Mac > Masterclass > Tue, 17 Jan 2012 > Which Mac should I get?

Which Mac should I get?

Guide to buying an Apple Mac computer

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iMac

The original all-in-one

Apple hasn’t changed the design of its aluminium all-in-one desktop computer for a few years now, because it’s a design that works. It elegantly fits the components and display into an iconic form.

The iMacs are available with 21.5in and 27in widescreen displays. All iMacs come standard with 4GB of RAM, a SuperDrive, WiFi, Bluetooth, Gigabit Ethernet, a FaceTime HD camera, four USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 800 port, an SDXC Card slot, audio in and out jacks, and built-in speakers. A Thunderbolt port is also included.

Configurations

There are two 21.5in iMacs. The first 21.5in iMac has a quad-core 2.5GHz Core i5 processor, a 500GB hard drive, and a 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics card for £999. The second 21.5in iMac has a quad-core 2.7GHz Core i5 processor, a 1TB hard drive, and a 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics card for £1,249. Each 21.5in iMac has one Thunderbolt port.

There are two 27in iMacs. The 27in model with a quad-core 2.7GHz Core i5 processor, a 1TB hard drive, and a 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics card costs £1,399. Then there’s a 27in iMac with a quad-core 3.1GHz Core i5 processor, a 1TB hard drive, and a 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6970M graphics card; it costs £1,649. Each of the 27in iMacs comes with two Thunderbolt ports.

Performance

The four 2011 iMacs are considerably faster than the systems they replace. If you exclude the £4,083 12-core Mac Pro, the £1,649 iMac ranks as the fastest standard-configuration Mac. In fact, all of the iMacs, except for the £999 model, compete very well on performance when compared to the Mac Pro, which hasn’t been updated since July 2010.

Macworld’s buying advice The £999 21.5in 2.5GHz Core i5 iMac offers the most bang for the buck. If you want top performance, go for the £1,649 27in 3.1GHz Core i5 iMac. In fact, if you want a computer for heavy-duty processing work, we recommend you consider an iMac over a Mac Pro, as long as you can work with the glossy screen. The only difference between the £1,249 and £1,399 iMacs is screen size.

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