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acecreativity

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2012
5
0
Hello I'm new here.
I am looking for an iMac which would last for at least 3 years. I would like you to give me help and information on which iMac to buy and if it's suitable for my needs.
So I am looking for a computer on which I will be able to multi task. For example:
I record videos for youtube, mainly gaming. I want to speak to people through skype, play games like minecraft, cod, skyrim (doesn't have to be on the best settings, medium would be good) and record videos at the same time. I also want to record music, do programming and graphic design.
I know that I will choose the i7 processor.
Could you tell me how much RAM I'd need and what kind of a graphic card etc.?
What specs. I don't really want to buy the 27" mac due to the price of it. However, I have a 24" monitor which I'll be able to connect to the iMac (I hope). Please tell me also if this is possible through a HDMI cable or any other cable. Due to this size of the monitor will have to be a 21" iMac.
I heard that buying an iMac with the least RAM and then paying extra for the RAM after buying the iMac is cheaper, is it true?
I don't mind buying a refurbished mac as long as it fits my needs. If it doesn't then can you recommend any other desktops like Dell etc.?
I am prepared to pay up to £1000 which is about $1500.
Thanks in advance.
 

acecreativity

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2012
5
0
Seems to be at odds with your goal of the i7 and more than stock RAM. (The US prices of a refurb i7 with extra RAM will push that budget and outside the US you will generally pay more.)

B

Do you have any suggestions for other desktops? And maybe recommendations on RAM etc for an iMac? The price doesn't play a big role here. I can wait a couple more months to get the £500 more or something.

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If you go with an i5, you can get a 2011 refurb 27" for about that. Pay attention to the graphics card though - for what you describe I'd want a 1GB card or better.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/imac

Thanks for that, however processors in iMacs cannot be replaced so I'd rather spend the £300 or so more and get i7. Thanks for the info about the graphic card though.
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
On the UK site they only have this beast:

Refurbished iMac 27-inch 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Originally released May 2011
27-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB memory
256GB solid-state drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
AMD Radeon HD 6970M graphics with 1GB memory

Built-in FaceTime HD camera

for £1879. Basically double what the OP wanted to spend.

B

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Do you have any suggestions for other desktops? And maybe recommendations on RAM etc for an iMac? The price doesn't play a big role here. I can wait a couple more months to get the £500 more or something.

I've got 8GB in my MB, and two MBPs and it's more than adequate + cheap. There is a big improvement over the stock 4 GB when multitasking.

B
 
Last edited:

Cooshan

macrumors newbie
Apr 23, 2012
20
0
I record videos for youtube, mainly gaming. I want to speak to people through skype, play games like minecraft, cod, skyrim (doesn't have to be on the best settings, medium would be good) and record videos at the same time.
It seems that you want to look into buying a pc. Eg Dell for these reasons:
You game. Mac's are not great for gaming, they have laptop graphics cards and most of your favourite games wont even be playable on a mac(you mentioned skyrim, you can't play skyrim on a mac)
You already have a monitor. There is no need buying an all in one, when you have a monitor. Most of the price tag of the mac goes towards the (awesome) screen.
Your price range. The only imac available to you in that price range is the lowest spec, which would really show it's age in 3 years in regards to gaming.

My advice, don't get a mac. Get a pc tower. You can get a tower that plugs straight into your monitor, with great specs for smooth gaming, and you can play all your favourite games on it, and well within your price range.

As for which one, I have no idea. Wrong forum for that.
 

iMacFarlane

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2012
1,123
30
Adrift in a sea of possibilities
On the UK site they only have this beast:



for $1879. Basically double what the OP wanted to spend.

$1879 is nowhere near double what he wanted to spend. He said ~$1500. Double that would be $3000. The $1879 is right there, considering he said he'd be willing to throw another 500 GBP ($750 USD) at it if he waited a while longer.

To the OP: If you are really just starting to sniff out a new iMac, you need to know that Apple 'thinks different' than most other computer makers out there. iMacs are not user upgradeable (except for RAM), unless you're tech savvy and in no need of a warranty. Also, iMacs are 'refreshed' with current technology every year or so, and the most recent refresh is overdue. If you truly want to give an iMac a try (I can't recommend this enough), hang on for a month or two until the new iMac's are released. You will get current tech at current market value, instead of last year's tech at last year's prices.
 

acecreativity

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2012
5
0
thanks guys, I will take a look at some Dell's. So i7, 8gb RAM and 1gb Graphic Card would be the best for me?
 

iMacFarlane

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2012
1,123
30
Adrift in a sea of possibilities
It seems that you want to look into buying a pc. Eg Dell for these reasons:
You game. Mac's are not great for gaming, they have laptop graphics cards and most of your favourite games wont even be playable on a mac(you mentioned skyrim, you can't play skyrim on a mac)
You already have a monitor. There is no need buying an all in one, when you have a monitor. Most of the price tag of the mac goes towards the (awesome) screen.
Your price range. The only imac available to you in that price range is the lowest spec, which would really show it's age in 3 years in regards to gaming.

My advice, don't get a mac. Get a pc tower. You can get a tower that plugs straight into your monitor, with great specs for smooth gaming, and you can play all your favourite games on it, and well within your price range.

As for which one, I have no idea. Wrong forum for that.


All good points, but:

I'm a gamer, too. You CAN play Skyrim. Fallout. Lots of things that are Windows only are playable on iMac's using WINE ports. Sure, your framerates will take a hit, but I'm on a late 2009 Core 2 Duo based iMac, and the WINE based windows only games run great. Oblivion, Morrowind, Battle for Middle Earth, Republic Commando, etc. Awesome framerates.
There is a lot of love out there for OS X, and many open source projects to allow playing old games and windows games using custom OS X engines. Take a look around.

The most expensive iMac (today) that's 'stock', is $1999 USD, about 1333 GBP. Not out of your extended budget. Once you start customizing, all bets are off. Apple charges A LOT for parts and labor (example: $600 to install $30 worth of RAM).

Cheers.
 

acecreativity

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2012
5
0
The most expensive iMac (today) that's 'stock', is $1999 USD, about 1333 GBP.
Cheers.

First of all, I can't buy an iMac on the US site due to delivery as well as border force. Secondly, Apple is a clever company and iMacs which cost $1999 in US cost approx. £1800 in the UK but should cost around £1333 as you said when it's converted. So I am kinda unlucky to be here :p
 

wonko12

macrumors newbie
May 3, 2012
1
0
UK
Very good for gaming

It seems that you want to look into buying a pc. Eg Dell for these reasons:
You game. Mac's are not great for gaming, they have laptop graphics cards and most of your favourite games wont even be playable on a mac(you mentioned skyrim, you can't play skyrim on a mac)
You already have a monitor. There is no need buying an all in one, when you have a monitor. Most of the price tag of the mac goes towards the (awesome) screen.
Your price range. The only imac available to you in that price range is the lowest spec, which would really show it's age in 3 years in regards to gaming.

My advice, don't get a mac. Get a pc tower. You can get a tower that plugs straight into your monitor, with great specs for smooth gaming, and you can play all your favourite games on it, and well within your price range.

As for which one, I have no idea. Wrong forum for that.

Sorry been a forum lucker for over a year now and this post above forced me to register, so I could put the facts right.
YOU can game very easily on a mac, I play skyrim, cod4, and Battlefield 3 on medium settings admittedly for the BF3 but still all very playable, do get fed up when people keep saying you can not game on a mac when you quite plainly can and very well also.
I have a 27" i5 3.6 with 16gb of ram, but you can play all these games with half that ram but I would not want to play with any less.
rant over
 

acecreativity

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2012
5
0
Sorry been a forum lucker for over a year now and this post above forced me to register, so I could put the facts right.
YOU can game very easily on a mac, I play skyrim, cod4, and Battlefield 3 on medium settings admittedly for the BF3 but still all very playable, do get fed up when people keep saying you can not game on a mac when you quite plainly can and very well also.
I have a 27" i5 3.6 with 16gb of ram, but you can play all these games with half that ram but I would not want to play with any less.
rant over

Thanks for that :p That changed my attitude towards iMacs now :) I will consider a cheap low RAM i7 mac and then adding some onto it
 

iMacFarlane

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2012
1,123
30
Adrift in a sea of possibilities
First of all, I can't buy an iMac on the US site due to delivery as well as border force. Secondly, Apple is a clever company and iMacs which cost $1999 in US cost approx. £1800 in the UK but should cost around £1333 as you said when it's converted. So I am kinda unlucky to be here :p

Holy . . . !! I had no idea the true price varied that much!

