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iMac mid 2010 vs mid 2011

D

Dr. McKay

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 20, 2010
821
112
Belgium, Europe
I have a chance to buy two used iMacs, both in mint condition.

First one :
http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...inch-aluminum-mid-2011-thunderbolt-specs.html
Comes with 8Gb of RAM, no extra software.
Price : €1100 (about $1400)

Second one :
http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...e-i5-3.6-21-inch-aluminum-mid-2010-specs.html
Comes with 8Gb of RAM + 2Tb HD !! (BTO) + Final Cut Pro + Logic
Price : €1000 (about $1250)

I'm not too concerned about the difference in processor performance, and both iMacs can be upgraded to 16Gb of RAM. I need a big HD so both should be fine (the 2Tb in the mid 2010 model is mouth watering)

There is, however, a big difference in graphics performance. The mid 2011 model sports a Radeon 6770HD (512Mb GDDR5), the mid 2010 has a Radeon 5670HD (512Mb GDDR3).
Now I now that both graphics cards completely destroy the Radeon 2600HD I have in my current iMac but is the difference between the 5670 and the 6770 really that big ?

Should be a no-brainer seeing the price difference is only €100 ($150) but I'm not sure the seller will let it go for that price.

For comparison : the new base iMac costs €1379 in Belgium ($1760), without a superdrive + I still want to be able to run SL.

So, which one should I go for ?
 
Last edited:
Dr. McKay said:
I have a chance to buy two used iMacs, both in mint condition.

First one :
http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...inch-aluminum-mid-2011-thunderbolt-specs.html
Comes with 8Gb of RAM, no extra software.
Price : €1100 (about $1400) but will have to buy extra RAM to take it to 8Gb

Second one :
http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...e-i5-3.6-21-inch-aluminum-mid-2010-specs.html
Comes with 8Gb of RAM + 2Tb HD !! (BTO) + Final Cut Pro + Logic
Price : €1000 (about $1250)

I'm not too concerned about the difference in processor performance, and both iMacs can be upgraded to 16Gb of RAM. I need a big HD so both should be fine (the 2Tb in the mid 2010 model is mouth watering)

There is, however, a big difference in graphics performance. The mid 2011 model sports a Radeon 6770HD (512Mb GDDR5), the mid 2010 has a Radeon 5670HD (512Mb GDDR3).
Now I now that both graphics cards completely destroy the Radeon 2600HD I have in my current iMac but is the difference between the 5670 and the 6770 really that big ?

Should be a no-brainer seeing the price difference is only €100 ($150) but I'm not sure the seller will let it go for that price.

For comparison : the new base iMac costs €1379 in Belgium ($1760), without a superdrive + I still want to be able to run SL.

So, which one should I go for ?
Click to expand...

Go for the 2011. If you plan on keeping it for some time. The 2011 is actually upgradable to 32 GB RAM. Will last you far longer. Most people would not notice the difference in video cards. Will also run SL. As for HDD size, an external drive can be added for additional storage.
 
Your first link showed a 27" iMac while the second is a 21". Did you intend for that comparison to be made with those two iMacs? If so, then I would go for the 27".
 
Dr. McKay said:
What's that supposed to mean ?
Click to expand...

2009 - 2011 iMac is notorious for emitting serious heat radiation off the back chassis.
Once you do a heavy lifting, the GPU chip will go crazy and hot like a toaster you can almost burn your finger when you touch the back.

Now that's not the only culprit, that excessive heat often leads to another problem, such as display burn mark, failing hard drive, or often the GPU itself.

I'm one of the victim and luckily Apple gave me a new replacement, late 2012 iMac and it's much much cooler.
Less heat = longer lifetime for your computer.
 
