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HolliAva

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 25, 2012
1
0
Wondering which way to go..
Looking to upgrade my pc to fit the rest of the mac household. Currently have MacBook Air for school work and windows desktop for other work, which is alot of video editing, alot of using after effects, vegas, premier and little work in cinema 4d. Seeing what i should look into getting, originally i was looking to replace with the 2012 mac mini after looking at the new specs of the 2.3GHZ quad core nearly fully specced, though after looking around a bit on forums it was suggest that if spending around $1400 you may as well just get an iMac, new ones are quite expensive, so will older ones get cheaper? is the fusion drive or solid state drive worth the money? i would prefer not spending a ridiculous amount but i want a mac that can render quickly, deal with after effects and premier pro. im leaning towards an new iMac, but i feel like i could get more for one of the older iMacs (im really not fussed about the thinness thin). yo yeah in summary
1. For video editing is the iMac much better than the mini?
2. Better to get older better speced iMac than one of the new ones?
3. Fusions drive worth the money?

hope I was clear apologise for bad grammar or confusing language. cheers for help fellas.
 

mbburn

macrumors newbie
Sep 22, 2009
12
0
Now that the new iMacs have made their debut, give it a few days/weeks and you should be able to find fantastic deals on last gen iMacs from a variety of sources. Last year, I purchased a 2010 iMac after the debut of the 2011 models. I bought the 2.93 quad i7 (the top configuration) for about $600 less than a newer i5 would have been, with no tax and free shipping, and I upgraded to 16GB RAM. Yes, I don't have Thunderbolt, and I don't need it. If you can deal with slower peripherals, save the money and buy a last gen with more horsepower.
Having said that, the new Mac Mini's are apparently benchmarking rather well, with the i7 coming in at 2010 Mac Pro numbers.
Food for thought...
 

k.alexander

macrumors 6502a
Jul 14, 2010
502
264
mbburn: where did you buy your iMac last year? I ordered base 2011 iMac from Apple refurb for $320 less than it used to cost new. Will those prices get better? Any ideas where and when?
 

coffee610

macrumors newbie
Oct 27, 2012
4
0
Now that the new iMacs have made their debut, give it a few days/weeks and you should be able to find fantastic deals on last gen iMacs from a variety of sources. Last year, I purchased a 2010 iMac after the debut of the 2011 models. I bought the 2.93 quad i7 (the top configuration) for about $600 less than a newer i5 would have been, with no tax and free shipping, and I upgraded to 16GB RAM. Yes, I don't have Thunderbolt, and I don't need it. If you can deal with slower peripherals, save the money and buy a last gen with more horsepower.
Having said that, the new Mac Mini's are apparently benchmarking rather well, with the i7 coming in at 2010 Mac Pro numbers.
Food for thought...


I've been looking for an old iMac since the release of the new computers. It seems they are unavailable across the board. In fact, the Apple store told me that they sent back all of their old models with the SSD drives, so I am unsure if Apple will be selling these old models for a lower price, it seems they want people to spring for the Fusion drive. Do you think it just needs more time and then they will be released??
 
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