Buy new iMac now or wait for update?

[cjhfengphoto]

I wonder the same thing too, buy a refurb now or wait a month or two ?

 

[Grease2310]

I just ordered a 27'' BTO last night and here's why, in short:

1. Needed a new system, 2007 24'' iMac just blew it's logic board
2. LOVE the current design, afraid for a redesign without Steve (petty I know)
3. Processor speed bumps expected to be low 5-15%
4. Radeon HD 6970M 2GB is more then acceptable for my needs
5. SSDs are unlikely to reduce MUCH in price, if at all
6. If iMacs recieve retina displays, mobile video cards (even the newest) will be taxed to run at native resolution alone, let alone in intensive tasks / gaming

So in short I went with the buy one now option, although in fairness reason 1 swayed my decision the most and reason 4 is more then true for me as I was coming from an iMac with only 256Mb of VRAM and still played the 2 games I care about, one being WoW, fairly easily on low settings. The 6970M should easily handle WoW at higher settings as well as Diablo 3. Most of my gaming is done on my PS3 anyway.

 

[cjhfengphoto]

I just ordered a 27'' BTO last night and here's why, in short:

1. Needed a new system, 2007 24'' iMac just blew it's logic board
2. LOVE the current design, afraid for a redesign without Steve (petty I know)
3. Processor speed bumps expected to be low 5-15%
4. Radeon HD 6970M 2GB is more then acceptable for my needs
5. SSDs are unlikely to reduce MUCH in price, if at all
6. If iMacs recieve retina displays, mobile video cards (even the newest) will be taxed to run at native resolution alone, let alone in intensive tasks / gaming

So in short I went with the buy one now option, although in fairness reason 1 swayed my decision the most and reason 4 is more then true for me as I was coming from an iMac with only 256Mb of VRAM and still played the 2 games I care about, one being WoW, fairly easily on low settings. The 6970M should easily handle WoW at higher settings as well as Diablo 3. Most of my gaming is done on my PS3 anyway.

I wish there's an option for adding the 6970m on 21.5 inches. I can't afford the 27 inches and I have no space for it. I got a little desk in my room.

I am doing intensive research on 6750m, I am hoping it could at least run Starcraft at ultra. Well I am not that much of a gamer nowadays, but I am just a hardcore fan of Blizzard, I wish I could own and run all of their games, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, WoW. I built a PC desktop for my friend for $700 with i5 2500K and HD6850, I could run WoW Cata on ultra settings nice and smooth.

Is 6750M going to do it?

Reason for me switching to Mac is that if I were to build another PC and get a giant monitor like iMac's, it's probably going to cost me the same. I just ordered a refurb 21.5 inches for $999.99.
I don't need power for gaming, but it's certainly a plus for me. I spend most of my time running programs on computers, editing photos, and putting video clips together (Not intensive cinematic effect rendering.)

 

[Grease2310]

Is 6750M going to do it?

Reason for me switching to Mac is that if I were to build another PC and get a giant monitor like iMac's, it's probably going to cost me the same. I just ordered a refurb 21.5 inches for $999.99.
I don't need power for gaming, but it's certainly a plus for me. I spend most of my time running programs on computers, editing photos, and putting video clips together (Not intensive cinematic effect rendering.)

Well theres a few schools of thought to subscribe to in that case. Is the 6750m going to "do it" for WoW if you want 20-40 FPS in most raids (which to me is quite playable) in the native 1920x1080 res of a 21'' iMac? Yes. If you were to *shudder* install Windows with Boot Camp you're likely to even get a few more frames. Of course you'll have to leave some settings (draw distance, shadow quality) that tax the system down but it should be otehrwise relatively ok to go high/ultra.

Diablo 3 is a harder beast to slay. Because it's not actually out of beta yet the numbers / reports vary wildly but I'd say it should certainly be playable with little tweaking and being willing not to be at the highest settings possible. Starcraft 2 for it's part in all this should run somewhere in the middle of those 2 games performance wise but it's recommended specs are even below the specs of the current gen 21'' iMacs so you should be fine.

