06-08-2020, 02:09 PM
Clyde,
You need to look at the bus speed (RAM speed) to get a better idea of performance of each. I think you will find that the 18,1 is much higher, making it as fast or faster than the 14,1, and off-setting the advantage of more cores.
Th 18,1 has the 1 TB drive, yes. I'm pretty sure it is a Fusion drive, with at least 128 GB of it being SSD.
I bought a refurb 2015 iMac 17,1 with that 1 TB Fusion (5400 rpm) drive. I have booted it from an external SSD via Thunderbolt 2 as well as the internal Fusion drive. It is difficult to tell which is faster, so I am using the external SSD as a cloned backup.
If I were in your shoes, I would definitely chose the much newer 18,1 for the faster RAM. It really makes a difference. It's video card is probably much better. This iMac will allow you to continue updating the OS far longer than the 14,1.
You need to look at the bus speed (RAM speed) to get a better idea of performance of each. I think you will find that the 18,1 is much higher, making it as fast or faster than the 14,1, and off-setting the advantage of more cores.
Th 18,1 has the 1 TB drive, yes. I'm pretty sure it is a Fusion drive, with at least 128 GB of it being SSD.
I bought a refurb 2015 iMac 17,1 with that 1 TB Fusion (5400 rpm) drive. I have booted it from an external SSD via Thunderbolt 2 as well as the internal Fusion drive. It is difficult to tell which is faster, so I am using the external SSD as a cloned backup.
If I were in your shoes, I would definitely chose the much newer 18,1 for the faster RAM. It really makes a difference. It's video card is probably much better. This iMac will allow you to continue updating the OS far longer than the 14,1.