Several questions about 21.5" 2011 iMac

[MythicFrost]

Hey,

I'm considering selling my 27" i7 2.8GHz 09 iMac and downgrading to a 21.5" 2011 model. I'm thinking I'll grab the $1199 model + $100 for another 8GB of RAM from OWC.

I've got a few questions though:

1) Are the 21.5" models silent like the 27" models, even when under intense load?
2) Will the 6750M 512MB in the low end 21.5" model perform at 1920x1080 as good as my 4850M 512MB at 1920x1080, or will it be even better?

I'm in Australia, so the base model is $1399 for me + $100 for the RAM. I'm thinking is it worth it to get the i5 2.7GHz and 6770M, but then I'm up to $1698? Are the performance differences of the 6770M much better than the 6750M? I do game a lot.

I would appreciate any help with this, thanks

 

[Badger^2]

what are you hoping to gain by doing this?

 

[talmy]

It's a move I'd never make unless I didn't have room for the 27".

 

[Icaras]

It's a move I'd never make unless I didn't have room for the 27".

Hah, that's exactly what I intend to do. But I have a 2010 27" that I'll be selling for a 2011 21.5" next month.

I have a large enough desk, but I just don't need the large screen. 1980x1080 is quite fine for me already. I also don't need that much wattage sucking up from the large screen either. It generates quite a bit of heat. I personally would rather have a faster i7 SB processor and the SSD for an overall faster machine. I'm not worried about downgrading my 1GB video card to 512MB because I'll be running at a lower resolution anyway. It should even things out nicely.

As benchmarks have indicated, the 2011 21.5" base model alone will be considerably faster than the 2010 models, so if you can imagine, it will be quite a jump from 2009, and I think it will be worth the upgrade. OP, I really can't tell you exactly which graphics card would perform better, but I can only guess it would be the 6750M, especially in conjunction with the SB architecture, not to mention faster RAM.

I have heard people say that the 6770M isn't too much more powerful than the 6750M, and I haven't really studied the gaming benchmarks so I can't say. I game a lot too so I'm going for the high end 21.5". I couldn't add the SSD at the base model. If you decide to upgrade to this iMac, you also get a larger hard drive on top of the 6770M.

 

[MythicFrost]

what are you hoping to gain by doing this?

It's a move I'd never make unless I didn't have room for the 27".

To answer both of you: Well, I don't really need this machine. I can buy the base iMac and make a few hundred, if not close to a thousand, I'll have the latest machine with a better CPU (don't need HT), a more capable GPU at 1080p, a faster 500GB HDD (vs 2TB for a boot drive), and a 1333MHz RAM. Not to mention I'll be able to apply my AppleCare warranty that I couldn't ever register to the machine I'm selling, to this new machine.

Overall I would prefer the 27" i7 3.4GHz w/ a 6970M 2GB, but then, instead of $1399 (AU) we're talking ~$2700.

Hah, that's exactly what I intend to do. But I have a 2010 27" that I'll be selling for a 2011 21.5" next month.

I have a large enough desk, but I just don't need the large screen. 1980x1080 is quite fine for me already. I also don't need that much wattage sucking up from the large screen either. It generates quite a bit of heat. I personally would rather have a faster i7 SB processor and the SSD for an overall faster machine. I'm not worried about downgrading my 1GB video card to 512MB because I'll be running at a lower resolution anyway. It should even things out nicely.

As benchmarks have indicated, the 2011 21.5" base model alone will be considerably faster than the 2010 models, so if you can imagine, it will be quite a jump from 2009, and I think it will be worth the upgrade. OP, I really can't tell you exactly which graphics card would perform better, but I can only guess it would be the 6750M, especially in conjunction with the SB architecture, not to mention faster RAM.

I have heard people say that the 6770M isn't too much more powerful than the 6750M, and I haven't really studied the gaming benchmarks so I can't say. I game a lot too so I'm going for the high end 21.5". I couldn't add the SSD at the base model. If you decide to upgrade to this iMac, you also get a larger hard drive on top of the 6770M.

Thanks for your reply,

I think the low and high end 21.5" models will perform quite well. The 6770M is a bit better, but only because of its 150MHz (or 125MHz?) faster clock speed. I think it results in about a 10-15% higher frame rate.

I just hope the 21.5" models are silent under idle and load, like their 27" counterparts.