Computers & Electronics

Imac: which one to get?

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  • Mar 4th, 2011 3:07 pm
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Deal Addict
May 7, 2006
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Imac: which one to get?

I'm thinking of getting an imac cuz of the nice large screen, but which should I get?

i3 vs i5 vs i7

I would use it mostly for reading pdf's, surfing, and watching movies.
Not for video editing at all.

The Apple customer service rep told me to get an i3 because that's all I need, and that I wouldn't notice any difference between the 3.

Or would I?
26 replies
Newbie
User avatar
Feb 12, 2011
4 posts
Canada
Unless you want to do some programming, I3 imac is good enough for you. The simple way to tell the difference between i3/i5/i7 is when you do multi-task at once.
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Dec 26, 2005
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Guelph
^+1 - i3 is all you need.
Nom nom nom.
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Sep 3, 2005
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Vaughan
I was in your situation OP. I did a lot of research on google. Sounds like an i3 3.06 ghz is all you'll need. I recently picked up this model. Its a refurb going for $1099 at the apple store online. I do photo editing, and rarely do video editing. I just made an hour long video with minor transitions, nothing fancy. I had no issues with the computer. If I'm fine with the i3 3.06, I would say you should be too.

Getting an i5, or i7 for your situation would be like throwing extra money down the drain.
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phuviano wrote: I was in your situation OP. I did a lot of research on google. Sounds like an i3 3.06 ghz is all you'll need. I recently picked up this model. Its a refurb going for $1099 at the apple store online. I do photo editing, and rarely do video editing. I just made an hour long video with minor transitions, nothing fancy. I had no issues with the computer. If I'm fine with the i3 3.06, I would say you should be too.

Getting an i5, or i7 for your situation would be like throwing extra money down the drain.

1) I'm actually thinking of the 27" screen so I can look at 2 pages at once. Do you guys find it too big for the average desk? Just don't wanna go blind with such a short focal distance. My desk is about 2 feet wide, actually exactly 23".

2) Are there any applications to tile 2 different screens vertically side by side? That would be really helpful as that is exactly what I need. Unfortunately, the Mac OS still does not have this Windows function (from what I read on Google). It's unfortunate, because that's exactly what a lot of 27" owners need.

3) Re refurb vs new one, the new model is coming out very soon according to the Mac Buyers Guide.

4) Where do they get these refurbs anyways? I think I will buy a new one because I have the student discount to use up. Just found out Futureshop doesn't honor Apple Student discounts anyways so...
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Sep 3, 2005
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Vaughan
1) the 27 will hang over the sides of your desk. I believe its about 25 inches wide. The 21.5 is approx. 20 inches wide. Both are going to look huge on your desk.

2) not sure as i dont have another monitor

3)Yup they say a new one is coming out, but who knows. Its just a rumor for now.

4)Refurbs are good as new. They look, smell, function just like a new one, plus the warranty is the same. However this decision is yours to make since you also get an education discount

Before i finally made my decision. I went to the apple store, and opened some pictures and look at how much screen space i needed. I found the 21.5 sufficient for me. The 27" would be nice, but it would be too much space for me. If you need the screen space, go for the 27".
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would the 21.5" be enough to fit 2 pages in?
I'd like it to look like 2 computer screens eg. two 8.5x11 pages?
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Sep 3, 2005
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Vaughan
^ I'm not sure how that would show up on the screen (size wise). Best advice I can give you. Save a pdf with those dimensions on an sd card. Go to your local apple store, and open the file on both the 21.5" and 27". If I were to guess, i would say no it won't fit, but I don't want to mislead you in any way.
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Dec 26, 2005
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Guelph
There's two options you can go to get more screen real estate from the iMac.

A) Buy the 21.5" and buy an external monitor (connection through mini display port). You'd be looking at the $1300 of the Mac and the external monitor could range from $100 to.. a lot lol. I'd probably buy the Dell U2311h whenever it next goes on sale ($239 for 23" IPS panel). I like this one because you can use it in portrait or landscape mode (portrait is awesome for reading pdfs!). So like $1450 for this route.

B) Buy the 27". Advantages are it's screen size (duh :P), it has more video memory (512MB vs 256MB), larger harddrive (1TB vs 500GB), a bit faster processor (3.2 vs 3.06), and you can use it's monitor to display an external source (say your mobile laptop..). Honestly I doubt the processor difference is apparent, though the other 3 factors may be an advantage.. So it would be $1800 for this route.

