I want to buy my first iMac. I have a few questions though.

[finnwegian]

1. How much better is the i3 processor vs the core2duo?
2. If I'm gonna shell out 1700, why not spend an extra 300 and get twice the power? Right?
3. The only difference between the old and new 1699 models is a graphics card, is that right?

I mainly use the comp for web surfing. I'm starting to upload and keep my pictures but don't do any editing. I played computer games about 4 years ago, I might play the new star craft.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Zacken87]

1. How much better is the i3 processor vs the core2duo?
2. If I'm gonna shell out 1700, why not spend an extra 300 and get twice the power? Right?
3. The only difference between the old and new 1699 models is a graphics card, is that right?

I mainly use the comp for web surfing. I'm starting to upload and keep my pictures but don't do any editing. I played computer games about 4 years ago, I might play the new star craft.

Thanks for your help.

1. Pretty marginal. There's an improvement, but doing what you're doing it's doubtful that you'll really notice.
2. I would recommend upgrading the graphics card, simply on principle, if you intend to add anything. That being said, neither upgrade seems really necessary for what you're doing. StarCraft II will run perfectly fine on the base model.
3. Aside from the updated processor, the minimum RAM speed has also been upped from 1066MHz to 1333MHz.

 

[finnwegian]

One more question. To figure out and compare processor speeds the i3 at 3.2 x 2= 6.4 vs. The quad core i5 at 2.8 x 4 = 11.2. so we have 6.4 vs 11.2 to me this would mean the computer would be twice as fast. Is this a true comparison?

 

[glitch44]

One more question. To figure out and compare processor speeds the i3 at 3.2 x 2= 6.4 vs. The quad core i5 at 2.8 x 4 = 11.2. so we have 6.4 vs 11.2 to me this would mean the computer would be twice as fast. Is this a true comparison?

No. It doesn't work that way.

 

[finnwegian]

Could someone explain to me how this does work? Or somehow compare the i3 and i5 quad core? Computer tech is Greek to me.

 

[dagomike]

Just wait a week or two. There will be benchmarks that will help with your performance comparison. It is confusing with the different architectures. Just basically look at benchmarks comparing what you want to do most.

 

[LeroyTheGreat38]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with these questions. Reading these threads is so confusing to me. All I know is I want a 27" Mac and I want it to be super fast.