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Is the iMac i7 worth the extra?


JulieMG

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I'm about to buy an iMac as I've always wanted one. Anyway...I haven't seen many i7 iMacs for sale new outside of the apple shop so I'm just wondering why everyone is buying the i5 and whether the i7 is worth the outlay. 

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When it comes to Photoshop, there is only about a 5-7% speed boost with an i7 Intel CPU. That said, if you were to do anything with video, then a i7 makes a world of difference. 

Honestly, having more RAM will benefit you more than a faster CPU. Whatever you do, skip the 21.5" iMac and head straight for the 27" variety. Get a 16GB kit from Crucial.com to take you from 8GB to 24GB.  

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Thanks Brian! This is exactly why I've missed your group!  You've just saved me money and I'm wiser :-)

One last thing. I saw that the 1tb fusion drive only has 24gb flash but the 2tb has 128gb. Is the 2tb worth the extra £240? Thx

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Thanks Brian. As you can tell I know precious little. I'm also  guessing that the difference between the graphics card across the 3 machines in the website isn't worth the extra dosh either. Glad I checked in here. Much appreciated. 

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Well, Adobe's products are using the graphics CPU chip and video memory now more than ever. That said, they still haven't figured thing out 100%. (Black Boxes anyone?)

Honestly, I would still get the stock $1799 27" iMac. Then when you get it, head to Crucial.com and run their scanning tool. It's free and harmless. After you run the scanning tool, it will take you to a page with your options. You are looking for a 16GB kit. 

After you install the crucial RAM, you will have 24GB total. Now all that's left is for you to purchase a 3TB or 4TB Thunderbolt G-Drive and a 2TB USB 3.0 G-drive. 

The USB 2TB drive will be used for Time Machine backups and the 3TB/4TB Thunderbolt EHD is for your images. 

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I'd like to add one thing to this thread, for interested parties.

The reason I do not recommend adding a 512GB SSD (Apple calls it a "Flash Drive") is due to the cost and size limitations. As camera sensors get larger, Raw file sizes are increasing. Which means space becomes a premium. I have enough problems with laptop users that are constantly running out of room with 500GB drives, (e.g. My scratch disk is full...)  so there is no way that about to recommend blowing an additional $500 on top of the $1800 to have half the capacity of a 1TB drive. Even though some might be convinced that SSD Drives are the "Bee's Knees."

Of course, there are more reasons, and those will be addressed in a future article that will be posted in the Knowledge Base on Damien's website.

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