These GPU cards are a joke, a 5750 isn't good enough to play in native resolution of a 27" 2560x1440 monitor. I don't think you can even run Starcraft 2 with all options to max with this configuration... High end iMacs should have HD 58xx series GPU (i mean NO Mobility Radeons !).
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Apple Releases New iMacs with Upgraded ATI Radeon HD Graphics Cards
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I guess its form over function once again. Of course I'm no iMac designer/engineer but I imagine there simply isn't the space to house such a graphics card. Also, love your country. Starting to see more and more belgians here - always nice.
.. which is why I'll go for the 21.5" with the 5670!
My Radeon 2600 has served me well for 3 years, so the 5670 will be fine for games on that sized screen.
My Radeon 2600 has served me well for 3 years, so the 5670 will be fine for games on that sized screen.
LOL. It's far from obsolete. Even my three year old Core 2 Duo isn't obsolete, I'm only wanting to upgrade because it was the low-end model and the video card (HD2400) doesn't handle Steam games particularly well. If I'd gone with the mid-range one then I'd probably be keeping it another year.
Enjoy your iMac. It's a great machine and still perfectly capable of handling everything you throw at it. So what if there's something faster on the market. You don't move house every time someone else buys a bigger one do you?
If you don't like it, Why are you here?!
God I hate Windows users they all seam to log onto Apple sites etc and bitch if you don't like them/us keep it to yourself
Deep rooted jealousy. The Beauty of the iMac cannot be understated. It's like having some fat trollop at home who will give you the works sex wise, but really a simple bj from a sexy vixen is so much more satisfying.
And the vixen costs alot more and has inferior specifications in some departments?
I would love an iMac. I agree that its a beautiful machine (I've seen some PC All-In-One copies... youch) so no doubt alot of PC users in this thread want one. But it barely outperforms my Dell Studio in terms of specifications on paper, and even with the better OS (which does account for alot) I can't warrant the £1300 price tag for a machine that is marginally better, and I'm sure others are having such issues too.
And my God, what an obnoxious statement to make regarding women.
EDIT: Apologies, when I say marginally better I mean in specific areas. While the CPU is better than my Dell, the GPU suffers.
A very minor speed-bump. The processor is more energy efficient, but the graphics card is virtually the same, but more energy efficient.
The graphics card is only very slightly better. Top performance of your 4850 is 1 Teraflop - the performance of the 5750 is 1.008 Teraflop.
Dead right! It should have had at least a 5850 if they want it taken seriously as a games machine. Particularly as all the iMacs use the Mobility Radeon cards, and not the desktop version.
It's very slightly faster. By 0.008 Teraflops. See here.
Wrong. The 5750 has 720 stream processors. Coupled with a smaller process (40 nm vs 55nm) it translates into the very slight speed increase seen above.
Though of course all these numbers are the desktop version, and not the Mobility version which the iMacs use.
Yawn....
I can build a faster car than a Lexus ISC10, too. But I would have a cobbled together, high maintenance piece of crap. I'd rather have the Lexus, and just drive. That's my bag. If it's not yours, fine. But there is a large segment of the computer buying public that's getting tired of the crap, and just want their computers to work. That's me.
I've used, worked on, and yes built many, many Windows PCs over the years. I've built Intel and AMD. Fast, powerful beasts, and more tame, email, document and web browsing stations. Fact is, 90% or more of the people who have and use computers only need the latter, and are tired of the crap they get when the Dells and HPs of the world are pushing specs instead of a quality experience.
Win PC makers, in general have nothing to offer from a research and development standpoint. They've learned long ago, painfully in some instances that most of their consumers are going to punish their bottom line for investing in true R&D, design, etc. The low margins that PCs command dictate a Wal-Mart approach to selling their product.
Apple has distinguished themselves from that segment of the market. Sure they could throw in the hot graphics card that ATI just introduced two weeks ago. But that would not allow adequate time to hash out the software and firmware bugs inherent in any new, cutting edge hardware these days.
Apple still invests heavily in design and R&D. Using American-based engineers and designers. That costs money. Don't believe me? Ask Compaq.
