iMac...Coming to a desk near me...hopefully?

[OlafTHairy]

Hey guys and girls,
I have been a MS windows users for the last 15 years, but now i am feeling enough is enough, it is time to embrace the future and lsoe the pain of the seemingly constant Window updates!

My usage patterns will likely include, iWork/MSOffice for Mac, mail, photo editing, video editing, (home movies), VMWare fusion/Parallels, (running multiple server instances for tech work).

I am looking at iMac 3.4 i7/4GB/2TB+SSD/2GB Vram
I intend to upgrade the memory afterwards via Crucial.com to 12 or 16 GB

My questions are:
1) Is the iMac a better performer than the 15/17" MBP with an external dispaly?
2) Is the SSD really a deal breaker? i hear that it is not latest tech.
3) Is 16GB Ram too much?
4) Is 2GB Vram appealing to people like me, who want the best, without offering any tangible benefits?
...and most importantly
5) How do i pitch this huge purchase to the wife, who struggles with some of the features of Win7, so a change of OS is not high on her lsit of things to do.??

Many thanks in advance for your time.

 

[iSayuSay]

Hey guys and girls,
I have been a MS windows users for the last 15 years, but now i am feeling enough is enough, it is time to embrace the future and lsoe the pain of the seemingly constant Window updates!

My usage patterns will likely include, iWork/MSOffice for Mac, mail, photo editing, video editing, (home movies), VMWare fusion/Parallels, (running multiple server instances for tech work).

I am looking at iMac 3.4 i7/4GB/2TB+SSD/2GB Vram
I intend to upgrade the memory afterwards via Crucial.com to 12 or 16 GB

My questions are:
1) Is the iMac a better performer than the 15/17" MBP with an external dispaly?
2) Is the SSD really a deal breaker? i hear that it is not latest tech.
3) Is 16GB Ram too much?
4) Is 2GB Vram appealing to people like me, who want the best, without offering any tangible benefits?
...and most importantly
5) How do i pitch this huge purchase to the wife, who struggles with some of the features of Win7, so a change of OS is not high on her lsit of things to do.??

Many thanks in advance for your time.

1. Yes, certainly. If you're talking about 3.4GHz iMac, it beats the $#!T out even on highest end MBP 17", not by far anyway (CPU-wise), but iMac has great GPU to begin with. Far far better from MBP's 6750M

2. It's still fast, and much faster than HDD, so if you feel inclined to spend extra $500 for SSD, go for it. It's not as overpriced as RAM upgrade

3. Most likely yes, you don't need that much RAM if you feel doubtful about it. 8GB or 12GB should make you happy. And don't buy RAM from Apple, it's 4x more expensive than equally good 3rd party RAM

4. 2GB GPU doesn't bring anything essential for extra dough. It's the worst BTO option for the money, you don't need it, and I have one. Even connect 3 displays to 1GB VRAM still enough

5. Installing Windows 7 on bootcamp should keep your wife happy camper, let her doing the OS transition slowly

 

[zarf2007]

Hey guys and girls,
I have been a MS windows users for the last 15 years, but now i am feeling enough is enough, it is time to embrace the future and lsoe the pain of the seemingly constant Window updates!

My usage patterns will likely include, iWork/MSOffice for Mac, mail, photo editing, video editing, (home movies), VMWare fusion/Parallels, (running multiple server instances for tech work).

I am looking at iMac 3.4 i7/4GB/2TB+SSD/2GB Vram
I intend to upgrade the memory afterwards via Crucial.com to 12 or 16 GB

My questions are:
1) Is the iMac a better performer than the 15/17" MBP with an external dispaly?
2) Is the SSD really a deal breaker? i hear that it is not latest tech.
3) Is 16GB Ram too much?
4) Is 2GB Vram appealing to people like me, who want the best, without offering any tangible benefits?
...and most importantly
5) How do i pitch this huge purchase to the wife, who struggles with some of the features of Win7, so a change of OS is not high on her lsit of things to do.??

Many thanks in advance for your time.

1) Yes - By a Mile.
2) It may not be the fastest SSD around, but you will notice a massive difference comapared to a HD for loading apps/startup etc. You also don't have the hassle of installing your own (could invalidate the warranty) or running an external version with TB (ruins the all in one design concept of the iMac)
3) I went for the additional 2 x 4GB pack and left the existing 4GB in there to make a total of 12GB which is more than enough for 99% of things...(2011 iMac can be expanded to 32GB when prices are more reasonable if you really must!!)
4) Its a small price to pay if you are going for the high end BTO and will likely be used in the future so why not..
5) Take her to an apple store and let her use one, its a lifestyle choice, once you try it you will never go back....

 

[sth]

3) Is 16GB Ram too much?

You mentioned running virtual machines. In that case, I'd definitely go for 12 or 16gb. However, you can get 16gb for less than $150 these days and you can upgrade at any time, so I wouldn't worry.

