My sister's old iMac is on its last legs and she was originally planning to get the 2.3 i7 Mini with SSD or Fusion, but things got a bit iffy with no refresh in 2013 and she's not sure how much longer she can wait. Now, we just spotted a 2012 refurbished 27" 3.2 i5 iMac at our Apple Store and wondering if that might be the better option if it's all "old" 2012 hardware anyway.
Some comparison:
The price for the said Mini in our country is $890 and with SSD would be $1078. The iMac on the other hand is $1655 but with the standard 1TB, so she'd lose out on the SSD in this case.
However, she'd need to get a monitor for the Mini since she was previously using an iMac (but she'll be using her old mouse and keyboard), which would be an additional cost of roughly $350-$550 (she's still deciding which 24" model to get). So in the end, the price comes out pretty close.
Points of concern:
1. With similar pricing and by comparing hardware from the same year release, is getting the 2012 iMac refurbished the smarter idea? We're considering the fact that the iMac in general is more powerful, has a dedicated graphics card, and more ram off the shelf.
2. Is losing out on the SSD/Fusion worth it in this case?
3. There's also the i5 vs i7 thing to consider...
She initially decided to go with a Mini this time around because she thought it might be better if she weren't chained down to an all-in-one config like her current iMac. That way, she could just keep her monitor and change out her Mini in maybe around 3 or so years... but with an iMac, she feels like she'd want to get more life out of it to make it worth it.
(As a side note, she's a fashion designer and uses Illustrator, Photoshop, CAD, and so on... and she works with huge files.)
Please help! She's in a dilemma and I'm all stumped myself.
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.
Edited to add: Also, is getting a refurb 2012 even a good idea at all considering all the screen issues a lot of people on here seemed to be having with it?
Some comparison:
The price for the said Mini in our country is $890 and with SSD would be $1078. The iMac on the other hand is $1655 but with the standard 1TB, so she'd lose out on the SSD in this case.
However, she'd need to get a monitor for the Mini since she was previously using an iMac (but she'll be using her old mouse and keyboard), which would be an additional cost of roughly $350-$550 (she's still deciding which 24" model to get). So in the end, the price comes out pretty close.
Points of concern:
1. With similar pricing and by comparing hardware from the same year release, is getting the 2012 iMac refurbished the smarter idea? We're considering the fact that the iMac in general is more powerful, has a dedicated graphics card, and more ram off the shelf.
2. Is losing out on the SSD/Fusion worth it in this case?
3. There's also the i5 vs i7 thing to consider...
She initially decided to go with a Mini this time around because she thought it might be better if she weren't chained down to an all-in-one config like her current iMac. That way, she could just keep her monitor and change out her Mini in maybe around 3 or so years... but with an iMac, she feels like she'd want to get more life out of it to make it worth it.
(As a side note, she's a fashion designer and uses Illustrator, Photoshop, CAD, and so on... and she works with huge files.)
Please help! She's in a dilemma and I'm all stumped myself.
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.Edited to add: Also, is getting a refurb 2012 even a good idea at all considering all the screen issues a lot of people on here seemed to be having with it?
