Which iMac from these choices?

[EJG1980]

Could someone give me an idea which of these two iMacs would be the better purchase of if there wouldn't be much difference between them:

£1,269
2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 ram

£1,199
3.2GHz Intel Core i3 processor
ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 ram

Both 27 inch models, all the other specs are the same apart from the processor and graphics card. What would be faster? Does the i5 with quad core trump the higher clock speed of the i3? Is there much difference between the graphics cards?

I'll mainly be using it for photo editing (my main reason for buying as I want the high res screen) and general tasks like web browsing. Also watching downloaded HD video and possibly a bit of video editing as I've now got a camera that can shoot 1080p video.

I've currently got a 2.26GHz C2D 13 inch Macbook Pro. Ta in advance for any replies.

[Brad]

A very tricky question! For what you want to do I don't know that you'd even tell the difference. Personally I'd go for the extra cores but if I intended to use it for gaming I'd have the i3 with the better gfx, higher clock and faster RAM.

[kernow]

I'd have to agree, I imagine the video editing software is heavily multithreaded, and the quad core would take better advantage of it. Plus if its near the same price for something with the CPU being that much of a gap in MHz, you'd imagine the Core i5 to be a certain amount better - especially for workstation tasks.

[Digfox]

I'm not a mac person, but on PC benchmarks the 4850 is a better gfx card, even as an older card. On Tom's Hardware, you're looking at about a 10-15% performance difference. Also the i5 is a better CPU.

However like FSW said, there probably won't be much real world difference, but I'd take the first one.

[speedlolita]

Buy a monitor and hook it up to your laptop. Job done, for what you want to do at least.

[EJG1980]

Buy a monitor and hook it up to your laptop. Job done, for what you want to do at least.

That ruins the fun of wasting money on a shiny new computer though

There's a possibility I might try a few Windows games in bootcamp too, or maybe mac steam if they release anything decent in the future.

I'm not a mac person, but on PC benchmarks the 4850 is a better gfx card, even as an older card. On Tom's Hardware, you're looking at about a 10-15% performance difference.

I thought that might be the case, but it's quite hard to find specifics relating to Mac benchmarks.

Thanks for the replies, will probably go with the quad core if I take the plunge.

[capcom_suicide]

Hi,

This is the best one:
?1,269
2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 ram



I have the 27" i7 with 5750 1GB card and have setup a youtube channel to show the gaming performance:

http://www.youtube.com/user/itunesn00b?feature=mhum

The 4850 performs almost exactly the same at 1080p, (Less memory, but a faster memory bus means that it's only about 10% slower than the 5750, which is actually a mobility 5850!)

You will be surprised by the performance these new imacs can do!

NFS Hot pursuit:



Battlefield Bad Company 2:



COD: Modern Warfare 2:



COD: Black Ops:



Half Life 2: Fake Factory 10



I appreciate this is a very nich market: Basically people like us that need an iMac for productivity purposes, and when I bought it I didn't even think it would run games, as the iMac has always been considered crap for gaming.

Then I tried stuff out and it looks LOADS better than my PS3 and 360! It is really fun to try the games out on that 27"! I also got an Xanex HD to connect my consoles and finally the 27" has a mini HD input, so in 18 months I intend to buy a gaming PC and use the IPS as a screen.

I have about 5 views on my Youtube channel, and know there aren't many people in this market, but hey at least have a look if you are getting an Imac!

(If only to make old CS feel better about spend ages uploading and encoding films!) hahahahaha

Cheers
C_S