i5 vs i7 vs refurb vs...

[easepease]

Hey a lot of these questions have been floating around about whats best value for money. I thought maybe instead of a bunch of one to one comparisons why not have all "4" options of the quad cores refurb in one thread...

IMHO I feel it depends on whether you get student discount or not... If you don't the refurb i7 is the best value. It is faster cpu wise and much cheaper than the new i5. I ended up buying the new i5 because I got $100 off then another $200 by selling my itouch I got for free, so that brought the price to $1699, same as the i7 refurb which is at $1699. Now I thought at equal price levels, the i5 barely wins out mainly because I want to use the computer for a little music production and then gaming so the GPU and faster memory was more important, and lets face it I was able to walk in and get it day one and not wait for it to ship.

Just wondering what others think. I feel student discount go new, if no discount then hands down you can't beat those prices... I mean processor wise the i7 beats out the i5 by at least 10%-30% (depending on the situation)

It seems like we need to wait and get some more solid benchmarks done before we can really figure this out but by then the refurbs may be all gone. My geekbench 32 bit with my i5 was 7100 after a few runs. It seems i7's are getting in the 8000, but geekbench is really HT biased in my opnion.

Lastly I know there are some benchmarks floating around I found this one with the new i5 on it...
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5+760+@+2.80GHz

P.S I am in love with my new i5... I had an i7 refurb earlier in the year but returned it due to screen and hard drive issues, and decided I could wait. I'm loving having the big screen back!!!

 

[dexthageek]

I am more then happy with my i7 refurb, I have had it almost a month.

I honestly don't think you can go wrong with the i7 refurb. Unless you absolutely have to have the updated GPU the 1GB makes it look very appetizing. However, I do not do enough gaming on my PC to make it worth the extra price.

 

[easepease]

FWI price levels are as follows...

iMac (refurb 2009)
i5 - $1529
i7 - $1699

iMac (New 2010)
i5 - $1999 ($1899 w/ free ipod if student)
i7 - $2199 ($2079 w/ free ipod if student)

also eventually in a 4-6 the new models should be refurbs at price points
i5 - $1699
i7 - $1849

** free ipod is a $200 rebate on any model

 

[easepease]

yea had i not been able to sell my ipod for the full $200 I would have gone i7, especially since I enjoy running parallels and if I am not mistaken you can set the HT cores as cores just for windows???

 

[dexthageek]

FWI price levels are as follows...

iMac (refurb 2009)
i5 - $1529
i7 - $1699

iMac (New 2010)
i5 - $1999 ($1899 w/ free ipod if student)
i7 - $2199 ($2079 w/ free ipod if student)

also eventually in a 4-6 the new models should be refurbs at price points
i5 - $1699
i7 - $1749

** free ipod is a $200 rebate on any model

We wont see the 2010 i7 iMac refurb priced that low. When they do show up, they will probably debut around $1849 which seems to be the trend for the high-end refurb.

 

[dwd3885]

FWI price levels are as follows...

iMac (refurb 2009)
i5 - $1529
i7 - $1699

iMac (New 2010)
i5 - $1999 ($1899 w/ free ipod if student)
i7 - $2199 ($2079 w/ free ipod if student)

also eventually in a 4-6 the new models should be refurbs at price points
i5 - $1699
i7 - $1749

** free ipod is a $200 rebate on any model

how do you figure 1749 for the latest model refurb i7? It was 1849 before they dropped the price a few days ago. If I were you I'd get the refurb i7. Best value in the entire bunch and probably the second best computer in that bunch, right behind the new i7.

 

[easepease]

yea $1749 would be really low $50 for an i7 upgrade... i fixed it sorry $1849 was what i was going for thanks

 

[Flatz]

I'm looking to get my first iMac.
I was thinking of the new i5,
But now I am considering the i7 refurb.
I want to use my Adobe programs, as well as Final Cut.
I think the i7 would be a good way to go...
but I am not all that tech savvy so I still get a little confused when trying to figure this out!

 

[dwd3885]

I'm looking to get my first iMac.
I was thinking of the new i5,
But now I am considering the i7 refurb.
I want to use my Adobe programs, as well as Final Cut.
I think the i7 would be a good way to go...
but I am not all that tech savvy so I still get a little confused when trying to figure this out!

if you have the extra $170, get the i7. It's a better computer. i7 will be much better than the i5, especially with the hyperthreading.

 

[easepease]

yea you will notice the difference in final cut while rendering. I would go i7 as well, especially if you won't be gaming much you won't see much help from the better graphics, but will see a difference with the processor. Also if you are not getting a student discount, hands down go i7 refurb

 

[Flatz]

if you have the extra $170, get the i7. It's a better computer. i7 will be much better than the i5, especially with the hyperthreading.

Actually, it's less money, because I was thinking of the i7 refurb.
But I think your advice about hyperthreading probably still applies to that one.

yea you will notice the difference in final cut while rendering. I would go i7 as well, especially if you won't be gaming much you won't see much help from the better graphics, but will see a difference with the processor. Also if you are not getting a student discount, hands down go i7 refurb

I really don't do much in the way of gaming.
If I have the need to do any, my gf has a PS3.
If I was buying a new i5, I was going to have my mother buy it with her educator discount, and give her the cash.
So, my savings on a i7 refurb aren't as significant actually.
But I'm more interested in performance rather than the money.

 

[dwd3885]

Actually, it's less money, because I was thinking of the i7 refurb.
But I think your advice about hyperthreading probably still applies to that one.


I really don't do much in the way of gaming.
If I have the need to do any, my gf has a PS3.
If I was buying a new i5, I was going to have my mother buy it with her educator discount, and give her the cash.
So, my savings on a i7 refurb aren't as significant actually.
But I'm more interested in performance rather than the money.

1699-1529 = 170.

Get the i7. I think its comparable to the newer i5, but the new i5 is more expensive.