Pre-Haswell iMacs, are they ok?

[JonathanGennick]

I am tempted by the closeout pricing at Macmall on the previous-generation iMacs. These are the pre-Haswell models. Are there any gotchas to those models that I should be aware of? Is there any particular advantage to buying the current model iMac over the previous generation model? Do the older ones suffer from overheating or anything like that?

 

[yjchua95]

I am tempted by the closeout pricing at Macmall on the previous-generation iMacs. These are the pre-Haswell models. Are there any gotchas to those models that I should be aware of? Is there any particular advantage to buying the current model iMac over the previous generation model? Do the older ones suffer from overheating or anything like that?

The only advantage with the current Haswell models is that they come with much faster PCIe SSDs (but you shouldn't notice any noticeable difference unless you do I/O intensive tasks like video editing) and that the Haswell ones run much cooler and quieter.

Even under heavy tasks, I only hear a barely inaudible whir of fans from both my 21.5" and 27" iMacs.

 

[Montymitch]

The only advantage with the current Haswell models is that they come with much faster PCIe SSDs (but you shouldn't notice any noticeable difference unless you do I/O intensive tasks like video editing) and that the Haswell ones run much cooler and quieter.

Even under heavy tasks, I only hear a barely inaudible whir of fans from both my 21.5" and 27" iMacs.

My iMac is pre-Haswell, and it's incredibly quiet. I don't think it's even possible to be quieter.

 

[Saint.Icon]

Of course they're ok. Haswell's biggest effect is seen in notebooks. When you're talking about iMacs with dedicated graphics, you don't get all that much benefit from Haswell.

 

[S.B.G]

I am tempted by the closeout pricing at Macmall on the previous-generation iMacs. These are the pre-Haswell models. Are there any gotchas to those models that I should be aware of? Is there any particular advantage to buying the current model iMac over the previous generation model? Do the older ones suffer from overheating or anything like that?

I have a 2008 C2D and a 2010 i7 and they both run just fine. No overheating problems of any kind.

 

[JonathanGennick]

The only advantage with the current Haswell models is that they come with much faster PCIe SSDs

MacMall doesn't stock any SSD-only models. The two closeouts in the 27" size are just 1TB spinning drives.

If I were ordering a new machine, I would not even consider a spinning drive. I've SSD on my laptop, and it's tough to even think about going back.

But at $1349 for a pre-Haswell model, and at a time that I don't want to spend $2000 on a Haswell model having SSD, that's enough of a price difference to cause me to consider the spinning option. I just want to be sure I'm not overlooking some detail due to my lack of knowledge of the product line. Sounds like there's no issue though, and so I just might do it.

 

[JonathanGennick]

What about all that iWorks software? Does that come free with the pre-Haswell models? Is the upgrade to Mountain Lion free?

 

[toddzrx]

iWorks costs extra, and I don't think you'll be able to get ML directly from Apple. Just load Mavericks; it's free.

I've got a 2010 with SSD. Works like a champ.