I have decided to retire my PC and get an iMac. I was in the Apple store today and was swamped with choices regarding specifications. My main objective is to get a high enough specification that I will not have to upgrade for many years (I got 6 years from my PC and it will go at least 2 more as my son's games machine). I also need to run Windows for some applications I use for work that will not run on OSX. My specific questions are:
1. Is it worth paying the extra to get the 3.4Mhz i7 over the 3.1 i5?
2. Is it worth paying the extra to get 2GB graphics rather than 1GB (requires online purchase, not available in store).
3. If I buy an external drive for storage can I configure it for both OSX and Win7 to read the same files? I do not want to have to have 2 drives or 2 partitions with shared files duplicated.
4. Is Parallels or Fusion better for running the Windows instance. Is Boot camp better than both for performance or will I not notice a difference? I plan to go with 16GB RAM.
5. I understand there is a new iMac announcement expected any day now. The sales associate said it was unlikely but if a new model is released within 30 days of purchasing I can do a straight swap for it. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks in advance.
By the way, we have a Macbook Air and Macbook Pro in the household so not completely new to Mac concept.
1. Is it worth paying the extra to get the 3.4Mhz i7 over the 3.1 i5?
2. Is it worth paying the extra to get 2GB graphics rather than 1GB (requires online purchase, not available in store).
3. If I buy an external drive for storage can I configure it for both OSX and Win7 to read the same files? I do not want to have to have 2 drives or 2 partitions with shared files duplicated.
4. Is Parallels or Fusion better for running the Windows instance. Is Boot camp better than both for performance or will I not notice a difference? I plan to go with 16GB RAM.
5. I understand there is a new iMac announcement expected any day now. The sales associate said it was unlikely but if a new model is released within 30 days of purchasing I can do a straight swap for it. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks in advance.
By the way, we have a Macbook Air and Macbook Pro in the household so not completely new to Mac concept.