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Late 2012 iMac still worth it?

R

Randanman

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 1, 2015
2
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Hi, I am currently looking to buy a desktop to supplement my MacBook Air as I have no storage left and it isn't quite powerful enough for some photo editing and coding needs.

I have decided on an iMac and after a visit to the Apple Store would love a 27" model.

As I am used to an SSD, I would want a fusion drive and 8gb of RAM is the minimum.

I have found a refurbished late 2012 27" iMac with 2.9GHz quad-core i5, 16GB RAM, 1TB fusion drive and 660M graphics for £1000.

A new 21.5" with 2.8GHz i5, 8Gb RAM and 1TB fusion (albeit the 24gb SSD version) would cost me about the same with a student discount.

Will the 2012 model be nearly as powerful as the brand new 2015 model? I would love the extra screen size, more SSD on fusion and additional ram with the older model but wouldn't want to sacrifice too much on processing power or graphics.

Any advice would greatly appreciated.
 
Yeah Macs are expensive here in the UK.

The price for the student discounted 21.5 iMac 2.8ghz non-4K is the same as this 27" model I'm looking at, so whatever that 2015 model costs In the US is what I'm looking to pay for the 2012 model.

My question essentially is: for the same money, would you rather have 2012 27" iMac with more RAM and more SSD in fusion drive, or 2015 21.5" iMac with more processing power.

Thanks!
 
Randanman said:
Yeah Macs are expensive here in the UK.

The price for the student discounted 21.5 iMac 2.8ghz non-4K is the same as this 27" model I'm looking at, so whatever that 2015 model costs In the US is what I'm looking to pay for the 2012 model.

My question essentially is: for the same money, would you rather have 2012 27" iMac with more RAM and more SSD in fusion drive, or 2015 21.5" iMac with more processing power.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
The 27" one is better then
 
Randanman said:
Yeah Macs are expensive here in the UK.

The price for the student discounted 21.5 iMac 2.8ghz non-4K is the same as this 27" model I'm looking at, so whatever that 2015 model costs In the US is what I'm looking to pay for the 2012 model.

My question essentially is: for the same money, would you rather have 2012 27" iMac with more RAM and more SSD in fusion drive, or 2015 21.5" iMac with more processing power.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Yes, everything Apple makes is really expensive in all of Europe. But my parents have a machine very similar to the 27" iMac you are looking at. It is still a very good machine. I would also choose the 27" over the 21.5" iMac. The extra screen real estate is really nice.
 
You won't be sacrificing any processing power if you get the older 2012 one. Seems like you want the 27" inch screen anyway. AFAIK the HDD portion of the fusion drive hasn't increased in speed at all, so you might as well get the larger SSD.
 
Defintily take the 27". The screen is amazing and the performance graphics wise is also better. Another plus is that you can upgrade the RAM in the 27" iMac whilst you cant on the 21.5".
 
Woah. The 27" has the old IPS screen.

I would not buy an iMac today without a Retina display.

I'd take a 21.5" with Retina over an old 27" any day of the week, no matter the internals.
 
AlexisV said:
Woah. The 27" has the old IPS screen.

I would not buy an iMac today without a Retina display.

I'd take a 21.5" with Retina over an old 27" any day of the week, no matter the internals.
Click to expand...

The 2.8GHz 21.5" model he is looking at does not have the retina display.
 
AlexisV said:
Woah. The 27" has the old IPS screen.

I would not buy an iMac today without a Retina display.

I'd take a 21.5" with Retina over an old 27" any day of the week, no matter the internals.
Click to expand...

The old screen has a good pixel density, even with it not being a retina display. My iPhone, iPad, and rMBP all use retina displays and my 2011 iMac's screen still looks good. Yes, you can see the pixels, but it's certainly not bad. And their's no way I could go to a machine that's running only a 5400 rpm hard disk drive in 2015, regardless of retina display. I suffer everyday with my 2011 iMac's slow HDD.
 
AlexisV said:
Woah. The 27" has the old IPS screen.

I would not buy an iMac today without a Retina display.

I'd take a 21.5" with Retina over an old 27" any day of the week, no matter the internals.
Click to expand...

The screen on my non-retina 27" iMac is amazing. If OP is getting a good deal for the older 27", the screen will be an upgrade from what he is using now.
 
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