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i7 or 16gb in 21,5"?

M

muff

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 3, 2010
40
0
I will order the 21,5" on Friday, but am not quite sure what options I should go for. I will definitely go for Fusion. The question is wether I should spend my last few quids on the i7 or go for extra ram, as they are non-upgradeable.

I do photo editing in Photoshop cs5, working with pictures sized 10-30mb. I will also do some light video-editing in iMovie, primarily working with 1440x1080 mp4 files. Apart from that the iMac will be used for browsing the web, mail, word, excel and powerpoint. I will never use photoshop and iMovie at the same time, so the ram doesn't need to handle booth programs simultaneously.

I know many people argue that I should get 16gb ram to 'future proof' my iMac. But I only plan on using the iMac for 2-3 years, so I prefer the upgrade that makes the best performance boost now.

From my estimate, the programs I use will very rarely exceed 8gb ram. Would you agree? And will I benefit from upgrading to i7?

As far as I understand, I will not benefit from 16gb of ram if I only tend to use 4-6 gb at the most, but the i7 will give some (might only be minor though) boost compared to the i5.
 
346 views and no replies... Should I just skip both, and buy a larger christmas-gift for my wife instead? :)
 
Skip them both and also skip the fusion drive. My reasoning is you will only keep the machine 2-3 years - why spend additional money on a depreciating asset for marginal gains in performance. The tendency for most people is to buy more hardware than they need. In fact, you might consider a refurbed 2011 21.5" model from Apple.


muff said:
I will order the 21,5" on Friday, but am not quite sure what options I should go for. I will definitely go for Fusion. The question is wether I should spend my last few quids on the i7 or go for extra ram, as they are non-upgradeable.

I do photo editing in Photoshop cs5, working with pictures sized 10-30mb. I will also do some light video-editing in iMovie, primarily working with 1440x1080 mp4 files. Apart from that the iMac will be used for browsing the web, mail, word, excel and powerpoint. I will never use photoshop and iMovie at the same time, so the ram doesn't need to handle booth programs simultaneously.

I know many people argue that I should get 16gb ram to 'future proof' my iMac. But I only plan on using the iMac for 2-3 years, so I prefer the upgrade that makes the best performance boost now.

From my estimate, the programs I use will very rarely exceed 8gb ram. Would you agree? And will I benefit from upgrading to i7?

As far as I understand, I will not benefit from 16gb of ram if I only tend to use 4-6 gb at the most, but the i7 will give some (might only be minor though) boost compared to the i5.
Click to expand...
 
To be honest, I'm a little wary of the new iMacs. The thinner design is going to mean decreased heat dissipation and the fusion drive is new/unproven. It might be wise to wait for the second generation for all the bugs to be ironed out and just get the wife a nicer present.
 
I just extended applecare on my 2011 iMac...... I'm waiting this out till at least January/February......

My computer is fine and while the extra speed would allow for faster render times, I'm going to be patient. Might get an external thunderbolt drive and call it a day for a couple of months.

Maybe wait till a refurbished 2012 imac pops up. Also I just have a feeling these new imacs are going to have some problems and I don;t want to be the test dummy.
 
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