Which would you buy?

[Razeus]

Since my D800 Raw files are owning my mid-2010 iMac, I'm thinking of getting a late 2012 model.

Now that the 21.5's come with SSD as an option (which I think the pricing is unfair since Apple doesn't factor in the "missing" hard drive and straight up want an extra $300) and I would definatley need 16GB of RAM, I'm looking at $1999 for the 21.5 Mac with 650 GPU.

OR for that money, I could just get the 27" iMac without the SSD for $1799 and just get another 16 GB's of RAM for $50 myself. This means for going the SSD. Or get the SSD fusion during my price into $2049. I'm just not sure how much better the 660 GPU is over the 650.

I do play Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 in whatever spare time I have.

Thoughts? I'm trying my hardest to stay with iMac, but I can built a faster computer by building my own Windows box with a Dell 22" IPS monitor for $1500. Apple really put me in a pickle with their pricing for this generation of iMacs.

 

[TyPod]

What size screen iMac do you currently have?

 

[Razeus]

What size screen iMac do you currently have?

21.5"

I may looking to the 27" 2012's refurbished...

 

[tardman91]

I say go with the 27". You gotta just love that screen.

 

[TyPod]

21.5"

I may looking to the 27" 2012's refurbished...

Go with the 27 incher. In my eyes it would totally be worth it!

 

[talmy]

OR for that money, I could just get the 27" iMac without the SSD for $1799 and just get another 16 GB's of RAM for $50 myself. This means for going the SSD.

For photo editing, the 27" is a superior choice. The SSD is not really needed.

Also, look at the Activity monitor and see if you are swapping when editing those D800 RAW files. If so, have you maxed out your RAM? You might not need a new computer.

 

[Razeus]

For photo editing, the 27" is a superior choice. The SSD is not really needed.

Also, look at the Activity monitor and see if you are swapping when editing those D800 RAW files. If so, have you maxed out your RAM? You might not need a new computer.

I have 8Gigs now. Between Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom with iTunes playing in the background and a Chrome open. I'm hitting 7.5 gigs and swapping like 20 gigs. I may try to get another 8 gigs, but the real driver is the USB 3.0 connections. I'm seeing the 27 inch going for $1529 refurbed.

 

[lexvo]

27" is very nice for photo editing.

 

[SCMedic]

I have no problems with my mid-2010 27" Core i5 w/16gigs of ram when it comes to handling my 5D mark III raw files and HD video editing. Only recently have I seen this machine struggle with 1440p/4k video rendering.

I'm surprised that your slightly larger files are really beating up the machine that much.

 

[Razeus]

I have no problems with my mid-2010 27" Core i5 w/16gigs of ram when it comes to handling my 5D mark III raw files and HD video editing. Only recently have I seen this machine struggle with 1440p/4k video rendering.

I'm surprised that your slightly larger files are really beating up the machine that much.

Slightly larger? Unless your RAW files are in the vicinity of 75MB's, I don't think Mark III's RAW files are that big, not even close. But remember, my Mid-2010 is an i3 with 8 gigs of RAM, 4 of them I had to add myself last year.