I went back to the Apple store today to try out the 27" vs 21.5". The screen on the 27" is gorgeous. However, doing some testing at home, I just think it is going to be way too tall for me and is going to cause (further) neck pain. The height of the 21.5" is perfect for my ergonomic setup. I am just too damn short. So I am going to go with the 21.5". Why doesn't fucking Apple carry a 24" or a quad core i7? Damn them. I think the 21.5" is will be completely fine for me as I usually just have one program on the screen at a time (and I've been fine with a 20" for some time). I am sad that I won't have the opportunity to upgrade the RAM to 32GB but I don't think that is going to be a big problem.
Perhaps I go for minimalism in 2015. Or better yet, maybe I should use the $500 I save to get an SVS sub.
Edit: Dammit, I just realized that Apple was offering a $100 gift card with Mac purchase yesterday. Maybe they will do this again on Monday?