New iMac (2012) decision - Want to be sure I get what I need and not overspend

crepotski said:

I'm planning on purchasing one of the new iMac's this coming Friday. But I keep waffling on customizaiton options.

First off, I'll tell you what I'll be using the machine for:

• Gaming (World of Warcraft, SimCity, Starcraft II, Diablo III, etc. Don't play FPSs all that often)
• Video Editing (iMovie, I wouldn't use Final Cut)
• Audio (GarageBand, etc.)
• Basic Office apps (Excel, Word, etc.)
• Internet (of course )

As you can see I don't do any major photo editing, video rendering or major sound recording.

So for the machine, I'm planning on getting the 21.5" w/ 16 GB of RAM. My question is two fold:

• Do I get the Quad-Core i5 or the Quad-Core i7?
• Do I get the standard 1TB HD or the 1TB Fusion Drive?

I'm going to get the 16GB of RAM regardless bu is the processor and Fusion drive really going to be worth the extra $450 in the long run for what I do? I just want to know if I should spend the extra cash on the above features based on what I'll be using the machine for.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

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Sincerly, You are overspending money. For playing that kinda games that does not need a powerful computer at all and offimatics apps.... It's not a good deal at all. But if you have enough money and you realy fancy having one then, there's no discussion

I'm opting for the same machine as you, with 16gb ram. I will be using it for Photoshop, mostly jpeg stuff, digital painting and a bit of photo editing. Also plan to write to external HD.
For most other apps/web I will be using my 2011 macbook pro.
I was stuck on whether to buy the Fusion too, but I'm not too convinced that I need it. I hope I'm right!

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As for you - for video work I would probably want the Fusion or an SSD. The base model would worry me in this respect.

You do not need the i7 processor for the things you listed doing. I'd recommend saving some money there. 4 cores is plenty for the things you show interest in doing. You wouldn't benefit from hyper threading to simulate added cores those apps wouldn't use.

The fusion drive is a little tougher call. Basically, it is something of a luxury item for your proposed usage of the computer. It would mean faster boot times and initial load times for apps but on the other hand, is it really worth the added expense for that? It isn't like it isn't already decently fast to begin with.

Of the two features, you might want to spring for the faster hard drive since everything will load real quick if you'd like that and feel it is worth the money to you. I have a 2011 27" iMac and I'm happy with how fast it performs, including loading apps and games but I admit I'd be tempted by the fast hard drive just because very fast loading would be cool. It would for me depend on how pricey that feature is. So really, it comes down to do you feel the snappy app loads are worth the money? Nobody can tell you that one. It's your call.

You're going to love your new Mac. Congratulations in advance!

crepotski said:

Are you talking about the processor or the drive? Or both?

Do you think that the i5 with 16GB of RAM is good enough?

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Is more than egough for your purposes. I was talking about the fushion drive mostly