Which 21.5 inch iMac?
I thought I'd actually like the 27" iMac but when I actually sat in front of one and used it at Best Buy, I found the monitor to be TOO big. Strange, because I love a big screen TV. But with the 27" computer, I found myself backing away from the screen to take it all in. Instead of just moving my eyes around the screen, I found I had to move my entire head to see things. This was a little uncomfortable. My wife agreed that she also liked the 21.5 inch screen better. Not trying to slam the 27" machine. I know that there are those here who love it. It just wasn't for us.
Unfortunately, they don't have the bottom-of-the-line 21.5 inch iMac for comparison to the model with the graphics card, so I'm asking here.
Trying to decide if the graphics card and 500gb of HD space is worth the extra $300. We currently have a 5 year old G5 iMac. I've noticed that a few things are slow on it now.
1) Moving graphics around in iWeb or Pages, the machine hesitates and sometimes I get the spinning ball for a second before the picture can be moved. Kind of annoying.
2) I bought a new Canon camera and the MOV files (movie clips) that I download to the computer are unwatchable. They move pathetically slow like maybe 2fps or something. Not sure why this format is so slow. I watch other movie formats without any slowdown problems at all.
3) And of course games are slow.
What I'm unsure of is whether it's the processor or the graphics card that plays the biggest role in speeding up the above 3 items. While I'm fairly certain that games would get a big boost with the graphics card, I am unsure if the graphics card will do anything to help speed up Pages, iWeb, or watching the MOV movies or if I just need a faster processor.
No problems with web surfing speed or my accounting software. I only play games occasionally like maybe once every 3 or 4 months or something so that isn't a big deal and I'd probably skip the graphics card if it only helps with games.
I don't care too much about the extra 500GB of HD space. If I fill a hard drive I'd just buy an external HD down the road but I don't know if I can upgrade the graphics card later or not so I probably have to make that decision up front.
Thanks for any help here.
Unfortunately, they don't have the bottom-of-the-line 21.5 inch iMac for comparison to the model with the graphics card, so I'm asking here.
Trying to decide if the graphics card and 500gb of HD space is worth the extra $300. We currently have a 5 year old G5 iMac. I've noticed that a few things are slow on it now.
1) Moving graphics around in iWeb or Pages, the machine hesitates and sometimes I get the spinning ball for a second before the picture can be moved. Kind of annoying.
2) I bought a new Canon camera and the MOV files (movie clips) that I download to the computer are unwatchable. They move pathetically slow like maybe 2fps or something. Not sure why this format is so slow. I watch other movie formats without any slowdown problems at all.
3) And of course games are slow.
What I'm unsure of is whether it's the processor or the graphics card that plays the biggest role in speeding up the above 3 items. While I'm fairly certain that games would get a big boost with the graphics card, I am unsure if the graphics card will do anything to help speed up Pages, iWeb, or watching the MOV movies or if I just need a faster processor.
No problems with web surfing speed or my accounting software. I only play games occasionally like maybe once every 3 or 4 months or something so that isn't a big deal and I'd probably skip the graphics card if it only helps with games.
I don't care too much about the extra 500GB of HD space. If I fill a hard drive I'd just buy an external HD down the road but I don't know if I can upgrade the graphics card later or not so I probably have to make that decision up front.
Thanks for any help here.
Comments
I thought I'd actually like the 27" iMac but when I actually sat in front of one and used it at Best Buy, I found the monitor to be TOO big. Strange, because I love a big screen TV. But with the 27" computer, I found myself backing away from the screen to take it all in. Instead of just moving my eyes around the screen, I found I had to move my entire head to see things. This was a little uncomfortable. My wife agreed that she also liked the 21.5 inch screen better. Not trying to slam the 27" machine. I know that there are those here who love it. It just wasn't for us.
You get used to it and then you really like the extra screen real estate. I beats having to move windows around or even using expose.
Unfortunately, they don't have the bottom-of-the-line 21.5 inch iMac for comparison to the model with the graphics card, so I'm asking here.
Trying to decide if the graphics card and 500gb of HD space is worth the extra $300. We currently have a 5 year old G5 iMac. I've noticed that a few things are slow on it now.
