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I have an idea!

M

MagicThief83

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 12, 2012
478
0
NYC
Hello everyone. I have been following this forum for quite some time now, ever since I decided to make the switch from PC to mac back in February. I actually placed an order for an iMac back in February (twice mind you) but cancelled upon discovering MacRumors and learning that the iMacs were in for a possible refresh around this time. I had an Alienware M17x (awesome machine) that was fully spec'ed out and auctioned it off last month on eBay, so have been PC-less ever since. I am wholeheartedly disappointed as alot of you are at the absence of what should have been an iMac refresh at WWDC. I still believe the iMacs will be silently refreshed at the launch of ML.
With that said, I was thinking of just pulling the trigger and picking up a maxed out 21.5 inch i7 iMac with the built in ATI 6770m (for Diablo 3 which should be ok right? or should I get the 27 inch 6970m?). Seeing that Apple has marked down the prices of BTO macs, I believe this to be a reasonable purchase. I am also eligible for a corportate discount as well. Based on my configuration of a fully maxed out 21.5 inch i7 2.8 ghz with 16gb of RAM and a 1TB HD/256 SSD combination, that'll cost me around $2600-2700 (including apple care and taxes!). But wait, the great idea is in the apple's return policy and the window of time they allow for returns.
After speaking to an apple rep today, we have 14 days to return the item upon receiving it (14 days to notify apple that you will be returning the product and an additional 14 days to actually return it from the time they send you a return delivery pre-paid label which will cover cost of return shipping ;)) If I order the iMac next week, I can decide to return it at the beginning of July (of course contingent upon possible iMac refresh rumors), and then I'll have an additional 2 weeks to actually make the return. That will give me plenty of time to see if the iMacs are refreshed in time for ML, and if not, I will just hold on to awesome machine that I have. So I think it's a win-win no? Sorry for the long post:D Also, in your opinion, is the 27 inch iMac too big? Will the 6970m be able to run diablo 3 well? Let me know what you think? Thanks!
 
Yes I agree, that is why I will actually have a 28-day return window period starting at the end of june/beginning July when I receive the iMac if I in fact order it next week :D
 
I don't know how accurate this article is, but if you look at the poll, it mentions that the 24th is the release date of ML. I don't know if they were looking up that date or if it's an actual date but you can look at it. (Just so you can do your math and figure out when you should buy your Mac).
 
drmountaindeww said:
I don't know how accurate this article is, but if you look at the poll, it mentions that the 24th is the release date of ML. I don't know if they were looking up that date or if it's an actual date but you can look at it. (Just so you can do your math and figure out when you should buy your Mac).
Click to expand...

well i think i may hold on purchasing the current gen iMac if they are to be refreshed when ML ships. i'm just very annoyed with all this waiting! why can't apple be more aggressive and timely in updating their hardware? my plan should still be good though if i receive the imac at the beginning of july.
 
harcosparky said:
If you do not intend on keeping the unit, do not order the unit.

I think Apple should instate a 25% restocking fee on all units returned that have no problem! :p

----------



You're annoying yourself by waiting.

Apple did not tell you to wait, that's all on you.
Click to expand...

i agree except the problem with the unit i will be ordering is that it utilizes 2011 hardware that should've been updated to 2012 hardware :p therefore, problem = 0% restocking fee!
 
I would say wait a little more time and buy the machine when it comes out, if its released on the day you believe it will. Also the 6970m 27" iMac will run absolutely fine Diablo 3. In fact, the maxed out 21.5" with the 6770m will run it decently so don't worry, the 27" iMac has enough power for your needs. Its the one I recommend, it is truly an amazing machine.
 
I'm a PC user and consider for a little while to switch to Mac. The iMac is the perfect machine for me but I since the iMac will be updated soon, I want to wait for the 2012 version. a July release would be perfect timing for me.. I hope they do released it soon!

I looked at the price for a used 2011 iMac to see if I can get a good deal but they are so pricey! Brand new iMac are much better deal!
 
ivoruest said:
I would say wait a little more time and buy the machine when it comes out, if its released on the day you believe it will. Also the 6970m 27" iMac will run absolutely fine Diablo 3. In fact, the maxed out 21.5" with the 6770m will run it decently so don't worry, the 27" iMac has enough power for your needs. Its the one I recommend, it is truly an amazing machine.
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thanks for responding! When you say the 21.5 maxed out will run D3 decently, by decently can you give me an idea of FPS? 30-40 FPS? i know the 27" will handle games better but not sure i need so much screen real estate unless you think it makes for a better gaming experience? Can the 27" handle D3 maxed out on all settings?
 
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MagicThief83 said:
thanks for responding! When you say the 21.5 maxed out will run D3 decently, by decently can you give me an idea of FPS? 30-40 FPS? i know the 27" will handle games better but not sure i need so much screen real estate unless you think it makes for a better gaming experience? Can the 27" handle D3 maxed out on all settings?
Click to expand...

Personally I haven't tried the 21.5" but due to the card it has and taking into account that the processor for the maxed out will be the 2.8Ghz Sandy Bridge, then I will bet it can handle it somewhere between 25-40 FPS with MID settings on 1080p resolution (native). Now if you max all the settings maybe you'll get around 15-30 at most with native resolution.

With the 27" you'll get easily 40-50 FPS with (1920x1200) in HIGH settings. This is my opinion, here is a link where you can check how both cards will handle this game.

