iMac

[ellyr]

When Leopard comes out, I plan to get a 20in iMac. I'm trying to decide between the 2.0 GHz or 2.4 GHz. Is there a noticeable difference with the extra 0.4 GHz?
Or is the money better spent on extra RAM?

I plan to use the iMac with Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Flash and Dreamweaver amongst the usual Mail, iTunes, Office etc. and tend to have all of them running at the same time.

Thanks!

[Puckboy]

I opted for the faster processer, b/c you're not likely to change that. So, might as well get the fastest one you can.

I went with 1GB from Apple (Canada), and plan on getting more RAM later. Right now, 1GB SODIMM RAM is cheap, but I'm looking for 2GB, and then another 2GB later.

HTH.

[ClassicBean]

I went for the 2.0 Ghz machine and absolutely love it. I've got a 2.16 Ghz MacBook Pro (pre Santa Rosa) and found the speed to be amazing for my needs so I figured the 2.0 would do just fine. I don't game. I use it for writing, email, photo and music management, surfing and the occasional amateur video editing.

[Sun Baked]

If you are buying a stock unit, the extra VRAM, GPU card bump, bigger HD, are worth more than the extra .4GHz in CPU speed.

So it really is not a bad deal for the 2.4GHa al-iMac 20.

Though if that tends to impact you financially a bit right now, just using an extra $40 1GB of 3rd party notebook ram will boost either machine into an area where you shouldn't have too many anemic RAM issues.

[MacinDoc]

For an iMac, the biggest HD and most VRAM you can get are a good investment, since the HD is difficult to upgrade, and the VRAM impossible.

[ucfgrad93]

When I got my iMac, I upgraded to the 2.4, because I felt the bump in processor speed, larger harddrive, and the extra video ram was worth the price. And like Macindoc said, upgrading the HD and vram is very difficult.

[ellyr]

Thanks everyone! I'm leaning towards the more expensive model with your advice.

With Adobe CS3 and Office it's going to be the most expensive thing I've ever bought in one transaction.