This article is about finding the best deal on a mid-2011 iMac, both new and used. Find out if Craigslist is best for a used iMac or if buying new is a better value.

Apple updated mid-2011 with new iMacs that are just perfect for the photographer and video editor. The 2011 iMac is the undisputed champion of all-in-one machines for 95% of us. In this article, I included links to specs, and tests, used mac prices, refurbished, and tax free/free shipping new 2011 iMacs. Yep….I am finally going to take the plunge on one of these incredible desktops.

2011 iMac for Photographers and Videographers

Buying used on Craigslist tips

Buyer beware, those used 2010/2009/2008 iMacs on Craigslist may not be the deal you had hoped for. In the last 2 months folks have been unloading their old iMacs like hotcakes. Why you ask! Because the new mid-2011 have such speedy new i5 and i7 Sandy Bridge processors and are such a great deal. Some of the prices I have seen for a used 2010 iMac are just insane…more than or equal to a 2011 iMac! I suggest that you use this great tool for estimating what a used Mac on Craigslist should sell for. This will save you $$$$ and grief.

I will say it again…check the used iMac specs very carefully if you decide to purchase on Craigslist. Most sellers have zero clue to what model they are selling and will copy and paste any specs from the Apple site, true or false. I have seen numerous ads for a 2009/2010 iMac, with 2011 specs and Thunderbolt port images???? In many cases, the used Craigslist asking price is actually higher/identical than new or buying the iMac from Apple Refurbished direct.

The Seattle Craigslist used iMac prices are crazy high. This week I saw at least six 2009 27″ iMacs selling between $1650 and $3000!!! Any refurbished 2011 iMac with a Sandy Bridge 2.7Ghz, or better, and a little extra RAM would completely smoke any top-of-the-line 2009 or 2010 iMac…..period!

The most I would pay for a 2010 21.5″ iMac is $1000; the most I would pay for a 2010 27″ iMac is $1200. This is what they are worth in processing power today.

If you want to save a few hundred dollars on a 2010 iMac, buy refurbished directly from Apple. Refurbished Macs are like new and come with a 1 year warranty. You can even extend that warranty with Apple Care to 3 additional years for just $169. So lets say that your 2010 iMac dies in 3 years, and Apple is unable to fix it…..they send you a current model for free. How cool is that! If you feel left out with your 2010 27″ iMac, don’t worry. OWC has several great upgrade options available just for you.

The new mid-2011 i5 iMacs

All base models now include the i5 Quad-Core Intel Sandy Bridge processors, three powerful new ATI graphics card options and Thunderbolt ports that can support two external monitors. Built-to-order (BTO) models have the i7 Quad-Core Intel Sandy Bridge processor available for the 21.5″ and 27″. The 27″ BTO model has a premium 3.4Ghz i7 processor and the AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GPU. Add 16GB (4x4GB) SODIMM Laptop Memory for just $200…..WOW!

Best Price Bang for the buck with a new mid-2011 iMac – with free shipping

Best bang for the buck for the 21.5″ is the 21.5-inch iMac 2.7GHz Core i5 – this model really cooks like the bigger boys for just $1425 shipped.
Best bang for the buck for the 27″ is the 27-inch 2.7GHz Core i5 – nice compromise over the more expensive BTO 27″ models….$1615 shipped.

The iMac comes in two 21.5-inch and two 27-inch models, as detailed below:

iMac 21.5″ – lowest price with shipping – $1140
• CPU: 2.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 or 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
• RAM: 4GB (2 x 2 GB)
• HDD: 500 GB or 1 TB hard drive
• GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6750M or AMD Radeon HD 6770M
• Other: Single Thunderbolt port, FaceTime HD camera, aluminum and glass design, IPS LED-backlit high resolution display, Mini DisplayPort, One FireWire 800 port, Four USB 2.0 ports, SDXC card slot, Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive, Audio in/out, Gigabit Ethernet, IR receiver, 802.11 a/b/g n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and an Apple wireless keyboard with a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad.

iMac 27″ – lowest price with shipping – $1615
• CPU: 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 or 3.1 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
• RAM: 4GB (2 x 2 GB)
• HDD: 1 TB hard drive
• GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6770M or AMD Radeon HD 6970M
• Other: Two Thunderbolt ports, FaceTime HD camera, aluminum and glass design, IPS LED-backlit high resolution display,Mini DisplayPort, One FireWire 800 port, Four USB 2.0 ports, SDXC card slot, Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive, Audio in/out, Gigabit Ethernet, IR receiver, 802.11 a/b/g n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and an Apple wireless keyboard with a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad.

