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Which of the two is more worth the money?

E

EliteF50

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 28, 2009
197
0
Okay, I regret buying my refurbished 20" iMac, and have decided to sell it and buy a refurbished ATiMac 21.5" with 3.33GHz, or a 27" 3.06GHz C2D.

Now, my question is: Which is more worth it? I'd love a 27" screen, but will the 21.5's 3.33GHz and 6MB Cache be a much bigger upgrade compared to the 3.06GHz C2D?

Thanks.
 
You will not notice the 3.06 -> 3.33 jump at all, whereas the screen size will be a HUGE difference, as well as the fact that you can add another 4GB DDR for under $100 from Amazon etc for 8GB total.
 
WilliamG said:
You will not notice the 3.06 -> 3.33 jump at all, whereas the screen size will be a HUGE difference, as well as the fact that you can add another 4GB DDR for under $100 from Amazon etc for 8GB total.
Click to expand...

I agree about the 3.06 vs 3.33 jump and 21" vs 27" screen size.

However, I have no idea what relevance the ram issue is. Either iMac can have that upgrade.
 
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What about the jump to 6MB cache?
 
Icaras said:
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What about the jump to 6MB cache?
Click to expand...

Good point. The 21.5" ATI is really nice. :D It's what I have and it's very quick.

If you really want a bigger screen then go for the 27" I guess. Otherwise you'll be impressed with the 21.5". I use my iMac on my desk and a 21" is plenty big when sitting only 3 feet from it. What I wouldn't mind is another monitor.

Which is a good point... If people are suggesting adding another 4GB of ram to bring the 27" up to speed, for the same price you could buy another 21" or 22" external monitor for the smaller iMac and have much more space than that 27". Also, I personally think that dual screens is better for productivity than one screen anyway. :D
 
I would go 21 inch and buy a matching 21 incher from Dell.... I believe they have these for sale already. Would be more useful than one 27 I think...

That is if you're set on these two options. I'd personally save up a bit and get an i7 to future proof yourself a bit more....

Paul
 
pcypert said:
I would go 21 inch and buy a matching 21 incher from Dell.... I believe they have these for sale already. Would be more useful than one 27 I think...

That is if you're set on these two options. I'd personally save up a bit and get an i7 to future proof yourself a bit more....

Paul
Click to expand...

I feel like the i7's are already on their way out... I think an extra 21" monitor is more future proof than the i7 :D

My plan was to buy a 21.5" ATI and built a PC with the money I am saving. With the extra $500 I'm well on my way to having TWO computers and one being more powerful than the 27" Quad. Don't worry, no Win7. Ubuntu all the way!
 
Well, which of the two will be more future proof in terms of selling it. In case Apple comes up with a brand new crazy looking iMac, and I want to sell mine for one.

Which iMac can I sell for more money?
 
ViViDboarder said:
I feel like the i7's are already on their way out... I think an extra 21" monitor is more future proof than the i7 :D
Click to expand...


That doesn't even make any sense, your saying the i7 is about to be replaced, so buy the even older model processor????????
 
X1Lightning said:
That doesn't even make any sense, your saying the i7 is about to be replaced, so buy the even older model processor????????
Click to expand...

Yea... because it's way cheaper. I'm saying if you're buying what is about to be a mid-level computer you're not going to get much extra out of it.

I'll buy my iMac and accept it as mid-level and use the extra money to build a supercomputer of my own that's better than the i7... Make sense? In the end I have a iMac and a desktop better than i7 even if the iMac is only a C2D.

Does that make sense now? I'm really suggesting it because you can still get a more powerful computer with the extra money.
 
ViViDboarder said:
I feel like the i7's are already on their way out... I think an extra 21" monitor is more future proof than the i7 :D

My plan was to buy a 21.5" ATI and built a PC with the money I am saving. With the extra $500 I'm well on my way to having TWO computers and one being more powerful than the 27" Quad. Don't worry, no Win7. Ubuntu all the way!
Click to expand...

I'm really interested in your way. But no matter how I try
I couldnot build a computer including a monitor and more powerful than iMac i7 model with only $500 . Maybe I'm misunderstanding your statement somewhere.

