New Imac : help deciding based on specs

Hi all,

http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html

I am looking to purchase the new Imac - the basic spec, 21.5inch 3.06Ghz.

I'm not that tech savvy when it comes to hardware, but I just noticed the 27 inch version has a the i5/i7 chipset. The models:

1) 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache

2) 3.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache

3) 27-inch models only, one of the following:
2.66GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache; Turbo Boost dynamic performance up to 3.2GHz

4) 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache; Turbo Boost dynamic performance up to 3.46GHz; Hyper-Threading for up to eight virtual cores

I can see online many technical explanations about the differences between these processors..but could someone tell me, in 'layman' terms, what the difference is? It's obvious that Intel Core i7 will be the fastest..but could someone provide a more detailed (yet layman!) explanation so I can decide which one is the best buy for me?

I don't want to do any high-end graphics work apart from using Adobe Photoshop for now, just the basic stuff but I do want to get a great spec, a more up to date one, if the price is right.

Any personal opinions as to which one YOU would get (or not get) and why would be great

Many thanks!

Any of those will fit your needs just fine.

All the options look like they are the same price on the website, and the trade-offs between processor and monitor size look about equal.

Alright, nevermind, you left out a lot of specs, and I don't think you copied them all correctly. But anyways, are those 4 the same price? If so...

I would go with the 4th one. Its processor is a little slower, even with the turbo boost performance (which I am not sure how it would work, maybe its overclocking), but it will still be fast enough for what you need. It also has the 27" screen, and 1TB harddrive. It also has the better graphic card (which you don't really need, though).

Thanks very much They aren't the same price, the price increases progressively with each option. The full details are on the link I posted above.
Thanks again for your feedback