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Do you think I would be *Downgrading* by purchasing an i7 iMac?

B

Bluegiz90

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 29, 2009
49
0
So I've been extremely interested in these things every since being unveiled due to the all-in-one and LED HD screen.

I'm coming from a PC with a 22" LCD Monitor (1080p).
Quad Core Q6600 at 2.4Ghz
nVidia 8800GTS 512MB
4GB DDR2 Ram at 800Mhz.

I know from the CPU and Ram they are upgrades, and by far the biggest upgrade would be the Display which I love!
But I'm worried about graphical limitations with the 4850 mobility (Equivelant to 4830 desktop) being a strain trying to run games at that extremely high resolution.

The GPU is the main thing for me, if its a downgrade, its an almost near complete downgrade imo. I am doing Games Design in university so I really need the graphical power to render out/animate etc in HDRI and then play through it in Unreal Engine for testing etc etc.

Being a PC my desk is just so cluttered and it really does put me off my work, I can't concentrate with 5.1 speaker wires everywhere, Mouse + Keyboard wires and the absolute mess of wires at the back of the monitor (I am distracted very easily).

I've been searching for hours every day for people who may have posted Benchmarks of performance that this thing can do in Crysis, but having no luck. I know the 4850 is an extremely powerful card, but this is the mobile variant which is guranteed to be under clocked for heat reduction of course.

I also posted in another thread about using it as a display for Xbox/Playstation 3 etc. When the Adapters do come out for it, will they also carry sound so I wont need any external speakers and can simply use the iMacs Internal Speakers? If anyone could confirm that I would really appreciate it!

So I'll just sum it up incase you're lost by this point :p

Is the 4650M a downgrade from the Desktop 8800GTS? And will it be ok handling the 1400+ resolution of the iMac on games? (A major downgrade if so?)

Will the PS3/Xbox Adapters etc also carry sound so I can watch blu-rays on my PS3 and have the sound come out of the iMacs internal speakers?

Does anyone have *Detail* on how well their i7 iMacs ran any high end games?

So sorry for all the questions, if you dont know the answer then np. But any solid info woud be greatly appreciated!
Thanks again!
 
Bluegiz90 said:
So I've been extremely interested in these things every since being unveiled due to the all-in-one and LED HD screen.

I'm coming from a PC with a 22" LCD Monitor (1080p).
Quad Core Q6600 at 2.4Ghz
nVidia 8800GTS 512MB
4GB DDR2 Ram at 800Mhz.

I know from the CPU and Ram they are upgrades, and by far the biggest upgrade would be the Display which I love!
But I'm worried about graphical limitations with the 4850 mobility (Equivelant to 4830 desktop) being a strain trying to run games at that extremely high resolution.

The GPU is the main thing for me, if its a downgrade, its an almost near complete downgrade imo. I am doing Games Design in university so I really need the graphical power to render out/animate etc in HDRI and then play through it in Unreal Engine for testing etc etc.

Being a PC my desk is just so cluttered and it really does put me off my work, I can't concentrate with 5.1 speaker wires everywhere, Mouse + Keyboard wires and the absolute mess of wires at the back of the monitor (I am distracted very easily).

I've been searching for hours every day for people who may have posted Benchmarks of performance that this thing can do in Crysis, but having no luck. I know the 4850 is an extremely powerful card, but this is the mobile variant which is guranteed to be under clocked for heat reduction of course.

I also posted in another thread about using it as a display for Xbox/Playstation 3 etc. When the Adapters do come out for it, will they also carry sound so I wont need any external speakers and can simply use the iMacs Internal Speakers? If anyone could confirm that I would really appreciate it!

So I'll just sum it up incase you're lost by this point :p

Is the 4650M a downgrade from the Desktop 8800GTS? And will it be ok handling the 1400+ resolution of the iMac on games? (A major downgrade if so?)

Will the PS3/Xbox Adapters etc also carry sound so I can watch blu-rays on my PS3 and have the sound come out of the iMacs internal speakers?

Does anyone have *Detail* on how well their i7 iMacs ran any high end games?

So sorry for all the questions, if you dont know the answer then np. But any solid info woud be greatly appreciated!
Thanks again!
Click to expand...

I think it would be pretty equivalent to what you have in terms of graphics, certainly not much of a downgrade from the 8800GTS, and the other items would be considerable upgrades. I'd get the iMac.
What you'll have to consider though if you're a gamer is that you're paying top dollar for something that is essentially only a small step up from what you have (apart from the display) and the iMac is un-upgradeable in most areas for most people. So you're going to be stuck with its speeds for a while. In my case its fine since I don't play games more often than once every 2 months, but if you upgrade your graphics card every year or even every 2 years, its worth thinking about it some more.
The 4850 mobility is roughly equivalent to the 4830 desktop card.
 