I have a 2010 2.93ghz 27" imac. If I were to get another imac of this type it would be the 2011. The 2011 is sandy bridge so you get the faster sata, and cpu is 32nm compared to the 2010 being 45nm so a tad cooler. Problem with the 2011 is that the temp sensor on the hard drive can't be shorted to stop the fan like the 2010 can so you must buy a $60 part from OWC to stop that if you upgrade the HD. Not to much of a problem except the take apart involved. Both of these imacs run Snow Leopard so that is a major plus. They are the last imacs to do so. But like was said above these machines get HOT. Already lost a good SSD from the heat.
 
BJonson said:
But like was said above these machines get HOT.
Click to expand...

I thought my early 2008 iMac gets hot as well. When it's been running for a few hours, I can't keep my hand on it when I touch the back top left. Is it even worse with the 2011 models ?

----------
willgreene99 said:
Your first link showed a 27" iMac while the second is a 21". Did you intend for that comparison to be made with those two iMacs? If so, then I would go for the 27".
Click to expand...

I stand corrected. Both models are 21.5 inch with 8Gb of RAM...
 
Dr. McKay said:
I thought my early 2008 iMac gets hot as well. When it's been running for a few hours, I can't keep my hand on it when I touch the back top left. Is it even worse with the 2011 models ?....
Click to expand...

It's equally worse, especially if you do a lot of heavy lifting on the GPU side (gaming, video editing, 3d modelling) .. It's gonna burn for sure, thus it's a free heater as well.

Do not get 2009 - 2011 iMac if possible, the heat problems just not worth the time and energy. Like I said, I was one of the victim of having had my old 2011 iMac brought back 5 times for repairs before Apple gave me a new late 2012 one, which is awesome.
 
Question : the seller says that he bought the Mac in July 2012 and that it came without any docs or booklets nor install DVD. He still has everything, all cables plus the invoice but never got any DVD's.

According to everymac, the pre-installed OS for this model is X.6.6.
Is this at all possible ? Maybe this mid 2011 model (which got updated only late 2012) came with Lion. In this case, would it still be possible to install SL on it ? I'm confused.
 
Ok, apparently, and logically really, the mid 2011 iMac was sold until late 2012, so obviously, models were released with Lion as soon as it became available.

Question is, can you downgrade such a machine to SL, seeing as the hardware didn't change when compared to the first mid 2011 machines, which came with SL.
 
Dr. McKay said:
Ok, apparently, and logically really, the mid 2011 iMac was sold until late 2012, so obviously, models were released with Lion as soon as it became available.

Question is, can you downgrade such a machine to SL, seeing as the hardware didn't change when compared to the first mid 2011 machines, which came with SL.
Click to expand...

Yes:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2737334?start=15&tstart=0

Get the 2011 if you're not going to get the 2012, since Thunderbolt is a nice feature to have (well, for me it is).

If you have any interest, though, in being able to connect an XBOX/PS3/Blu-ray player etc, you want the 2010, not the 2011, since the 2011/2012 models did away with the mini Displayport connection in favor of the Thunderbolt connection, which removed that capability.
 
WilliamG said:
Yes:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2737334?start=15&tstart=0

Get the 2011 if you're not going to get the 2012, since Thunderbolt is a nice feature to have (well, for me it is).

If you have any interest, though, in being able to connect an XBOX/PS3/Blu-ray player etc, you want the 2010, not the 2011, since the 2011/2012 models did away with the mini Displayport connection in favor of the Thunderbolt connection, which removed that capability.
Click to expand...

I think I won't be making use of the mini display port. I'm planning on buying a PS3 at a reduced price when the PS4 comes out but I prefer hooking up a console to a flat screen TV. But thx for the info !
 
WilliamG said:
If you have any interest, though, in being able to connect an XBOX/PS3/Blu-ray player etc, you want the 2010, not the 2011, since the 2011/2012 models did away with the mini Displayport connection in favor of the Thunderbolt connection, which removed that capability.
Click to expand...

Mini Display port is part of the Thunderbolt spec.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)

All you need is a physical dongle to covert from one plug to another, but a Thunderbolt cable will carry an MDP signal.
 
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