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Which is the best deal, talking 21,5" only?

D

diegobgr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Hi.

Tomorrow, or maybe tonight, I will order my new computer, a new 21,5" iMac.

The problem is : which is the sweet spot, the best deal, in this new update?

I will go high-end, but should I buy 4 GB of RAM more? 2 TB? i5?

Can you help me?
 
Problematically the best deal is the basest base model. The extra $300 coupled with an extra $200 for the i5 or for another 4 Gigs of Ram, is just not a material difference for most...but the i3 is a great deal and at 3.06 vs. 3.2 Ghz it's really no difference.
 
Yes, but I will do gaming, so 5670 will be important for me.

Also, the 500GB extra of hard disk, will be important I think.

So, does the upgrade to i5 or 8 GB worth?
 
Well I would go with the i5, IF money was not a huge issue, because you can upgrade your Ram much easier. If 4 Gigs ends up being a bottleneck you can get some cheapish ram to do the upgrade, but the processor you're stuck with as long as you have the Imac.
 
Last night, I ordered:

IMAC 21.5-INCH
3.20GHZ INTEL CORE I3
4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 SDRAM - 2X2GB
1TB SERIAL ATA DRIVE
ATI RADEON HD 5670 512MB GDDR3
8X DOUBLE-LAYER SUPERDRIVE
"wireless" MAGIC MOUSE+MAGIC TRACKPAD-AM
"wired" KB(NUM) & USER'S GUIDE
IWORK

NO AppleCare - will order on month 11 (re: in late June 2011).

For my home, NO Gaming (other then simple Web based games). Kids have proper gaming box for games. iMac 21.5" will be used for typical home usage. re: Email, web surfing, downloading, Word Processing, minor spreadsheets, minor presentations, minor photos, minor movies, minor sound recording, etc.

Also, based on Benchmark comparisons (seen in histroical posts), I got the impression the difference between i3 chip and i5 chip (for $200+) wasn't a dramatic increase. Not worth it - for my home's expected usage.

If more memory is needed (in future), I will order memory via 3rd party supplier. Thus, more cost savings as well.

Hope this helps in your base research...

.
 
Gov98 said:
Well I would go with the i5, IF money was not a huge issue, because you can upgrade your Ram much easier. If 4 Gigs ends up being a bottleneck you can get some cheapish ram to do the upgrade, but the processor you're stuck with as long as you have the Imac.
Click to expand...

I agree in that 4 gigs is plenty for most and its self install.

The first results of the 21.5 i5 show it to be faster then the 27 i5 (6850 32bit geekbench). While this will not be for every application, it's still impressive. For those who don't mind, there's a good reason to wait a month or two, when the 21.5 i5 will be available as a refurbished unit that will probably cost about the same as the basic model.
 
diegobgr said:
So, to sum up, i3 or i5? I won't upgrade to 8 GB, I see that it isn't work.
Click to expand...

If you need a 21.5" now (re: cannot wait for less expensive refab unit), then do get:

IMAC 21.5-INCH
3.20GHZ INTEL CORE I3
4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 SDRAM - 2X2GB
1TB SERIAL ATA DRIVE
ATI RADEON HD 5670 512MB GDDR3

As you stated above (in your 2nd post), "ATI RADEON HD 5670" is for your gaming needs.

Good luck...

.
 
Good luck.

Hope you get a good 'un. Let us know how you get on. That was the configuration I was hoping to get. If you get a crystal clear screen and no buzzing sounds I might just take the plunge myself...
 
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