Opinions on Switching to and iMac and iPad Setup

Hi, I'm a mathematics and engineering student and debating on which model of Mac to buy (yes, Im sure you get millions of these threads lol). My 6 year old Dell Inspirion is on its last legs and I want to get a new setup before it entirely gives out; Im entirely and completely sick of PCs and Windows in general. My first impression was to get a MacBook Pro, but upon further research I think I'm going to go the iMac/iPad combo route. Now when I'm using this at school (the iMac only.... Im well aware the iPad is just for "consuming" media and not creating), I use it for ALOT of document processing, ALOT of spreadsheets, extensive internet research and Facebook procrastination lol, Photoshop, video and audio encoding, ALOT of music play and mixing, some movie watching, and plan on playing Doom 3. Is this model Im looking at overkill, or about right? Any opinions on this?

21.5" iMac
3.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w/ 6MB L2 cache (the extra cache is worth the upgrade IMO and may as well get the better processor while Im spending the money)
4 GB RAM (will upgrade to 8GB in the future, but not needed right now)
1 TB 7200rpm harddrive
ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics card upgrade

am I overdoing it, or am I right on the money? I know I want the graphics card, but I guess the biggest question is the processor..... I know I probably will never notice a difference, but at least I know thered be a better processor in it and could 'extend' its longevity in terms of being technologically relevant by a little margin

Thanks, first Mac experience so Im in the dark

Depending on what your budget is..the iMac you've chosen is a very good one and will do everything you want to do quite well..

Now you can up your longevity by bumping up to the 27" iMac with the i5 or i7..but that also comes at a bump in price..and since you want to get an iPad as well..that might or might not work..

I think the graphics card in the iMac you've chosen will handle Doom 3 very easily..

Regards

Raz0rEdge said:

Depending on what your budget is..the iMac you've chosen is a very good one and will do everything you want to do quite well..

Now you can up your longevity by bumping up to the 27" iMac with the i5 or i7..but that also comes at a bump in price..and since you want to get an iPad as well..that might or might not work..

I think the graphics card in the iMac you've chosen will handle Doom 3 very easily..

Regards

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while Id LOVE to have a quad core i7, neither the serious price bump nor the screen size (simply too **** big.... the 21.5 is more than big enough lol) fit what I can do at the moment

I think that set up would do well with all the things you need it for.

ZoSo0789 said:

am I overdoing it, or am I right on the money?

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I think for the most part that looks like a pretty good setup.

But...how do you feel about the 27" iMac? Your 21" iMac with the 3.06ghz cpu costs $1499...with the 3.33ghz cpu it costs $1699 ($200 more for the faster cpu). This "speed bump" may or may not be noticeable.

For the same $1699 you can get a 3.06ghz 27" iMac. All the specs on this 27" iMac would be exactly the same as the 21" you're considering (same video, same HD, same ram)...just the slightly slower cpu.

If you don't have any problems with the 27" iMac...that extra $200 that's being spent IMHO...you get WAY MORE bang for your buck going from the 21" to 27" display...versus the 3.06ghz to 3.33ghz cpu.

Just something to consider,

- Nick

adding to that.... Refurbished iMac 27-inch 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 - Apple Store (U.S.)

6string said:

adding to that.... Refurbished iMac 27-inch 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 - Apple Store (U.S.)

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Yeah...I saw that quad-core 27" iMac on the refurbished list this weekend. It would seem to be a heck of a deal!

Some "bozo" is trying to sell one of these on my local Craig's List for $2000....when it's selling for $1999 brand new (+ sales tax)...or like you posted...$1499 refurbished (+ sales tax). Confusing...

- Nick