which iMac deal??

[iamvietness]

ok so i'm bored at work and searching for a new 27" iMac . on the refurbs there's a 2.66GHz i5 for 1529 and a 2.8GHz i7 for 1699. The only difference between the 2 is the processor. Which would you pick? Or would you just get a new one (my company has a 6% discount)

[RKEnnis]

Well, it depends on your application mix. For the price difference, i'd personally go for the i7 over the i5. In fact, I'm seriously considering the 27" i7 as a replacement for my aging Mac Pro.

As for refurb vs new with your discount - I can't comment, other than to say that I've owned several refurb macs, and I've been quite happy with every one of them.

Edit: Also, don't forget that the i7 support hyperthreading, so you get 8 "cores" vs the i5 with 4 cores.

[Tom]

But what programs support hyperthreading? Would it make a difference in Photoshop and Lightroom?

[RKEnnis]

I'm not sure the additional cores will make a big difference in Photoshop. They will in Lightroom 3 for sure, though. Especially when rendering previews.

Also, the extra cores can come in handy when running multiple applications at once. BTW, will you be running Windows in a virtual machine? Another good reason for more cores...

[Tom]

No windows at all. Not necessary.

[iamvietness]

right now i'm just really using it for LR3 and PS5. those are the main programs i run other than the occasional movies

[tukaniray]

If you do Video and Motion Graphics (AE) than the Hyper Threading works Wonders.

Or if you do alot of h.264 encoding ... the Hyper Threading is great there as well.

But for Photo editing ... the i5 is more than enough. Just bump up the Ram later.

-Ray-

[iamvietness]

that's what i was thinking too. i just need more RAM to make LR3 and PS5 work better on the i5 system

[jstevensphoto]

With your discount, I'd get a new one. Those prices sound a little high to me. I have a two year old 2.8 GHz 24 inch iMac and paid less than that.

[tukaniray]

^^ But the 2.8ghz Intel Core 2 Duo doesn't match the Quad i5 and i7 at all.

I believe Nathan was going for speed if he is going to pay the price.

-Ray-

[jstevensphoto]

Yeah. The quad is probably a lot faster than my duo.

[texxter]

I recently bought a new iMac 27" quad core i5 with 8Gb memory. Happy with it.