Help! 2.7GHz or 2.9GHz iMac?

[rmilkes]

I'm trying to decide whether to get a 21" iMac with a 2.7ghz processor and 16gb of ram, or whether I should pay the extra $200 for the 2.9ghz processor (and better graphics card). I use the computer for emailing, finance, internet and making home movies with iMovie. Any advice is welcome! Thanks

 

[GGJstudios]

I'm trying to decide whether to get a 21" iMac with a 2.7ghz processor and 16gb of ram, or whether I should pay the extra $200 for the 2.9ghz processor (and better graphics card). I use the computer for emailing, finance, internet and making home movies with iMovie. Any advice is welcome! Thanks

It's very likely that most users won't notice much, if any, performance difference between the processors. It's far more likely that you'll notice a performance bump from added RAM.

 

[MCAsan]

Remember to purchase a computer for years from now, such as the end of Apple Care. I would bit the bullet and go for the hotter package....for today and the years to come.

 

[jediDev]

It's very likely that most users won't notice much, if any, performance difference between the processors. It's far more likely that you'll notice a performance bump from added RAM.

Geekbench had 9000 or so for the 2.9 and 7700 or so for the 2.7. Bigger difference than I had expected.

 

[GGJstudios]

Geekbench had 9000 or so for the 2.9 and 7700 or so for the 2.7. Bigger difference than I had expected.

Geekbench scores are very different from everyday usage under normal workloads.

 

[rmilkes]

Thank you for the thoughts. I honestly have no idea what the Geekbench scores are and whether they would be impacted by potential increases in ram, etc. I also have not yet read anything about whether these new 21" iMacs with 5400 rpm drives are slower (or faster?) than the last model 21" iMacs which came with 7200 rpm drives.

 

[tears2040]

Geekbench had 9000 or so for the 2.9 and 7700 or so for the 2.7. Bigger difference than I had expected.

Also it had an almost 11000 score for the Mac Mini I bought a couple of weeks ago...... Except my 2011 base 21.5" computer is faster in Final Cut Pro and Apple Motion.......


Geek Bench score isn't everything, cause those Mac Mini's are scoring higher than many computers.....