06-08-2020, 04:29 PM
The two models swap benchmarks depending on what you are doing. The 2017 iMac will do much better at light loads requiring only single threaded loads. The older 2013 iMac might be 10% to 25% faster under heavy continuous CPU loads.
The defining specs for me are: the 2017 iMac has 7th gen "Iris Plus Graphics 640" which should handle 4K displays/videos for at least another three or four years, and the Thunderbolt3/USB-C ports. The older iMac may choke any time you try to stretch it's legs playing content. This won't be much of an issue if you know you will be satisfied with the small default 21.5" display as the user's eyes age. This is not an issue if the user is currently under 34. 38-40 is when people typically might start having vision issues related to age.
This comparison is only valid if they have identical RAM and storage specs. Putting a 500 GB SSD in either one and leaving the other with a plain spinning HD will slow everything down unless you will be running the SSD over 80% full. A Fusion drive will mitigate a lot of performance issues versus a SSD as long as you are not moving a lot of data around on a regular basis.
The defining specs for me are: the 2017 iMac has 7th gen "Iris Plus Graphics 640" which should handle 4K displays/videos for at least another three or four years, and the Thunderbolt3/USB-C ports. The older iMac may choke any time you try to stretch it's legs playing content. This won't be much of an issue if you know you will be satisfied with the small default 21.5" display as the user's eyes age. This is not an issue if the user is currently under 34. 38-40 is when people typically might start having vision issues related to age.
This comparison is only valid if they have identical RAM and storage specs. Putting a 500 GB SSD in either one and leaving the other with a plain spinning HD will slow everything down unless you will be running the SSD over 80% full. A Fusion drive will mitigate a lot of performance issues versus a SSD as long as you are not moving a lot of data around on a regular basis.