Buying maxed-out 21.5" 2013

[bastiaanonline]

Hello,

For almost a year I have been waiting for a real upgrade of the 21.5 iMac but to no avail. Now my mid 2009 MBP really starts having issues and after saving up for years and waiting for one year it's time to buy a new machine.

My intention is to buy the 21.5 inch late 2013 model with the 3.1 GHz i7, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD and the 750m. I get the educational discount so it's around $2k total.

Now I read the i7 gives some fan issues, and I'm not completely sure about my choice. Mostly I will be programming and compiling, having a lot of Safari windows and tabs open, Filezilla, Photoshop, that kind of stuff. I just want it to be run extremely smooth since I'm so done with the waiting ten seconds for Safari to open and then crash.

Any advice or insight on this choice?

 

[aerok]

Hello,

For almost a year I have been waiting for a real upgrade of the 21.5 iMac but to no avail. Now my mid 2009 MBP really starts having issues and after saving up for years and waiting for one year it's time to buy a new machine.

My intention is to buy the 21.5 inch late 2013 model with the 3.1 GHz i7, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD and the 750m. I get the educational discount so it's around $2k total.

Now I read the i7 gives some fan issues, and I'm not completely sure about my choice. Mostly I will be programming and compiling, having a lot of Safari windows and tabs open, Filezilla, Photoshop, that kind of stuff. I just want it to be run extremely smooth since I'm so done with the waiting ten seconds for Safari to open and then crash.

Any advice or insight on this choice?

The fan usually only kicks in when editing videos or playing games so you should be fine. At worst, it's only noise.

 

[yjchua95]

Hello,

For almost a year I have been waiting for a real upgrade of the 21.5 iMac but to no avail. Now my mid 2009 MBP really starts having issues and after saving up for years and waiting for one year it's time to buy a new machine.

My intention is to buy the 21.5 inch late 2013 model with the 3.1 GHz i7, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD and the 750m. I get the educational discount so it's around $2k total.

Now I read the i7 gives some fan issues, and I'm not completely sure about my choice. Mostly I will be programming and compiling, having a lot of Safari windows and tabs open, Filezilla, Photoshop, that kind of stuff. I just want it to be run extremely smooth since I'm so done with the waiting ten seconds for Safari to open and then crash.

Any advice or insight on this choice?

I have the exact same model.

It's completely silent except when editing 4K videos or doing rendering, and even so, it's just a soft whir.

 

[heymadmat]

you should be fine

 

[colodane]

The i7 should be a safe bet. However, from your description of the typical usage, it probably isn't needed and you could save a couple hundred $$ and still have a terrific machine.

With the 16 GB RAM and SSD it will be very fast with or without the i7.

Whatever your choice, enjoy your new iMac - will be worth the wait.

 

[bastiaanonline]

Thanks everyone for the comments!

I'm going to order it with the i7, so I'll have the power when I need it. Thanks for pointing out it isn't very hard on the fan