwise.