but perhaps this one is a little different. Just looking for a little advice here. I was settled on getting a Mac Mini as of a few weeks ago, but the integrated graphics in the new Mini have pretty much driven me away. The next logical choice is an iMac. The thing is, I don't need a monitor as I already have a Dell U2711 which I would like to keep as my primary monitor as it is shared with a windows machine as well. I am basically going to the use the iMac as my main computer and the most compute heavy thing I do is photo editing in Aperture. I work almost exclusively with RAW files > 14MP. So the iMac would simply be used to drive the U2711 and its own display would basically act as a second monitor. I don't intend on gaming on the mac as my windows box already has a GTX680 and is sufficient in that regard.
I see two choices:
I could pick up a refurb 2011 iMac 27' with a 6970M for just under $2k or go with a 2012 iMac 21" with the i7, fusion drive, and 16GB of RAM for a few hundred more. I'd swap in a SSD into the refurb 2011 so that would be an added expense as well while I'd just get the fusion drive for the 2012 iMac. The 2012 27" is a bit too much and I can't justify the 27" monitor as I already have a pretty nice one as it is.
Any thoughts? Thanks!
I see two choices:
I could pick up a refurb 2011 iMac 27' with a 6970M for just under $2k or go with a 2012 iMac 21" with the i7, fusion drive, and 16GB of RAM for a few hundred more. I'd swap in a SSD into the refurb 2011 so that would be an added expense as well while I'd just get the fusion drive for the 2012 iMac. The 2012 27" is a bit too much and I can't justify the 27" monitor as I already have a pretty nice one as it is.
Any thoughts? Thanks!
