Buying advice for Imac 21.5 - which setup

[kaelell]

Hi there,

I am wanting to upgrade from my Macbook to an Imac, but have a few questions/doubts if anyone could please advise. money is a bit tight so I am looking at the current base model,

21.5-inch: 3.06GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M

But if it is worth the jump I am willing to spend an extra couple of hundred £.
the question is would it be better to jump to the 2nd model with ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics or spend that money on increasing the RAM. This all obviously depends on what I use it for so basically the main applications I am running on my little macbook ok are Final Cut pro, Adobe after effects, Photoshop CS4.0. I mainly use it for Video Editing and touching up Photos/doing some graphic work but nothing to a professional level or that regular.
Although I'm managing ok at the moment, the main reasons for wanting to upgrade is the larger screen and the fact that I am working with HD footage and maybe in the future change that hobby into a second profession.

My other question also is: by buying just the base model, is there really a big jump between using my macbook+external screen, as it has the same ram/graphics card however processor is only 2.4ghz. i.e is it a case of buy an upgraded imac or stick to the mac.

Many thanks for any advice you can give me !

 

[J&JPolangin]

...what are the specs of your macbook (kind of hard to make a recommendation without that info)?

I'd just get a bigger monitor and use the MB if you are looking at the base iMac provided your MB is fairly current...save your $$ and get a much faster machine in the future (~1+ yr, etc)...

 

[js81]

My other question also is: by buying just the base model, is there really a big jump between using my macbook+external screen, as it has the same ram/graphics card however processor is only 2.4ghz. i.e is it a case of buy an upgraded imac or stick to the mac.

I assume by the wording of this that you have a Macbook with the 9400M graphics? If so, keep it - you won't see that much improvement. Upgrade your RAM to 4GB, too (or 6GB, as the newer whites and all the aluminums can support it). If you really want the iMac AND want to see an improvement in performance, get the upper model with the ATI card.

Now if you have a white Macbook with the Intel X3100 graphics (like I do), then you'll see a nice graphics bump when going to the 9400M...

 

[kaelell]

thanks for the replies, I have the recent alluminium macbooks with the 9400 card thats right ( and 4GB ram) & Ive come to the same conclusion as you guys, keep the macbook, save my money and buy something worth the jump. cheers !