Agreed.

The Mac would beat the PC in so many other
ways -- including the operating system and
installed software.

However, the moment you mention gaming
it's all over thinking about a MAC.
 
Well I do see the point you guys are making. However, I will definitley be dual booting into Windows 7 for games only, I will be using OS X for everything else as I think its just simply put, better, in terms of usability and productivity.

I'm not bothered about upgrading cards, I've had my 8800GTS since it was released (Which I think is over 2 years now?) and I've never seen the need to upgrade, I understand that the 4850/4830 is of similar performance to the 8800GTS. Graphic cards are brought out too often and usually offer little performance increases imo, so I wouldnt be upgrading for atleast 2 years, even if I did keep this PC set up.

Do iMacs generally hold their value? Would I be able to sell this off in 2-3 years time for a good price do you think? (If anyone has personal experience).
 
Macs hold value better than nearly any other type of computer. A Mac Pro might hold its value better than an iMac, but this one DOES have pretty much the best dang display Apple makes, so that alone should ensure its value stays relatively high for some time to come.

Edit: I sold my G5 two years after I bought it for only 800 bux less. A buddy of mine sold his for what he paid for it (though that was an incredible employee discount from Apple at the time). If you want to know what used iMacs go for, vs their original cost, look on craigslist.
 
Bluegiz90 said:
Well I do see the point you guys are making. However, I will definitley be dual booting into Windows 7 for games only, I will be using OS X for everything else as I think its just simply put, better, in terms of usability and productivity.

I'm not bothered about upgrading cards, I've had my 8800GTS since it was released (Which I think is over 2 years now?) and I've never seen the need to upgrade, I understand that the 4850/4830 is of similar performance to the 8800GTS. Graphic cards are brought out too often and usually offer little performance increases imo, so I wouldnt be upgrading for atleast 2 years, even if I did keep this PC set up.

Do iMacs generally hold their value? Would I be able to sell this off in 2-3 years time for a good price do you think? (If anyone has personal experience).
Click to expand...

I would think the 4850 is slightly better than the 8800GS, it is only a bit over a year old i think...
I am currently downloading windows 7 and will use bootcamp to dual boot for games like COD4, NFS Underground, and FIFA '10 which I am expecting to pretty much run full settings on the 4850 since they are either old games or not too graphics intensive.
Certainly if you weren't planning on upgrading your 2 yr old graphics card for another two years you're not a hardcore gamer so I'd snap up the iMac now. It will be a significant upgrade, and these are the best value iMacs in years thanks to the i5/i7 processors and the 27" IPS screen
 
OP, I'm curious as to your current Windows 7 experience ratings. My iMac 24 with C2D 3.06 & 8800GS gets 6.6 in each category except the internal 500GB disk which gets 5.9

I don't know what the 27" gets but it's most likely better. The issue for you is the super high res of the 27" Most modern games aren't going to play well with high/ultra settings at the native resolution. If you want a Mac get one of these refurbs for $1149 and keep the PC. The ability to easily update the GPU and the CPU makes gaming really fun. Or make it really interesting -- Buy the 27" with the C2D and the 4670 once they are available as refurbs and use the Mac as the display for your gaming rig. Just upgrade your video card in the PC to one that has a displayport connector.

Cheers,
 
Get the i7. It would be an upgrade in all ways. And if you run Windows on it as well, it'll be the ultimate machine.
 
fruitpunch.ben said:
...I'd snap up the iMac now. It will be a significant upgrade, and these are the best value iMacs in years thanks to the i5/i7 processors and the 27" IPS screen
Click to expand...

That's what was said a few years ago when the aluminum imacs came out with the 8800 GS. It was the best graphics card they had had for a while. I think (I'm hoping) that as apple gains market share, and especially in this recession, we'll see more value in the mac lineup.
 
fruitpunch.ben said:
I would think the 4850 is slightly better than the 8800GS, it is only a bit over a year old i think...
I am currently downloading windows 7 and will use bootcamp to dual boot for games like COD4, NFS Underground, and FIFA '10 which I am expecting to pretty much run full settings on the 4850 since they are either old games or not too graphics intensive.
Certainly if you weren't planning on upgrading your 2 yr old graphics card for another two years you're not a hardcore gamer so I'd snap up the iMac now. It will be a significant upgrade, and these are the best value iMacs in years thanks to the i5/i7 processors and the 27" IPS screen
Click to expand...

My Windows 7 Ratings are as follows:
Processor: 7.1
RAM: 7.1
Graphics: 6.9
Gaming Graphics: 6.9
Primary Hard Disk: 5.9.

My GPU is an 8800GTS not and 8800GS, the GTS is much better. Anyone with the i7 4850 got a windows 7 rating they could post?
 
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