Buy or Repair

The base model iMac, while having newer tech, isn't that too powerful if you want to be doing video editing. You'd probably be better off getting your current iMac repaired since it has its own graphics card compared to the integrated one that the newer iMac has.

However, I'm sure for basic tasks, the difference in their power won't be noticeable, but for video editing I'd think the older iMac would do better, but I could be wrong.

If you do photo/video editing, the old one will be much better suited for the work, considering it has a quad core processor and discrete graphics. If you really want to get an iMac and you want to do more than browse the web, a refurbished quad core model will serve you much better and it will cost about the same amount. Look at this one. For what you pay, it is easily worth the $150 difference.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FE087LL/A/refurbished-215-inch-imac-29ghz-quad-core-Intel-Core-i5

If you cannot afford $1270, you should repair your old computer. I really wouldn't recommend the new iMac to anyone. There have been many threads about this topic, with many contrasting opinions. It is hard to account for all economic factors that play into your decision, but assuming you value longevity, resale value, and user experience to some extent, there is little value in the new 21" dual core iMac relative to other Apple products.

Matt

Cynnerea said:

My first resource was to purchase a refurbished iMac but since I live outside the US I wasn't able to, sadly

I shall put more thought into it then, thank you, Matt!

Click to expand...

Just to give you an idea, the 2011 iMac you have, assuming it is the baseline model, has about 140% the processing power of the new 2014 model. The 6750m in the baseline 2011 model has about 110% the 3D rendering power of the HD 5000 graphics in the 2014 model. You can also upgrade the RAM in the 2011 model if you want to. It is near impossible in the 2012-2014 models.

The baseline 2013 model has about 200% the processing power of the new 2014 model. The 750m in the 2013 model has about 250% the 3D rendering power of the HD 5000 graphics in the 2014 model.

Sources:

Graphics (using 3D Mark 11 P GPU, card numbers 104, 191, and 242)- http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

CPU (64bit multicore)- http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

I would definitely stick with repairing the old iMac.

However, have you ever looked into getting a Mac mini perhaps? You have to purchase a display, but at least you can keep that for your next upgrade.

What's wrong with your old imac?
It may be the AMD issue, then there is a repair program.