> On Apr 22, 2015, at 1:09 PM, Bill Spencer <wspen...@jhu.edu> wrote: > > Hi there: The tax refund came through and I have been given permission to > replace my trusty elderly Lion machine (purchased new in September 2006; see > end of this message) with a new iMac. It's obviously been a long time, so > what do I look for? My needs are not especially taxing or unusual, I think, > but I'd like to have a sense of where I could be a bit on the entry-level > side and where I should focus on getting as much as I can. For example, I > suspect that top-of-the-line processor speed would be less important than > maxing the memory, and I don't think I need the more than the basic screen > size. > > One of the things I could definitely use input on is the type of HD to > get--they're showing something called a Fusion drive, and the little I've > read about it makes it sound like a good thing, but...well, you get the idea.
I’ve got a fusion drive setup in my 2011 i5 Mini and it’s sweet, nearly as fast as a pure SSD mini of the same vintage. It goes from off to login prompt in about 40 seconds. My SSD-based MBA does the same in about 25. Caveat, this is a home-brewed fusion setup with a 256GB SSD and a 7500RPM 500GB HDD. with the 5400 rpm drives Apple uses the performance won’t be as great, but its a large improvement over the stock HDD.. > > Let's set a ballpark price limit of $1,250 or so. The very lowest end iMac is essentially a MacBook Air in a iMac case. The RAM is not bad (8gb) but is not upgradeable. The video is lower performance than the next step up. The stock 5400 rpm drive in it makes it horribly slow, though, in comparison with an MBA. The 1TB drive is also 5400 rpm, and just isn’t worth it. (I’ve done actual real-world testing on the last gen Mac mini’s before and after upgrading their stock drive with an SSD and it’s like two completely different computers. Astounding how much of a drag the poky HDD was) A fusion drive in it puts $100 your budget, though. the 256GB SSD option will make it a speed demon in comparison, but also outside your budget. The next one up is better, but again, needs to be updated to at least the Fusion drive, which boosts the cost to about $1500. In your case I’d actually recommend looking instead at a Mac Mini, because a 2.6GHz Mini with the fusion drive, plus magic mouse and keyboard is $1020, and you can get a decent 24” monitor for about $150-$170, or spring for a 27” monitor (around $200-$250) and still be in your budget ballpark. As in the low-end iMac drive and RAM are not upgradable in the current Mini line, but they start at 8gb which actually isn’t all that bad. yet another option is to go for something like a 13” MBA (which I consider to be the best damned laptop in existence today) and plug it into a 24” or 27” monitor (when my work 27” iMac suffered a HDD failure and was hors de combat for a week, I used my 2013 MBA plugged into an Apple 30” cinema display quite happily.) Also shop the Refurb section at Apple’s store, today you can get a 27” quad i5 iMac for as low as $1489, or a 21.5” as low as $1100, but with the regular HDD. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs -- -- You received this message because you are a member of the iMac Group, a group for those using Apple iMacs and eMacs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to imaclist@googlegroups.com To leave this group, send email to imaclist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/imaclist --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "iMac Group" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to imaclist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
