The top-end model, (Imac 27" Quad Core), has been a major breakthrough for apple. Not only does it have an intel quad-core processor, which can go up to speeds twice as fast as the old intel, but it also has 4GB inbuilt RAM and upgradeable upto 16GB
The Imac's new LED Display has its own share of pros and cons. On the plus side, the led display's brightness and color is just mind-blowing and at the same time, it keeps energy wastage to a minimum. On the negative side, there have been a couple of reports saying that the corner of the screen tints yellow slightly.
Coming back to the choice between the four models of the Imac, the first thing to decide is the screen size - 21" or 27"
21" Imac
Amongst the 21" Imacs, the choice completely depends on what you will be using it for and, of course, your budget. Both Imacs feature a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor which is as good as it can get without a quad-core Imac. The memory in all 4 models of the Imac is the same - 4GB inbuilt and upgradeable upto 16GB. The lower end model of the Imac comes with a 500GB hard drive whereas the other ones come with a 1TB Hard Drive. The graphics card in the two models of the 21" Imac varies. ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256MB of GDDR3 memory is used by the higher end model as well as by the lower end model of the 27" Imac. The 21" lower end model uses an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory3. There is no variation in the ports of all 4 models.
Conclusion (21" Imac)
If you're using this computer for photographic, designing or productive purposes, then you should go for the higher end one and maybe even consider a 27" Imac. If you'll be using this for educational or general purposes (Powerpoints, PDFs, Word documents, Email, etc), then you should go for the lower end one, which, if you think about it, is still a magnificent computer and, in my opinion, is far greater than a windows.
27" Imac
The 27" Imac has two models as well. The main difference in these two models is the Processor. One uses a 3.06GHz processor with intel core 2 duo whereas the superior model uses a 2.66GHz processor with a quad core intel i5 chip which is almost 2 times faster. The Cache is an 8MB shared L2 cache as opposed to the lower-end model which is a 3MB. The Graphics card is better in the higher end model being an ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 512MB of GDDR3 memory.
Conclusion (27" Imac)
Again, if you're using this computer for photographic, designing or productive purposes, then you should go for the higher end one (quad core). if you'll be using this for educational or general purposes (Powerpoints, PDFs, Word documents, Email, etc), then you should go for the lower end one. Another reason for buying the higher end one is that the new technology (quad core processor) will soon come out in all new computers and then the core 2 duo will get outdated. So while your quad core wont get outdated for atleast another 4 years, the other one may get outdated within 2-3 years.
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