4) Is 2GB Vram appealing to people like me, who want the best, without offering any tangible benefits?

1gb will be fine for your needs.
There are very few games that might benefit from 2gb at certain settings.

 

[bakura]

Just my thoughts : just buy with a 256 Gb SSD and buy an external hard drive, just in case you have a really noisy HDD (like mine...).

 

[philipma1957]

Just my thoughts : just buy with a 256 Gb SSD and buy an external hard drive, just in case you have a really noisy HDD (like mine...).

Hey guys and girls,
I have been a MS windows users for the last 15 years, but now i am feeling enough is enough, it is time to embrace the future and lsoe the pain of the seemingly constant Window updates!

My usage patterns will likely include, iWork/MSOffice for Mac, mail, photo editing, video editing, (home movies), VMWare fusion/Parallels, (running multiple server instances for tech work).

I am looking at iMac 3.4 i7/4GB/2TB+SSD/2GB Vram
I intend to upgrade the memory afterwards via Crucial.com to 12 or 16 GB

My questions are:
1) Is the iMac a better performer than the 15/17" MBP with an external dispaly?
2) Is the SSD really a deal breaker? i hear that it is not latest tech.
3) Is 16GB Ram too much?
4) Is 2GB Vram appealing to people like me, who want the best, without offering any tangible benefits?
...and most importantly
5) How do i pitch this huge purchase to the wife, who struggles with some of the features of Win7, so a change of OS is not high on her lsit of things to do.??

Many thanks in advance for your time.

The idea of getting it with just the oem ssd is a good idea. it will reduce noise and heat. Add on of an external hdd can be easy and good looking


http://twelvesouth.com/products/backpack/

this piece is good looking and you can put this on it.


http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10549

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...e-_-Hard+Drives+-+External-_-LaCie-_-22154385


or this

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/usb/raid_1/Gmax_Portable


buy your ram at this site

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231342

you can buy 2 x 4 for 60 dollars add to your 4gb and have 12gb for only 60 bucks. get the big video card. you may never need it but you will not regret having it.


sell it to your wife by installing windows 7 on it. then she can use what she is used to having

 

[OlafTHairy]

wow, thanks for all the replies so far guys.!

1) I am happy that the iMac is the better choice when compared to the MBP.

2) Not convinced on the SSD, sounds great, but is it going to be troublesome working from two internal disks with such a vast speed differential. Dont really want an external enclosure, like the idea of the all in one unit.

3) I am happy that purchasing 4GB from Apple then adding 2x4 from crucial.com will give me 12GB, if i need more then i can add at a later date.

4) The 2GB Vram is a relatively minor bump in price, so unless there are any software / technical issues I will probably go for it.

5) Considering whether to get a MBA post refresh as a machine for the wife to cut her teeth on.
Further to point 5, is it feasible to use iMac as the workhorse and use MBA to work on files stored on the iMac, or indeed remote control the iMac from on home network or elsewhere?

 

[solowmodel]

2) Not convinced on the SSD, sounds great, but is it going to be troublesome working from two internal disks with such a vast speed differential. Dont really want an external enclosure, like the idea of the all in one unit.

5) Considering whether to get a MBA post refresh as a machine for the wife to cut her teeth on.

Haven't used an iMac with the SSD+HDD combo, but I'd imagine not. From what I hear it's extremely easy to use. For example, put the OS and all your applications on the SSD, and all your files on the HDD.

Regarding your wife and a new OS, my mother switched from Windows to Mac around 7 years ago. There was a bit of an acclimatisation period, but now she is a die-hard Apple fan

 

[sth]

1) I am happy that the iMac is the better choice when compared to the MBP.

It is, except for mobility.

 

[police340]

iMac vs MBP

I am in same situation as Olaf except I alreayd have 17" 2011 MBP with 8Gb RAM and antiglare screen. I was thinking of selling it and buying the 3.4GHz iMac7 with the SSD. I don't really travel with it so I do not need a laptop fo rbusiness reasons. if i wanted to upgrade my MBP which was close to 3K, I'd have to spend another 600 for an SSD drive and data doubler from OWC where as the top of line iMac would be about 2700 with government discount.

Any suggestions to help me make my decision?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[OlafTHairy]

If using virtualisation via VMfusion and or parallels, is an i7 going to outstrip an i5 CPU.

 

[88 King]

I found the i7 even with 8 threads can still be a bottleneck running multiple virtualisations or under heavy load for multiple OS once in a while.

A mac pro with 6 or 8 physic cores might be another choice depends on your budget and how much you plan to push the processors under virtualisations. Plus there is expendability with you don’t get in the imac.

P.S. an i7 will outstrip an i5 CPU in virtualisation mainly due to double the threads with Hyperthreading.