27" iMac: mid-10 i3 3.2ghz, late-09 quad i5 2.66ghz, or wait for 2011?

[supern0va]

I am planning to sell my mid-09 13: MBP for a 27" iMac and an 11" MBA.
I do not need a new system urgently, and my computing needs are pretty basic - web-surfing, movies etc. I do like to run VMware with Windows 7 in a separate window.

So... should I get the mid-10 i3 3.2ghz, late-09 quad i5 2.66ghz, or wait for new products in 2011 (assuming its 1Q or 2Q)? Lightpeak, USB 3 and all that sound exciting, tho they will prob be overkill for my usage.
currently, i can get the first 2 at roughly the same price.
i am leaning towards the late-09 quad i5 cos i think it performs better than the i3, and i have compatible RAM (2x2gb) from my MBP that i can use to soup up the system.

Any comments/suggestions? Thks!

 

[Hellhammer]

Late '09 model is better, I would get it

 

[supern0va]

Late '09 model is better, I would get it

Thks Hellhammer. Under what circumstances do i actually use the quad processors? will it be utilised when i run VMware? Or is that just RAM?

 

[Hellhammer]

Thks Hellhammer. Under what circumstances do i actually use the quad processors? will it be utilised when i run VMware? Or is that just RAM?

You don't really need quad core but if the price is the same or nearly the same, I would go for the quad core without hesitation. It's more "future-proof" and it doesn't hurt when VMing because you can give two cores to both OSs

 

[supern0va]

thks hellhammer.

sorry 1 more qn... shld i then consider the late-09 core i5 2.66ghz, or should i top up another ~$300-350 more for a late-09 core i7 2.8ghz? is the increase in performance significant to warrant my extra $$, given my expected usage of the imac?

 

[brachson]

thks hellhammer.

sorry 1 more qn... shld i then consider the late-09 core i5 2.66ghz, or should i top up another ~$300-350 more for a late-09 core i7 2.8ghz? is the increase in performance significant to warrant my extra $$, given my expected usage of the imac?

if you will do that you will end up with end 2010 i7 model You need to say STOP at some point.

 

[Hellhammer]

thks hellhammer.

sorry 1 more qn... shld i then consider the late-09 core i5 2.66ghz, or should i top up another ~$300-350 more for a late-09 core i7 2.8ghz? is the increase in performance significant to warrant my extra $$, given my expected usage of the imac?

Stick with i5. That money can be better spent on e.g. AppleCare

 

[supern0va]

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Thks all. I got the late09 i5 quad in the end. Only problem is that my screen is kinda messed up (burn marks!). Sent back for repair, hopefully all is good next week!

On a side note I'm unable to get my cloned bootcamp windows 7 to work (used winclone on the bootcamp partition of my mbp). Windows can't start up even in safe mode. Anyone has any ideas?

 

[panzer06]

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Thks all. I got the late09 i5 quad in the end. Only problem is that my screen is kinda messed up (burn marks!). Sent back for repair, hopefully all is good next week!

On a side note I'm unable to get my cloned bootcamp windows 7 to work (used winclone on the bootcamp partition of my mbp). Windows can't start up even in safe mode. Anyone has any ideas?

They discontinued winclone because of all the random issues working with 10.6 and win 7. On some omy systems the clone would work on others great big fail. I finally gave up and started using a high end windows laptop or VMWare fusion on the macs.

Cheers,

 

[supern0va]

They discontinued winclone because of all the random issues working with 10.6 and win 7. On some omy systems the clone would work on others great big fail. I finally gave up and started using a high end windows laptop or VMWare fusion on the macs.

Cheers,

Thks panzer06.
Is there any alternative to winclone?
I still want a boot camp partition vs just a virtual machine, and reinstalling everything is really quite painful.
or should i just reinstall windows 7, then use norton ghost or some other cloning software for the windows stuff?

 

[panzer06]

Thks panzer06.
Is there any alternative to winclone?
I still want a boot camp partition vs just a virtual machine, and reinstalling everything is really quite painful.
or should i just reinstall windows 7, then use norton ghost or some other cloning software for the windows stuff?

I've not heard of any other successful windows cloning products that work with a Mac. A full re-install may be in your future.

Cheers,