BTO iMac 27″ – this is the next best thing to a Mac Pro Desktop – lowest price with shipping – $2300
• CPU: 3.4 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
• RAM: 4GB (2 x 2 GB)
• HDD: 1 TB hard drive
• GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6970M w/2 Gigs VRAM
• Other: Two Thunderbolt ports, FaceTime HD camera, aluminum and glass design, IPS LED-backlit high resolution display,Mini DisplayPort, One FireWire 800 port, Four USB 2.0 ports, SDXC card slot, Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive, Audio in/out, Gigabit Ethernet, IR receiver, 802.11 a/b/g n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and an Apple wireless keyboard with a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad.

Don’t ever buy RAM from Apple, their prices are 300% higher than other vendors. All your memory needs for iMacs are at OWC for much, much less. I have been using OWC memory for years and it works great in all my Macs.

What’s new with the processors

Differences between i3-i5-i7 Intel processors. I am not going to get all technical on you here. Let me just summarize the primary details that I find important for my workflow. And who knows what additional benefits we will see in OSX Lion, when released later next month for $29!

i3 – 1 processor (2 cores that use hyper-threading and show up as 4 cores) – eh…not so great for photographers and video hobbyist.
i5 – 1 processor (4 cores that use turbo-boost to increase the clock speed of 1 core for applications) – economical and very effective processor for photographers/video.
i7 – 1 processor (4 cores that use turbo-boost AND hyper-threading) This is the best of both worlds for photographers and video editors as PhotoShop and Lightroom will benefit from turbo-boost. Final Cut X (due in July 2011) will benefit from Hyper-Threading (8 cores). Highly recommended for the pro photographer AND videographer.

Macworld did a nice comprehensive test for us, check out the link here.

Give me a quality screen

Screen resolution for the 27″ model is 2560×1440, which makes it 109ppi (the new 21.5-inch iMac has a 1920×1080 screen resolution or 102ppi). The 16:9 aspect ratio screens are IPS (in-plany switching) LED-backlit panels, reach full brightness instantly, and offer consistent illumination across the full length of the screen. I spent a few hours researching color calibration results for these new monitors, and they calibrate very well with the Spyder 3 Elite and X-Rite EODIS2 Eye-One Display 2.

Thunderbolt Ports for future proofing

The Thunderbolt port features two 10-Gbps data channels for data transfer that’s up to 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and up to 20 times faster than USB 2.0. The new 27-inch iMac gives you not just one but two Thunderbolt ports and supports as many as six devices “daisy-chained” together. Thunderbolt is backwards compatible with Mini DisplayPort-equipped monitors and works with DVI, VGA, dual-link DVI and HDMI adapters as well.

While Thunderbolt products are not yet available, it does offer unprecedented expansion capabilities for a new generation of high-performance peripherals. Expect to see Thunderbolt peripherals to become available this Summer. Thunderbolt peripherals that I am really excited about are from Sonnet.

Looks like the compact Fusion™ E400TBR5 4-drive RAID 5 desktop storage system would be perfect for video editing and Photoshop and Final Cut X scratchdisks.

Sonnett Fusion E400TBR5 4-drive RAID 5 Thunderbolt storage system

Sonnet’s Echo™ Express PCIe 2.0 Expansion Chassis with Thunderbolt™ Ports enable you to connect one high-performance PCI Express® 2.0 adapter card to any computer with a Thunderbolt port. Available in two sizes, the standard Echo Express PCIe 2.0 Expansion Chassis with Thunderbolt Ports supports one half-length, double-width, x16 (x4 mode), PCIe 2.0 card, while the XL model supports one full-length card. This would allow me to add my existing RAID controller cards or full-size professional HDMI video capture cards.

Sonnett Echo Express PCIe 2.0 Expansion Chassis with Thunderbolt Ports

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