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21.5" iMac - worth the extra $300 for 2.7GHz?

S

sub330

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 26, 2010
5
0
I'm looking to replace my 4+ year old iMac. I use it primarily for editing photos in Photoshop, but I am not a heavy user. Just curves, sharpen, maybe a few actions here and there.

I know anything is faster than my 4.5 year old iMac. I am not interested in the 27" but I can't decide whether to get the 21.5" 2.5GHz model (the base model) or splurge the extra $300 on the 21.5" 2.7GHz model.

Your thoughts and opinions would be most appreciated!

(I did try to do a search but I think my search string is too short)

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
If you can afford it I would get the i7 because of Hyperthreading. Can really help with multitasking. But depends on how long you plan on keeping this iMac before buying the next one. If it's in 2 years, I'd just go for the base model. If it's 4+ years again, I'd go for the best you can afford.
 
You're also getting a larger hard drive (500gb vs 1tb) as well as a better graphics card with the 2.7GHz model. The base model is very good value but if you're not a heavy duty Photoshop user you could probably get away with the base model.

However, if you know 500GB isn't going to cut it and you're going to end up needing an external hard drive you might as well spend the money now and also enjoy the faster CPU and better graphics card.
 
If relatively light Photoshop use is the heaviest stuff you do, then the base model is more than fine. A slight increase in the CPU speed is negligible and the small increase in GPU is even less noticeable, unless you will be gaming.
 
I second the above. If you aren't gaming or video editing, save your $300 for an external SSD down the road for a boot device.
 
Probably not worth the extra money in your case, the base will handle any light photoshop work beautifully.
 
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