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dmstadel

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 2, 2010
1
0
I need a new iMac ( old one died). On buyers guide recommended waiting. Will updates be significant? Would imac27 i5 quad core be better than iMac 21.5 dual core 2 processor if i buy now? Use of computer for photos, videos and 4 kids using for school projects. Ran out of memory on prior iMac G5 2006 purchase but mother board failed anyway.
 
We don't know right now. There have been very little rumors if at all about what to expect. I've not even seen any rumors about a refresh coming soon. Last year Apple DID do a refresh to their iMacs in the spring, but it was minor hardware boosts. You choice should be primarily determined on how badly you need it. Again, nobody (other than Apple of course) has any real idea if there is going to be a refresh. The guide is just saying that there might be one considering there was one last year at this time. I personally don't think there will be one.

As for whether you should buy a 27" or 21.5", the choice is once again. If you want to save money you might want to go for the 21.5" as it is the one that I have it it gets the job done great (I have the baseline model). If your kids are into gaming or you use things like photoshop/any video editing software a lot then the the quad core would definitely give you better performance and it would be up to you to decide if its worth that much money. Keep in mind you could always get the Tier 2 21.5" iMac that has a better graphics card than the baseline.

Hope I helped and feel free to respond with any other related questions!
 
there might be some updates, but i doubt very much that these updates will make a real significant difference , maybe 0.2 ghz more or something like that and mainly for the i7 i guess
so if you got the money go in the next apple store and get the one you like and can afford, and if there comes a really big update to all the iMac's you can always sell yours again in a couple month time and get the updated version , you wont lose money really
 
You should wait unless you want the i7 27" because most probably the next iMac update will be an "i" processor update for the other iMac models, except for the low end 21.5". My guess is the high end 21.5" will get an "i" processor too. I think it's useless to buy a C2D now, because that's a lost cause. Also, the ATI GPU line will be 5xxx instead of 4xxx. Those are my reasons, but you should make your own of course. I'll wait another 2-5 months.
 
You guys bring up great points, but WWDC is coming close. I don't think they would release an new line of iMacs and then release the iPhone 4. In my opinion, if they were going to do it, they would've done it by now.
 
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