If you want the hottest hardware, and are willing to put up with a less than high quality experience, be my guest. After working as an IT professional for decades, and having built, maintained and used literally thousands of PCs during that time, I am perfectly happy to have a slightly more expensive, higher quality, more stable and less stressful computing experience.
If that's not your bag, I understand. But don't whine and throw darts at Apple for providing a quality product in a market that you don't understand.
Here is your list and price from what I get in a local store in Hong Kong. I take out 2 items, you don't need a heatpipe cooler because the CPU comes with a fan. You don't need assembly because it is free. All the amount below is converted form Hong Kong dollar to Candian dollar thru Yahoo.
You don't need to be a shopping ninja neither in order to get the price below. Price are almost the same for most of the shops here. Most of the items can get in the same shop except for the monitor.
Intel Core i7 870 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.93GHZ Hyperthreading 8MB Cache Retail Box: $306
OCZ Gold 8GB DDR3 2X4GB DDR3-1333 PC3-10666 CL 9-9-9-20 1.65V Dual Channel Memory Kit: $272
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM: $82
Powercolor Radeon HD 5750 700MHZ 1GB 4.6GHZ GDDR5 VGA DVI HDMI DIRECTX11 PCI-E Video Card: $119
Samsung SH-S223C 22X DVD Writer SATA Black OEM: $30
Logitech K340 Wireless Keyboard with Mini USB Unifying Receiver: $49
Logitech Wireless Mouse M505 Black: $44
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W ATX 20/24PIN SLI Ready Modular Cables 135mm Fan Active PFC Power Supply: $90
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM: $95
Gigabyte P55A-UD4P ATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E RAID GBLAN CrossFireX SLI USB3.0 SATA3 Motherboard: $185
Antec NSK4482B ATX Mini Tower Case Black 3X5.25 2X3.5EXT 3X3.5INT Front USB Audio with 380W PSU: $87
#Noctua NH-U12P SE2 LGA775/1156/1366 AM2/AM3 I7/I5/PHENOM Heatpipe Cooler W/ 2XNH-P12 120MM Fans: $79.99
#NCIX Assembly: $50.00
+ DELL ULTRASHARP U2711 27-INCH MONITOR: 698.00 (order online Dell store Hong Kong)
TOTAL: $2057
Comparatively spec'd iMac (i7, 8GB, 1TB): $2,539.00
This is $500 CAD discount right here. With $500, you can upgrade the video card to a HD 5970 already. Or you can use it to buy a Intel 160G SSD. And FYI, you can do mail order from some of the HK computer shops.
I want to emphasize once again, if anyone want to build a gaming machine, it will NOT be an iMAC.
Reference:
http://www.price.com.hk/product.php?p=114032
http://www.price.com.hk/product.php?p=114034
http://www.price.com.hk/product.php?p=114222
http://www1.ap.dell.com/hk/zh/business/Monitors/ct.aspx?refid=monitors&s=bsd&cs=hkbsd1&~tab=2
http://www.jumbo-computer.com/pricelist.asp
ha! i love it. the irony being that your analysis of his decision proved you are the true owner of too much time...
Debatable. When the 5770 came out many people recommended the 4850 over it. In many benchmarks it still beat the 5770, however there were limitations on the 4 series for support of newer DirectX (which is mostly irrelevant in Macs) and OpenGL versions and no support for some of the newer ATI specific technologies.
Basically if you wanted DX11 or Eyefinity, they recommended you go with the 5750. If you wanted something faster, they recommended the 4850.
iMac 27" Mid-2010 CPU Specifics
Apple's iMac performance page @ http://www.apple.com/imac/performance.html states:
"Now all iMac models come standard with Intel Core processors built on a new architecture. Based on Intels 32-nanometer process technology, these processors set new benchmarks for iMac performance."
and the tech spaces page @ http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html says:
"2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 processor with 8MB level 3 cache; supports Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost"
Which actual Intel CPU is inside that is 2.93 base speed and is on the 32 nm process?
http://www.intel.com/consumer/products/processors/corei7-specs.htm
If it's an i7-870 (hyperthread, Turbo to 3.6 GHz, 2 channels, 16GB, 1333 support, 95W TDP), then it's a 45nm chip, unless Intel has re-tooled the same chip as a 32nm part? Or Apple has some bad data on the site there?
