iMac

[shithead]

Looking to buy an iMac with eith the i5 or the i7. Ive been told there isnt much difference for the $450 including tax.

I will be doing some video encoding at same time as web browsing if that helps.

Thanks

[TopHatPlus]

Well i am a bit of a mac guy, as in i would never buy a pc only macs little bit haha the new Imacs are pretty sic, but i am pretty sure an update is coming soon so wait and see what the next gens have in them and worst case you save on a in stock current gen for being last gen. For video encoding and hard core editing of mass HD video you need a pretty ballin cpu, i am running a 2010 MBP with the 2.66 ghz i7 and it chews through HD video with impressive speeds for any computer never mind a laptop. Lots of ram is required for video editing as well decent editing programs are kind of hungry that way.

i3 = standard dual core with hyper threading, nothing that fancvy

i5 = dual core with hyper threading and turbo boost pretty awesome performance

i7 = exact same as the i5 but generally faster.

mac <3

[MuSuLPhReAk]

The top i7 cores will have a significant speed difference in video editing as TopHatPlus mentioned. If it is something you will do a lot of, best to spring for the i7 as it'll save you a lot of waiting time.

[nii]

I would actually suggest the i3. Save your money and grab 16GB of ram from a 3rd party. You wont notice a diff from the i3->i7 with one exception, video editing. If you use any type of vid editing software more than twice a month, then it may be worth it to get the proc upgrade. But i would say 97% of pp dont.

What type of encoding are we talking here? is it something you run then go to bed, or you need that performance in real time (such as editing).

i think Top and MP have it right, if you're not editing HD stuff, it aint worth it. I've made a couple HD home movies for fun on the i5 with ease.


Note: Do you know anyone who's still in university? The savings you get through them are quite good.

[RagingRandy]

Save your cash and buy a PC. Macs are incredibly over-rated. For what you pay for a Mac you can get a top line PC and still have cash left over. That said get the fastest processor you can afford. I hand build computers that have been tested against Macs and they excel in every aspect.

P.S. for those that do not know already the only difference between Macs and PCs are the operating systems. The base hardware is the same and as long as there is driver support you can run WIN and Mac OSX on the same box.

One of the issues with Mac is the length of support you get. Try and update your OS 3 years, if that, after you buy your box. You will be out of luck.

[TopHatPlus]

raging randy is 100% incorrect!

although yes an i5 processor in a Mac is no different then a pc they are NOTHING ALIKE

they have the most amazing keyboards! with the smartest backlighting system! (on laptops but there wireless keyboards for desktops are just as breathtaking)
they make everything out of aluminum wait what? no crappy plastic? no... they use real materials
there performance specs can at sometimes be criticized as mediocre but mac does not put a massive processor and go hey look a massive processor no they put everything together in a way that makes the entire machine rune AMAZING!
o
to and the software alone? is breath taking every update is just a great improvement and always exciting! (time machine story, so i came in from work and my hard drive crashed after 4 years of intense daily use, so i went out and bought a new HDD and installed it, ran a full time machine recovery, and the backup was within 2 hours of the crash, i had all my browser history and everything... i was EXTREMELY happy!)
to know what the difference is you need to use it and you will 100% understand

my mac history
4 1/2 years ago i purchased my first Mac having never used or seen one, just the concept of the software had me intrigued, i spent 1850 on a black macbook first gen and i had to take a $100 cash advance off my brand new visa to buy that baby... was it a good purchase? not really, but it was a great investment! my brother/sister inlaw use it today seeing as i have sense upgraded to a new one, it runs faster then every pc laptop worth less then $900 and i would say that it was worht every dime and at $8.70 an hour it was quite the investment >_<

purchased a 1st gen ipod nano about 4 weeks after release, i have used it every day since purchase and it now runs my car stereo, i still get about 4 hours out of a battery charge and its a pretty beastly machine.

iphone 3g not much to say had it 3 years spend 4-5 hours a day listening to music with it and i am exciting for the new iphone 5 in the fall. i iphone and the ipod touch well they just are... nothing competes =D

oo and to raging randys os after 3 years thing? haha 4 years after i got my mac, and i had leopard installed on it when i got it, i had snow leopard installed with no issues, i am probably going to end up putting lion on it in the fall, like you said there hardwares the same and a mac is a mac =D

sorry for the lengthy reply i spend ALOT of time on my mac and alot of time shopping for my apple products, and a saying we run at work is "cheap is expensive and expensive is cheap"

[RagingRandy]

There is no changing a Mac-addicts mind. I will not even bother trying. Except to say, If you read my post you will realize I am not comparing a Mac to a $400 PC. This is the folly of most Mac addicts. Compare the same specs all round including aluminum cases and disco lights if you wish. In the end the PC will give you more bang for your buck. Your backup point is software related and as a rule the PC software market far exceeds that of the Mac software market. For instance for less than $50 you can buy Acronis backup and even restore your complete system to a completely different computer. As for native software you can create restore points to an external drive for disaster recovery.

BTW, in my job I support both Macs and PCs. I have the same amount of issues with both. Speaking from experience, they both have their issues. Also, my experience exceeds the amount of years you have been breathing. So your "ALOT" comment is meaningless.

[nii]

P.S. for those that do not know already the only difference between Macs and PCs are the operating systems. The base hardware is the same and as long as there is driver support you can run WIN and Mac OSX on the same box.

Mac's are over rated pieces of poop, you're paying a huge premium for the hardware. I can't tell you how much i hate my imac, upgrading to an SSD (a simple task on any desktop) is a ****ing nightmare on any imac.

I would suggest to anyone with any tech skills to just buy ur own mac compliant hardware (buy an intel box) and install OS X on it. You have to go through some extra steps but well worth it. I wouldn't suggest it to the OP but it IS an option for some.

[TopHatPlus]

haha that was harsh >_< i don't knock pcs, they are cheap, inexpensive, software is cheap (sort of), and for someone with a champaign taste on a beer budget yes a pc would be a better choice, the whole hacked mac (building a pc tower into a Mac) is an option but theres quite a bit of trouble shooting to get all the drivers and such working. I love my 10+ hours of battery life, my 6 pound 15' laptop, and my AMAZING high res screen, whats a 27" 2560 x 1440 monitor worth? (if you can find one not by apple) and compare it to the price of a apple computer? your not paying that much for the computer its the screens, my 15" laptop looks 100000x better then my 50" 1080p plasma television.

Its just one of those things, some people just can't justify spending money, haha ie, i would not drive a toyota, hyundai, or Kia if you gave it to me... i would rather drive my 1999 grand am with 230k kms and a shot power steering pump and save up and buy my new camaro then a free anything by those companies... cheap is expensive and expensive is cheap...


as for the imac thing with changing the HDD yeah.... the whole suction cups and pulling that fatty piece of glass off.... it definitely requires multiple people and steady hands >_<

[O-Train]

My buddy says Lenovo and if you knew him too, that's what you would buy. Dell is also an acceptable alternative.

http://www.lenovo.com/ca/en/