Almost ready to make the switch

I am almost ready to make the switch from a Windows PC to a mac. I am seriously considering the 27" iMac, but not sure which one to get. I mainly use my computer for e-mail, web surfing and limited photo editing for my digital camera. I am also a hobbyist 3D artist, using program such as Poser, Carrara (3D modeling and rendering) and Hexagon (3D modeling). I do limited gaming (Second Life and WoW). All of these run acceptable on my core2duo pc 2.66GHz, 4Gb ram and Nvidia 8800GTS 640MB gpu). My question is whether or not the entry level 27" iMac (with the ATI 4670 gpu and core2duo) would give acceptable performance, of would it be best to go with the i5 quad and upgraded gpu for an additional $300. The additional $300 is not a problem, but I don't want to spend it if it will not really benefit me. Of course it will probably benefit me in the long run, just looking for opinions to help me decide.

I have always loved the look of the Mac OS and even have my windows pc configured to resemble a Mac, using Object Desktop. I have used linux in the past, but got tired of having to recompile kernels and what not, so I figure a Mac, being based on Unix would be a great system.

One more question...Is OSX a 64 bit OS or 32 bit? I haven't seen that listed in the specs anywhere.


Thanks for your input,

Erik

Erik, I can help you with your second question. Mac OSX Snow Leopard is 64 bit you can find that on Apple's website on the Snow Leopard page.

The extra cores will make your 3D renderings times shorter. Is it worth 300 dollars more? That's something only you can decide.

The $300 for the quad might expand the usable life of your computer an additional couple years maybe. That might be worth it since you cant simply replace the CPU for $200-$300 three years from now like you can in a PC. With an imac you have to fork out another $1200+.

I have issues with all this future proofing talk.

In 3 years we will probably have 12 cores or they will finally break the 4Ghz barrier, who knows.

Also, we will most likely need 8 to 16 GB of ram just to run the OS ...

No one makes money if your system lasts 5 years, something to keep in mind.

If you play current games and want decent frame rates, an upgrade if required more often.

If all you mostly do is web and email, don't get sucked in.

For the $300 you get a better video card and a quad core i5, which I believe is faster clock for clock than the Core 2 Duo and has four cores instead of two. The HD4850 is a pretty decent gaming card and will stack up to roughly an 8800GTX. By the sounds of it, your gaming isn't going to nessisitate the HD4850 over the HD4670. Like Crimson said, it's up to you to decide if you want the quad core processor or not. The better video card is more of a bonus. However, if you plan to keep playing modern games, the HD4850 would be a better option than the HD4670. Personally I'd get the i5 model and call it a day if I were you since I value the saved time I'd receive from the faster 3D rendering times.

Also, Yamawho, the six core Intel processors are due out next year if I'm not mistaken, but I doubt Apple would put them in the iMac right away due to their insane price. I think people are starting to hit 4GHz on them pretty easily, but they might be cherry picked engineering samples.

yamawho said:

I have issues with all this future proofing talk.

In 3 years we will probably have 12 cores or they will finally break the 4Ghz barrier, who knows.

Also, we will most likely need 8 to 16 GB of ram just to run the OS ...

No one makes money if your system lasts 5 years, something to keep in mind.

If you play current games and want decent frame rates, an upgrade if required more often.

If all you mostly do is web and email, don't get sucked in.

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Your right. You just changed my mind. Just spend the least amount of money possible at this time to get the absolute, very minimal requirements that you need (at this time). Then do the same thing 3 years from now like clockwork.

droflex said:

Your right. You just changed my mind. Just spend the least amount of money possible at this time to get the absolute, very minimal requirements that you need (at this time). Then do the same thing 3 years from now like clockwork.

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The general rule of thumb in the computing world is that capacities double every 18 months. It's called Moore's Law if you've ever heard of it and it's proven to be pretty accurate for decades now. Buying the minimal requirements you need at the moment is generally a bad idea because if you ever find a new program that needs more power, you have to sell your system and buy another one. Computers tend to drop off in bang for the buck performance quickly toward the high end, so maxing out computers is sometimes a bad idea as well. Lets say that 2GB of RAM is the standard now, in around 18 months, 4GB will become the standard, 18 more months, 8GB will be the standard. Keep in mind that just because something becomes the standard doesn't mean that programs will use all that memory(it's up to the software developers to do that).

sandm said:

The general rule of thumb in the computing world is that capacities double every 18 months. It's called Moore's Law if you've ever heard of it and it's proven to be pretty accurate for decades now. Buying the minimal requirements you need at the moment is generally a bad idea because if you ever find a new program that needs more power, you have to sell your system and buy another one. Computers tend to drop off in bang for the buck performance quickly toward the high end, so maxing out computers is sometimes a bad idea as well. Lets say that 2GB of RAM is the standard now, in around 18 months, 4GB will become the standard, 18 more months, 8GB will be the standard. Keep in mind that just because something becomes the standard doesn't mean that programs will use all that memory(it's up to the software developers to do that).

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I know. I was being facetious.

HD4850 ... 8800GTX, man these are 2008 old. Current cards are the HD58xx and GTX2xx series. Yes cpu's with six cores will be out next year and maybe AMD will be 1st oh wait ... apple doesn't use AMD oh well.

You are right about 4GHz overclocking however but we are talking about standard products. There will be new tech released in the new cpu models as well.

I assume most everyone here knows this but apple uses hardware that is well, getting long in the tooth on their mainstream systems but charge a premium for them. If you are looking for cutting edge performance, you need to get the MacPro higher level models.

I believe Moore's Law has been retailed, this related to cpu speed.

Moore's Law can help predict what CPUs will look like down the road(core increases for example). Whether or not it will continue to stay true with core increases remains to be seen. 4GHz is becoming typical for the i7 9xx overclocks, so I'd imagine that stock clocked CPUs reaching 4GHz isn't too far off, especially considering 32nm technology is upon us. I do realize the HD4850 and 8800GTX are getting a little outdated, but the 4850 will suffice with everything besides some high end gaming. I have a GTX280 in my gaming PC, so I'm well aware of how outdated the 4850 is. Honestly though, if I weren't a gamer, having such a powerful video card would be useless. I'm currently looking into a notebook though(leaning toward the 15" MB Pro). The high end MacBook Pros are expensive, but they aren't very far behind cutting edge technology and I'm assuming Apple will update the MB Pro with the i7 next year.

droflex said:

I know. I was being facetious.

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lol, it's hard to detect sarcasm on the internet

sandm said:

Moore's Law can help predict what CPUs will look like down the road(core increases for example). Whether or not it will continue to stay true with core increases remains to be seen. 4GHz is becoming typical for the i7 9xx overclocks, so I'd imagine that stock clocked CPUs reaching 4GHz isn't too far off, especially considering 32nm technology is upon us. I do realize the HD4850 and 8800GTX are getting a little outdated, but the 4850 will suffice with everything besides some high end gaming. I have a GTX280 in my gaming PC, so I'm well aware of how outdated the 4850 is. Honestly though, if I weren't a gamer, having such a powerful video card would be useless. I'm currently looking into a notebook though(leaning toward the 15" MB Pro). The high end MacBook Pros are expensive, but they aren't very far behind cutting edge technology and I'm assuming Apple will update the MB Pro with the i7 next year.

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Yea, that may be the barrier though, at 4GHz as we reach the end of the silicon age. We're basically trying to make stuff better until we figure out quantum computing at this point.