Hard Drive:iMac hard drive options come in two flavors for each model, each besting the other in sheer size of storage. For the 21.5-inch models, the most basic storage capacity begins at relatively large 500 GB Serial ATA hard drive, with the option to upgrade to a 2TB 7200rpm Serial ATA Hard Drive. For the 27-inch models, you can choose from the 1TB or 2TB 7200rpm Serial ATA hard drive. Both can eat up all that you intend to store. Depending on your storage habits, opt for the larger capacity hard drives if you’re a pack rat, or if you like to keep your library of photos, music, and videos.
Processor: The 21.5-inch and the 27-inch iMac models offer the blazing- fast Intel i3, i5 and i7 Core processors up to 3.6GHz. Quad-core power comes to the 27-inch models (Intel Core i5 at 2.8GHz and the optional Intel Core i7 at 2.93 GHz). With quad-core, you are guaranteed of a better performance so you can manage photos, edit HD videos, and play 3D games with ease.
Graphics: For iMac’s 21.5-inch model, its option starts with the ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics processor with 256MB of dedicated memory. For even better graphics, you can choose the ATI Radeon HD 5670 with 512MB of memory. As for the 27-inch iMac models, you can choose from either the ATI Radeon HD 5670 graphics processor with 512MB or the Radeon HD 5750 with 1GB of memory. If you want to have the kind of graphics that jumps off the screen of your iMac, look into investing into the higher memory graphics cards.
Memory:iMac options start out at 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1333MHz and go up to 16GB of DDR3 memory. Having 4GB of RAM will allow you to run several applications with no hassle, but upgrading will have a noticeable effect on how fast your applications will run especially if you’re into heavy gaming and graphics work. Memory also tend to be the cheapest part to upgrade so if you’re looking for affordable upgrade options, look at memory first.
