Mid range 2011 21.5 gets no respect!

[prism]

I noticed in the forums that the choice tends to be between either the entry level 21.5" or the high end 27".
I recently purchased the mid range 21.5" and I must say that I am a happy camper! The screen is very nice, despite a bit of yellowing on the right side, and the WD 1 Tera drive is blistering fast and not as noisy as some would like you to believe. Oh and the native res gaming is superb! Sure, the 27" screen gives you a significantly greater amount of real estate but it is nO retina display. In fact it has only a couple of more dpi than the 21.5", consumes way more power and is very taxing on the gpu if playing games at native res. So at least for me it works out very well.
Hope that helps for those that are still deciding what to get.

 

[timtom33]

Great post. Biggest and most expensive isn't always best, as it something very much to suit your own needs! Enjoy the new machine!

 

[Icaras]

I absolutely agree with you. Between the two models, the 21.5" iMacs received the biggest jumps, going quad core the entire range with up to i7 and hyper threading!

In fact, as any benchmark will show, the top end 21.5" is only bested by the top 27". Damned impressive considering the top end 27" is half a grand more. But most users don't see it at this angle.

I'm going to be selling my 2010 27" for a 2011 21.5" with the SSD and i7. Can't wait! If my Macbook Air has taught me anything, it's that sheer speed trumps display size for me

Great post. Biggest and most expensive isn't always best, as it something very much to suit your own needs! Enjoy the new machine!

Totally agree here too. I think a lot of users simply buy the 27" because they believe that exact notion you mentioned, that "bigger is better", while not taking into account processor and CPU configurations. Thus, I feel the top end 21.5" is the best value for raw power.

 

[jborko]

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I personally am considering between high-end 21.5 and low-end 27. There are 2 things that keep me attracted to 27. The obvios screen size (i love space mostly for photo editing) and confirmed space inside the machine where you can install SSD. I am not a gamer so playing in native res does not bring any benefit while SSD in the future and real estate means something. Apart from this I do agree that high-end 21.5 is probably the best value for performance. 24" is missing... A lot...

 

[jpjandrade]

Probably because the base 21.5 is the best cost/benefit-wise and the high end 27 is the best overall. Not saying that the other two are terrible choices, but it's either better to save US$300 for negligible improvements or spend an extra US$300 for brutally better graphics performance.

 

[Carl G35c]

I just bto a 21.5" i7... should be here May 28 - Jun 2