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Did I make a wise choice in Configuration?

B

bartonjm

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 22, 2012
90
1
Upstate NY
I've posted in a few threads about my recent Imac purchase. We saved what we needed and purchased a 27 Inch i5 with a 1tb fusion drive, and I was able to spring for the upgraded graphics card (780m). This will be a computer for the entire family that we hope to keep functional for 4 years plus. This is our first Imac, and we are coming from older PC laptops.

After talking to a friend, he has stated that I should cancel this order and upgrade to the i7 and the SSD drive because we shouldn't plan on getting four years of functionality out of the configuration we've ordered.

I am leaning towards sticking with what we saved for and staying put, but he's stating we made a mistake. We do the things family's do with computers with some Imovie use, gaming, and basic photo work.

I appreciate the advice.
 
The computer you ordered is going to be fantastic for you and your family.
It's going to blow your socks off when you see it and use it. :)

The only reason to get the i7 is if you are going to be doing any rendering in programs such as Cinema 4D and After Effects. If you don't do anything like that then you made the right choice.
 
bartonjm said:
I've posted in a few threads about my recent Imac purchase. We saved what we needed and purchased a 27 Inch i5 with a 1tb fusion drive, and I was able to spring for the upgraded graphics card (780m). This will be a computer for the entire family that we hope to keep functional for 4 years plus. This is our first Imac, and we are coming from older PC laptops.

After talking to a friend, he has stated that I should cancel this order and upgrade to the i7 and the SSD drive because we shouldn't plan on getting four years of functionality out of the configuration we've ordered.

I am leaning towards sticking with what we saved for and staying put, but he's stating we made a mistake. We do the things family's do with computers with some Imovie use, gaming, and basic photo work.

I appreciate the advice.
Click to expand...

I think your friend is very wrong. The i7 isn't going to future proof your family imac. It's for high end video editing programs and the such. For family use it won't make a lick of difference. Even the 4GB graphic card is kinda overkill in my opinion. No game even takes advantage of it. 2GB is more than enough VRAM for years to come. Even the base model's 1 gig VRAM is adequate.

I think your family is fine with the imac you bought. So Relax & Enjoy your purchase for the next 5-7 years.
 
For your family's usage you picked a perfect iMac. It will last several years. As an example, we still use a base 2007 20" iMac for simultaneous RCA input (console gameplay) and online HD streaming of the input. It puts stress on the computer but it handles it just fine, and it's near 7 years old.
 
I think you made an excellent choice as well...the fusion drive is perfect you get the speed and the storage for a whole family and you don't need an I7 thats complete nonsense you'll never notice a difference in everyday computing.
 
Your friend gave you bad advice. Your computer is more than what you need for now, and for 4 years from now.
 
Thanks guys. I think I'm going to stick with the original order and just enjoy the Imac when it gets here. It should be a big upgrade over what we have now.
 
I agree with the spirit but not necessarily the wording of some of the other comments made on this thread. i7, SSD, upgraded graphics are what I would consider "nice to have" but not really necessary for a family PC.

I'm pretty sure you'll get 4 years out of your new computer. Most of my previous computers were complete dogs after 2+ years of use but my last iMac was still awesome after 3 years of use. The person I sold it to is very happy as well.

You made a good choice and I'm sure you and your family will love your new iMac!
 
Well....I received the preparing for shipment notification, so I'm hoping soon. Can't wait. We save for about 10 months to get the upper 27 inch model, and I'm glad we did. Hopefully, it's all that I've hyped it up to be :)
 
bartonjm said:
Thanks guys. I think I'm going to stick with the original order and just enjoy the Imac when it gets here. It should be a big upgrade over what we have now.
Click to expand...

Sorry I can't resist....you are going to buy an iMac. Not Imac. But, whatever, it's a great machine the screen is just brilliant no matter the configuration.
 
haddy said:
Sorry I can't resist....you are going to buy an iMac. Not Imac. But, whatever, it's a great machine the screen is just brilliant no matter the configuration.
Click to expand...

Whoops...iMac. Just got a notice it shipped but no record of tracking number. Where do the iMac typically ship from?
 
bartonjm said:
Whoops...iMac. Just got a notice it shipped but no record of tracking number. Where do the iMac typically ship from?
Click to expand...

I believe it depends on where you are. I've heard of shipments from China, USA, Ireland. You'll see soon enough. Yea, it usually takes a day (initially) for the tracking info to catch up with the actual shipment.
 
That configuration should be fine for you and your family. I got the i7 processor, but I do a lot of photo and video editing, as well as other high intensive tasks. The fusion drive is definitely the way to go as IMO the SSD just doesn't have enough memory, and is way too expensive for the upgrade (my 3TB fusion drive is almost full). If you need more memory later on you can just buy an external Thunderbolt drive. They are almost as fast as an internal hard drive, since the HD itself cannot used up all the available bandwidth of the Thunderbolt cable.

If you are worried about reliability, there is really no difference between the i5 and i7, although SSDs are considered more reliable than HDDs. That said, you can always buy AppleCare and that will cover you for three years. I did this on my 2007 MBP and after two and a half years the hard drive failed. Sent it to apple and got a brand new (and almost twice as big) hard drive for free.
 
bartonjm said:
I've posted in a few threads about my recent Imac purchase. We saved what we needed and purchased a 27 Inch i5 with a 1tb fusion drive, and I was able to spring for the upgraded graphics card (780m). This will be a computer for the entire family that we hope to keep functional for 4 years plus. This is our first Imac, and we are coming from older PC laptops.
Click to expand...
This is the exact configuration I am looking at and I do tend to keep my iMacs for 4 or 5 years. Don't worry about it.
 
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