2.7Ghz vs 3.1Ghz. Help justify my purchase

Hi guys,

Here's the deal. I just bought a 27" 2.7Ghz i5 iMac. I am having regrets not getting the 3.1Ghz now mainly because I usually like to get the best of what's offered. Anyways, would upgrading my 2.7Ghz to 16gb offer me a great set-up or should I take my comp back and trade it in for the 3.1Ghz? I don't do any crazy photo/video editing and use the computer mainly for browsing the web/itunes/and MAYBE some gaming.

So my question is, will I have lots of fun with a 2.7ghz w/16gb or just get the 3.1Ghz as is?

You won't notice the difference between the two as far as the CPU speed goes. The real difference is the graphics. The 3.1 GHz model has a more robust GPU with more VRAM. So, if it's speed for video editing or gaming that you want, the 3.1 GHz model would be best.

chscag said:

You won't notice the difference between the two as far as the CPU speed goes. The real difference is the graphics. The 3.1 GHz model has a more robust GPU with more VRAM. So, if it's speed for video editing or gaming that you want, the 3.1 GHz model would be best.

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Yea, I won't really be doing either of those things. So your saying the 2.7ghz with 16gb of RAM would be a nice/fast set-up?

Phranque said:

Yea, I won't really be doing either of those things. So your saying the 2.7ghz with 16gb of RAM would be a nice/fast set-up?

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Yes, it should be fast enough. I'm currently using the 21.5" low end 2011 iMac with the same graphics and 8 GB of memory and it's fast enough for everything I do. Like you, I don't game or do video editing.

Why would you spend the money on the RAM?

Actually most places like Newegg you can upgrade to 16gb of ram for Under $100 I upped my Mini to 16gb for $65 when they had it on sale. meaning the imac with that same pricing could get 32gb for $130

Ramimac1 said:

Actually most places like Newegg you can upgrade to 16gb of ram for Under $100 I upped my Mini to 16gb for $65 when they had it on sale. meaning the imac with that same pricing could get 32gb for $130

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I didn't see that sale so I can't say for sure that it would have been $130 for 32GB but I doubt it was. To get 32GB, you have to use 8GB chips which are still somewhat new and much more expensive than 4GB.

To get 16GB on OWC, it's $110 but to go to 32GB it jumps to $320. Apple still doesn't officially support 32GB on the iMac and I've read online how some people have made that upgrade and started having some problems with the computer such as kernel panics that they never got with 16GB. 16BG of RAM is a whole lot of memory anyway. 95% of the average users out there will never come close to actually using that much.

Let me put 16BG in perspective. I currently have Mail, iTunes, Safari (4 tabs open), Logic Pro, Garageband, Final Cut Pro, Motion, iMovie, Photoshop CS5, and iPhoto all open at the moment and out of my 16GB of RAM, I still have 71% of my memory available.