Pulled the trigger yesterday on a 21.5" iMac refurb.
I flip flopped back and forth between the 2012 and the 2011 models and the 2011 just made more sense for me.
First, my kids will be using it and it makes more sense to get the model with the built-in DVD drive rather than to pay extra for it because the kids will want to watch movies on it.
Second, as far as the GPU specs go, the best information I could get showed only a modest improvement from the 6770M to the 640M. Other benchmarks I saw showed the 5400 RPM drive in the 2012 to be significantly slower than the 7200 RPM drive in the 2011. I was able to get the high-end 21.5" 2011 model with 2.8Ghz i7 for less than the entry level 2012 model.
Third, if I want to put more RAM in it at a later time, I can easily do that myself with the 2011 model. A whole 16GB of RAM will only run about $100, as opposed to $200 that apple charges for just an extra 8GB.
As many people have said, they really made a lot of sacrifices to the internals of the 2012 model to make it thinner, which is really unnecessary given that it will sit on your desk.
I hate to break it to Tim, but the DVD is not dead yet. We do have a few movies purchased on iTunes, but the vast majority of our movies are on DVD.
We also like to have the ability to backup our pictures and home videos to DVD where we know they will be safe from accidental erasure or from a hard drive crash.
The amazing part to me is that I placed the order yesterday and it had originally been quoted as delivering Dec 28 - 31. I worded my gift message accordingly. Then it was estimated to be delivered on Dec. 27. Now, FedEx is estimating Dec 24. All indications are that it is on schedule. Now my gift message will be inaccurate!
This morning it was already on the move again from Memphis. I bet it will be in a distribution center in Ontario by the end of today. Sweet!
As I have been watching the refurbs for months now and doing my research, it occurred to me that many people must be unhappy with the 2012 models. The refurbs would come and go within hours. I was at one time about to pull the trigger on one a week ago, but in the few seconds that I hesitated to push the button, it was snapped up.
I would call that a big indicator to Apple that they missed the mark when last year's models are flying out of the store at that rate.
Here's a great article at Ars Technica that basically calls them out on it.
Review: 21.5-inch 2012 iMac takes two steps forward, one step back
Anyhow, cheers all!
kc