Ref:
- 21.5" has a 6770m with 512 Mbs vram.
- 27" has a 6970m with 1 or 2 Gbs vram. (which is a big gap compared to the 6770m)

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6770M.43955.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6970M.43077.0.html

**Note: both iMacs are top of the line.
 
ivoruest said:
Personally I haven't tried the 21.5" but due to the card it has and taking into account that the processor for the maxed out will be the 2.8Ghz Sandy Bridge, then I will bet it can handle it somewhere between 25-40 FPS with MID settings on 1080p resolution (native). Now if you max all the settings maybe you'll get around 15-30 at most with native resolution.

With the 27" you'll get easily 40-50 FPS with (1920x1200) in HIGH settings. This is my opinion, here is a link where you can check how both cards will handle this game.

Ref:
- 21.5" has a 6770m with 512 Mbs vram.
- 27" has a 6970m with 1 or 2 Gbs vram. (which is a big gap compared to the 6770m)

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6770M.43955.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6970M.43077.0.html

**Note: both iMacs are top of the line.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the detailed info, i know the gpu is primarily responsible for graphic performance, but lets say i max out the processor on the 21.5 to an i7 and bump the ram up to 16 gigs, will that also improve game fps?
 
MagicThief83 said:
Thank you very much for the detailed info, i know the gpu is primarily responsible for graphic performance, but lets say i max out the processor on the 21.5 to an i7 and bump the ram up to 16 gigs, will that also improve game fps?
Click to expand...


i7 no faster for games. Which are mostly GPU anyhow.

Buy a refurb 27" with the 6970 screen card; it will be 1GB RAM in the screen card, but its much cheaper. Bigger screen is much better for games. Machine is better. But i7 Quad is great for video editing.
 
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MagicThief83 said:
Thank you very much for the detailed info, i know the gpu is primarily responsible for graphic performance, but lets say i max out the processor on the 21.5 to an i7 and bump the ram up to 16 gigs, will that also improve game fps?
Click to expand...

I did see some noticeable but not impressive performance improvement when I upgraded to 8Gbs from 4Gbs. But still graphics card is the primary reason for game performance improvement.

Processor speeds depends mostly if the game uses all of the processing power the cpu got to offer. Some games only use up to one core, newer games some use all so it depends on the game.
 
Folks need to bear in mind that if there is too much misuse of no questions asked return policies, those policies become less liberal and much harder to use for legitimate reasons and customer service in general degenerates in order to minimize the costs of maintaining such open attitudes toward returns that Apple currently has.

Before you do this, talk to Apple and be straight up about what you're planning to do and make sure what you're doing isn't considered abuse of the policy. Maybe they intend their current policy to cover pre-meditated plans such as this--but I doubt it.

If it is considered abuse, just remember it might help you now but over time it will only serve to force Apple to tighten down their policies and that hurts everyone.
 
jmhart said:
Folks need to bear in mind that if there is too much misuse of no questions asked return policies, those policies become less liberal and much harder to use for legitimate reasons and customer service in general degenerates in order to minimize the costs of maintaining such open attitudes toward returns that Apple currently has.

Before you do this, talk to Apple and be straight up about what you're planning to do and make sure what you're doing isn't considered abuse of the policy. Maybe they intend their current policy to cover pre-meditated plans such as this--but I doubt it.

If it is considered abuse, just remember it might help you now but over time it will only serve to force Apple to tighten down their policies and that hurts everyone.
Click to expand...

i actually did speak to an apple rep and he assured me that my decision to purchase an imac (which i haven't done yet, just to wait and see what apple brings around the release of ML) and return it if i decided to do so was completely legitimate and appropriate as he stated "apple want's you to be satisfied with your product and doesn't mind you test driving it." i wouldn't consider my action an abuse of policy, especially when the policy supports the action, and as a consumer paying top dollars for a premium product, i reserve the right to return an item if i believe it doesn't meet the quality standards (which i'm sure the 2011 imac would but 2012 would be even better!) i expect of a product that is costing me thousands of dollars.
 
I don´t know if I would bother uninstalling and switching for a minor speedbump if I had one older iMac for a month. This routine of testing your product and then deliver it seems more commonly exploited in the US than Europe.

Personally I went so far as ordering a top of the line i7 iMac, paid for it and it was in Apples system for two days. Then Macrumors brought up the reminder of the geekbench score and I cancelled the order before the mac was built.

The waiting game makes me do stupid things like this, as I´m so impatient now for a new iMac. I´ve decided I´m not gonna be part of waiting games anymore after this, if I need a mac I will buy one even if its approaching the end of a cycle. But now, this time, its more than 400 days, its more than 100 days above average. Something is bound to happen soon....

But, I´m not gonna let Apple win the staring contest this time. Now I´m gonna ride this out and hopefully I will not regret it. I hope it will be an update that will be worth the wait. If apple is pulling a Mac Pro Update on the iMac I'm gonna be so pissed, at myself and Apple.
 
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Heya

For me this is the most important consideration.

USB 3..

i know thunderbolt is much faster but the cost/gig is just too exorbitant for me...
If Apple makes an external HD,,, i would reconsider what ever the price.

So for anyone who has waited this long...hang on,,we are in it together.

Being frustrated with Apple is useless, they do not respond to us. they just do what they please...BUT THEY MAKE such good products.

So i am just praying my Mac of 24 inch will endure.Luckily i have backed up everything..LOL
 
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