Hi! I was planning on buying an iMac but I am not sure which one I should buy. What are the main differences between the processors intel icore 3, intel icore 5 and intel icore 7? I tried googling but I am still unsure. Which one is the better one, and why? Thank you!
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
mmariee Said:
”[...]I was planning on using it mostly for school-work as well as editing videos. Occasionally I may play games like Sims, but that happens perhaps once a year.[...]”
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It’s All Based on Multitasking:
i3 is Dual Core, whereas i5 & i7 are Quad Core.
Quad Core is Great for Multitasking:
Multitasking is running many things (i.e. many apps at once). So, i7 is what would suit your needs best, if Gaming were always taking place.
In School:
If you’re using a Mac for school then Multitasking is occurring most often (i.e. using two applications: a word processor and iTunes audio running simultaneously).
So, in theory, i5 seems what you need: Multitasking is being performed, but much less occasionally with gaming occurring.
mmariee Said:
”[...]I was planning on using it mostly for school-work as well as editing videos. Occasionally I may play games like Sims, but that happens perhaps once a year.[...]”
———-
It’s All Based on Multitasking:
i3 is Dual Core, whereas i5 & i7 are Quad Core.
Quad Core is Great for Multitasking:
Multitasking is running many things (i.e. many apps at once). So, i7 is what would suit your needs best, if Gaming were always taking place.
In School:
If you’re using a Mac for school then Multitasking is occurring most often (i.e. using two applications: a word processor and iTunes audio running simultaneously).
So, in theory, i5 seems what you need: Multitasking is being performed, but much less occasionally with gaming occurring.
Download the donation ware app MacTracker. It has the specs for all Macs and under General, CPU there's a link to show the speed differences between the various CPU configurations:
It depends on what type of computing you'll be doing as to which would be best. Under any circumstances you should get as big an SSD drive as the budget will afford. Also if you order a 21.5" iMac order it with 16 GB of memory. If a 27" only order 8 GB as you can add the other 8 yourself for less than ½ of what Apple charges by ordering the modules from Crucial.com or MacSales.com.
Heavy video or large image processing would benefit from the i7 CPU.
Hi! Thank you for your reply. I understand, I was planning on using it mostly for school-work as well as editing videos. Occasionally I may play games like Sims, but that happens perhaps once a year. I have found 2 different ones that seem to fit what I want, but one has intel icore 5 and the other has intel icore 3. I am not sure whether this makes a big difference?
Thank you!
As an additional note to consider: the 21.5" models come with very slow 5400 hard drives (in addition to the small SSD in a fusion drive). I would not recommend those; they are literally 33+% slower in everything they do than the standard 27" iMac which has a 7200 rpm drive as a default. The fastest would be an all SSD drive; if that is not possible, at least opt for one with a 7200 rpm drive.
Which iMac and which processor is the best is totally dependent on
how you intend to use it. Without that info, the best is the most
expensive one money can buy, which may be overkill for you.
Thank you so much for the explanation & recommendation!
mmariee Said:
“Thank you so much for the explanation & recommendation!”
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You are welcome!
Which iMac & processor is the best?
