21 vs. 27 inch refurb?

[cvballa]

I am looking to buy my first Mac and I am looking at a Refurb. I am a basic user who will basically use it for iTunes, browsing, torrents, word processing, video, light games, etc.

I've heard good things about the i3 for the price so I am sticking with that, but I can't decide if the 27 inch is actually worth it.

For $420 more, plus tax, so basically $450 the 27 inch base refurb comes with a better graphics card, higher clocked CPU (3.06 vs. 3.2) and 1 TB hd vs 500 GB. Everything else is the same besides the screen size.

$450 isnt a ton of money for me, but I also don't think a bigger screen is worth the $450. If the other improvements will make a noticable difference in my use then it may be worth it.

Also, my current computers HD is very full, but it is no where near 500 gb. Does 500 GB fill up fast or will I most likely not have a problem?

 

[Ubuntu]

I am looking to buy my first Mac and I am looking at a Refurb. I am a basic user who will basically use it for iTunes, browsing, torrents, word processing, video, light games, etc.

I've heard good things about the i3 for the price so I am sticking with that, but I can't decide if the 27 inch is actually worth it.

For $420 more, plus tax, so basically $450 the 27 inch base refurb comes with a better graphics card, higher clocked CPU (3.06 vs. 3.2) and 1 TB hd vs 500 GB. Everything else is the same besides the screen size.

$450 isnt a ton of money for me, but I also don't think a bigger screen is worth the $450. If the other improvements will make a noticable difference in my use then it may be worth it.

Also, my current computers HD is very full, but it is no where near 500 gb. Does 500 GB fill up fast or will I most likely not have a problem?

I would go for the 27 inch. Considering you can't upgrade the graphics card or processor it would be good to get the better one really, and then you can't forget that the screen on the 27inch is really good and probably quite expensive. Remember the resolution is 2560 x 1440 so that is alot of space for browsing, watching videos and playing the games. I don't dislike the 21 inch iMac but I just think if you're going to get an iMac you should get the best spec possible, and the largest screen possible. There are alot of computers out there with 21 inch displays but here you have an opportunity to get a really good display with a great resolution for a reasonable price.

 

[S.B.G]

I think you would do well with a refurb. I just got my 27" refurb this week and am loving it! Check out my initial reaction and review in this thread I started yesterday. Blown Away.

As you said, $450 is too much for you, so why not get the bigger screen and better graphics card? I just went from the 24" iMac to the 27" and I don't regret it at all. My gosh, this thing is huge and I can have so much on screen space too. It was a good choice.