Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Ready to order, but a few ?'s

S

scooterguitar

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 7, 2008
227
0
First of all, I thank you all for any and all comments!
I'm ready to order this weekend. After much consideration I'm thinking I am going to go with the 27" quad, but that extra $300 keeps me thinking...

Ready to order ASAP once I figure out what I need. I am coming from a part-time year-old macbook just too small for me) and doing away with PC"s for good!

1. Basic "every guy" computer useage 75% of the time. Basic internet, word processing, and photo editing.
2. Will do basic home movie video editing with iMovie or similar.
3. I do work with GarageBand heavily on occasion/spurts, but nothing too intensive (yet).
4. I likely won't run too many other apps/programs other than iWork, Scrivener for my neverending/uncompleted novel, and YoJimbo thingy program looks like it might benefit me as well. But, surely I'll find a few more programs I'll end up with.
5. Never any games, unless they are the very basic stock-type games that come on systems.
6. Oh, dare I inquire about the trojan thing once again? I about got whooped the other day asking the same old:>) I know I have to "allow it", etc. My concern would be say I pay for a download for a program and allow it, how am I to know if there is something bad hiding in it? I just want myy CC# and paypal info protected. I'd prefer not to run any virus/trojan/keylogger stuff (again, sorta lost) but surely will if truly needed.

To my concerns, help me make the purchase!

I'm all set to go for the 27, but still ask myself on occasion if it would just be too big. I sit approx 2' from my monitor 99% of the time. My current display is 22" and is fine, but seeing the 21.5 against the 27 in person did it for me. I work with the last 21.5 base version (right before they came with the wireless mouse/kb) with my students. But we aren't doing any in-depth GB or video editing. FWIW, I love that machine, as well as a few very old little white iMacs that are still going strong with all the punishment they get!

Will upgrading RAM to with 8gb option be beneficial for my needs?
And alas, duo 27 or quad?
So basically for $300 more I get the Quad and better graphics, correct? Numbers and tech data are useless to me, as I'm clueless.
I've never understood the video card option as well, so might as well throw that all in this big mix and be done asking questions all over these boards and making people mad with "the same old questions/save bandwidth and search, etc".

I truly appreciate any help or real suggestions, as well as your time. I've learned and researched this on here for a few months now, but the time has come! Basically, duo vs. quad for my needs, any of the rest is icing on the cake if you'd care to be so kind to humour me
Thank you once again.
 
scooterguitar said:
I'm all set to go for the 27, but still ask myself on occasion if it would just be too big. I sit approx 2' from my monitor 99% of the time. My current display is 22" and is fine, but seeing the 21.5 against the 27 in person did it for me. I
Click to expand...

I have the 27" and it is W-I-D-E! Instead of just moving my eyes across the screen, I'm turning my head to view from one side to the other, unless I sit right back in my chair. I was never as conscious of this when using my former 24" Apple LED Display. I haven't got used to it yet...
 
Wow, that does make sense Cecil. I tend to lean way back (un-ergonimically) when just surfing and such like I'm doing here. But with apps such as GB or grad work documents I sit as one should.
Just so darn hard to not go with the monster:eek:
 
Hi.

I got the 27" and first i thought it was large. But as you get used to it, i find it quite normal now. Now i cant think of going to a smaller screen. So i guess the 27" would be the best for you.

Id definitely go with the i5 if i were you. The extra cores will come in handy.
 
Thank you all.
I relooked at them at Best Buy's retail section last night...after speaking with that fairly knowledgable young man and basically just gazing at both sizes, I have decided to go with the 27 i5. Imagine for the extra $300 it will be worth it.
I keep trying to hold off actually placing my order in hopes of the problems being resolved, but it is hard. Guess I'll be calling Apple anyday now:D
 
biggy52 said:
Hi.

I got the 27" and first i thought it was large. But as you get used to it, i find it quite normal now. Now i cant think of going to a smaller screen. So i guess the 27" would be the best for you.

