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New iMac- from a 21.5" perspective

TrboMac

TrboMac

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 8, 2012
117
0
NC/USA
I've been reading the chatter all day about the new iMac's. I felt the need to vent from the side of entry level iMac buyers. I think we've been left out. I've been waiting for months to ditch my ancient PC laptop and join the Mac ranks. Today's announcement was not what I was hoping for, although the 27" buyers are probably a bit more enthused.

My minor gripes are loosing the OD and firewire port. My biggest gripe is the downgrade of the entry level HDD to 5400rpm vs the 2011's 7200rpm drive. Question; perhaps I'm missing something and complaining for no reason- Does the new ivy bridge, etc. bump make up for that slow of a HDD? Anyhow, as of now I see my options as:

- Buy an entry level iMac refurb- $979-999

- Buy a new/old stock from MacMall- Currently $1,154 (rep said they'd drop again Friday, albeit slightly I'm sure)

- Buy the new 21.5" iMac in November, shelling out extra for external OD and firewire adapter- $1,350 (w/ my gf's school discount+extras)

- Buy the new 21.5" iMac that's eligible for the new 1TB fusion drive, plus extras above- $1,800? (depending on what that option costs, estimated)


The latter scenario is out of my budget, so the first three would be it as I see it. I'm also not sure how plentiful MacMall's inventory is on the 2011's. Would it be better to buy it or the Apple refurb? Both come w/ one year Applecare and the option to buy three I believe..
 
TrboMac said:
I've been reading the chatter all day about the new iMac's. I felt the need to vent from the side of entry level iMac buyers. I think we've been left out. I've been waiting for months to ditch my ancient PC laptop and join the Mac ranks. Today's announcement was not what I was hoping for, although the 27" buyers are probably a bit more enthused.

My minor gripes are loosing the OD and firewire port. My biggest gripe is the downgrade of the entry level HDD to 5400rpm vs the 2011's 7200rpm drive. Question; perhaps I'm missing something and complaining for no reason- Does the new ivy bridge, etc. bump make up for that slow of a HDD? Anyhow, as of now I see my options as:

- Buy an entry level iMac refurb- $979-999

- Buy a new/old stock from MacMall- Currently $1,154 (rep said they'd drop again Friday, albeit slightly I'm sure)

- Buy the new 21.5" iMac in November, shelling out extra for external OD and firewire adapter- $1,350 (w/ my gf's school discount+extras)

- Buy the new 21.5" iMac that's eligible for the new 1TB fusion drive, plus extras above- $1,800? (depending on what that option costs, estimated)


The latter scenario is out of my budget, so the first three would be it as I see it. I'm also not sure how plentiful MacMall's inventory is on the 2011's. Would it be better to buy it or the Apple refurb? Both come w/ one year Applecare and the option to buy three I believe..
Click to expand...

Why not go with the refurb bargain? It sounds like you'd be happier with that given the optical drive and faster hard drive, not to mention cost savings. It carries the same warranty and if you want you can buy the 3 year Apple Care for a refurb too. The bump in processor speed in the new ones is nothing dramatic. For home computer use, the refurb would be very nice.
 
I'm looking on the entry level iMac too.

The biggest downsides are:
- Only 8gb RAM and non upgradable by user
- Laptop type 5400 rpm hdd

I already have SSD in my current PC and sort of got used to it. It really makes my C2D Quad pretty fast machine with 8gb RAM.

I think I can live with 8gb in iMac for next 2 years. But also thinking to use USB3 external enclosure for my current SSD as boot disk and use local 1tb as pure storage. Not sure if its possible, but from performance perspective USB3 is comparable to local SATA3. Maybe find a short USB cable and stick SSD on the back of new iMac with 3M.
 
Dirtyharry50 said:
Why not go with the refurb bargain? It sounds like you'd be happier with that given the optical drive and faster hard drive, not to mention cost savings. It carries the same warranty and if you want you can buy the 3 year Apple Care for a refurb too. The bump in processor speed in the new ones is nothing dramatic. For home computer use, the refurb would be very nice.
Click to expand...

I agree, this sounds like my best best. Just wasn't sure if the bump in CPU/GPU made up for the slower HD they put in... If they just would've stayed w/ the 7200rpm drive I could deal w/ the other two issues...

----------
mr.thing said:
I'm looking on the entry level iMac too.

The biggest downsides are:
- Only 8gb RAM and non upgradable by user
- Laptop type 5400 rpm hdd

I already have SSD in my current PC and sort of got used to it. It really makes my C2D Quad pretty fast machine with 8gb RAM.

I think I can live with 8gb in iMac for next 2 years. But also thinking to use USB3 external enclosure for my current SSD as boot disk and use local 1tb as pure storage. Not sure if its possible, but from performance perspective USB3 is comparable to local SATA3. Maybe find a short USB cable and stick SSD on the back of new iMac with 3M.
Click to expand...

In your case the 2011 probably wouldn't satisfy you as you can only upgrade it to 8GB, even though you can do it yourself. The slow HD in the new one is my biggest complaint, yes...
 
You can get 16gb ram in a 2011 iMac, I have done it, you can ever get 16GB in a 2010 21" iMac, ignore what Apple have written.
 
cooky560 said:
You can get 16gb ram in a 2011 iMac, I have done it, you can ever get 16GB in a 2010 21" iMac, ignore what Apple have written.
Click to expand...

Yep agreed thats Apple for you. Was going to purchase the NEW 2012 iMac but to much limitations Ram upgrade.HDD etc slower than my high end 21.5 2011 iMac so i'll wait for 2nd or 3rd Gen as my 2011 is running fine.

Also worried that it's well over a year since last 2011 iMac yet Apple are still delaying these new iMac. Could there be issues?! As said above i'll wait know rush just means I'll have more money to spend on things as I 'm not purchasing this version yet.
 
cooky560 said:
You can get 16gb ram in a 2011 iMac, I have done it, you can ever get 16GB in a 2010 21" iMac, ignore what Apple have written.
Click to expand...

Only some 2010 iMacs can take 16 GBs of RAM. Apple also state that the 2011 iMacs can take 16 GBs of RAM, whereas they can really take 32 GBs of RAM. Why is this? It's got nothing to do with some nefarious plans hatched by the Apple overlords to limit how much RAM they will sell you. It's because when they released the specs, that was the maximum possible RAM they could put in there. When the 2011 iMac was released there were only 4 GB sticks available. 8 GB sticks came out after that and are quite cheap now. Apple does not bother updating their information when things like this happen. It's as simple as that.

everymac.com has a full list of how much memory your Mac can really handle for those interested.
 
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