I only have room in my home workspace for a 20" iMac. I notice there are additional options for processor, etc. on the 24". For home use, but wanting to stay ahead of the curve for next 3 years, is there a disadvantage in fewer configuration options on the 20"? It seems the 24" has an optional graphics card that with the 2.93 processor might run Snow Leopard faster. Am I at a disadvantage sticking with the 20"? On the 20" I would get the 4 of ram vs. 2. Thanks
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configuration of iMac 20" vs. 24"
- Thread starter cloudmac
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It really depends on what you're going to do with it. OpenCL is overhyped, it won't make your iMac fly and only few apps support it and they are Apple's own apps. If you're not going to play games or do other very heavy tasks, you'll gain nothing from OpenCL. Please, give us more information
EDIT: Look at refurb store. There should be prev gen 20" iMacs that has dedicated ATI 2600 GPU. Also prices are lower
EDIT: Look at refurb store. There should be prev gen 20" iMacs that has dedicated ATI 2600 GPU. Also prices are lower
Let's see, the 2.66 GHz CPU is quite good and should be enough for most of the things. The only real disadvantage is that you can only use the 9400M.
iMac
Can you explain more about the limitations of the 9400m? As to my use it will be mainly researching on the web, word files, excel files, and moderate number of photo storage/organizing. Fairly moderate use but i want to stay competitive with performance for at least 3 yrs.
Can you explain more about the limitations of the 9400m? As to my use it will be mainly researching on the web, word files, excel files, and moderate number of photo storage/organizing. Fairly moderate use but i want to stay competitive with performance for at least 3 yrs.
The 9400M is an integrated GPU, therefore it will use your system's RAM instead of it's own. It's also slower than the other available iMac 24" GPUs. However, if you don't plan on playing games, it will be more than fine. I would recommend getting 4GB of RAM so that you can run everything you need without any problems.
You won't need a better GPU. It's only needed in games and other graphic intensive tasks.
Good to know is that Ati card misses some features in Snow Leopard. Yes Open CL is overhyped but why not purchase something that takes adwantage of it anyway. And it's only Nvidia 9400 that gets H.264 Hardware Acceleration in Snow Leopard.
Snow Leopard H.264 Hardware Acceleration and OpenCL Requirements
I know that. All current Macs excluding Mac Pro has 9400M. 9400M is more than just graphic card, look at this thread.
9400m
If I understand correctly the 9400M in the 20" iMac would allow full utilization of Snow Leopard and that the 24" video upgrades would not affect the new OS, only if one were gaming, etc.
If I understand correctly the 9400M in the 20" iMac would allow full utilization of Snow Leopard and that the 24" video upgrades would not affect the new OS, only if one were gaming, etc.
OpenCL does support GT120, GT130 and ATI 4850 as well. And all current iMacs have 9400M as well.
What is any is the impact on the different graphics cards for non-game video processing? Like dealing with video produced by HD video cams in AVCHD or AVCHD lite. I am under the impression that the software support for these formats on Mac is still a bit sketchy, but I'd assume that over the next few years it will be more robust.
My impression is that OpenCL can accelerate this type of task (and new versions of iMovie would presumably take advantage), but I have little understanding of how much difference a 9400M vs. GT120 vs. GT130 would make.
My impression is that OpenCL can accelerate this type of task (and new versions of iMovie would presumably take advantage), but I have little understanding of how much difference a 9400M vs. GT120 vs. GT130 would make.