choosing a Mac

[winger]

I need a new computer. I currently have a Macbook Pro, 15 inch, 3 1/2 years old. It's a 2.16 Intel with 2 GB of ram. I'm trying to decide between the Core 2 Duo 27" and the i5 quad core. I'm sure the i5 is faster, but will I need it? Am I better off with the slightly cheaper Core 2? Which will be more likely to be stable (more of a concern to me most of the time)? Will I want to upgrade from 4GB to 8GB for the ram?
Use-wise, it'll be used for scanned negs up to 4x5 as well as for a dSLR. I don't have CS5, yet, but am considering it.

[bob carnie]

I bought a Mac Pro with all the bells and whistles a couple of years back and in my circumstance am happy I did as over time my speed has improved and as well the amount of stuff I am working on has magnified beyond expectations.
I think that I would be looking now for a new one if I chose a different computer.
I still see a couple of more years usage on this computer with heavy usage.

[Loris Medici]

winger, there's considerable performance difference between Core2 and i5. In any case, I wouldn't go for the "relatively" old technology; unlike PCs, Macs work a long time before you feel the need of an upgrade, therefore, buy the most sophisticated/powerful one that you can afford now, maybe a little pushing your budget - you'll need to upgrade much later...

Regards,
Loris.

[sanking]

winger, there's considerable performance difference between Core2 and i5. In any case, I wouldn't go for the "relatively" old technology; unlike PCs, Macs work a long time before you feel the need of an upgrade, therefore, buy the most sophisticated/powerful one that you can afford now, maybe a little pushing your budget - you'll need to upgrade much later...

Regards,
Loris.

I use a 24" iMac, Core 2 Duo with 3.06 mhz processor and it is plenty fast enough for my needs, which includes processing some fairly large (over 500 mb) digital files. The i5 27" iMac is without question faster than the 28" iMac wtih Core 2 Duo processor but will cost about 25% more. My philosophy is don't spend money on computer power you don't need.

Now, if it were an issue of an iMac versus a Mac Pro that would be another matter.

Sandy King

[Loris Medici]

Dear Sandy, 27" iMac i5 2.66 GHz = USD 1999, 27" iMac 3.06 GHz Core2 Duo = USD 1699. The i5 has the ATI 4850, the Core2 Duo has the ATI 4670, and upgrade to ATI 4850 costs USD 150. Therefore, 1699 + 150 = 1849, that means it's effectively only USD 50 cheaper than the i5, when you equilize all except the CPUs... I would personally go for the i5 - for just USD 50 difference. The i5 will TurboBoost up to 3.2 GHz (> 3.06 GHz!) whenever you need the extra power...

Regards,
Loris.

[sanking]

Dear Sandy, 27" iMac i5 2.66 GHz = USD 1999, 27" iMac 3.06 GHz Core2 Duo = USD 1699. The i5 has the ATI 4850, the Core2 Duo has the ATI 4670, and upgrade to ATI 4850 costs USD 150. Therefore, 1699 + 150 = 1849, that means it's effectively only USD 50 cheaper than the i5, when you equilize all except the CPUs... I would personally go for the i5 - for just USD 50 difference. The i5 will TurboBoost up to 3.2 GHz (> 3.06 GHz!) whenever you need the extra power...

Regards,
Loris.

Loris,

I guess that makes sense if you want toi equalize everything but the CPU. But why would I want to upgrade from the ATI 4670 to the ATI 4850 if I don't need to? As I indicated, the Core 2 Duo 3.06 that I am using is already plenty fast enough for my needs. Bottom line for me is that the i5 unit costs $300 more and I could spend the money on paper, pigments or metal salts.

Sandy

[Loris Medici]

That's definitely plausible. OTOH, I personally would purchase the higher model -> if that saves me an extra two years before the next purchase, the price difference would pay for itself, and I would be using a more powerful computer in between... That's my point.

Best regards,
Loris.

[banksy]

Save as much as you can and buy more RAM and an SSD drive to install your applications on, and use as a scratch disc for photoshop. These two additions will give you more bang for your buck than any number of extra clock cycles on your CPU in the i5 vs core2duo vs core2quad vs xeon etc. etc. debate.

[winger]

Well, sometime tomorrow the Fed Ex truck should be showing up with my 27" iMac i5 with 8gb ram. I think it'll probably last me for several years considering my 3 1/2 year old macbook pro is still mostly ok (just not quite so good with big files).
Thank you everyone for your input!

[Loris Medici]

Congrats for your new Mac! (A little bit enviously... )

Here in Turkey the prices for Macs are roughly 70% more than what you pay in the US, effectively inhibiting 90% of potential customers, regarding our 1/4 GPD (PPP) - which means Macs are relatively ~ 7x more expensive for us...

Regards,
Loris.