Apple iMac 27" 2019, Core i5, 8GB, 1TB HDD + 32GB SSD, Radeon Pro 570X, Silver

The Apple iMac 27" is a 2019 all-in-one with a stunning 5K Retina display and excellent build quality, but dated internals hold it back. The 8th-gen Intel Core i5 is fine for everyday tasks, but 8GB of RAM and a Fusion Drive make it feel slow by modern standards. At USD 594 to USD 660 refurbished, it's a good buy for display-focused users, but power users should look elsewhere.

The 8th-gen Intel Core i5 here is a 6-core chip running at 3.0GHz, and it lands in the 72nd percentile for CPU performance among all-in-ones in our database. That's above average, but not by a huge margin. For everyday tasks like email, web browsing, spreadsheets, and light photo work, it's perfectly fine. You won't feel like you're waiting on the processor for basic stuff. But push it with 4K video editing or heavy multitasking and you'll hit the ceiling pretty quick.

The Radeon Pro 570X with 2GB of VRAM sits at the 60th percentile for GPU performance. It's a middle-of-the-pack discrete card that handles the 5K display fine for normal use, but it's not built for gaming or GPU-heavy creative work. The 8GB of DDR4 RAM is the real bottleneck here, landing in the 9th percentile. That's one of the worst RAM configs we've seen in this category, and it's the main reason this machine feels sluggish when you have a bunch of browser tabs open alongside a few apps. The 1TB Fusion Drive with its 32GB SSD cache helps boot times a bit, but it's still a spinning hard drive underneath, and storage performance lands at the 48th percentile. If you're used to a modern SSD, this will feel slow.

Stacked against the competition in our database, the iMac 27" is a different animal than most of what's out there. The Lenovo Legion 90YA003GUS and iBUYPOWER Slate SWI7N56T01 are gaming-focused desktops with way more GPU horsepower and upgradeable internals, but they don't come with a display, let alone a 5K one. The Dell Tower Plus EBT2250 and HP OmniDesk M02-0234 are more traditional productivity machines, and they'll beat this iMac on RAM and storage speed out of the box, but they can't touch the screen quality or the overall polish of the Apple ecosystem.

The MSI Aegis Z2 is another gaming-oriented option that will crush the iMac in raw performance, but it's a tower with no display and a completely different use case. If you're comparing this iMac to other all-in-ones specifically, it's one of the better displays you'll find at this price, but the internals are dated. The 9th percentile RAM score is the biggest red flag, and it's worth noting that most competitors at this price point ship with 16GB or more.

At USD 594 to USD 660, this iMac is a tricky value proposition. The display alone is worth a chunk of that, and you're getting Apple's build quality and a machine that scored in the 99th percentile for reliability. But you're also buying into a platform that Apple has clearly moved on from. The Intel iMacs are done getting major macOS updates soon, and the 8GB RAM plus Fusion Drive combo means you'll probably want to budget for external storage or just accept the slower load times. If you can snag one at the USD 594 end of the range, it's a much better deal than paying USD 660. The Best Buy listings vary, so check both refurbished tiers before you commit. For comparison, a used M1 Mac mini with a decent monitor can be had for similar money and will run circles around this thing in most tasks, though you lose the all-in-one simplicity and that 5K panel.

The Apple iMac 27" is one of those machines that still gets talked about years after release, mostly because of that display. This is a 2019-era all-in-one with an 8th-gen Intel Core i5, Radeon Pro 570X graphics, and a 5K Retina screen that still holds up against plenty of newer panels. It's a refurbished unit at Best Buy, so you're looking at a machine that's a few years old but was top shelf when it shipped. The price bounces between USD 594 and USD 660 depending on which listing you catch, which puts it in a weird spot: cheaper than a new Mac, but not exactly budget territory for a five-year-old Intel machine.

People searching for this thing usually want to know two things. Is the 5K display still worth it, and can an 8th-gen i5 keep up in 2025? The short answer: the screen is absolutely still the star, and the processor is fine for everyday work but showing its age. With 8GB of RAM and a 1TB Fusion Drive, this config is aimed at light productivity, web browsing, and maybe some photo editing. It's not a gaming rig and it's not a video editing monster.

We've got this one pegged at 72.1 out of 100 in our database, which is solid but not spectacular. The reliability score is where it shines, landing in the 99th percentile. Apple's build quality on these iMacs is genuinely excellent, and that's a big part of why people still buy them refurbished. The weak spot is RAM, which sits in the 9th percentile. 8GB in 2025 is rough, especially on macOS where the system likes to use memory for caching.

Skip this iMac if you need to run demanding creative apps, edit 4K video, or do any serious gaming. The 8GB RAM and 2GB VRAM will bottleneck you constantly, and the Fusion Drive will make everything feel slower than it should. If you're a student or professional who needs a machine that can handle heavy multitasking, look at a used M1 Mac mini or a Windows all-in-one with 16GB of RAM and a proper SSD. Also skip it if you care about future macOS updates, since Intel support is winding down. This is a display-first machine, and if the screen isn't your top priority, the compromises aren't worth it.

Should you buy this iMac in 2025? If you want a beautiful 5K display for light work, web browsing, and media consumption, and you don't mind the Intel platform's limitations, then yes, especially at the lower end of the USD 594 to USD 660 range. The screen is genuinely stunning, and the reliability track record on these machines is excellent. But if you need to run demanding apps, edit video, or keep a ton of browser tabs open, the 8GB RAM and Fusion Drive will frustrate you.

This is a machine for people who prioritize the display and the Apple aesthetic over raw performance. It's not a power user's computer, and it's not a gaming machine. It's a really nice screen attached to a decent-but-aging computer. For the right person, that's a great deal. For everyone else, there are better ways to spend six hundred bucks.