21.5 inch iMac: 1.4GHz vs 2.7GHz

The Photoshop work is what has me concerned. When you say light, it will need to be very light (like a couple of hours per week) in order to be happy with the entry level (1.4 GHz) machine. Because the i5 is a faster cpu than the core-duo the 1.4GHz i5 offset would be the same or faster than your core-duo.

There are two upgrades I would strongly recommend though, upgrading RAM to 16 GB and adding a Fusion drive. The reason for the RAM upgrade is the 21.5" iMacs cannot have RAM upgraded at a later date, so once you buy it, you are stuck. The Fusion drive will make a HUGE difference in performance in startup, shutdown and accessing files and opening apps. IMHO both upgrades are well worth the money.

For most of the tasks you described, the 1.4 GHz iMac will be enough.

However, if you choose the 2.7 GHz model, you will be able to use it without lags and slowdowns longer. You see, modern software requires more and more hardware resources and this trend is very unlikely to disappear. At least, now.

I guess buying a more expensive model is something like investing in your future 🙂

Mike Miller4 wrote:

Thanks for your helpful input. I forgot to mention that we will probably be buying refurbished so we might not have the choice of the upgrades you mention. My wife uses very little Photoshop so I don't think that would be a big issue. What if we went with the 2.7 GHz but only 8 mg RAM and no Fusion? Given the light usage I described, do you think that we'd regret only having that amount of RAM years down the line? I don't know if this factors in but we tend to get the most amount of use out of a computer as possible before upgrading, usually 7+ years...

Thanks,

Mike

While buying refurbished is a money save finding the configuration you want in the entry level machines (21.5") will be difficult at best. In your case I would consider buying new, if you are attempting to save money then perhaps looking at an Apple Reseller, such as B&H Photo, Adorama, etc. may be able to help you out.

When I do the math of performance v. cost. the 1.4's savings are less that the performance loss based on Geekbench scores (charts are from the excellent MacTracker database (mactracker.ca)):

1.4ghz score:

2.7ghz scores:

So the 1.4 model gives you 71 percent of the performance of the 2.7 but costs 84 percent of the price of the 2.7 (percentages on base prices of each model and the Geekbench score).

Remember when buying a 21.5-inch model you MUST get all the RAM you think you need at the time of purchase as RAM is not upgradeable in those models. For the 1.4, it is only available with 8GB RAM--you are stuck. You can oder a new 21.5 inch with up to 16GB RAM.