Look, we threw a bunch of crates full of tea overboard when we were upset, maybe you guys should toss a few hundred iMac's into the Harbor to get their attention? :p
 

forty2j

macrumors 68030
Jul 11, 2008
2,585
2
NJ
Given your existing monitor, did you consider the top-end Mini? The 6630m is fine for most gaming (as you said, medium settings).

Also, if a Mini would suit your needs, consider that it's likely be refreshed around June-July, and the new AMD mobile cards are blowing the pants off the old ones.
 

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
You can probably get 21.5" iMac, they come and go. (none available today)
http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/imac

First of all, I can't buy an iMac on the US site due to delivery as well as border force. Secondly, Apple is a clever company and iMacs which cost $1999 in US cost approx. £1800 in the UK but should cost around £1333 as you said when it's converted. So I am kinda unlucky to be here :p

Holy . . . !! I had no idea the true price varied that much!

Look, we threw a bunch of crates full of tea overboard when we were upset, maybe you guys should toss a few hundred iMac's into the Harbor to get their attention? :p

In US tax is NOT included in price
In Europe tax is included in price
 

Cooshan

macrumors newbie
Apr 23, 2012
20
0
Yes you can play games on a mac. I shouldn't have said you can't. However my point stands that if your primary interest is gaming, especially recording, iMac just isn't the best choice. That is a fact.

The OP asked if I can recommend an iMac and if it was suitable for his needs. After reading his needs I can't in all good conscience recommend an imac.

I am prepared to pay up to £1000.
Entry level mac is £999.

I know that I will choose the i7 processor.
The cheapest imac with i7 is £1,408.99.

I want to speak to people through skype, play games like minecraft, cod, skyrim (doesn't have to be on the best settings, medium would be good) and record videos at the same time.I also want to record music, do programming and graphic design.
Recording video whilst playing modern games whilst talking on skype requires alot of computing power. Getting the entry level imac, with the 2.5Ghz i5, 512mb mobility card, 4GB ram and 500GB HD is not going to work out in the long run with that heavy usage. It will feel very dated very fast.

I am looking for an iMac which would last for at least 3 years.
It wont fall apart that's for sure. Whether you will be happy with entry level performance 3 years down the line is another matter.
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
YOU can game very easily on a mac, I play skyrim, cod4, and Battlefield 3 on medium settings admittedly for the BF3 but still all very playable, do get fed up when people keep saying you can not game on a mac when you quite plainly can and very well also.

Just to be sure. Are you gaming under OS X or using Windows via Boot Camp on your Mac?

If Windows, don't forget to account for some budget for the Windows license!


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US should copy Europe and include tax

Tax varies by location. e.g. in Los Angeles City you pay more than in neighboring communities. This would be nearly impossible.

B
 

robgendreau

macrumors 68040
Jul 13, 2008
3,465
329
Probably not in your budget.

You want something that'll last 3 years. An iMac would, but nothing's upgradable except the RAM. Since you already have a monitor, and lots of PC software, it's gonna be cheaper to buy a PC desktop.
 

thekev

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2010
7,005
3,343
Probably not in your budget.

You want something that'll last 3 years. An iMac would, but nothing's upgradable except the RAM. Since you already have a monitor, and lots of PC software, it's gonna be cheaper to buy a PC desktop.

Not only that, but in the lower priced models, the you get shafted pretty hard on gpus. I agree that the longevity isn't necessarily there. At the very least I'd suggest the OP wait for Ivy Bridge to get the annual bump on the AMD card. It makes little sense to try to stretch a machine three years on semi demanding stuff when it's already been out roughly a year.
 
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