Imac - Which One?

[corkman]

Hi All,

I am about to buy my first apple device - having spent an eternity on shall we say "windows" based systems.

I am going to get an iMac. At first I was looking at the entry lever 21.5 inch one for 39,900 > then seeing as the bigger one (27 inch) is so much bigger (for watching movies etc.) and also has the uprated processor (2.7 GHz) I am leaning toward that for 56,900.

I can see and feel the benefits of the extra THB17,000 (bigger screen AND more power) - my question is; is there a huge difference between the 2.7GHz an 3.1GHz models (27 inch screens) and is it really worth an extra (further extra) THB 10,000?

Thanks.

[rijb]

I have the 21.5. Power is not an issue. But, I think the 27 inch screen is better. Another option to consider is a Macbook with a 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt Display.

[mogandave]

Desktop I'd go for the cheapest 27"

Laptop, I'd wait for the next release.

I have the 2.7 in my laptop with 8GB and it's plenty fast

[hellstens]

I have a quite quick Mac Pro for under 23000thb inkl. 23" LED Monitor 1.5TB HD 8GB Memory

But OK it is a PC running Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3

Model Name: Mac Pro

Model Identifier: MacPro5,1

Processor Name: Intel Core i5

Processor Speed: 4.32 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 2

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 4 MB

Memory: 8 GB

Processor Interconnect Speed: 8.6 GT/s

Boot ROM Version: MultiBeast.tonymacx86.com

SMC Version (system): 1.25f4

Serial Number (system): G8031788GWR

Hardware UUID: DE684B47-6440-5B24-81B3-7463DC51D9BB

[boney]

Always get the best you can afford, in saying that if you do go with the slower processor spend the 10k on more memory or 2tb HD or both.

iMac 27" is great you will not be disappointed.

If you need windows you can run parallels and have both at the same time.

Once you have had a Mac you wont go back

[corkman]

Always get the best you can afford, in saying that if you do go with the slower processor spend the 10k on more memory or 2tb HD or both.

iMac 27" is great you will not be disappointed.

If you need windows you can run parallels and have both at the same time.

Once you have had a Mac you wont go back

Thanks for everyone's replies - it's reassuring to have a unanimous vote

I think I may look into getting more memory and / or HD as Boney suggests. Does anyone know approxiamte costs of same? I am sure that improved RAM and HD will go a long way to futuring proofing it somewhat (well, extending its useful life at least, with regard to keeping up with technology etc.). Is it something that can be easily upgrade later, if I don't do it now at initial purchase?

Thanks guys.

[mogandave]

For the 27-inch: 2.7GHz, the apple site wants THB6,540 to upgrade to 8 GB, I'm sure you can do this for under THB2,000. (I'm trying to sell what I think are the correct two, 2GB chips in the classified now for THB1,000)

Apple wants THB19,640 for this upgrade. You can buy the chip s online to do this for less than $100 online in the US, not sure what they might cost here.

Don't know about the HD, the standard 1TB would be plenty for me.

[nikster]

I'd also go for the cheapest 27" - gorgeous, huge screen!

Upgrade the RAM yourself, it's way cheaper. In return there is a small chance the aftermarket RAM will stop working in some future OS upgrade. It sounds ridiculous and I would have said that's total BS what does the OS have to do with the RAM except that it happened to me. Took me forever to figure out too, the longest time I thought that Snow Leopard just doesn't work on my computer. Turns out it was the cheap aftermarket RAM I had put in. It worked perfectly with all releases before 10.6, but crashed hard every few hours in 10.6. A tale of caution. Still I now have aftermarket RAM that works with 10.6 so I'd still do it.

Be careful about the HD upgrade - upgrading the hard disk in an iMac is not easy, you have to remove the glass panel so you need tools for it or have the shop do it. So I'd just get the size HD that's enough for the foreseeable future.

The best iMac is the 27 with the SSD/HD dual combo - Apple will configure it so the SSD has the operating system, and you can use the HD for media and other large files. Performance boost from the SSD is way bigger than a faster processor.

Again such a SSD/HD combo would be awesome to do aftermarket but you can't... or if you can it's hard.

[negreanu]

Would not buy the current Imac just now, it is wildly rumoured and accepted that a refresh of the imac line is imminent.

Done a few HD/SSD/Optibay upgrades on imac's - not as easy as macbook's for sure but still not that difficult if you follow ifixit. The hardest bit is disconnecting the connectors on the display and motherboard and putting them back again - slowly and patiently as they can be fragile.

HD + SSD + Optical is fairly difficult as you need to purchase a hard to come by bracket and sata cable which is only put in by apple if you buy it configured like that. Optibay HD and SSD is a lot simpler but you lose the internal optical drive (Which is becoming obselete at lightning speeds anyway) and you can buy an enclosure to make it external if u so need it.

In return there is a small chance the aftermarket RAM will stop working in some future OS upgrade.

