Video Editing:Brand new iMac vs refurb iMac

[nosignal]

I've been doing some reading and searching through the forum here in preparation... I'm in the market for a more substantial computer on which to do my video editing. Right now I have a mid 2012 MBP which is a great computer but it's small and gets just a tad clunky when editing 1080 video. I'm wanting to upgrade my system to an iMac. I'm looking at a 27" iMac. My question lies in whether to go for a brand new one or should I get a refurbished one.
I will be upgrading the ram to the max 32GB with whichever system I get.
I see that in the apple refurb store they have an imac (released in october of last year) with near identical specs (at least I believe) as the new one. The graphics are 675m instead of 755m (not exactly sure what that means in all honesty). Are there any major differences in these two systems? Like I said, I'll be doing video editing on this system. I figure that the iMac is enough of a powerhouse to handle anything I will throw at it. But I'm just wondering if it will be beneficial to me (or how it will be beneficial) to go with the brand new system.

Thanks in advance guys, and I'm sorry if this is a silly question

 

[blanka]

Just make sure you get an i7 model. If you get an i5, you can as well grab a faster mini (a 2.3/2.6ghz quad mini has its CPU power between the i5 iMacs and the i7 iMacs, and CPU power is what you need for video). Any i7 is fine, the difference in speed between a 2010 i7 and a 2013 i7 is marginal. Sandy Bridge (2010) was the big leap forward from Core2Duo, with 4 cores/8 thread designs. Ivy was a die-shrink of that, meaning less heat and power, and Haswell is mainly focussed on incorporating a GPU into the chip and having lower base clock rates for power saving.

 

[MacOG728893]

Just make sure you get an i7 model. If you get an i5, you can as well grab a faster mini (a 2.3/2.6ghz quad mini has its CPU power between the i5 iMacs and the i7 iMacs, and CPU power is what you need for video). Any i7 is fine, the difference in speed between a 2010 i7 and a 2013 i7 is marginal. Sandy Bridge (2010) was the big leap forward from Core2Duo, with 4 cores/8 thread designs. Ivy was a die-shrink of that, meaning less heat and power, and Haswell is mainly focussed on incorporating a GPU into the chip and having lower base clock rates for power saving.

I see what you're trying to say, kind of..

 

[yjchua95]

Just make sure you get an i7 model. If you get an i5, you can as well grab a faster mini (a 2.3/2.6ghz quad mini has its CPU power between the i5 iMacs and the i7 iMacs, and CPU power is what you need for video). Any i7 is fine, the difference in speed between a 2010 i7 and a 2013 i7 is marginal. Sandy Bridge (2010) was the big leap forward from Core2Duo, with 4 cores/8 thread designs. Ivy was a die-shrink of that, meaning less heat and power, and Haswell is mainly focussed on incorporating a GPU into the chip and having lower base clock rates for power saving.

Note that only mid-2011 iMacs have the Sandy Bridge CPUs.

 

[nosignal]

Just make sure you get an i7 model. If you get an i5, you can as well grab a faster mini (a 2.3/2.6ghz quad mini has its CPU power between the i5 iMacs and the i7 iMacs, and CPU power is what you need for video). Any i7 is fine, the difference in speed between a 2010 i7 and a 2013 i7 is marginal. Sandy Bridge (2010) was the big leap forward from Core2Duo, with 4 cores/8 thread designs. Ivy was a die-shrink of that, meaning less heat and power, and Haswell is mainly focussed on incorporating a GPU into the chip and having lower base clock rates for power saving.

Are there any iMacs that come with i7's now? On the apple site I see i5 across the board with all the iMacs. I've seen the i7 thing come up a few times in my research but I was confused since I couldn't find any iMac that had one in it.

 

[Bear]

Are there any iMacs that come with i7's now? On the apple site I see i5 across the board with all the iMacs. I've seen the i7 thing come up a few times in my research but I was confused since I couldn't find any iMac that had one in it.

You can custom configure some of the iMac models to have i7 processors among other options.

 

[nosignal]

Ahh, I see it now. I wish it was available on the base 27"..... thats a bummer

 

[rei101]

I have a mid 2010 iMac and I am fine with it. It has 8GB of ram.

For HD you need a fast drive basically. You could actually use your MBP with a faster drive and at least 12GB of ram and you are all set.

For an iMac... get the refurbish if you want. Do not get a Mini since it lack of cores needed when rendering.

 

[Bear]

Ahh, I see it now. I wish it was available on the base 27"..... thats a bummer

Look at the refurbished 2013 iMacs. There's a i7/780M/3TB Fusion config there for a decent savings. (At least it's currently on the US store.)

 

[nosignal]

Look at the refurbished 2013 iMacs. There's a i7/780M/3TB Fusion config there for a decent savings. (At least it's currently on the US store.)

Yeah, i saw an i7 with a fusion 1tb drive. It's 1999. Thats about the top of my price range so I'm good with that.

Would it be super beneficial to go with a newer system with the haswell i7 compared to the past model? I may be looking too much into it at this point, but I just want to make sure I get a system that will be able to do what I want it to do.

 

[Bear]

Yeah, i saw an i7 with a fusion 1tb drive. It's 1999. Thats about the top of my price range so I'm good with that.

Would it be super beneficial to go with a newer system with the haswell i7 compared to the past model? I may be looking too much into it at this point, but I just want to make sure I get a system that will be able to do what I want it to do.

The Haswell processor is slightly faster. the 780M is slightly faster than the 680MX. The SSD in the 2013 (Haswell) iMacs is noticeably faster than the 2012 model and will affect Fusion Drive performance as well.

If you look at the refurb store you have the i7/680MX/1TB Fusion at $1999 vs the i7/780M/3TB Fusion for $2289. For all the incremental performance differences and the 3TB drive, it might be worth getting the Haswell refurb. And if it matters the 2013 has 802.11AC versus 802.11N for the 2012.