About to purchase an actual iMac for the first time

[sumsaykra-z]

So I'm finally going to bite the bullet and actually purchase an Apple iMac. I've been running with my Hack for a few years now and it has been great. However, considering it's a bit to keep up with and it is no where NEAR as asthetically pleasing as an iMac would be in my bedroom I'm getting a brand new iMac. I don't have time to keep up with a Hack as a hobby.


So, after rambling about that, here are my questions:

What is the correct and proper way to back up a hackintosh to restore to a real Mac? Right now I've used Time Machine but I excluded /Extras & /System/Library/Extensions and those other files in root that are created with the new Chimera for the iMessage fix. I have some kext that are crucial for my hack but ofcourse not so with a real Mac. Some of which are modified "Apple" kext that I don't want to write over with.

I am incredibly undecided on which processor to go with! Most of my use on a computer is just simple browsing, emails, Netflix, youtube videos, etc. I do however also use it to host my Plex Media Server to stream my movies over to my smart tv. In order to do this I take my home dvd's and convert them to .mp4 using HandBrake. I may convert 2-3 movies a week and sometimes not at all over a week's time. From what I understand, hyperthreading is extremely benficial for transcoding. So, just your opinion, is it worth the extra $200? (this is on the 21.5" model. Options are Quad-Core i5 @ 2.9 ghz or Quad-Core i7 @ 3.1 ghz). How much faster would the i7 be when transcoding? I read somewhere that it'll be somewhere around 20%-25% faster. In your opinion, is that worth it? I don't game or design so I can't think of anything else that hyperthreading would benefit me.

If I got with the 27" model I have the option of 3 different GPU's. The GTX 660m, GTX 675MX and the GTX 680MX. I don' t know much about GPU's. Does the GPU help with video transcoding? Right now I have an GeForce 210 512MB. This is a fairly low-end graphics card and I haven't run into a case where I needed something more powerful. The 660M is the base model 27". In order to even get the 675MX or the 680MX you need to go to the next model up which is $200 more. That just gets you the 675MX. It's another $150 to get the 680MX. Do I need something like that?

 

[tviolation]

I'm also about to order a real iMac (tomorrow, actually), and I've been playing with the configuration options quite a bit so I figured I'd weigh in with my thoughts on this. I've always had a real Mac laptop and other Apple devices floating around, but started building the Hacks to be my high-end desktop system because the only other way to get anything of comparable performance at the time was to buy a ridiculously over-priced Mac Pro. I've enjoyed the Hack a lot, but with the new wave of iMacs, the cost savings of building your own, at least for high end configurations, just aren't significant anymore for all the tinkering.

Just to put it in context, I'm ordering the 27" with the i7 3770 @3.4GHz, the GTX 680MX, and the 768GB SSD option.

As far as backups go, you should have no problem importing to the new Mac from your Time Machine backup. Generally, I don't think this will copy over the kext files, but I could be wrong on that. Personally, I would do a manual data transfer to the new iMac and clean install all the applications. While Time Machine is great for restoring the same system, I am always leery of gumming up a different machine with un-needed stuff as well. If you do use Migration Assistant, though, you can specify what you want moved and limit it to just your user data and applications and such.

Most of what you're using the computer for will, honestly, be indistinguishable between the i5 and the i7. Video encoding, though, will fly on the i7 vs the i5. My current Hack has an i7 3770k and it will Handbrake an hour of 720p video in about 20 minutes. My Ivy Bridge MacBook Air with an i5 takes just shy of two hours to do the same thing. Granted, the Air has a much slower i5 with half the cores than the iMac, but it's still a significant difference. If that's the most CPU intensive thing you do, though, and you're only doing it a couple of times per week, I'd say go with the i5 and put the money into another upgrade instead. The i5 is still a great CPU and will be more than adequate for the vast majority of your needs.

Really, nothing you're planning on doing will be impacted between any of the GPU options. Video transcoding is going to be much more heavily CPU dependent than GPU and I don't believe Handbrake will make use of the GPU at all. The 650 or 660m will blow your current card out of the water, and if you aren't having any issues now, I'd again say put that money into a RAM or storage upgrade instead.

