24" From Amazon or should I upgrade video....?

[mulletman13]

Hey guys...

Well I've been wanting the 24", and I"m really debating between two things.

Amazon doesn't charge for tax, and has a $150 rebate which brings the price down to $1849, with no tax.

Standard 24" iMac - $1849 - Amazon

OR

Should I go the Edu discount route with Apple, and upgrade the video card? 1899 + 113 = 2012 + 5.5% WI sales tax (110.66).

24" iMac with 256mb 7600GT = $2122.66 - Apple

... I guess now that I look at it this way its a little more clear, but what do you guys suggest?

I play CS:Source, and WoW in Windows, so nothing too graphically demanding.

[carfac]

Why are you even asking???? Amazon and pocket the cash.

[CrEsTo]

Why are you even asking???? Amazon and pocket the cash.

+1, I would do that and use the extra cash to upgrade RAM.

[shieldyoureyes]

Gah! I am having the same delema. I really want that 7600GT for aperture and some windows gaming, but I really don't know if it is worth the extra $310.

I really wish I could just buy it from amazon and throw that graphics card in later.

[ipoddin]

I completely disagree. ALWAYS go for the highest end video card if you plan to game. CS:Source and WoW are definitely going to suffer under the standard video card.

Here (http://www.barefeats.com/imcd4.html) are benchmarks with the 256mb version...imagine how much worse the card with half the memory will perform!

[mulletman13]

I went with the Amazon route and I couldn't possibly be happier.

I upgraded to an extra gb of RAM, and I get very respectable rates in CS:S and WoW (around 60) with all effects turned up (except AA and Ansiotropic Filtering). I am thoroughly pleased with my purchase, and while a better video card would be nice, it wasn't worth the nearly 15% price increase for me :)

[ZoomZoomZoom]

The premium isn't as bad as it sounds.

(1) If you wanted a wireless keyboard, you save some money by upgrading through Apple and selling the MM
(2) Ordering through Apple means you can upgrade to 2x1GB ram modules. Amazon gives you 2x512MB, so you'll have to shell down for 2 whole GB if you wanted 2GB. Apple does the upgrade at a reasonable cost, and Applecare won't ever bother you about it again.

As for the 7600 vs 7300... don't focus too much on memory. The card matters a lot more. That being said, the 7600 seems to completely kick the 7300(about twice the FPS if I'm not mistaken), and will future-proof you a lot better if you plan on getting into more graphically-intensive games. You'll recoup some of your loss via eventual resale value, too.

I am going for the 7600 through Apple, but if I weren't a mid-demanding gamer, I probably would have saved my money.

[nagromme]

Amazon has great deals--especially for me since I can't get edu pricing!

But I STILL went the BTO route, and got the 7600. It's a personal call.

[odedia]

bhphoto.com also have nice setups, and they only charge tax in new york.

[BadgerMac]

Another Milwaukean ed discounter!

You a teacher or a student?

Hey guys...

Well I've been wanting the 24", and I"m really debating between two things.

Amazon doesn't charge for tax, and has a $150 rebate which brings the price down to $1849, with no tax.

Standard 24" iMac - $1849 - Amazon

OR

Should I go the Edu discount route with Apple, and upgrade the video card? 1899 + 113 = 2012 + 5.5% WI sales tax (110.66).

24" iMac with 256mb 7600GT = $2122.66 - Apple

... I guess now that I look at it this way its a little more clear, but what do you guys suggest?

I play CS:Source, and WoW in Windows, so nothing too graphically demanding.

[nightelf]

I got a stock iMac 20" C2D and WoW plays really nice, everything max no graphic lag.

[MovieCutter]

Normally, I would preach the greatness of the better video card. I just got a 24" iMac with the 7600GT playing WOW and it is sweet indeed, but I don't know that it is worth the extra ~$300 in this case. It's nice and all, but unless you're willing to splurge this once over something that will give you likely 2x the performance over the stock card according the barefeats.com, then I'd go Amazon.com.

[ipoddin]

Normally, I would preach the greatness of the better video card. I just got a 24" iMac with the 7600GT playing WOW and it is sweet indeed, but I don't know that it is worth the extra ~$300 in this case. It's nice and all, but unless you're willing to splurge this once over something that will give you likely 2x the performance over the stock card according the barefeats.com, then I'd go Amazon.com.

I still disagree. You might be fine with WoW now, but wait until you play the next WoW or something new next year and see if you're still regretting the upgraded video card.