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i7 or 16gb in 21,5"?

M

muff

macrumors member
Original poster
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? 🙂
 
RAM would be my choice to future proof as much as possible. It does depend on what you plan to do with it and how long you will keep it.
 
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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