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Which new imac to get?

post #1 of 28
5/6/08 at 1:22am
Thread Starter 
I'm mulling over the options. I have a G5 imac (bought a few weeks before it all went Intel, which was annoying) - the HDD died a few months ago and I replaced it, and all in all it does what I want bar the very occasional grey box of death. The new imacs were just announced, and I've been wanting one of the 24" models for a while now (they look great) and they will be much faster than my current one (which does slow down a bit sometimes) and will offer the facility to run Windows properly (which is useful sometimes).

I was going to get the top of the line model but I don't play games so the Nvidia card will be 'wasted' in my opinion. So I then veered to the 'standard' 24" with slightly less HDD space (320v500G), and a slightly slower CPU (2.8vs 3.06GHz), and upgrading those, but now I'm thinking that the extra HDD and CPU power isn't really going to make a huge difference is it? The price difference between the two models is about 25%. Any viewpoints/ opinions?
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post #2 of 28
5/6/08 at 1:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by chobochobo View Post
I'm mulling over the options. I have a G5 imac (bought a few weeks before it all went Intel, which was annoying) - the HDD died a few months ago and I replaced it, and all in all it does what I want bar the very occasional grey box of death. The new imacs were just announced, and I've been wanting one of the 24" models for a while now (they look great) and they will be much faster than my current one (which does slow down a bit sometimes) and will offer the facility to run Windows properly (which is useful sometimes).

I was going to get the top of the line model but I don't play games so the Nvidia card will be 'wasted' in my opinion. So I then veered to the 'standard' 24" with slightly less HDD space (320v500G), and a slightly slower CPU (2.8vs 3.06GHz), and upgrading those, but now I'm thinking that the extra HDD and CPU power isn't really going to make a huge difference is it? The price difference between the two models is about 25%. Any viewpoints/ opinions?
Get the "standard" - I have one, it's plenty fast, and it runs Vista better than a PC IMO (though I try to never, ever use any Microsoft product if I can - they're the only things that mess up on my mac)

The screen is a true HD in the 24" - amazing picture quality for a computer. I can stare at spreadsheets all day, no problem
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post #3 of 28
5/6/08 at 1:49am
Current issue of Macworld answers every question you ask.

I would get the 2.8 for 1799.00 unless you really need the bigger hard drive. You can find some deals or freebies if you buy through macmall or maczones. Maybe save sales tax and free shipping as well.
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post #4 of 28
5/6/08 at 1:51am
Thread Starter 
Cheers, I'll see if I can get the magazine in my locality. There aren't that many resellers here in HK and there isn't even a B&M Apple store; I do get a 5% or so 'educational' discount when I order from the online Apple shop though.
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post #5 of 28
5/6/08 at 6:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big A View Post
Get the "standard" - I have one, it's plenty fast, and it runs Vista better than a PC IMO (though I try to never, ever use any Microsoft product if I can - they're the only things that mess up on my mac)

The screen is a true HD in the 24" - amazing picture quality for a computer. I can stare at spreadsheets all day, no problem

Another way of looking at it: Get the best you can afford now and it will be serviceable for longer.

I am just about to retire a 4 year old G5 Powermac and that's only because I am switching to a laptop. When I got it it was the top of the range and I added some extra RAM and later a second HD, nothing more. It has been my only machine for professional music production, photography and general internet/e-mail for 4 years and were it not for the need to be mobile I could see it performing these duties well for at least another 2 years. Had I gone for a lesser model I think either I don't think that would be the case. And that's not to mention the productivity gains of a more powerful machine.
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post #6 of 28
5/6/08 at 8:19am
If you can swing the top of the line 24, I'd do it. I got the standard one last summer, and I now feel it was a false economy. YMMV, of course.
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post #7 of 28
5/6/08 at 9:42am
I dunno, my roommate bought the mid-tier iMac a few years ago and it's been just awesome from day 1.
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post #8 of 28
5/6/08 at 10:19am
Thank goodness you'll have Leopard preinstalled... I upgraded one of our pcs at home.. Leopard caused some pretty major FCUKUPs with permissions.
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post #9 of 28
5/6/08 at 10:31am
If I had to prioritize it would be to upgrade the memory. I actually just ordered the top of the line with 4GB ram and 750GB HD. With hi-def movies and my ever-growing music library I found it's better to just get a bigger disc rather than one that will be full a couple of years down the line. With OSX being as graphics intensive as it is, with the new Quartz GL stuff etc, I found that the Nvidia card might be a smart option even though I don't really play games at all on my computer. But as you say even the base models are really well specced these days. For most uses the upgrade's probably not worth the 25% extra.
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post #10 of 28
5/6/08 at 11:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by T4phage View Post
Thank goodness you'll have Leopard preinstalled... I upgraded one of our pcs at home.. Leopard caused some pretty major FCUKUPs with permissions.

