Yesterday I mentioned my intention of getting a new computer. I really wanted to get the Apple iMac 27″ with i7 processor but was put off by reports of flickering and my the 3-4 weeks to ship the machine.
I looked at lots of different setups in the meantime including purchasing a 30″ monitor or two 24″ monitors and getting either a windows 7 pc or a macbook or a mac mini. In the end I decided that I wanted the imac (thanks for convincing me Chris!). So I called the apple store in Glasgow this morning and asked if they had i7s in stock. To my joy they had some in stock.
I drove into Glasgow and went to the Apple shop but was disappointed to hear that they only sell i5 powered iMacs, not the first time I have been duped recently by misinformation. The salesman apologised but I wasn’t too mad, after all, it wasn’t his fault. By this time I was already playing with the new 27″ and realised immediately why it was top of my shopping list.
I then had to make a decision, do I purchase the i5 today or wait a month and get the i7. I asked the sales rep for some time and read several articles which compared the benchmarks between the two processors. There’s no doubt that the i7 is a faster processor, the main reason is due to it’s hyper threading capabilities which allows 8 cores instead of the i5s four.
Many people were of the opinion that you should get the i7 simply because it’s future proofing your machine whilst others thought that it was a waste of money if you didn’t need to do heavy video editing. In the end I decided to just get the i5 machine. Mainly because I won’t need much processing power anyways as I will only be using it for work, which means browsing, word editing and basic photoshopping. Though I will also be watching videos from time to time. The i7 was about £135 more expensive too so I think I made the right decision, particularly as I mostly game on my PS3.
I’ve only had it a few hours but I have to say I’m very impressed. I took the 4gb model (2x2GB) but it can be upgraded to 16gb so I may decide to upgrade in the future, though I don’t think I need to soon as it seems awfully quick.
I installed skype and spoke to my mate Johnny, who has used macs for a few years. He has already helped me out with some basic tips to help me going (apart from using macs at nightschool about 8 years ago, I’ve always used windows or linux). So far I’m loving it. I wasn’t sure about the small wireless keypad as I like to have a number pad but it’s really easy to type on. The magic mouse seems quite cool too.
The iMac really is a beautiful machine and I’m enjoying the extra workspace already. I’m operating a little slower than I usually do with my windows machine but I’m sure I will be much quicker once I get used to how everything works.
I have my 15.4″ windows vista laptop next to my new imac with an 1.5 terabye external hard drive in between. I don’t think I’ll be turning into a complete fanboy but i must admit my first impressions are positive. Though I’m sure I will still use my windows laptop from time to time for some things.
Any other mac fans out there? :)
Kev