Id definitely go with the i5 if i were you. The extra cores will come in handy.
Click to expand...

I did a Handbrake run last night and it only took 35 minutes from an AVI file to a 1.4GB M4V file formatted for :apple:TV. iStat reported 396% utilization on my CPU. :p

Quad Core rocks!
 
Having second thoughts, am going to place my order this week, but was reminded about the 24" refurbs!
Would this meet my needs? Again, per the tech stuff I'm clueless.
24-inch glossy widescreen display
2.93 duo
4GB memory
640GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 256MB memory
Built-in iSight camera
 
dborja said:
I did a Handbrake run last night and it only took 35 minutes from an AVI file to a 1.4GB M4V file formatted for :apple:TV. iStat reported 396% utilization on my CPU. :p

Quad Core rocks!
Click to expand...

It is fast.

You know what, the 24 hours I had an i7, it was cool too as the CPU % in handbrake would go to 550+ percent. I guess that is due to hyper threading.

I have an i5 now, though it also needs to be sent back. It's not much slower on handbrake though, only 10 percent or so. Really impressive !
 
scooterguitar said:
Having second thoughts, am going to place my order this week, but was reminded about the 24" refurbs!
Would this meet my needs? Again, per the tech stuff I'm clueless.
24-inch glossy widescreen display
2.93 duo
4GB memory
640GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 256MB memory
Built-in iSight camera
Click to expand...

Either would serve your needs now... but the quad core (i5 or i7) will continue to serve your needs that much longer in the future. Based on the benchmarks, I would guess the i5 would last you an extra couple years before it started to feel unreasonably slow, and the i7 perhaps another year on top of that. So which one you should buy mostly depends on how long you intend to use the computer before getting another one.

I also have to mention that some people are still getting brand new 27" iMacs with flickering/blackout issues (see here and here), although it seems to be happening less often with the latest units built in 2010. It appears to not be fixed yet. My 27" iMac (built week 47 of 2009) had this issue and I'm currently waiting on a replacement unit to be shipped. I'm not trying to change your mind, I just want you to know that Apple isn't entirely rid of the flickering/blackout/yellow tinge issues yet.
 
Hehe I am also considering ordering a new Imac (again) after first canceling my order made in October!!!! through a reseller.

However all these stories have me concerned and now with the release of the new i5 and i3 chips sporting multithreading and the release of the 5800 series graphics, I am deeply concerned that I will receive a Mac and within 2 months it will be replaced with a better and more importantly less bugged version.
Anyone else planning on sitting this revision out?
 
powerbook911 said:
It is fast.

You know what, the 24 hours I had an i7, it was cool too as the CPU % in handbrake would go to 550+ percent. I guess that is due to hyper threading.

I have an i5 now, though it also needs to be sent back. It's not much slower on handbrake though, only 10 percent or so. Really impressive !
Click to expand...

Are your iMacs also victim to the flickering/blackout issue?
 
jabbott said:
Are your iMacs also victim to the flickering/blackout issue?
Click to expand...

No the *only* issue my 2 iMac 27s have been the victim of is yellowing. Yellowing is the only problem on these. They are quiet, cool, and beautiful, just yellow.
 
powerbook911 said:
No the *only* issue my 2 iMac 27s have been the victim of is yellowing. Yellowing is the only problem on these. They are quiet, cool, and beautiful, just yellow.
Click to expand...

Bummer. My 27" iMac i7 was also very quiet, and VERY fast, but it ran hot and the display flickered. The display also had what I would consider a warmer backlight color towards the bottom half (not quite yellow, but close), but it wasn't unacceptable. I'm hoping the replacement unit solves all of the issues.
 
Well, if the i5 is what would be best for me, guess I better man up and order later tonight.
 
Hey.

Sounds great :) I am makeing my order in around 3 weeks :)

So given Apple some more weeks to fix the last issues, hehe.

From Kehaan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back