What's more important in these specs

[Razeus]

Going to get a refurbished 27" iMac to replace my 21.5" mid-2010 i3.

I'm looking at:

Refurbished 27-inch iMac 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
Originally released October 2012
27-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology
8GB memory

1TB hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX with 1GB
Built-in FaceTime HD camera
$1699


OR

Refurbished 27-inch iMac 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
Originally released October 2012
27-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology
8GB memory
1TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M with 512MB
Built-in FaceTime HD camera
$1739

I'm going to had another 8 gigs. But I'm torn between what's more important, the RAM of the GPU or the speed that is with Fusion Drive.

In terms of my usage, I'm heavy in photography and more of a casual to light gamer (Starcraft II, Diablo 3 at the moment, gaming about a few times a month, but would like to play more games), but not "hardcore" gamer.

What do you think?

 

[macs4nw]

Going to get a refurbished 27" iMac to replace my 21.5" mid-2010 i3.

I'm looking at:

Refurbished 27-inch iMac 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
Originally released October 2012
27-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology
8GB memory

1TB hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX with 1GB
Built-in FaceTime HD camera
$1699


OR

Refurbished 27-inch iMac 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
Originally released October 2012
27-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology
8GB memory
1TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M with 512MB
Built-in FaceTime HD camera
$1739

I'm going to had another 8 gigs. But I'm torn between what's more important, the RAM of the GPU or the speed that is with Fusion Drive.

In terms of my usage, I'm heavy in photography and more of a casual to light gamer (Starcraft II, Diablo 3 at the moment, gaming about a few times a month, but would like to play more games), but not "hardcore" gamer.

What do you think?

Ooh, that's a toss-up, a very close call! Machine #1, for an almost negligible $40 less (for simplicity's sake, let's leave that $40 out of the equation), has a slightly faster processor, and more importantly, better graphics, whereas machine #2 has the Fusion drive. I have no personal experience with those, but based on the SSD's in my MBA, I am definitely partial towards having at least your OS on SSD. So it really comes down to better graphics vs Fusion drive. In your case, with being heavy into photography, and some gaming, I would lean towards going for the better graphics.

Or you could keep checking back frequently on the refurb store, and try to get both the Fusion drive and the upgraded graphics, (or even the 680MX graphics) for a bit more $$. They have new items there on an almost daily basis. Good luck!

 

[fa8362]

Either one will easily handle photography. If you're doing video editing, especially if you use Premiere Pro, get the first one because it will allow hardware acceleration.

Don't know anything about games.

You can buy the first one new at B&H for $1850. Once you add in sales tax for the refurb, you could be approaching or equal to the new price.

 

[Razeus]

Either one will easily handle photography. If you're doing video editing, especially if you use Premiere Pro, get the first one because it will allow hardware acceleration.

Don't know anything about games.

You can buy the first one new at B&H for $1850. Once you add in sales tax for the refurb, you could be approaching or equal to the new price.

wow. thanks. I didn't even think to look at B&H.

I actually wanted the 21.5", but I would have to go with the fusion drive since Apple seemingly downgraded the hard drive to 5400RPM. The refurb store had the exact model I wanted for about $300+ off that had the fusion drive and 16GB RAM (see how they force you to spend an extra $200 for low cost RAM), but I wasn't sure about the GPU for gaming. But on the other hand, my baseline i3 mid-2010 iMac handled Starcraft II just fine (albeit at a lower resolution).

I stick it out and look for the 27" that was the fusion drive and the 1GB GPU. I hate to buy a computer these days that doesn't contain an SSD. It's 2013 for pete sake and at Apple's prices, they should be standard. But as with everything Apple lately, I'm having to make alot of compromises. Microsoft is lucky they came out with Windows 8 - that's the only thing stopping be for building a Win-rig.

 

[gargalen]

I think you would be better going with the Fusion drive to get the SSD performance. Sometimes differences in processor / graphic cards are not really noticeable whereas SSD performance would be significant.