Mid 2010 to Late 2012... is this a big upgrade?

[richard13]

This is a tough decision for me since yes, it does cost a lot of money to buy a new iMac. In fact, the late 2012 model I configured is considerably more than what I paid for my mid 2010. And hence I started this thread.

Overall there's some nice benefits to be gained with the late 2012 model and I'm sure I'd appreciate them. So buying new now would give instant gratification. Also, I could probably sell my mid-2010 iMac for a decent sum. However, judging by some other threads it looks like even though this model has much better graphics numbers on paper it might not translate into that much of a real world improvement.

So then I could wait for the next revision and hope for something better perhaps with some other upgrades like 802.11ac. But that inevitably leads to the question, when will that happen? According to the Buyer's Guide it was a year and a half between the previous model and the current one. People speculate that an iMac upgrade will come later in 2013 but it could also be another year from now.

I have considered the upgrade route and I agree that upgrading to SSD or adding yet more RAM to my existing iMac could be of some help. However, it wouldn't resolve the biggest issue here which is graphics performance. I also have AppleCare on this specific computer and that would be voided if I went with the SSD upgrade.

So I'm still going back and forth on this one but hopefully I'll come up with a decision soon.

Thank you again to everyone who has posted to this thread. There's a lot of good information here!

 

[mrmarts]

I normally wait 3 years between computers but I'm thinking it might be time for a new one a little early. Has anyone else upgraded from a similar iMac? Did it feel like a big improvement on your old iMac?

I currently have:
27" iMac
2.93 Core i7
4GB RAM (upgraded to 12GB)
1TB HDD
ATI HD 5750 1GB
Magic Mouse

I am thinking of ordering:
27" iMac
3.4Ghz Core i7
8GB RAM
1TB Fusion Drive
nVidia GTX 680MX 2GB
Magic Mouse+Magic Trackpad

In my personal opinion you are changing your Mac for something with little gain 8gb of ram is minimum and 1tb will not hack it. Especially if you download a lot of movies, games and music.

If I had to upgrade my 2010 iMac:

2.8ghz processor
8gb ram
512 mb video
1tb hdd
DVD

To

3.2 ghz i7
32gb ram
2gb video
3tb fusion drive
Removable blu ray

In this example it would be worth it plus the fact that the 2010 model has no thunderbolt or USB 3.0. I would hang onto what you got save more money and use a game console in the meantime, the addition of ac wi fi, bigger storage sizes would only greater benefit you.

 

[dandrewk]

The slow death of desktop computers is upon us. I don't think they will ever go away, but their numbers will seriously decline in the face of improved mobile computing.

The days of yearly refreshes for iMacs are over. It could very well be two years before the next "new" iMac. Remind me again: How long have Mac Pro users have been waiting for a new lineup?

 

[Bear]

...
The days of yearly refreshes for iMacs are over. It could very well be two years before the next "new" iMac. Remind me again: How long have Mac Pro users have been waiting for a new lineup?

One of the gating factors of how often Apple releases product updates is the availability of new processors. If Intel doesn't bring out a new processor suitable for the iMac (for example) why should Apple update the iMac?

I think we'll see regular iMac updates for a while. After all if they don't update the case, it's not that expensive to upgrade the innards of the iMac.

As for the Mac Pro, we don't know what the real sales numbers were for it, but I do know that by not doing a real upgrade for so long, that affect the numbers so it complicates the forecast for what will sell when a new model is introduced.

 

[Drharrington]

I'm probably a bit over sensitive to the "upgrade or not" issue. I've had posters here and elsewhere tell me point blank that I'm wasting my money... without even knowing my needs or situation.

It's true not everyone "needs" the upticks. It's also equally true that these upticks do result in better, faster performance. The value of this is up to the individual. Many times, strictly speaking, "need" is not the primary driving force in the decision.

Want is OK. Key is knowing the difference. Nothing wrong with wanting something and having the means to just get it. It's all good.

----------

Not sure if you were replying to me or Drharrington, but did you read both our posts fully? I think we explained our thoughts pretty clearly without sounding uppity.

Of course we're not all fanboys. While I have a fair amount of Apple gear, I do like getting as much out of it as possible (like the 2006 iPod sitting in my car that now has a 16GB CF card instead of the original 30GB hard drive).

