Chosen Solution
Guys I can’t decide which one I should go for. The older model iMac is a 2009 2.8 Core i7 or 2011 2.7 Core i5. Does going for the older machine make up for the higher i7 difference? Or would going for the 2 year newer machine with the i5 be better? What advantages would benefit me as I am looking to buy either one of these at the same price but not sure which one to choose so I can go either way. Thoughts?
I would go with the 2011 model! The CPU could be upgraded to a i7 if that was important to you. The quantity of RAM is the same (max of 32 GB) I would stick with 16 GB as the largest practical. But this is where things start to get different! The 2009 only offers 2 SATA ports (3.5” HDD and ODD) and its only SATA II (3.0 Gb/s). The 2011 model offers three SATA ports! Two are SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) the (3.5” HDD and the spare to support a SSD) and the third is only SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) for the ODD. And lastly, here’s the performance differences:
