Going to buy an iMac, but have some questions

[Toast487]

Ok so my old iMac finally bit the dust after 6 years. I am trying to wait for the refresh but don't think I will be able to wait it out, because I am really needing to get another computer. However I have some questions maybe some of you could shed some light on:

1) I keep reading about all these performance issues that occur with OS X Lion. Would an SSD or 8GB of memory upgrade be better for remedying these issues, if it's even as bad as everyon on the internets says?

2)What is this whole deal about SSD wearing out? Do they realistically wear out on a normal home user? Can't to seem to find much information on this.

3) Would the 6770m be able to handle Diablo 3 on medium to medium high settings I couldn't resist. But seriously...can it?!?!?

 

[MarkMS]

1) I keep reading about all these performance issues that occur with OS X Lion. Would an SSD or 8GB of memory upgrade be better for remedying these issues, if it's even as bad as everyon on the internets says?

Depends on what you use the iMac for. I have a 2009 MBP with an Intel SSD and 4GB RAM with Lion and it screams! I don't do much to it. Just light reading, word processing, music, VMWare Fusion for Windows 7, and photo management and it has a lot of power left. No issues for me with the latest version of Lion. I would say go for an Apple SSD upgrade if you can. Best investment you can make on a computer.

2)What is this whole deal about SSD wearing out? Do they realistically wear out on a normal home user? Can't to seem to find much information on this.

Home users don't need to worry about wearing. If you get the upgrade from Apple or DIY with a brand name SSD (with built in garbage collection/TRIM support), they will last many many years. I remember reading that SSDs should last 6-10 years with a lot of writing to the sectors. If you were running a server with lots of reading/writing then I'd worry about wear out.

3) Would the 6770m be able to handle Diablo 3 on medium to medium high settings I couldn't resist. But seriously...can it?!?!?

Not sure about this. But Blizzard always does a good job on games, so I think with the 6770M you would be able to run on Diablo3 on High with just a bit of stuttering and medium really well. Again, not sure since I haven't beta tested Diablo 3, but on my 9600M GT (256MB) on my MBP, I can run WoW really well on medium and just a little bit of stuttering on High.

Hope this helps.

 

[talmy]

The performance "issue" isn't bad if you have sufficient RAM. In any case, even the base iMac would be much faster than your existing one, even if it was top-spec'ed at the time. I personally use so much disk space that an SSD-only iMac wouldn't do, and in any case the premium for an SSD is too high IMHO. Maybe start with added RAM and add an external Thunderbolt drive in a year or two when the cost of SSDs and Thunderbolt have dropped some more?

 

[kylera]

1) I keep reading about all these performance issues that occur with OS X Lion. Would an SSD or 8GB of memory upgrade be better for remedying these issues, if it's even as bad as everyon on the internets says?

While I can't answer for the rest, I can answer this one for you. I have the latest basic 27" iMac, and with the stock 4GB, it felt a bit slow in Lion when I ran two VMs along with Firefox, iTunes and Pixelmator editing 10MP-sized images. It isn't exactly a light workload, but it isn't anywhere near what a professional would do either..I would say something like an enthusiast.

I added 8GB afterwards and it was the best 40 dollars or so I spent.

So basically if your iMac begins to feel sluggish, don't panic and get more RAM. Problem solved.

 

[forty2j]

3) Would the 6770m be able to handle Diablo 3 on medium to medium high settings I couldn't resist. But seriously...can it?!?!?

If this is your biggest concern, we expect the refresh to be out before DIII

I would suggest running over to the battle.net forums and asking the Mac people there. There's generally a large community posting performance tips etc., and I believe the beta's out...