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Am torn between getting a 13" Air (nice, but would like Firewire and a bigger screen) and waiting, hoping, Apple redesigns the MacBook Pro to have a more sleek Air-like design. The former is available now, albeit with compromise. The latter is a wish based on rumour.

So... the 27" Core i5 iMac is a better performer than the i7?

Edit: we're talking about standard, Best Buy stocked, configurations. Gotcha.

This post has been edited by redgeminipa: 21 November 2011 - 07:59 AM

"The entry-level Mac Pro features a quad-core processor, while the top configuration has 12 processing cores. In between is a Mac Pro model with eight processing cores. All the standard-configuration models feature a 1TB ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card, a 1TB hard drive,"


I wish they made a 1TB memory GPU but alas apple has not offered it yet. Reality Distortion Field anyone?

For some reason I got this mental image of a Mac Pro with a screen pasted onto the side of it and labeled "iMac Pro". Could that be where the Pro is heading?

iMac buyers beware, there is a pretty widespread bug with iMacs running Lion 10.7.2...see Apple's support forum here:
https://discussions....676049#15676049

We've been waiting for a fix from Apple for a long time but so far, nothing has come forth. Basically, we've all been experiencing total system freezes several times a day.

I love my 13" MacBook Air. I just wish I would have stuck with the i5 and not upgraded to the i7. Microsoft Outlook is enough to push the CPU's and kick the fans into high gear The i5 models don't seem to have this as bad.

So unless you absolutely need the i7, skip it!

 redgeminipa, on 21 November 2011 - 07:56 AM, said:

I missed the part of the article that stated it was only about machines you could buy at Best Buy.
I have a 3.4 GHz i7 that I bought at the Apple (brick and mortar) store.

One interesting point to note: the lowest-end iMac ($1199, 21.5-inch) only comes with two RAM slots (and is limited to 8 GB using 4 GB SO-DIMMs), while every other model comes with four (and thus takes 4 x 4 GB SO-DIMMs).

Also notice that i5 and i7 processors come in different flavors -- dual and quad core, and HyperThreading-capable or not. So a 2.0 GHz i7 may be (much) faster than a 2.8 GHz i7... (and iMacs will generally turn out to be quite a bit faster than laptops, especially ignoring the effects of SSD speedups).

 donaldktsang, on 22 November 2011 - 10:09 AM, said:

If you are referring to the 2011 model, you are incorrect. it too has four slots and is expandable to 16GB of RAM. How do I know? I just bought one and upped the memory to 12GB.

One difference between the $1499 and the $1699 iMacs not mentioned in the article is that the $1499 model can be upgraded to an i7 processor, but the $1699 model can't.

 mwieland, on 21 November 2011 - 02:02 PM, said:

I am not disputing that people have this issue. I just wanted to note that I have the 27" iMac with 10.7.2 and have not experienced a single lock up or a single issue with this update.

This post has been edited by MacLuvin: 12 December 2011 - 06:07 PM

I am curious about the graphics increase. The 27" iMac is 16% faster overall over last years model. How much better is the 6000 series graphics vs. last years 5000 series?

 MacLuvin, on 12 December 2011 - 06:09 PM, said:

I just bought a 27" i7 SSD/HD 1GB VRAM and 12GB RAM
I came from a 2 GHz core 2 duo
new machine is about 3.5 to 4 times as fast rendering video or 3D
AMD 6970M runs CIV V at max settings and full screen beautifully (most other games are maxed or near max and run smoothly)
the SSD isn't magic, but it loads programs faster than HD by far (haven't tested if it makes video rendering faster either, it's new =)

I considered the Mac Pro (expandable SSDs/HDs, expansion slots, but no TB and the CPUs are getting kinda dated *cough Intel! cough*)
for about half the price I have a much bigger screen, its about as fast as the low end Mac Pros and with RAM expansion up to 32 GB, there is a bit of head room

Eventually I'll grab a second monitor for color work and in a year or two I'll upgrade to the Mac Pro (assuming that Apple does't kill it to pursue iGadgets exclusively - big mistake! the pros spend a lot of money per seat and that business isn't shrinking, it just isn't growing as fast as the iGadget space... imho)

This post has been edited by enkidu2: 12 December 2011 - 07:46 PM