iMac query

[Reliant]

All,

I'm want a 27 inch screen. I was debating getting the Thunderbolt display and docking my 11 Air to it but I don't think that'll be what I want in the end. What I want is to rip my DVDs (100ish) and put them in iTunes to stream to my Appletv. I'd need external storage for my Air to do this, but the cost of that + display puts me in iMac territory.

I'll be keeping my gaming pc for games which is fairly new, but I don't like doing day to day activities on it such as productivity and web.

So my question is:

The base 27 comes with a 2.7ghz i5 that's a low voltage chip.
The high end model comes with a 3.1ghz i5 with a BTO option for the 3.4ghz i7.

I'm not really concerned with the upgraded GPU in the higher confit but the CPU options are interesting. Would the 2.7 be enough? I'll be getting aftermarket RAM no matter what, but I keep looking back and forth on the CPU options. Again, it'll be mostly used for ripping and encoding DVDs, web, productivity and pushing content to my AppleTV.

Thanks for any opinions!

 

[Patranus]

2.7 is more than enough for your requirements.
According to benchmarks, the 3.1 is about 9% faster with the 3.4 being about 30%.
Really boils down to cost and the time savings in transcoding time (DVD->MP4) is worth it to you.

 

[Reliant]

2.7 is more than enough for your requirements.
According to benchmarks, the 3.1 is about 9% faster with the 3.4 being about 30%.
Really boils down to cost and the time savings in transcoding time (DVD->MP4) is worth it to you.

And the i7 is that much faster due to HT? Where are you looking at benches? I was having a hard time seeing all the CPUs offered in the same test to make my life easier.

 

[Patranus]

I was eyeballing the % increases.
Geekbench. The lowest scores are the following.
2.7 benchmarks in at 7844.
3.1 benchmarks in at 8357 or a 7% increase from the 2.7.
3.4 benchmarks in at 11648 or a 49% increase from the 2.7 and a 39% increase from the 3.1.

Remember the 3.4 is i7 while the other two are i5.

 

[Reliant]

I was eyeballing the % increases.
Geekbench. The lowest scores are the following.
2.7 benchmarks in at 7844.
3.1 benchmarks in at 8357 or a 7% increase from the 2.7.
3.4 benchmarks in at 11648 or a 49% increase from the 2.7 and a 39% increase from the 3.1.

Remember the 3.4 is i7 while the other two are i5.

While I'd love the increased speed encoding I think I'm going to look at it like this:

It's an all in one, and a year down the line I don't want to regret it, so I'll suck it up now and eat the cost since upgrading is a pain.

Thanks!

 

[manly]

While I'd love the increased speed encoding I think I'm going to look at it like this:

It's an all in one, and a year down the line I don't want to regret it, so I'll suck it up now and eat the cost since upgrading is a pain.

Thanks!

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#iMac