The new(ish) Apple iMac

Hey guys. Having used Windowz pretty much my whole life, I've decided I want to try and use Apple.

I have no real reason specifically, I'm not an artist per-se. I don't compose music, make videos or any of that other stuff most mac users do. But they do look cool. Anyway - what I wanted to know is if it's really worth paying a shed load more money for a higher spec iMac?

The two options really are the 21.5-inch screen or the 27-inch screen. Now in terms of technical spec, I don't know if I'm really going to notice the difference? I use it for collecting internets, photo editing, web design and watching films and the like.

Is it really worth paying the extra for the 27 compared to the 21.5 - these are the specs:

21.5-inch: 3.06GHz
3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

1920 x 1080 resolution
4GB memory
1TB hard drive1
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics with 256MB
£1,199

or

27-inch: 2.66GHz
2.66GHz Intel Core i5

2560 x 1440 resolution
4GB memory
1TB hard drive1
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics with 512MB
£1,599

I'd more than likely upgrade the 27inch to an i7 anyway. So thoughts? Is it worth it for £400 - and will I notice the difference for what I do?

Thanks.
Adam

Well both of those Macs have as good, or better resolution that a full HDTV, so unless you're doing insane amount of work with your photos, I see no reason to get the bigger one. The graphics card isn't much of an upgrade either, and other than that they are identical.

What I would do is get the smaller one and spend the extra money on a RAM upgrade. For Photo-editing, 4GB seems like it's enough, but small, I have 4GB in my laptop. I would upgrade to 8 or 16GB (just don't buy it from Apple, they mark up RAM like crazy.)

Yeah I read about Apple and their insane RAM costs!!!

The 21-inch has an upgrade option of: 8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB [+ £160.00]

The 27-inch has an upgrade option of: 16GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x4GB [+ £1,120.00]

But you can get 8 or 16GB of MAc-compatible RAM online for a fraction of that. Just make sure that the website says that it works in your specific computer.

Whoa, did you move to Slovakia? Why are you still thinking in pounds?

I'm in Slovakia until January. I start my new job in January, so I get back all my shares and savings from my current company scheme, so thought I'd treat myself :)