I've never had a problem with my macs until I tried to do the same. I made the mistake of trying to upgrade an old ibook and it messed it up and I had to get a new one. Luckily I'd saved all my work..
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post #11 of 28
5/6/08 at 1:09pm
I think it depends on what you're using the computer for. In general, always get as much memory and hard drive as you can reasonably afford. For most people, that means the biggest hard drive, and the memory config whose MB/$ ratio is still reasonable.

The CPU speed increase is negligible for most people.

--Andre
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post #12 of 28
5/6/08 at 1:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by chobochobo View Post
I'm mulling over the options. I have a G5 imac (bought a few weeks before it all went Intel, which was annoying) - the HDD died a few months ago and I replaced it, and all in all it does what I want bar the very occasional grey box of death. The new imacs were just announced, and I've been wanting one of the 24" models for a while now (they look great) and they will be much faster than my current one (which does slow down a bit sometimes) and will offer the facility to run Windows properly (which is useful sometimes).

I was going to get the top of the line model but I don't play games so the Nvidia card will be 'wasted' in my opinion. So I then veered to the 'standard' 24" with slightly less HDD space (320v500G), and a slightly slower CPU (2.8vs 3.06GHz), and upgrading those, but now I'm thinking that the extra HDD and CPU power isn't really going to make a huge difference is it? The price difference between the two models is about 25%. Any viewpoints/ opinions?

What's the Grey box of death??

Also, what games can be played on the Mac these days? Does Blizzard still simultaneously release for Mac & PC?
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post #13 of 28
5/6/08 at 1:24pm
Thread Starter 
The 'grey box of death' is a small box about 5x5" that has appeared on my screens about three to four times since I've had to replace the HDD. The machine is basically unresponsive and you have to shut it down by holding down the power button. I've no idea about games for the Mac I'm afraid.
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post #14 of 28
5/6/08 at 4:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by chobochobo View Post
I'm mulling over the options. I have a G5 imac (bought a few weeks before it all went Intel, which was annoying) - the HDD died a few months ago and I replaced it, and all in all it does what I want bar the very occasional grey box of death. The new imacs were just announced, and I've been wanting one of the 24" models for a while now (they look great) and they will be much faster than my current one (which does slow down a bit sometimes) and will offer the facility to run Windows properly (which is useful sometimes).

I was going to get the top of the line model but I don't play games so the Nvidia card will be 'wasted' in my opinion. So I then veered to the 'standard' 24" with slightly less HDD space (320v500G), and a slightly slower CPU (2.8vs 3.06GHz), and upgrading those, but now I'm thinking that the extra HDD and CPU power isn't really going to make a huge difference is it? The price difference between the two models is about 25%. Any viewpoints/ opinions?

I think the standard model is fast enough these days. I've been looking as well for my wife and the improvement over my excellent imac G5 is astounding. I would load up on as much memory as possible and I would also consider an external hard drive. We use a WD Free Agent with ours and it works very well with Time Machine.
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post #15 of 28
5/6/08 at 4:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by chobochobo View Post
The 'grey box of death' is a small box about 5x5" that has appeared on my screens about three to four times since I've had to replace the HDD. The machine is basically unresponsive and you have to shut it down by holding down the power button. I've no idea about games for the Mac I'm afraid.

To play games on a Mac, just use bootcamp (which comes standard on Leopard).

Jon.
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