Intel has really made knowing which CPU is which a real PITA in the last few years, and of course, since Apple sometimes gets 'new and unusual gear', it's even trickier. Any input is appreciated!
Apple's iMac performance page @ http://www.apple.com/imac/performance.html states:
"Now all iMac models come standard with Intel Core processors built on a new architecture. Based on Intels 32-nanometer process technology, these processors set new benchmarks for iMac performance."
and the tech spaces page @ http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html says:
"2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 processor with 8MB level 3 cache; supports Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost"
Which actual Intel CPU is inside that is 2.93 base speed and is on the 32 nm process?
http://www.intel.com/consumer/products/processors/corei7-specs.htm
If it's an i7-870 (hyperthread, Turbo to 3.6 GHz, 2 channels, 16GB, 1333 support, 95W TDP), then it's a 45nm chip, unless Intel has re-tooled the same chip as a 32nm part? Or Apple has some bad data on the site there?
Intel has really made knowing which CPU is which a real PITA in the last few years, and of course, since Apple sometimes gets 'new and unusual gear', it's even trickier. Any input is appreciated!
Sure, give me some time since I am at work.
Just a quick search for the GFX card on Newegg.com gave me this which is missing some minor comparable components. It's $999 US $1031 CA plus the $900 (from your quote) Dell 27" which brings it to about $1950 or so. That's about $600 less than $2489.52.
It'll take me a good hour or so to find the right parts.
For the record, I am all for buying a machine over putting it together, just that the gap between the Mac and the PC is a bit wider than a few hundred dollars. I've found it to be about $500 -- $600 consistently.
Also, it's very hard to compare an upgradeable tower with an all-in-one like the iMac.
WOW... Nice specs and pricing. But, is this an all-in-one pc or comes with a tower? Surely, it comes with a tower so it is not comparable. If you have a better spec'd ALL-IN-ONE PC, built your own, then post it. If you have nothing, then post it somewhere else.
NO, read the poster he's/she's quoting about and you'll see that we are talking about a tower configuration. The quoted poster compared the PC to the iMac and used expensive parts to show a small price difference.
And the post I placed above even says that comparing a tower i7 to an iMac isn't a reasonable comparison. The tower PC would better compare to the Mac Pro, which would give you an even larger price difference.
At 20 pages long, I'll admit I didn't read all the posts so it may have been asked. With all this talk about "how crappy" the video cards are, I'm curious if either one can be used to offload some work from the CPU.
I'm sorry I don't know the specifics of what I'm trying to get at, but I guess with some video decoding and even some encoding I've read some video cards can do the processing instead of sending it to the CPU. And if they can, is the 5670 a ton better?
Or is anything within the last couple years able to do that now. For some reason I was thinking the 9400M could do that in the macbooks.
I'm sorry I don't know the specifics of what I'm trying to get at, but I guess with some video decoding and even some encoding I've read some video cards can do the processing instead of sending it to the CPU. And if they can, is the 5670 a ton better?
Or is anything within the last couple years able to do that now. For some reason I was thinking the 9400M could do that in the macbooks.
Now how about the 4670 on the 21.5"? Is this reasonably serviceable?
This is just making me a little nervous, because I just ordered the base-model 21.5" and I want to be able to play a few games on it. I'm not a regular gamer, nor do I work with 3D graphics. My girlfriend's 2-year-old Macbook Pro with the 9400M was just great for playing through Portal, but I wonder how much more system-intensive some of the newer games are going to be. Anyone have experience with these?
There seems to be a lot of people getting those yellow screens; is it something to do with a bad batch of LCD's or is it how Apple is using them - something to do with the location of components behind the LCD and heat causing problems? it seems that it is an on going issue that has gone over a couple of generation of products rather than just one being affected.
Does it come with Mac OS X? if not then in all due respects I couldn't give a crap. I purchase a Mac for Mac OS X thus making any comparison stupid indeed. Until I see an OS that delivers to me an experience comparable to Mac OS X I'm simply not interested in what you have to offer.
According to this link, the Core i7 is indeed not 32 nm, but 45 nm.
http://www.barefeats.com/imac10.html
also links to here: http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=46473,48505,48504,48496,48499,
Amen to that. Like it, buy it. Don't like it, don't buy it. Different people have different priorities.