21.5 imac 2.5 or 2.7

[corbyone]

Hey guys I've decided to get a refurbished imac (my first mac) and I know it will be a 21.5 and I am haveing a hard time deciding if the $230 difference between the base 2.5 and the upgraded 21.5 w/ the 2.7 is worth it. I know you get a bigger hard drive, graphics, and processor but is it really worth it. I will be using it as my primary computer so email,internet, office tasks, etc. but I also will do so light photo/video and some gaming (SWTOR). If I could save some money by going the base 21.5 w/ the 2.5 I'd love to but if it will make a differnece for me then I will get the 2.7. Thanks

 

[Samuriajackon]

Hey guys I've decided to get a refurbished imac (my first mac) and I know it will be a 21.5 and I am haveing a hard time deciding if the $230 difference is worth it. I know you get a bigger hard drive, graphics, and processor but is it really worth it. I will be using it as my primary computer so email,internet, office tasks, etc. but I also will do so light photo/video and some gaming (SWTOR). If I could save some money by going the base 21.5 w/ the 2.5 I'd love to but if it will make a differnece for me then I will get the 2.7. Thanks

Go to best buy and wheel up one of their office chairs and sit in front of a 21 and u will see it's big enough.

SWTOR...interesting, i have a 21.5in with the 512mb 6750, in order to get the game up above the 30FPS i had to turn all the cool stuff off(Shaders, V-Sync, Env. details) and then ran the game at 1200x768. I'm not impressed with the game itself, but even on the lowest settings this game eats video cards for breakfast.

 

[tyche]

For an all in one unit, I think it's always best to get as much as you can up front because it's not a simple matter or cheap to upgrade it after (hd, video, processor).

The $230 difference is worth it if you're going to keep this iMac for a few years.

 

[Drar3g]

Baseline models usually offer the best value, whereas upgrades is where Apple really makes money. A performance bump of 10% will cost you 20% more, a 20% improvement a 40%, and so on. This applies to the difference of clock speeds between the 2.5 i5 and the 2.7 i5, but also between other upgrades like the i7 processor, or the jump between the 6750 and 6770 GPUs. RAM upgrades offered by Apple are directly a rip-off.

If you really want to get the best value for your money, then buy the baseline model. You could also wait for the next rev and get the new baseline at a lower price than any of the upgraded imacs today.