imac i5 / i7 opinion wanted

[jabbawockee]

I am going to buy a 27" iMac in the next couple of weeks. I plan on using it to do photo editing (no video), World of Warcraft, surfing the net, etc.

I have access to a 27" quad core i5 2.8ghz quad core with 4gb of memory and the Radeon 5750 with 1gb of memory.

I know this system is plenty adequate for what I plan to do. I have access to buying this machine with NO SALES TAX at the local Marine Corps Base.

My question to you folks is- is an i7 really worth the extra $400-$500 i'll have to spend to get it? The base doesnt sell the i7, so I don't have the tax free option with an i7. My guess is that it probably isnt worth it.. Opinions?

Thanks

 

[dh2005]

For "photo editing (no video), World of Warcraft, surfing the net, etc."...?

Hell, no.

 

[Trivial rock]

I suppose it depends on the type of photo editing you do, which applications do you use for it?

As for web brosing and WOW then the i5 2.8 will be more than adequate, you could save the $400 - 500 for the next Mac you purchase further down the line

Id say go for the i5, I have the original i5 (2.66) with 6Gb of RAM and it is more than adequate for gaming (WOW, Tomb Raider Anniversary and C&C Tiberium Wars) and photo editing in Aperture.

 

[jabbawockee]

I suppose it depends on the type of photo editing you do, which applications do you use for it?

As for web brosing and WOW then the i5 2.8 will be more than adequate, you could save the $400 - 500 for the next Mac you purchase further down the line

Id say go for the i5, I have the original i5 (2.66) with 6Gb of RAM and it is more than adequate for gaming (WOW, Tomb Raider Anniversary and C&C Tiberium Wars) and photo editing in Aperture.

CS4, casual work.

For "photo editing (no video), World of Warcraft, surfing the net, etc."...?

Hell, no.

Thanks dh2005, that was what I was thinking....

 

[neko girl]

What kind of work would you guys recommend the i7 upgrade for?

 

[dh2005]

Thanks dh2005, that was what I was thinking....

No problem, mate.

 

[CoastieCook]

What kind of work would you guys recommend the i7 upgrade for?

I'm looking at the i7 option as well. I'd recommend it for FinalCut/LiveType users, or people who use Logic Studio and other music software with tons of plugins. (very processor/memory intensive).

Also, one of the truly awesome things about it is that you can run Linux/Solaris/Win7/other OS of your choice in VMware, while dedicating 2 processor cores to the guest OS. If you get the 16BG of RAM (or add it yourself ) you can even dedicate a huge amount of RAM to your guest OS and it will run like its' own machine. If you combine that with the display output, it's like having 2 high-end computers running different OSes in one box. How hard does that rock???

My question to you folks is- is an i7 really worth the extra $400-$500 i'll have to spend to get it? The base doesnt sell the i7, so I don't have the tax free option with an i7. My guess is that it probably isnt worth it.. Opinions?

Jabbawockee, if you go through the Apple online store, you can get their military discount (which is the same as the employee discount, something like 17% if I remember correctly). Also, depending on the state you're stationed in, if you buy it online, there will be no sales tax as well. Possibly you can get the i7 for less than what you'd pay for the i5 at the exchange. If you want, I can tell you how to access the military discount part of the Apple site (it's really not difficult).

Cheers,
Mike

 

[theking79]

the i5 quad doesn't have hyper threading does it? just the turbo boost mechanism. With the i7 you would get hyperthreading, not that it would make a lot of different to what you are doing.

 

[MacSignal]

Here's a related thread from Apple Insider that might be worth a look. It seems to me that the i5 would be good enough for your immediate needs. If the premium was only $200 more for the i7 as it is for retail and refurb, then it might be tempting to have for anything that you might do in the future that could take advantage of the i7's hyper-threading and maybe for resale. Good luck!