Buy from Macsales.com (OWC) lifetime gurantee and all their products are 100% mac tested and certified working - if that happens in the future which i doubt with their ram anyway then they would replace it for free.

OWC I still rate as probably the best internet retailer for mac accessories - good products/prices fast delivery and great tech support.

There international shipping rates with fedex have reduced recently and to avoid any faxing/emailing of front or back of credit card etc. and passport checkout using Amazon pay if you have your payment details with amazon and their is no requirement for identification verification.

Edited February 23, 2012 by negreanu

[ignis]

Also thinking next time to go Mac......... but which one ? for sure 27" screen, but a i-Mac [always worry about All-in-one] or the Mac Mini Server with 500 SSD + 500 HD Dual Combo.. both setups look to be about the same price, on going Mini Mac would have a stand alone 27" thunderbolt display

What is better?

[negreanu]

What is better?

imac for performance. faster CPU's, faster graphics, faster HD's. Looks better less wires and clutter.

Includes magic mouse and wireless keyboard with imac in the price. And resale values are higher on imac.

Edited February 23, 2012 by negreanu

[ignis]

Thanks......

It is just the i-Mac says....

2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5

Mac Mini.........2.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7

Thought i7 was a lot faster than the i5 ?

the i-Mac says........1 TB Serial ATA Drive

Mac Mini ......... 500GB SSD Drive + 500 GB

(7200-rpm) hard drive.

Thought SSD was a lot faster than the Serial ATA Drive?

Edited February 23, 2012 by ignis

[negreanu]

No 500GB SSD drive available on Mac Mini from Apple direct. It's just 500GB + 500gb HD's

the 2.0ghz i7 quad - hard call really. Depends if you are using software that will take advantage of 4 cores or not. For example a higher speed dual core such as 2.5ghz i5 or i7 will outperform the 2.0ghz in for example gaming where the higher clock speed usually produces better results

Mac mini graphics pretty poor where as the imac has dedicated AMD graphics cards.

The Mac Mini HD's are laptop variants 2.5" and throughput from desktop HD's such as in the imac give better performance.

[ignis]

Thanks, Yes reading it again there is a upgrade to 256 GB SSD drive and 750 GB Hard drive,,

[corkman]

The best iMac is the 27 with the SSD/HD dual combo - Apple will configure it so the SSD has the operating system, and you can use the HD for media and other large files. Performance boost from the SSD is way bigger than a faster processor.

That's sounds like an outstanding option - however at THB19,000 is an expensive option. But thanks for the tip nonetheless.

I reckon I'll be going for the standard cheapest 27" model - the SSD would be nice, but other than that it seems everything else is relatively easy to upgrade after market. So I'll keep my money in my pocket, see how I get on with the "basic" version, then upgrade later as needed.

Cheers.

[VerbalKint]

All depends on what you are going to do with it. If you just surf the internet, email, skype, watch some movies etc. you need different specs than when you edit movies, do 3D design or other "processor heavy" tasks. Agreed, the 27 inch screen is great, although a dual screen set up works good too. (you can hook up just about any external screen to your iMac and have a lot of screen space.)

Have used macbooks, mini's and Imac and even on a 5 yr. old mini things like photoshop run without a problem.

I go to the local mac dealer where they sell 3rd party RAM and they install it for free, never had a problem, and way cheaper than Apple RAM.

[corkman]

All depends on what you are going to do with it. If you just surf the internet, email, skype, watch some movies etc. you need different specs than when you edit movies, do 3D design or other "processor heavy" tasks. Agreed, the 27 inch screen is great, although a dual screen set up works good too. (you can hook up just about any external screen to your iMac and have a lot of screen space.)

Have used macbooks, mini's and Imac and even on a 5 yr. old mini things like photoshop run without a problem.

I go to the local mac dealer where they sell 3rd party RAM and they install it for free, never had a problem, and way cheaper than Apple RAM.

Its intended as a "family resource" - we'll all use it, from my 5 year old kid to me ...... so its gonna get pretty varied multipurpose use:

• I will use it for stuff like this.... basic internet use.
  
• The Mrs. will use it for similar tasks, and will probably use it for iPhone applications too. So pretty basic stuff.
  
• My kid ..... well a 5yr old is gonna play simple games etc. .... but in a few years that will graduate to more complex games.
  

All in, I don't see it getting used for any high end sophisticated software. I would nonetheless like it to be robust and long lived.

[VerbalKint]

With that kind of usage you won't even notice the difference the difference between 2.7 or 3.1 Ghz.

Same thing for the Ram, and that is upgradeble with 3rd party Ram pretty cheap later if you decide you need it.

I would opt for an external mirrored HD that you can also use for Time Machine to backup your things, nothing more annoying than losing your files when a hardrive crashes.

Another thing to keep in mind: computers are not made to last a lifetime, I replace my main computer every 3 to 4 years.

However, an old mini that still works is very usefull as a media center for example.