Adding another Mac, can't decide!

[BOSS10L]

Hey all,

As you can see by my sig, we've already got 2 Macs in the family; the 2.0 Ghz C2D MB and the 21" 2.4 Ghz iMac.

I want to add a third Mac to be used by me in my study. I've poured over specs for the last 3+ weeks and can't decide which way to go. Here are my intended uses:

Scholarly pursuits
Light Web Dev with CS5
Light to medium video editing with Final Cut Pro
Development with Cocos2D
Animation with 3DS Max/Maya/Poser
Windows through Bootcamp (where needed like 3DS)

2 caveats:

1 - Money is somewhat of a concern here. I can go to the Apple store today and buy a Mac Pro, but the wife and I have a lot of home improvement projects between now and next April, so anywhere I can save money, that'd be great.

2 - I plan to keep this machine for at least 2-3 years, but that doesn't mean I need to max everything out to be happy. I plan on upping the RAM myself.

Also keep in mind that I'm currently an MA student, so I do get the educational discount.

I'm figuring that the 27" iMac is what I want, I just can't decide which processor I need. GPU isn't as much of a concern per se, this machine will not be used for gaming of any kind.

Thanks.

 

[Hellhammer]

http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0GF0LL/A?mco=MTU0Mzg4OTg

That's currently the best deal IMO.

 

[NicoleRichie]

http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0GF0LL/A?mco=MTU0Mzg4OTg

That's currently the best deal IMO.

I agree. I am thinking about getting one of them as well.

 

[mr0c]

although you could probably get the 21.5" for $430 less:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC509LL/A?mco=MTkwMjE3ODQ

The geekbench scores are:

iMac (27-inch Late 2009) Intel Core i7 860 2.8 GHz (4 cores) 8309
iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2010) Intel Core i3 550 3.2 GHz (2 cores) 5857

(from http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/ )

The noticable differences are:
27" uses 1066MHz memory and has the ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 512MB of GDDR3 memory, SD card
21.5" uses 1333MHz memory and has the ATI Radeon HD 5670 with 512MB of GDDR3 memory, SDXC card

 

[Tomorrow]

Depending on the amount of rendering you do with your 3D applications, a processor bump might actually be a good investment for you. I would normally say don't worry about it.

Gotta side with Hellhammer here, that refurb iMac is a good deal.