Have a 2012 Air - Buy 2009 iMac?

[MathiasVH]

Hi everyone
I've got a 2012 MBA. I'm thinking of buying a used 2009 iMac (either the i5 2.66GHz or, more probable, the i7 2.8GHz), installing a SSD and upgrading the RAM to 16/32GB to compliment my MBA. Should I be able to see great performance differences, being Quad Core and with dedicated graphics, in spite of the age of the machine?

Best regards
Mathias

 

[jmoore5196]

I have a 2012 11" i7 MBA and the late 2009 2.8GHz i7 iMac. Even with an HDD, the iMac outperforms the MBA quite handily. I use CS6 apps quite a lot and the MBA really strains to run them under load; the iMac is the better machine for that application.

Unfortunately, it's hard to travel with a 50-pound iMac under your arm. That's where the 11" MBA excels.