Yes. The only real reason to upgrade from the mac mini to the iMac 21.5 is to get the HD4670.
2.53Ghz for $799 vs 3.0Ghz for $1,199 assuming you already have a keyboard and mouse leaves you a $400 budget for a nice monitor. A 23", maybe a more comfortable size for you, is only $209 from Dell.
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...9&sku=320-7641
Seems to be liked by mac users...web cam may not work though.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=608880
huh...I may buy one for $200 even if it is a TN panel.
What I'm unsure of is whether it's the processor or the graphics card that plays the biggest role in speeding up the above 3 items. While I'm fairly certain that games would get a big boost with the graphics card, I am unsure if the graphics card will do anything to help speed up Pages, iWeb, or watching the MOV movies or if I just need a faster processor.
A 2.53Ghz C2D is fast enough for any of those today. The 9400M is great for an integrated GPU but not all that great in 2010.
The real reason to get the 27" is to future proof it a little more with an iCore 5 of iCore 7 CPU. The difference is kinda like buying a solid G4 mac when the G5 was out.
Today I would wait until 1pm to see if anything changes with the lineup.
Assuming there isn't then I'd either buy the mini or the Core i7 quad 27" iMac. I personally wouldn't spend $1,199 on a C2D machine today but would prefer to buy a $599 mini or wait until the bottom end iMac becomes Core i3 or Core i5.
I thought I'd actually like the 27" iMac but when I actually sat in front of one and used it at Best Buy, I found the monitor to be TOO big. Strange, because I love a big screen TV. But with the 27" computer, I found myself backing away from the screen to take it all in. Instead of just moving my eyes around the screen, I found I had to move my entire head to see things. This was a little uncomfortable. My wife agreed that she also liked the 21.5 inch screen better. Not trying to slam the 27" machine. I know that there are those here who love it. It just wasn't for us.
Unfortunately, they don't have the bottom-of-the-line 21.5 inch iMac for comparison to the model with the graphics card, so I'm asking here.
Trying to decide if the graphics card and 500gb of HD space is worth the extra $300. We currently have a 5 year old G5 iMac. I've noticed that a few things are slow on it now.
1) Moving graphics around in iWeb or Pages, the machine hesitates and sometimes I get the spinning ball for a second before the picture can be moved. Kind of annoying.
2) I bought a new Canon camera and the MOV files (movie clips) that I download to the computer are unwatchable. They move pathetically slow like maybe 2fps or something. Not sure why this format is so slow. I watch other movie formats without any slowdown problems at all.
3) And of course games are slow.
What I'm unsure of is whether it's the processor or the graphics card that plays the biggest role in speeding up the above 3 items. While I'm fairly certain that games would get a big boost with the graphics card, I am unsure if the graphics card will do anything to help speed up Pages, iWeb, or watching the MOV movies or if I just need a faster processor.
No problems with web surfing speed or my accounting software. I only play games occasionally like maybe once every 3 or 4 months or something so that isn't a big deal and I'd probably skip the graphics card if it only helps with games.
I don't care too much about the extra 500GB of HD space. If I fill a hard drive I'd just buy an external HD down the road but I don't know if I can upgrade the graphics card later or not so I probably have to make that decision up front.
Thanks for any help here.
If your going to play any games get the 21.5" with the dedicated graphics card. The 4650 is a decent card from what I've read. I have an iMac at home with the older 2600 ATI card and it plays Call of Duty just fine. The 4650 is supposed to be much better than that card.
I have two of the 21.5" iMacs with the NVIDIA 9400m at my business and they are quite nice. I also have some 27" iMacs at my business and really like them. I can recommend both. The screens on both are very nice IMO. I've not had any problems with either but the 27" iMacs seem to have more 'issues'. I guess I've been lucky.
I don't think you can go wrong with either. I would get a refurbished 21.5" iMac with the 4650 if money is an issue. I've bought two refurbs from Apple and have had a good experience with both of them. While a 3.0 ghz Core 2 duo isn't a speed demon these days you'll notice a big difference over your old g5.