I'll mention that Diablo 1 and 2 (and I presume Starcraft 1) will not run in Lion. Apple removed compatability with PPC apps so you'd have to boot into Windows via Boot Camp or use some virtualization software to run them that way.

 

[victoryroad]

I'm thinking of getting a new 27" iMac... but everyone says wait for the update...

I get a student discount for like another 5 weeks...

now 10% off isn't anything to sneeze at...

my question regards the rumored update...

is it a radical change or just new processors?

if it's just going to be faster processors then i would buy now with no regrets

if the update is going to be a better screen, some touch built in or new case redesign i would wait and pay 10% more but if it's just faster specs I'll get the current iMac.

i bought the last iMac just before it went widescreen which bummed me out.

any and all advice welcome. thanks.

Why is everyone worried about losing their student discount due to graduating? The last two Macs I bought they just took my word for it. And if they don't, just buy it online. There's nothing to check if you really are a student or not

 

[s!ke]

I have searched around a lot for the best price and I think B&H has the best price because they don't charge tax (outside of NY) and free shipping. If you buy a refurb from apple you still need to pay tax and it comes to almost the price of a brand new one from B&H. Plus you get Parallels 4 for free and Apple Care for only $61. Cant beat that... Im gonna buy it in a couple weeks if I don't hear anything about a refresh.

 

[Bonut]

I wish there's an option for adding the 6970m on 21.5 inches. I can't afford the 27 inches and I have no space for it. I got a little desk in my room.

I am doing intensive research on 6750m, I am hoping it could at least run Starcraft at ultra. Well I am not that much of a gamer nowadays, but I am just a hardcore fan of Blizzard, I wish I could own and run all of their games, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, WoW. I built a PC desktop for my friend for $700 with i5 2500K and HD6850, I could run WoW Cata on ultra settings nice and smooth.

Is 6750M going to do it?

Reason for me switching to Mac is that if I were to build another PC and get a giant monitor like iMac's, it's probably going to cost me the same. I just ordered a refurb 21.5 inches for $999.99.
I don't need power for gaming, but it's certainly a plus for me. I spend most of my time running programs on computers, editing photos, and putting video clips together (Not intensive cinematic effect rendering.)

I have the base model 21.5" iMac with the 6750m. Starcraft 2 I don't own but as far as WoW I can run it on High perfectly fine, it starts to get a noticeable lag on Ultra. Diablo 3 beta I can run on maximum settings with no issues at all.

 

[Kafka]

Is it safe to assume that those games would run better on a base MBP 15" with standard resolution (6750M in 1440x900) than on a high end 21.5 iMac (6770M in 1920x1080)?

 

[SteveCarriere]

So as someone who uses their iMac as a "server" to backup his iPads and iPhones, do iPhoto and iMovie of his kids, and is using a 5 year old Mac now, do I really need to wait for Ivey Bridge and other stuff I really know nothing about? I don't game on it.

I even debated a MacBook but I like the idea of the big screen and having lots of real-estate for doing iMovie and iPhoto.

Although...AppleTV would allow me to do that from my iPad, right? See it on my 54" plasma?

 

[stevelam]

So as someone who uses their iMac as a "server" to backup his iPads and iPhones, do iPhoto and iMovie of his kids, and is using a 5 year old Mac now, do I really need to wait for Ivey Bridge and other stuff I really know nothing about? I don't game on it.

I even debated a MacBook but I like the idea of the big screen and having lots of real-estate for doing iMovie and iPhoto.

Although...AppleTV would allow me to do that from my iPad, right? See it on my 54" plasma?

from what you're saying about your usage, you definitely don't really need to wait for ivy bridge.

 

[Occamsrazr]

Please, everyone, don't be a nerd. You don't need the extra performance.

Hurry up and clear out all the 2011 stock so that I can buy a nice new 2012 model...

thx