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Apple Releases New iMacs with Upgraded ATI Radeon HD Graphics Cards

help

Hi, I'm wondering if someone can shed some light.

I was going to buy the refurbished 27 i5 quad for 1799. I'm torn between this and the i3 which is the same price. But I don't know what route to go with. I usually use my macbook for photo editing. I do not have intentions to use it for gaming.
What route should I go here. The i5 quadcore is 2.66 ghz but the i3 is 3.20 ghz but it's only a dual core.
:confused:
 
cobrasneverdie said:
Hi, I'm wondering if someone can shed some light.

I was going to buy the refurbished 27 i5 quad for 1799. I'm torn between this and the i3 which is the same price. But I don't know what route to go with. I usually use my macbook for photo editing. I do not have intentions to use it for gaming.
What route should I go here. The i5 quadcore is 2.66 ghz but the i3 is 3.20 ghz but it's only a dual core.
:confused:
Click to expand...

You wont notice much of a difference in Photoediting, but the i5 will multitask better.
 
I'm about ready to pull the trigger on an iMac.

Hey all, I've been lurking here on the forums for a few weeks anticipating some sort of iMac refresh, and I thought I'd solicit some opinions. (I understand the internet is a good place to get opinions?)

My computers are both fossils (a Dual 1ghz PowerMac G4 and a Compaq Pentium M 1.5ghz notebook) and I'm in dire need of something that isn't begging to get kicked.

Previously, I was hell-bent on a 27" iMac, when the 21.5" was using an integrated graphics chip and Core 2 Duo architecture. However, if I'm shelling out the cash for the 27" I'm going to want to future-proof it as much as possible. This puts me in the $2200 range, at nearly twice the price of an entry-level 21.5" iMac.

I read a review of the core i-series processors that referred to the i3 as "a perfectly good processor for basic web browsing and word processing." This sounds patently absurd to me, as someone who uses a 7-year-old Pentium M 1.5ghz for Photoshop CS2 every day. Am I way off the mark, or have expectations seriously changed?

I'm certain the base-model i3 will handle my imaging needs (as a freelance photographer) but will the HD 4670 graphics card be acceptable for my rare forays into gaming? I'm talking Portal 2, Half-Life 2 and Starcraft 2 once in a while.

Will I be kicking myself for not upgrading to a dual i5, or should the i3 serve me well for a few years? Keeping in mind, of course, that I'll theoretically have saved $1,000 to put towards my next machine (should I desire one down the road.)
 
Drag'nGT said:
Go check out the Mac Mini. It's not that much slower (in real world testing) than an i3 processor.
Click to expand...

Thxs for the tip - I'll look into the benchmarks when they come out. I really need the mac mini's graphics processor badly. My 4 year old macbook is heating up to insane levels on really basic crap now thanks to the horrible integrated video.
 
AFAIK the Radeon HD 4850 performs virtually identically to the HD 5750. The only advantage to the iMac graphics "upgrade" is reduced power consumption (which certainly isn't a bad thing).
 
dgmul said:
AFAIK the Radeon HD 4850 performs virtually identically to the HD 5750. The only advantage to the iMac graphics "upgrade" is reduced power consumption (which certainly isn't a bad thing).
Click to expand...

We don't really know what card is in the iMac. Yes, it's being labeled as an 5750... But is it a 5750 mobility, a 5850 mobility, or a desktop 5750?
 
dgmul said:
AFAIK the Radeon HD 4850 performs virtually identically to the HD 5750. The only advantage to the iMac graphics "upgrade" is reduced power consumption (which certainly isn't a bad thing).
Click to expand...

Is this true? I've been searching, and I'm unable to come up with any comparison testing. My understanding is that the 4670 has 256mb of memory, while the 5750 has 1gb. Surely, this must make a significant difference.
 
docblasto said:
Is this true? I've been searching, and I'm unable to come up with any comparison testing. My understanding is that the 4670 has 256mb of memory, while the 5750 has 1gb. Surely, this must make a significant difference.
Click to expand...

perfrel_1920.gif


This should give you an idea.


cobrasneverdie said:
how will it perform with less ghz?
Click to expand...

This is photoshop right? Photoshop uses the GPU for processing images, so there wont be much difference. If you use pixelmaker(mator?) its the same story.
 
In a little over a year I have watched my once brand-new iMac turn obsolete, so many changes in so little time, that is technology.
 
iWonderwhy said:
In a little over a year I have watched my once brand-new iMac turn obsolete, so many changes in so little time, that is technology.
Click to expand...

Obsolete? I'm using a 2.33Ghz C2D Macbook Pro from 2006 as my primary computer and I still don't see a compelling reason to upgrade to these newer machines. They simply haven't gotten all that much faster since then.

Your iMac is still perfectly usable and shouldn't really be far behind the new computers at all.
 
5750? mobility? i need ifixit to repair this if it is desktop YESSS but if mobility i would adbise everyone to buy the old imac 27 inch
 
Is new iMac with these features worth it?

So I "built" a 27 inch imac and it comes to *gulp* $3700.

imac 27" w/ 2.93
2T hard drive + 256GB SSD
8 gb ram

what do you think?
 
Yes. The SSD will be a world of difference.

>>>> I'm just thinking of a comparably priced PC ... will the MAC really be worth it?! :)
 
alent1234 said:
i compared a Dell to the more expensive 21.5" and it was $1388 for the Dell compared to $1579 for the iMac with education discount.

iMac has the low voltage i5-660 CPU's which are more expensive and some parts are more expensive than what you get from Dell or build yourself. i have a 22" Acer monitor at work but it's not LED backlit and no where near as good as the iMac screens even though it cost $180
Click to expand...

Yeah, but did you factor in the on-board malware that Dell puts in? :D
 
Good update

Well, I want one. Too bad I'm broke and can't afford it. If I could get the cash, I'd max-spec one of those suckers and order it.
 
MorphingDragon said:
Aren't the mobile lines in the gap between the two desktop versions?

5670 < 5750M < 5750?
Click to expand...
The entire Mobility HD 5600/5700 line is based off of 400 shader Redwood cores (Desktop HD 5650/5670)

The Mobility HD 5850/5870 are based on Juniper (Desktop 5770).

We'll need to see what the new iMac has but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a 400 shader Mobility HD 5770 (desktop HD 5670 power) or worse.

In previous ATI generations the mobile versions did get you the proper desktop core at lower clocks instead of the next one down.
 
Don't see any significant feature updates. Would have loved to use USB 3.0 ports, Hi-Def video camera built in and software for facetime, instead of ichat.
 
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