Need help deciding!

[koolkidkaro]

Hey guys, I am an apple guy new to the forums looking to find some advice before buying my first iMac. Dont know what to do!!! So please try to help me make a good decision.

I currently own a 2006 acer pc and a dell inpiron that is kind of broken, AND 2000 dollars saved up for when the 2011 iMacs came out. I was planning on buying the 27 inch i7 imac at bestbuy to be able to finance it that way i wouldnt use up the $2000 in a heart beat in case i needed it later on. But, best buy is not selling any of the i7s which is a bummer. Now im thinking if i should go with the 21.5 i7 and upgrade my ipad with the rest.

bottom line. Other than the display, how big a differece is between the 25.1 inch i7 and the 27 inch i7 in terms of performance and speed? would i be better off spending the 2000something dollars? Thank you!!!

 

[Hellhammer]

Everything is up to what you are going to do with it. A faster CPU or GPU is not going to make a difference unless your usage can benefit from it, thus telling us what you are going to do with it is required in order to get the most accurate answer.

 

[koolkidkaro]

Everything is up to what you are going to do with it. A faster CPU or GPU is not going to make a difference unless your usage can benefit from it, thus telling us what you are going to do with it is required in order to get the most accurate answer.

Thank you for responding. But i plan on duing a lot of video edditing (really love using imovie in my cousins MBP) playing hd movies and some photoshop here and there. The rest is just regular use like schoolwork and some gaming.

 

[Hellhammer]

Thank you for responding. But i plan on duing a lot of video edditing (really love using imovie in my cousins MBP) playing hd movies and some photoshop here and there. The rest is just regular use like schoolwork and some gaming.

From what I know, iMovie is still single-threaded so i7 shouldn't be much, if any, faster than an i5 because iMovie is not able to take advantage of Hyper-Threading which is the only advantage of the i7.

How much you will be gaming? What kind of games? Any iMac should be fine for casual gaming and older games but if gaming is something you like to do and you want to have great graphics, then getting the high-end iMac with 6970M is your best bet.

If gaming isn't a concern, then it is simply a battle between the screen sizes. In my opinion, the 27" is brilliant for video and photo editing as you will definitely appreciate the extra screen estate.

 

[koolkidkaro]

From what I know, iMovie is still single-threaded so i7 shouldn't be much, if any, faster than an i5 because iMovie is not able to take advantage of Hyper-Threading which is the only advantage of the i7.

How much you will be gaming? What kind of games? Any iMac should be fine for casual gaming and older games but if gaming is something you like to do and you want to have great graphics, then getting the high-end iMac with 6970M is your best bet.

If gaming isn't a concern, then it is simply a battle between the screen sizes. In my opinion, the 27" is brilliant for video and photo editing as you will definitely appreciate the extra screen estate.

guys sorry i gotta clock in for work but ill get back to the topic as soon as i get back so keep suggesting please and thank you!

 

[Cadeaus]

Sorry for butting in, but I'm in a very similar situation.

I have about €2000 I'm thinking of getting the 21.5 inch i7, with the 1TB/256SSD and manually upgrading the RAM from 4 to 12GB. This comes to €2,024 with my education discount.

Should I give up the i7 for the 27 inch screen? They are the exact same price.

It will be primarily used for pro tools, some gaming too. Thanks!

 

[koolkidkaro]

Aghhhh. really dont know what to do. The 27 inch size is REALLY attractive but dont know which is the best way to go. For the looks of it i dont need an i7 proccesor since i wont be using hyperthreadin just yet. but what if i need it later on if i get more into the video editing and move on to final cut? that is my concern.

 

[Badger^2]

Aghhhh. really dont know what to do. The 27 inch size is REALLY attractive but dont know which is the best way to go. For the looks of it i dont need an i7 proccesor since i wont be using hyperthreadin just yet. but what if i need it later on if i get more into the video editing and move on to final cut? that is my concern.

Then buy a new iMac when that time comes.

 

[Texran]

Aghhhh. really dont know what to do. The 27 inch size is REALLY attractive but dont know which is the best way to go. For the looks of it i dont need an i7 proccesor since i wont be using hyperthreadin just yet. but what if i need it later on if i get more into the video editing and move on to final cut? that is my concern.

If your credit is good you can finance with Barclays though Apple at 0 percent for 12 months.

 

[Hellhammer]

Aghhhh. really dont know what to do. The 27 inch size is REALLY attractive but dont know which is the best way to go. For the looks of it i dont need an i7 proccesor since i wont be using hyperthreadin just yet. but what if i need it later on if i get more into the video editing and move on to final cut? that is my concern.

You won't need HT, even if you moved to Final Cut. i5 will be more than capable of running Final Cut. Sure, the i7 would be faster but that doesn't mean that the i5 is totally useless. In the end, the difference between them won't even be that dramatical.

 

[DJJAZZYJET]

If you think very realistically, how much time is a slightly faster cpu gonna chop of i dont know, opening a program, or rendering a HD movie, i5 3.1ghz vs i7 3.4ghz. Not alot, not so much that its worth the extra money.

 

[eagandale4114]

Sorry for butting in, but I'm in a very similar situation.

I have about €2000 I'm thinking of getting the 21.5 inch i7, with the 1TB/256SSD and manually upgrading the RAM from 4 to 12GB. This comes to €2,024 with my education discount.

Should I give up the i7 for the 27 inch screen? They are the exact same price.

It will be primarily used for pro tools, some gaming too. Thanks!

Go to an apple store and check them both out side by side. If could I would get the 27" but I need the portability so I went with the 17" MBP.

 

[Hellhammer]

If you think very realistically, how much time is a slightly faster cpu gonna chop of i dont know, opening a program, or rendering a HD movie, i5 3.1ghz vs i7 3.4ghz. Not alot, not so much that its worth the extra money.

When opening an app, you won't notice any difference as the HD is the bottleneck. When rendering an HD movie, the difference can be much more noticeable as the i7 is roughly 30% faster or so. If it takes an hour to render on the i5, it could take e.g. 50mins on the i7.