For me, two computers mean ones with their own monitor.
 
hmm, that seems like you are going to spend a lot of money to buy a mid level imac and then build a pc box that can out run the i7, pretty sure you are going to spend over 3k

What do you do in ubuntu that requires more power than the i7 imac?
 
EliteF50 said:
Okay, I regret buying my refurbished 20" iMac, and have decided to sell it and buy a refurbished ATiMac 21.5" with 3.33GHz, or a 27" 3.06GHz C2D.

Now, my question is: Which is more worth it? I'd love a 27" screen, but will the 21.5's 3.33GHz and 6MB Cache be a much bigger upgrade compared to the 3.06GHz C2D?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I would go for the 27" i was just at the store looking at the 21 and the 27.
the 27 is the only way to go, its beautiful.
and the speed diff between the 3.06 and the 3.3 is just about nothing,
you will get more use out of the real estate of the screen than the extra 240 mhz of the upgraded 21.5 processor
 
EliteF50 said:
Can we please get back on topic?
Click to expand...

27". Only way to go. Are you really going to notice am 8% speed increase (that is all the difference between 3.33 and 3.06). The 21.5" should only be purchased (IMHO) if you are buying the entry level model. I have a hard time even justifying the Step up model for 1499 as for another 200 you have the 27"!
 
Alright, thanks everyone. One more quick question though: The C2D isn't going to be prehistoric or anything anytime soon, is it? Because I'd love to go for the
i5/i7, but they're way too expensive for me right now.

WilliamG said:
You're right. I thought only the 27" had the 4 RAM slots. I was wrong! :)
Click to expand...

It does, and so does the 21.5" iMac.
 
EliteF50 said:
Alright, thanks everyone. One more quick question though: The C2D isn't going to be prehistoric or anything anytime soon, is it? Because I'd love to go for the
i5/i7, but they're way too expensive for me right now.
\.
Click to expand...

Well the C2D did come out like 4 years ago, so in some ways it is old tech. With that said, a lot depends on what you plan to do with it. I myself do a lot with virtual machines so I wanted to make sure I had a quad core in order to still have at least 2 cores available to OSX. If your plans are more to use this for day to day "standard" stuff (surf the internet, play a game now and again, word processing, photo editing) then the C2D should be fine.
 
paulrbeers said:
Well the C2D did come out like 4 years ago, so in some ways it is old tech. With that said, a lot depends on what you plan to do with it. I myself do a lot with virtual machines so I wanted to make sure I had a quad core in order to still have at least 2 cores available to OSX. If your plans are more to use this for day to day "standard" stuff (surf the internet, play a game now and again, word processing, photo editing) then the C2D should be fine.
Click to expand...

Yeah, all I really do on the computer is internet, word processing, light video editing, etc. Do you think Apple will stop using the C2Ds all together anytime soon?
 
EliteF50 said:
Yeah, all I really do on the computer is internet, word processing, light video editing, etc. Do you think Apple will stop using the C2Ds all together anytime soon?
Click to expand...

With the new i3's out, eventually yes they will drop the c2d's, but whether they do this anytime soon is up in the air. Honestly, my advice for anyone is when you are ready to buy, just do it. Every 6 months there is something new out so if you always wait for the "next big thing", you will never buy the computer!
 
EliteF50 said:
Alright, thanks everyone. One more quick question though: The C2D isn't going to be prehistoric or anything anytime soon, is it? Because I'd love to go for the
i5/i7, but they're way too expensive for me right now.



It does, and so does the 21.5" iMac.
Click to expand...

Right. :)

I still say get the 27". 21.5" is really tiny. Heck, my 24" LED Cinema Display feels tiny next to my 27" iMac.
 
Alright, thanks everyone. I'll get a 27" as soon as I sell my current iMac. :D
 
EliteF50 said:
Alright, thanks everyone. I'll get a 27" as soon as I sell my current iMac. :D
Click to expand...

I just got a 27'' i5 model from Amazon for $1970 with free shipping and no tax, and it is very nice. I'm sure you're going to love it.

If you can afford the extra $300 for an i5 model, that's the way to go, I think.
 
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