Would you buy a new or older imac?

[Ptit]

I stuck with 2 broken intel imacs and a macbook pro 17 that has been crawling to render fcp videos,

i mainly do audio but recently used FCP on a imac intel 2.33 24", now that both the 20" and 24" broke down im desperate for a new iMac but when i went to the apple site to look for the best imac i can get for the buck with fcp and logic i was confused, like one model can upgrade to i7 while one can not, im lost here, can you upgrade from all the new models, how about the older models, and i see people saying older models are faster, would you buy a older quad imac?. , can someone clear this up,

thanks in advance

 

[rkaufmann87]

iMacs are not designed to be user upgradeable other than RAM. You cannot upgrade CPU's or GPU's. If you have a need for upgradeability you are a candidate for a Mac Pro, if you cannot afford a new one then look at the Apple Refurbished line. These machines are a good value and the Mac Pro line has literally thousands of configuration combinations based on your individual needs.

 

[Ptit]

iMacs are not designed to be user upgradeable other than RAM. You cannot upgrade CPU's or GPU's. If you have a need for upgradeability you are a candidate for a Mac Pro, if you cannot afford a new one then look at the Apple Refurbished line. These machines are a good value and the Mac Pro line has literally thousands of configuration combinations based on your individual needs.

well thanks for the advise, i just cant afford a Mac Pro or want to ever be stuck with that huge ugly radiator looking Tower again, and im sure its the fastest computer on the planet atm.

So for the record to be clear, if i want a 27" with a i7 core i have to order it from apple directly, no one can get it install later, is that the same with the SSD drive?

 

[Mr Rogers]

Plenty of used iMacs

Not sure what country you are in, I'm in Hong Kong.

If Apple store in your country, go to Apple Store online and check refurbished/used models - look and see if you can pick-up a used iMac 27in i5 or i7 - for what you want, you really need the i7 model, either a 2.8Ghz late 2009 model, or 2.93Ghz 2010 model - prices are very good if available.

2011 models maybe good, but you cannot go wrong with the i7 used 2009/10 models - they are still very fast - ThunderBolt is all hype currently and you are better off for a few years utilising FW800 - just make sure you have a minimum of 8G RAM installed, preferably 12G - some used machines ship with 2THDD's and 8G of RAM - its a lottery, but your luck may be in.