In market for 27 iMac, trying to decide...

[D-Love]

Hello, I'm trying to decide on a 27 iMac. I am browsing the refurb store and see three models I'm interested in...

One model is the 2.66 i5 with the 4850 Radeon with 512MB memory

Another is the 2.8 i5 with the 5750 Radeon with 1GB memory

Another is the 2.8 i7 with the 4850 Radeon, 512MB.


The 2.8 i5 and i7 are the same price, video card only difference.

The 2.66 is last years model, and cheaper by $170.

Reading a MacWorld review of the models, the difference between the 2.66 i5 and 2.8 is negligible, with the biggest difference a 35% increase in frame rate in CoD because of the updated video card.

Now, I game. Mostly on XBox 360 but being the geek I am would be interested in expanding to the Mac for some Steam and Windows gaming via Bootcamp. Is the difference worth it for the 5750 vs. 4850? Would the i7 provide a performance boost offsetting the fact it has the older graphics card?

Lots of decisions going on in my mind, and I'd like this to be the last Mac I buy for a few years. If I can get the cheaper i5 and get comparible performance to the other 2 I'd like that as that is amost $200.

Would love users opinions on these 3, thank you for your help in my decision!

 

[Hellhammer]

ATI 5750 is around 10-20% faster depending on game. ATI 4850 is not a bad card by any means but if you know you're going to game, just spend that extra 170$ You can't upgrade the GPU later on. i7 adds pretty much nothing in gaming as games cannot take advantage of the extra threads

 

[D-Love]

ATI 5750 is around 10-20% faster depending on game. ATI 4850 is not a bad card by any means but if you know you're going to game, just spend that extra 170$ You can't upgrade the GPU later on. i7 adds pretty much nothing in gaming as games cannot take advantage of the extra threads

I would like to use it for more than gaming as well though, where would I get the benefit from using the i7? Thanks for the quick response btw

 

[SpitUK]

If you game and just use your mac for general stuff then the i5 5750 everytime!!

 

[akm3]

i5 5750 is better value.

 

[gdeputy]

if you do photo editing and even gaming you'll benefit from the extra VRAM, I'de get the 5750, but for a display the size of the iMac 27", at native res games will struggle on high settings (newer games anyways)

 

[lpar]

Hi, - my first post on this site... Probably not my last...

I'm in a similar predicament choosing between the refurb'd i5 with the better graphics card, or the i7 as they're the exact same price(GBP)!

I will be using the imac for heavy-ish use of FCP, Soundtrack Pro etc, but would want to possibly branch out into motion & after effects at some point... do i need that card over the 'better' processor?
Will the refurb'd i7's slower RAM make a difference to me?

basically, this -
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/G0GF0B/A?mco=MTU0Mzg4OTg#overview

or this? -
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/FC511B/A?mco=MTkwMzU2Njc#overview

it's a big decision - and I can't wait to immerse myself in either machine, but need the extra assurance really.
Any further help would be much appreciated.