Have you decided what storage option you're considering yet?

 

[sumsaykra-z]

I'm also about to order a real iMac (tomorrow, actually), and I've been playing with the configuration options quite a bit so I figured I'd weigh in with my thoughts on this. I've always had a real Mac laptop and other Apple devices floating around, but started building the Hacks to be my high-end desktop system because the only other way to get anything of comparable performance at the time was to buy a ridiculously over-priced Mac Pro. I've enjoyed the Hack a lot, but with the new wave of iMacs, the cost savings of building your own, at least for high end configurations, just aren't significant anymore for all the tinkering.

Just to put it in context, I'm ordering the 27" with the i7 3770 @3.4GHz, the GTX 680MX, and the 768GB SSD option.

As far as backups go, you should have no problem importing to the new Mac from your Time Machine backup. Generally, I don't think this will copy over the kext files, but I could be wrong on that. Personally, I would do a manual data transfer to the new iMac and clean install all the applications. While Time Machine is great for restoring the same system, I am always leery of gumming up a different machine with un-needed stuff as well. If you do use Migration Assistant, though, you can specify what you want moved and limit it to just your user data and applications and such.

Most of what you're using the computer for will, honestly, be indistinguishable between the i5 and the i7. Video encoding, though, will fly on the i7 vs the i5. My current Hack has an i7 3770k and it will Handbrake an hour of 720p video in about 20 minutes. My Ivy Bridge MacBook Air with an i5 takes just shy of two hours to do the same thing. Granted, the Air has a much slower i5 with half the cores than the iMac, but it's still a significant difference. If that's the most CPU intensive thing you do, though, and you're only doing it a couple of times per week, I'd say go with the i5 and put the money into another upgrade instead. The i5 is still a great CPU and will be more than adequate for the vast majority of your needs.

Really, nothing you're planning on doing will be impacted between any of the GPU options. Video transcoding is going to be much more heavily CPU dependent than GPU and I don't believe Handbrake will make use of the GPU at all. The 650 or 660m will blow your current card out of the water, and if you aren't having any issues now, I'd again say put that money into a RAM or storage upgrade instead.

Have you decided what storage option you're considering yet?

Whoa. You're going full throttle with your purchase! Those options are well out of my budget. Which, my budget isn't neccessairly a money limitation but how much I'm willing to spend on a computer that I spend less time on than in the past. Between my iPhone and iPad, it doesn't get used as often.

I would like to see real world encoding between the i5 and i7 that is offered in the 21.5". Which brings me to my last indecision. I'm ever so pulled between the 2 sizes. I want the bigger 27" screen only for when I'm watching movies from the comfort of my bed but considering I don't do any video editing or gaming the 27" screen would be way to big for everyday use. My desk isn't big enough and therefore I don't sit far away enough to sit at it comfortbly. My head would be moving side to side following the cursor..haha. I actually have experience using one and I don't care for it for everyday use. It's also much more expensive. However, I would love it for movies plus I like that I could upgrade the memory in the future for much cheaper than Apple and I have more storage options. I'm getting the Fusion drive no matter what but I would like to have the 3TB one. Of course that isn't an option on the 21.5". Plus, the 21.5" has a 5400 rpm drive while the 27in has the 7200 rpm. Man I wish their was something in between screen size and performance!!

The more I keep going over this and recalculating cost with needs/wants I'm leaving towards the i7 (I want that power when it can be used and I want no hicups for the future) and If I get the 21.5" I'm definitley getting the one with the 650m but IF I do get the 27in I may bump the GPU to the GTX 675MX. Reason being is becasue I can't find anything on the internet demonstrating a noticeable difference between the two (GT 650M & GTX 660M) that would effect me. But the GTX 675MX is a HUGE jump and it may be worth it just to splurge now. Since I have a good deal of ignorance when it comes to GPU's, if you can find something that can show me a difference between the GTX 660M and the GT 650M that would great.