IMac Refurb - Which i7 Model?

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1DMARKII

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Murray
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Hello peeps,

I would appreciate any help received on this :)

Which one would you go for?

I am looking to purchase a refurbished Imac for my general pc use / photography and some video editing (Movies & Pics from a 5D II)

But also some rendering in Handbrake.

Not really interested in games - just Steam Half Life based titles if anything.

Would be upgrading the RAM to 8GB - And buying Applecare from CEX etc.

Dont mind spending the extra £130 if required - if it isn't worth it then no problem.

Basically which one is the better buy in terms of bang for buck out of these two:

£1529:

Refurbished iMac 27-inch 2.93GHz Intel Quad-Core i7 processor
27-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB DDR3 memory
1TB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics with 1GB memory

Or this:

£1399:

Refurbished iMac 27-inch 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
27-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB DDR2 memory
1TB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics with 512MB memory

The differences are:

CPU - 2.8 vs 2.93 - Small difference but perhaps the main point?

RAM - DDR2 vs DDR3 - Again a small difference - wonder if its a big deal?

GPU - 4850 512mb VS 5850 1GB - Some say the 4850 is a better GPU - 512mb Vs 1GB VRAM.

Basically your thoughts would be most welcomed - It all gets a bit to much for my little brain to handle at times! :bang: :puke: :D

Milky bars are on me!! :clap:

Murray
 
I have the old 2.8GHz i7 and more than happy with it. It will do every thing you have said you wish to do (but do add the extra Ram), but there again £140 does get you the newer model & the DDR3 ram should help the speed even more
 
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If you can afford the extra cash go for the 2.93 model, the extra speed will be of benefit over the long run.

On the other hand there's absolutly nothing wrong with the 2.8 and if your budget is 1399 go for this and don't worry as the extra speed shouldn't really make too much of a difference.
 
If you are editing Movies then I'd opt for the faster of the two machines. Depending on the size of the Movie files you may find you may need to increase the RAM, but I'd wait and see on that as 4Mb may be OK
 
Hi peeps,

Opted for the 2.93 in the end - should be here any day now.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

Best wishes,

Murray :)
 
Just a follow up that it arrived today and appears to be broken.

Looks like a dodgy video/monitor - having a problem with a black screen.

Going to phone Mr Jobs in the morning.
 
I thought with Macs were the be all and end all, but they don't seem to be utilising i7s triple channel ability?

1DMARKII said:
£1399:

Refurbished iMac 27-inch 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
27-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB DDR2 memory
1TB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics with 512MB memory
Click to expand...

i7s are DDR3 anyway, so I'm thinking you have the wrong specs there.
 
Have arranged replacement with Apple - the refurb came with 8gb ram and a 2tb hard drive which was double what was advertised.

Shame the screen was faulty - those extras are nice bonuses.
 
redddraggon said:
I thought with Macs were the be all and end all, but they don't seem to be utilising i7s triple channel ability?
Click to expand...
It depends which i7 you are talking about. You can get i7s with dual channel and i7s with triple channel. At a guess (as it's an upgrade option from the i5) the i7 in the mac is a dual channel version. If it were triple channel, you'd be going up in multiples of 3 for memory.
 
1DMARKII said:
Have arranged replacement with Apple - the refurb came with 8gb ram and a 2tb hard drive which was double what was advertised.

Shame the screen was faulty - those extras are nice bonuses.
Click to expand...
Take 4 of the 8G out then for when you get your refurb replacement ;)
 
arad85 said:
It depends which i7 you are talking about. You can get i7s with dual channel and i7s with triple channel. At a guess (as it's an upgrade option from the i5) the i7 in the mac is a dual channel version. If it were triple channel, you'd be going up in multiples of 3 for memory.
Click to expand...

Well I would have thought at that price, you'd get your monies worth, the rest of the components are pretty low range. For £1500 those specs are pretty poor. I'd expect at least a 1366 i7, HD5870, 6GB DDR3 for £1000 never mind £1500.
 
redddraggon said:
Well I would have thought at that price, you'd get your monies worth, the rest of the components are pretty low range. For £1500 those specs are pretty poor. I'd expect at least a 1366 i7, HD5870, 6GB DDR3 for £1000 never mind £1500.
Click to expand...
Don't forget you have the 27" IPS monitor in there too.... I'm pretty sure it'll just be a dual channel (as it comes with a x2 of memory, not x3...)
 
Thanks for taking the time to reply folks.

The refurb I received whilst not working must have been previously upgraded by the original customer. Apple seem to do this - you may just get the bog standard spec - may get more ram - may get more hard drive space. Might even get free software.

Struggling a bit with Apple - basically I asked if I could get a direct swap for the machine they sent with the 2TB HD & 8GB RAM instead of the basic 1TB / 4GB RAM.

They are flatly saying no - Instead as it stands so far its a £40 gesture of goodwill up for grabs.

Maybe I am being to unreasonable? :thinking:

This Imac has a fault with the noise level/black screen after 1 minute/small internal crack on the LCD.

Never expected to have this kind of a problem with a "Apple Certified Refurbished product"

Should have bought an Advent from Lidl for £19.99 :bonk:

Such is life eh? :LOL:

Murray
 
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