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Resolved 2011 iMac: i5 or i7?

A

AshGSmith

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 23, 2011
31
0
Burntwood, UK.
hey all,

I'm going to be buying a 2011 iMac as soon as the free iPod offer starts again (usually at the end of May, as you all know!) but I can't decide whether to spend the money upgrading to the i5 processor.

It'll be the first quad core processor I've had (best I've used before that is the dual core i5 2.3GHz on my 2011 MBP) so I'm not really 100%. I've put up with a Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz on my desktop PC for the past 4 years, but really want something quicker.

I do the occasional graphic design and web editing using Adobe CS5 products, but most just use my computers for regular web browsing and document creation/editing etc.

So my basic question is, is it really worth spending the extra £140 on upgrading the processor, or will I be more than happy with the i5? I'll be getting the 21.5" 2011 2.7GHz (or 2.8GHz if I go for the i7 option) iMac.

Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the speedy reply! I'll stick with the i5 then! Just whilst I'm posting, I suppose there's no real point upgrading to 8gb of RAM either is there? I'd already chosen i7 over i5, but if I don't need i7 then I could get more RAM if it will actually benefit me!
 
of course there is a reason to upgrade the ram, it'll be much faster.

and u cant update to the i7 unless u buy the highend 27 incher anyways.
 
I don't think you will need 8GB of RAM, however if you still wish to have this much then wait till you have used your iMac for a week or two to see if you will benefit.

When page outs start to increase it may be time to increase the RAM.
Screen shot 2011-05-15 at 20.49.12.png
 
As for RAM, don't upgrade through apple, as you'll pay twice as much to do so. You can buy 8GB online for $80-90 and add that to get a total of 12GB for less than half of the 8GB upgrade from apple. That said, I'd wait to see if it's even necessary. I don't need more than 4GB with my typical uses, and it sounds like you may not either. Just monitor your memory usage and page outs, and if either or both are particularly high, the additional memory would be beneficial.
 
I'm a web developer like you and use the CS4 suite + Final Cut Studio almost every day. Although £140 is not a big deal for a 3 year investment, I went for the cheaper one based on the assumption that the i5 with lower clock speed and lower specs video card will run cooler and quieter.

I used my Quad Xeon 2.6 Mac Pro for the last 4 years and by comparison, the i5 2.7 is at least twice as fast. SSD + TB expandability will make this a very potent workstation for a few years to come.

I guess my advice would be to analyse your need for a faster processor. If you can't think of anything that would require massive cpu power, you could better use the extra funds to add some more memory (8GB extra for about £70).
 
lamonsas said:
of course there is a reason to upgrade the ram, it'll be much faster.

and u cant update to the i7 unless u buy the highend 27 incher anyways.
Click to expand...
Yes you can. You can get the i7 processor with the high end 21.5 inch iMac, it's just an upgraded part.

I think stridemat is right, I'll get the standard one and then if I start to need the upgraded RAM I can always sort that out afterwards!

Thanks all!
 
coolspot18 said:
Just note, the 21.5" i7 is a slower version than the 27" i7. The 21.5" is the i7-2600S which is a lower power (and slower) version. But still faster than the i5.
Click to expand...

Thanks! But to be honest, there's no chance I'll get the 27", too big to be used as just a computer IMO, unless you're going to be watching a lot of films/videos on there!
 
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