For $350 difference - and no chance that I'd ever use up 500GB I'd go the 21.5" + external monitor route. Save myself $350 towards these crazy gas prices lol :P.
Nom nom nom.
Deal Addict
May 7, 2006
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Toronto
Any ideas when I should buy my Imac?

According to:

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#iMac

the cycle is at 9 days until the new imac comes out if you look at the average number of days between new Imacs. I read that Intel delayed the making of a new chip which was supposed to be in Mac's.

But looking at how long the cycle has been for say Macbook, it's been 100 days over the average and still we're waiting for the new version to come out.

So I could be waiting 3 months more down the road...
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Sep 28, 2009
425 posts
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GTA
I would have no problem with a refurb. We bought one for my wife a year ago and it has been perfect. If you watch the prices on some models the saving are significant.
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blair7 wrote: I would have no problem with a refurb. We bought one for my wife a year ago and it has been perfect. If you watch the prices on some models the saving are significant.

I'm just paranoid about getting scratches on my refurb, I know a scratch on the screen would drive me nuts
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Sep 3, 2005
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Vaughan
aokec wrote: I'm just paranoid about getting scratches on my refurb, I know a scratch on the screen would drive me nuts
No, you won't find any scratches. Apple does a fully restore on everything. Everything is the same as new. Apple doesn't just take an old system and send it out to you. They do a overhaul on the whole system. The only difference you'll see from refurb and new, is the box itself. My imac came in a white box as opposed to the new ones which have a picture of an imac. Do I really care about the box, not really. You can find refurb unboxing's all over youtube.

Also don't rely on the mac buyer guide website. Its exactly what it says it is. Simply a guide. There no info that will tell you exactly when Apple will release their next imac. It could be tomorrow, it might be june, august, etc... Also the cycle number doesn't really matter.

I've been looking at the site for years. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong. I remember waiting for a model of the macbook pro back in oct/nov 2006. All the rumors were saying that it was supposed to be released Jan/Feb 07. Feb 07 comes by, no new mbp. Then rumors said march/april. April flies by, no new mbp. New mbp arrives mid june 07. I still waited for it, and picked one up in july 07. No one can say for sure when the next Apple product will be released. If you need the imac, get it now. If not, you can play the waiting game.
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Mar 25, 2005
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aokec wrote: I'm just paranoid about getting scratches on my refurb, I know a scratch on the screen would drive me nuts

Double check the return policy to see if there are issues, if you can return it. But my refurb MacBook Pro looked new. If I didn't know it was a refurb I wouldn't have known from the looks of it.
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May 7, 2006
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Thanks guys for all the helpful info

Re imac 27" i3 refurbs, so basically it sounds like they're the exact same specs as the ones being sold currently.

Any idea what the new imacs will offer? If it's just eg. a faster data transfer port ("USB 3") then not sure if it's worth the wait, versus eg. a faster processor etc

Sucks that I can't use the education discount on the refurbs tho...
The 27" i3 mac refurb costs $1549, a lot relative to a brand new one at $1699 (after education discount)
Deal Guru
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Jul 7, 2007
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no point of buying it now.

there is a slim chance it will come out tomorrow (new models) along with iPad 2.

still, unless you absolutely can't wait. Wait for the new model and get it in May along with student discount and free ipod


new model most likely will come with thunderbolt (instead of USB3), Sandy Bridge and hopefully better graphics card. If you go buy what macbook pro did. you should expect around 30% performance increase
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Apr 4, 2008
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My dad needed a computer that he can surf, skype, and do some simple office work. So I bought him a 27" core i5 iMac with 6GB of RAM. I would've bought the core i7 if he didn't complain about it being an overkill, he just wanted the cheapest core i3 version. I explained to him that Apple's gorgeous monitor is very expensive by itself, and because this is an all-in-one computer, you can't just buy a new Mac and plug the iMac monitor into it. Therefore, I'd rather buy a better iMac that would last a bit longer.
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Jan 28, 2007
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You can use the 27 inch iMac as an external monitor for any device, google it
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Apr 4, 2008
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edgarb wrote: You can use the 27 inch iMac as an external monitor for any device, google it

Just googled, you're right. That's something I didn't know. I thought it's like a laptop, once the computer gets outdated then the whole thing can go. This is the first Mac my family has had. Good to know that we can reuse the monitor in the future, it is a gorgeous display...Thanks for letting me know.
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May 7, 2006
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Hey guys

I talked to an employee at the Apple store who said that Lion, the new OS, will come out in July and that all the new imacs will have Lion.

So is it safe to say I have to wait until at least July for the new imac to come out? :(

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