Should I replace my 2010 iMac 10,1 with the current?

[Buffsteria]

Should I replace my iMac 10,1 with the current?
I have a 27" iMac Core 2 Duo, 3.06Ghz I think.

I use it for Photoshop digital matte painting, as well as ZBrush.

Will I see better performance if I upgrade to the current lower end 27" iMac 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5? Worth the upgrade? Don't want to spend too much since a refresh is due within a year but my iMac is crawling.


Note: I apologise for the double post as I wasn't sure which forum to place it in, then I realised this one would probably get the right answer for the specific situation. Hopefully a mod will remove it from the other forum.

Also I have 3 hours to decide!

 

[Razorhog]

Wait for the iMac refresh, then sell your current iMac and get the best model you can.

 

[22mac]

Wait for the iMac refresh, then sell your current iMac and get the best model you can.

Yeah this is the best advice

 

[Morrison1916]

Should I replace my iMac 10,1 with the current?
I have a 27" iMac Core 2 Duo, 3.06Ghz I think.

I use it for Photoshop digital matte painting, as well as ZBrush.

Will I see better performance if I upgrade to the current lower end 27" iMac 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5? Worth the upgrade? Don't want to spend too much since a refresh is due within a year but my iMac is crawling.


Note: I apologise for the double post as I wasn't sure which forum to place it in, then I realised this one would probably get the right answer for the specific situation. Hopefully a mod will remove it from the other forum.

Also I have 3 hours to decide!

Do you need it ? Probably not. Have a low end 27 in iMac at home and we have a 2010 iMac at work that can still handle everything we throw at it. I'd say just wait, for a refresh.

 

[Buffsteria]

Thanks for the replies. My previous iMacs lasted a very long time and I think the price isn't too bad, iMacs have ok resale value. I think I'm going to buy it.

By the way, my 2010 iMac was obsolete ONE MONTH after I bought it. That did sting. But the jump from Core 2 Duo to i5 is greater than from i5 to i7 I think. iMac already has ThunderBolt and I doubt we'll see Retina on the 27" for another year or more.

I ended up not buying it but I have a second opportunity tomorrow!

 

[New Apple]

if your machine can still handle the work, you might wait from 1 week to 5 months for the spec bump 2012

go for the current if your machine is broken.

 

[Buffsteria]

Thanks for replies. My machine isn't broken, just crawling really slow and causing me to miss deadlines. I ordered the 2011 model since I don't see the refresh getting me anywhere. If it refreshes within a month I'll return it to Amazon.

I got the i5 3.1Ghz and won't be upgrading for another 3 years, I'd think.

I just wish it had a MDP so I could use my current iMac as a second monitor.

 

[rkaufmann87]

Thanks for replies. My machine isn't broken, just crawling really slow and causing me to miss deadlines. I ordered the 2011 model since I don't see the refresh getting me anywhere. If it refreshes within a month I'll return it to Amazon.

I got the i5 3.1Ghz and won't be upgrading for another 3 years, I'd think.

I just wish it had a MDP so I could use my current iMac as a second monitor.

If your current machine is slow it may only need a RAM upgrade. You did not mention how much RAM it has installed however if you can max out the RAM you may be very surprised by the performance gained. One easy way to tell if you need more RAM is open Activity Monitor (Applications - Utilties - Activity Monitor) and click the System Memory tab. As a general rule of thumb if at any given time there is less than 500MB available as FREE RAM then your system needs to be upgraded.

 

[Buffsteria]

If your current machine is slow it may only need a RAM upgrade. You did not mention how much RAM it has installed however if you can max out the RAM you may be very surprised by the performance gained. One easy way to tell if you need more RAM is open Activity Monitor (Applications - Utilties - Activity Monitor) and click the System Memory tab. As a general rule of thumb if at any given time there is less than 500MB available as FREE RAM then your system needs to be upgraded.

Hi, I have 12GB of RAM. I bought 16GB but one of the RAM slots doesn't accept any RAM after I removed the factory installed RAM. I look forward to replacing the factory RAM on the new one with the RAM that's been in my desk for a year.

 

[kazmac]

If your current machine is slow it may only need a RAM upgrade. You did not mention how much RAM it has installed however if you can max out the RAM you may be very surprised by the performance gained. One easy way to tell if you need more RAM is open Activity Monitor (Applications - Utilties - Activity Monitor) and click the System Memory tab. As a general rule of thumb if at any given time there is less than 500MB available as FREE RAM then your system needs to be upgraded.

^

This.

OOps! Just saw you bit the bullet for a new machine. I was able to get the memory plate open (does happy dance!), so I ordered 16gb ram from OWC. So my 2010 iMac will hopefully last me until at least this time in 2014.

Congratulations on your new machine, hope it's everything you need and more...

 

[Rlnplehshalo]

1 year of use? hmm seams a little rediculous. I have a 2008 24' iMac and I'm waiting on the 2012 refresh to get the high end model. 1 or 2 years after that couldn't possibly hurt for the newer features and to get your moneys worth from it, after all iMacs are not the cheapest computers.

If your finding your programs slow its probably going to come down to your RAM as you have the i7 processor that would be quick enough for just about anything. Or theres your hard drive but thats a more drastic upgrade.