Thinking of selling my core2duo 21.5" iMac for MacBook air. Performance?

Big-Mac-Please · 6 Sep 2012 at 20:07

Hello

I'm thinking of selling my 21.5" 3.06 core2duo 4gb ram iMac that I've had for quite some time now for a new £999 MacBook air 13" with the 128gb ssd.

How do you think they will compare performance wise? I don't want to go for the £999 MacBook pro as its another £180 for the ssd.

I will use it for photography, office work, Internet, that sort of thing. All my downloads, most video conversion, and video storage is done by my hackintosh.

Thanks for any advice!!

richb93 · 6 Sep 2012 at 22:49

Probably a little slower but for what you're doing you wont notice it. Only reccomendation is opting for 8GB of RAM over the 4GB default.

Big-Mac-Please · 7 Sep 2012 at 13:40

Thanks for the reply.

I've been reading review after review and it would seem from what they are saying it would be a lot quicker.

What makes you think it won't be?

richb93 · 7 Sep 2012 at 15:39

It's only 1.8GHz. As it's a few generations newer it'll be faster clock for clock though so it's probably the equivalent of higher end 2.x Core 2. That and the fact the faster memory and SSD will be a lot faster. Still worth it imo, I don't find mine slow at all.

grchmason · 7 Sep 2012 at 15:52

I love my 2012 MBA 13' it just does everthing and more with mind blowing speeds for what it is!

I honestly think i am in love LOL!!

Big-Mac-Please · 7 Sep 2012 at 20:11

I've been to my local apple store to give one a go and loading apps it was very quick indeed!

I think I'm falling for it too but struggling with the other half!!

pinkegobox · 8 Sep 2012 at 09:10

It will feel much quicker thanks to the SSD. For really high-performance tasks I'd doubt you'd notice much difference. May be worth trying to get the 8GB of RAM in the Air though.

richb93 · 8 Sep 2012 at 09:49

pinkegobox said:
It will feel much quicker thanks to the SSD. For really high-performance tasks I'd doubt you'd notice much difference. May be worth trying to get the 8GB of RAM in the Air though.

Not sure how much it is normally but for my machine bought through Uni the 8GB was £67. £987 total

Faustus · 8 Sep 2012 at 22:39

Big-Mac-Please said:
Hello

I'm thinking of selling my 21.5" 3.06 core2duo 4gb ram iMac that I've had for quite some time now for a new £999 MacBook air 13" with the 128gb ssd.

How do you think they will compare performance wise? I don't want to go for the £999 MacBook pro as its another £180 for the ssd.

I will use it for photography, office work, Internet, that sort of thing. All my downloads, most video conversion, and video storage is done by my hackintosh.

Thanks for any advice!!

Akin to selling a Rolls and buying a Ford Fiesta IMO, I mean why would you - argh! :confused:

Big-Mac-Please · 10 Sep 2012 at 20:01

Just want to thank everyone for the replies

With the student discount I can get it with a three year warranty and £70 voucher for £859 all in. That sounds like a good idea to me and now I'm going 'back to school' to do a degree as it were this will be ideal for me to use anytime I want around work and the kids and not have to be at my desk at the iMac.

Looking at more reviews of the Air it seems to score really well in performance tests compared with my iMac and I have no issues with its performance. I know a new Quad core one would kick its ass I'm sure but I can't see lugging it around

Big-Mac-Please · 13 Sep 2012 at 20:43

Well I'm sat now on my new macbook air

I ordered it at 8:40 yesterday with the student discount and it arrived this morning at 10. Very impressed how quickly it arrived!

So far I'm loving it!

richb93 · 13 Sep 2012 at 20:45

Did you go for the 4 or 8GB model?

Big-Mac-Please · 13 Sep 2012 at 20:48

Had to watch the pennies so went for 4gb. £859 with the three year warranty and £70 gift card.

Think its a great deal and so far it seems lightning fast

richb93 · 13 Sep 2012 at 20:51

Awesome. With student discount it's a great deal. Love mine. I can't remember where I posted it but I've got a link somewhere that I made for all of the tweaks you can do to slim down Mac OS. You can shave gigs and gigs off of it.

Big-Mac-Please · 13 Sep 2012 at 20:55

Ah if you find the details please post. I had a look earlier in the week but kept finding old guff!

richb93 · 13 Sep 2012 at 21:25

While I'm looking for it, I recommend you installing:

Mountain Tweaks
OnyX
AppCleaner
BetterSnapTool
The Unarchiver.

Very useful tools

richb93 · 13 Sep 2012 at 21:31

Found it. Here you go: http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/x2lxo/shiny_new_mid_2012_macbook_air_impressions_and/

thewanted · 13 Sep 2012 at 22:07

Big-Mac-Please said:
Had to watch the pennies so went for 4gb. £859 with the three year warranty and £70 gift card.

Think its a great deal and so far it seems lightning fast

Congrats on the purchase

Did you purchase the additional 3 years worth of telephone support? Judging by the price you paid, it doesn't look like you did.

If not, would you mind confirming please that your AppleCare for the hardware is showing up as a 3 year agreement on Apple's site?

Big-Mac-Please · 13 Sep 2012 at 22:10

richb93 thank you for that I will check it out tomorrow when I get chance

thewanted Its 1 year telephone support I believe and a three year warranty. How do you look on apple online to see if its on their site?

thewanted · 13 Sep 2012 at 22:14

Big-Mac-Please said:
thewanted Its 1 year telephone support I believe and a three year warranty. How do you look on apple online to see if its on their site?

https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

There you go mate. Thanks very much!