which model should I upgrade? or just upgrade Ram

I'm going to return my 21.5 3.33ghz CPU and ATI 4670 iMac because some issues

I also called and asked Apple rep if I could upgrade my iMac to i7 model and they said I could. Apple rep told me to pay extra for $320 for getting the i5 model and $500 for i7, which 's the educational price (I'm a graduate student at GA Tech)

I'm a software engineer and my jobs really depend on very powerful computers (running multiple servers, and some required-powerful-computer software applications at the same time). I just realized that my custom C2D iMac 21.5 could be unable to handle my performance needs (it is slow sometimes)

any advice for i5 or i7 owners, (Computer Engineering, Software Engineering or System Engineering or whoever whose daily uses depends on powerful computers like me) about which model I should upgrade? or just upgrade another 4GB of RAM into my 21.5 (cost me only $99) would be enough?

Seriously, pay another $320 and you get i5 CPU, extra 5.5 inches more space of the display and better GPU (ATI 4850) !!! What a deal?

one more question, if i get i7 model What do you guys think of how long or how many years this model can serve me in term of performance only (not to consider the hardware issue) before buying another new computer to catch up the future technology? I sometimes like to buy the topmost spec available for that model so I dont need to buy the new computer to upgrade often. My old Acer laptop just died on me few months ago after having served me well about 6 years without any problem (I accidentally spilled some coke on them, stupid me!! and the cost of repairing is about $300,. So good bye my old friend)

I bought 21.5 model at the moment because I have a limited space in my room (I'm living in my university's apartment) and i already have my Samsung 46 inches HDTV in my room, which is often used to connect my laptop to display the laptop screen on my HDTV. So I went for 21.5 with the topmost model available

I also got my i7 laptop CPU 820QM, 6GB of Ram, ATI 4670 1 GB from Dell , model SXPS 1645 at the same time as this iMac. It seems that my laptop is lot more powerful than this iMac and sometimes it irritates me when I have to run them together.

Sorry for writing too much. Please give me some advices

Thanks

 

I'd go for the i7... $500 sounds like a sweet deal to me for that upgrade. Depends on your budget though... sometimes you've got to pass on even the sweetest deals if you have bills to pay and food to buy

But a bigger monitor and faster graphics and quad core i7 or i5 processor would be too good of a deal for me to pass on at those prices.

I have not purchased a desktop for quite awhile but when I buy a high end laptop they've been lasting me about 4+ years. I've still got an old Dell e1705 laptop duo core that I bought at the end of 2005 and I still do Oracle Plsql development on it and go into Oracle Apps all the time (not really processor intensive stuff like you do though). With that i7 I'd take a guess that it would last at least that long assuming you don't spill any more coca-cola on them

 

If you do jobs that require powerful computers then go for the i7. The i5 is powerful but for threaded applications like 3d modelling and video editing, you will see up to twice the performance on an i7 compared to an i5.

 

Load up on ram too.

 

My question is since you are going for performance, why aren't you building your own system. For the price of the iMac you can build one hell of a i7 920/x58 system.

 

Perhaps the OP is needing/wanting OS X and in that case, the only way to do it is to buy an Apple product.

 

Definitely not the ONLY way, but we are going off topic here

 

if the OP's system building skills are anything like mine then a home built system wouldn't last more than a year. But it sounded to me like the OP has an imac already and for $300-$500 he can upgrade to a bigger and better mac. Starting over by building a new system from scratch would cost more than $500. But I agree, if one who knew how to build a reliable desktop they could build one heck of a system with high end components for the price of a new store bought mac

 

The only LEGAL way, but YOU are going off topic here.

 

I got the iMac because I' just started my own project of building some iPhone applications. Although, right now, my daily works are under window-bases environment but in the future, I might move and work for Apple (I'm just 30). So I better learn their product. Don't you think so? Another reason is that I have a limited space in my room. I 'm live in university's apartment( I'm a graduate student at GA Tech). So I need All-in-one computer and iMac is an only system offering powerful system enough for my needs. (I couldn't find any All-in-one computer offering i7 processor)

Also, I just got an i7 laptop for my Windows-based software applications. So, I'm fine with my systems so far

 

I wish I had a system like yours showing on your signature. That will last for at least 5 years (in my case)

 

What are you doing that requires that much power? If I had server-level needs, I'd consider the Mac Pro if it had to be Mac OS X. I have two Dell Studio XPS desktops with Core i7s that I picked up for $580 each. They can do some pretty heavy-duty crunching when needed. One is running Linux and the other is running Vista.

The thing about the iMac is that you'll have expansion issues if you want to add disk devices and you may run into heat issues if you want to crank that i7 a lot as the chipset uses more power than you'd get with an i5.

 

Ego inflation and calculation.

 

One of mine is my desktop in the office and it normally runs about one to two percent CPU consumption. It's way more than I need but it is very responsive.

 

How did you get those i7 desktops for just $580 each? so Cheap even if they are desktops

My i7 laptop i just bought from Dell is Studio XPS 1645 , already costing me about $2400.