The point I and Drharrington are trying to get across is that there are other, much cheaper options out there than just buying new gear that might fit a persons needs just fine. Heck, I'm still rocking a 3GS; just need to figure out ways to modify it (cue Tim Allen on Tool Time; tells you what a geezer I am!).

3GS. Wow. That's getting your money's worth.

 

[Raima]

I normally wait 3 years between computers but I'm thinking it might be time for a new one a little early. Has anyone else upgraded from a similar iMac? Did it feel like a big improvement on your old iMac?

I currently have:
27" iMac
2.93 Core i7
4GB RAM (upgraded to 12GB)
1TB HDD
ATI HD 5750 1GB
Magic Mouse

I am thinking of ordering:
27" iMac
3.4Ghz Core i7
8GB RAM
1TB Fusion Drive
nVidia GTX 680MX 2GB
Magic Mouse+Magic Trackpad

i was in a simular situation, except my iMac i7 2010 was already spec'd maxed out including a 500GB SSD, and 32GB of ram.

After receiving my new 2012, concensus is the new one runs a lot cooler, has faster graphics and larger storage for 3TB.

The old iMac 2010 is mainly used as a server now for the other machines on the network. So this gives the opportunity to setup the new iMac with Bootcamp without effecting network services (iTunes, iPhoto, File Server, & virtual machines).

Overall I'm pretty happy with the purchase. I got creative about how to get the new iMac without paying full price. Ended up paying about $600 AUD less than the RRP.

I hope this gives you another perspective you may not have considered and helps you out.

 

[richard13]

i was in a simular situation, except my iMac i7 2010 was already spec'd maxed out including a 500GB SSD, and 32GB of ram.

After receiving my new 2012, concensus is the new one runs a lot cooler, has faster graphics and larger storage for 3TB.

The old iMac 2010 is mainly used as a server now for the other machines on the network. So this gives the opportunity to setup the new iMac with Bootcamp without effecting network services (iTunes, iPhoto, File Server, & virtual machines).

Overall I'm pretty happy with the purchase. I got creative about how to get the new iMac without paying full price. Ended up paying about $600 AUD less than the RRP.

I hope this gives you another perspective you may not have considered and helps you out.

Thank you for sharing your story. It's very useful to me to hear other's opinions on this subject. If you don't mind me asking, what's this about getting creative on the price? I can work out some discount (EPP) but it'll never be near $600 AUD.

 

[Raima]

Thank you for sharing your story. It's very useful to me to hear other's opinions on this subject. If you don't mind me asking, what's this about getting creative on the price? I can work out some discount (EPP) but it'll never be near $600 AUD.

I got a $300 gift voucher for a wedding present. So i waited for someone to do a 10% off iMacs and got the store where I got the $300 gift voucher to do a price match on a Build To Order (BTO) machine.

Now generally they don't do 10% off BTO iMacs, but the photo I showed them had no conditions applied.

The guy that was serving me originally declined, but I told them that I can get it elsewhere, but I'd prefer to get it from them. I told them I recently bought my 15 rMBP off them. I asked him to ask his sales manager to see what he could do. After a brief discussion back to the head office, they were willing to agree to match price on the 10% off iMacs.

So a RRP $3000 BTO iMac became a $2700 iMac, which then became a $2400 iMac after the gift voucher.

On top of the purchase, the department store has a rewards program. I ended up earning a $60 gift voucher from the purchase.

I figured out I could of saved an additional 10% if I purchased a bunch of gift vouchers during Christmas where u get an additional 10% worth of gift vouchers when you buy $500 or more. Unfortunately, we dropped the ball on this one, but we'll know better next time.

Granted not everyone gets a $300 gift card for their wedding, but hopefully that real life example gives you some ideas how you can apply to get an iMac cheaper than full retail.

In addition to this, I want to add, Apple will also match price as long as you purchase the Mac through them and you provide them the online discounted offer as proof. Apple will refund the difference.

I hope this helps.

 

[smoking monkey]

If I were you and you can wait, there should be another update later this year which would be a nice bump up. Probably larger drives aswell along with AC wifi, better graphics and obviously a bump in CPU. And maybe a new display... Retina finally?

Not sure about larger HDDs but perhaps SSDs. The rest I reckon you're spot on about. I doubt retina this year though. Perhaps the smaller model, but even then...

I reckon it's almost another half year wait. Quite a while but it will zoom by. OP has a tough choice! Personally I'd wait.