OK, I've finally come to peace with the decision to switch from PC to imac. I want the screen real estate of the bigger screen but can't quite get to the 27-inch now, so I am going with the 24-inch refurb unit. I have heard excellent things about the Apple refurbs -- I hope I won't be disappointed.
So here's my question ... there are three trim levels and here are the differences as far as I can tell:
Base - 2.66 ghz CPU, GeForce 9400M integrated memory GPU, 640 GB hard drive, $1,099
Mid - 2.93 ghz CPU, GeForce GT 120 with 256 MB separate memory, 640 GB hard drive, $1,279 (Base + $180)
Top - 3.06 ghz CPU, GeForce GT 130 with 512 separate memory, 1 TB hard drive, $1,349 (Mid + $70)
So the differences are upgraded CPU, GPU and in the top end, bigger hard drive.
The real sweet spot here seems to be the top end one. You get a lot more horse power for only $70 more. But how often do these come up on the refurb site? I see the mid grade one a lot. Is the upgrade in CPU and GPU really that pronounced that I should wait for the top one to show up again or just get the midgrade?
I understand the difference between 640 GB and 1 TB, but it's harder to know how much difference the upgraded CPU and GPU would make in the performance. I am not a power user -- mostly photo processing and some light video editing, but no games really. But with an eye toward future proofing, how much difference is there really?
Thanks
So here's my question ... there are three trim levels and here are the differences as far as I can tell:
Base - 2.66 ghz CPU, GeForce 9400M integrated memory GPU, 640 GB hard drive, $1,099
Mid - 2.93 ghz CPU, GeForce GT 120 with 256 MB separate memory, 640 GB hard drive, $1,279 (Base + $180)
Top - 3.06 ghz CPU, GeForce GT 130 with 512 separate memory, 1 TB hard drive, $1,349 (Mid + $70)
So the differences are upgraded CPU, GPU and in the top end, bigger hard drive.
The real sweet spot here seems to be the top end one. You get a lot more horse power for only $70 more. But how often do these come up on the refurb site? I see the mid grade one a lot. Is the upgrade in CPU and GPU really that pronounced that I should wait for the top one to show up again or just get the midgrade?
I understand the difference between 640 GB and 1 TB, but it's harder to know how much difference the upgraded CPU and GPU would make in the performance. I am not a power user -- mostly photo processing and some light video editing, but no games really. But with an eye toward future proofing, how much difference is there really?
Thanks