My New Imac came today

[will eth]

My New Imac came today, but i cant open it untill christmas- that is if i last that long. Its a 20 inch 500 gb HD 2 gb RAM and 2.4gh. I cant wait.
Feel free to post a response with your thoughts of my choice of spec.:apple:

[Tallest Skil]

Your choice of specs would have been more for the money if the purchase had waited.

[will eth]

Tallest skail what do you mean. Do you think i should have waited untill the next gen. I did think about it but this is my first ever mac and i was not looking to spend much money on it. I will only be using it for everyday tasks- nothing too complex so i thought that this would be good enough. Your thoughts?:confused:

[Tallest Skil]

Hang on, hang on. Did you buy it or was it purchased for you?

If you got it as a present, be happy. If you bought it yourself, return it now and buy the new model when it comes out.

[arkitect]

…buy the new model when it comes out.

Which is… when, exactly?

Are you seriously recommending the OP gets into that vicious cycle of putting off purchases because a newer better faster upgrade is *just around the corner*?

Or are you just speculating?

[will eth]

My Mum and Dad put £300 towards and i payed the rest. My thoughts are that you have to stop somewhere in terms of the generation because you would never be happy with the one you have got. you would always be thinking i wish i had the next upgrade so i though this one would do for the things i need it for. your thoughts?

[Foxtrot Oscar]

Happy for you!

Ignore the grumpy robot and enjoy. :p

Fox

[will eth]

thankyou Its appriciated whern someone actually says that i have made the right decision.
Does anyone else have any thoughts on my spec and choice because it is my first mac and i just bought what i could afford i need an expert opinion.

[YMark]

Enjoy your new Mac. Ignore the naysayers that say a "new one is just around the corner". That's always the case, and nobody knows when you'll get to that corner.

[Chadgo1]

If I were you I would return it and wait until January of 2015. Actually, I heard an upgrade of THAT model may come out in the fall of 2016. So, I'd wait until then. Unless of course you want to wait until the super-duper upgrade speculated for 2018. Yeah, I would wait for that. But I'd wait for the second generation of that model so they can work out the bugs. So, you should be golden in 2019. But...

Seriously, you are fine. Any piece of new technology you purchase is outdated the minute you buy it. If you are always waiting for the latest/greatest model, you will never make a purchase. Enjoy your new computer.

[Le Big Mac]

thankyou Its appriciated whern someone actually says that i have made the right decision.
Does anyone else have any thoughts on my spec and choice because it is my first mac and i just bought what i could afford i need an expert opinion.

They're all great. If this one is what you can afford, then it's right for you. If you had more money and a need for a bigger screen or a marginally faster machine, then, yeah, you could get a faster machine with a bigger screen and have less money.

As for newer models? Sure, they'll be coming--maybe next month or maybe in 2-3 months. No one knows for sure. The most they're likely to be is modestly faster for the same money, with maybe a couple of tweaks.

So, enjoy your new iMac. Have fun with it over the holidays. And don't follow MacWorld too closely.

[will eth]

Cheers Everyone i will enjoy it. the only other thing that was bothering me was the screen size but 20 inch is way big enough for my bedroom.
Also can anyone recommend a good tv tuner for macs. Or any other thoughts on my mac

[dpcalhoun]

Cheers Everyone i will enjoy it. the only other thing that was bothering me was the screen size but 20 inch is way big enough for my bedroom.
Also can anyone recommend a good tv tuner for macs. Or any other thoughts on my mac

I bought a new 24" iMac in October and love it. Sure, I could've waited until January, but back then they were thinking it might be updated in November and that didn't happen. A new line will more than likely come in January, but congrats on the new mac. You made a good choice.

As far as tv tuners, check out elgato (http://www.eyetv.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products.en.html).

[justflie]

If you've never used a Mac before, check out apple.com/mac and work with some of the tutorials there. There are plenty of other websites that give helpful hints and tricks to new Mac users that would be beneficial to you. You'll have a pretty good idea of what you're doing before you even take it out of the box! Enjoy. :D

[alphaod]

I used to play the let's-wait-for-the-updated-model-and-hope-for-the-best game.

It's not worth it. I mean sure if you have limited funds it to wait a bit if you know if a new model will come out, but sometimes the fun is buying a legacy model knowing most of the kinks and model defects have been ironed out by then.

I hate saying this, but look as all those people who waited for the Montevina MBP that never came… sure a better model did get released eventually, but that was about 3 months after the projected date. Is that really worth it? Pull hair over a computer just because of 3 months of delay? IMO it's never worth—get what you want at the time that's right for you; spend a little more and not get the low end model, but not the highest either. This way you know you didn't waste money in the first place on the expensive parts, but you know you model will at least remain competitive with the low end of the next generation for at least a year or two.

I say keep it unless you are really limited on funds (as in you spent all your money on the computer—which I would highly advise against).

Also ignore HK-47; he only knows how to kill.

[blindzero]

My New Imac came today, but i cant open it untill christmas- that is if i last that long. Its a 20 inch 500 gb HD 2 gb RAM and 2.4gh. I cant wait.
Feel free to post a response with your thoughts of my choice of spec.:apple:

congrats on the new mac! anyone that plays the waiting game will just be waiting searching the message boards and arguing over specs while you can actually be enjoying your new computer. have fun!

[Joe888]

My New Imac came today, but i cant open it untill christmas- that is if i last that long. Its a 20 inch 500 gb HD 2 gb RAM and 2.4gh. I cant wait.
Feel free to post a response with your thoughts of my choice of spec.:apple:

I to have also been bought an iMac for Christmas (i also have to wait till christmas till i can open it)..it will also be my first mac and its a similar setup to yours..20 inch 2.4 GHz 320 GB hard drive and 4GB RAM...i know new iMacs will be released within the next few weeks/months but like you, the iMac that i got will be good for my everyday basic needs and also like you, 20 inch is big for a room computer, i didnt need anything bigger right now. so Congrats on the new iMac!

[justflie]

I bought a new iMac (the stock low end 20") for my aunt and uncle. It will be their first mac and it's a surprise. I know it's silly, but I can't wait for them to open it! :apple:

[Sky Blue]

i know new iMacs will be released within the next few weeks

fixed :)

I agree with the sentiments of not waiting and buying now, but after all the festivities are done in the next couple of weeks, MacWorld will be days away. Worth waiting it out IMO.

[duncyboy]

Congratulation on the purchase- I have an iMac, best computer I've owned. If you did decide to return it and await a possible spec bump in January then that's up to you- I was in a similar position before I bought mine- I just decided I couldn't wait to switch and went for it, haven't regretted it once.

Here's a Similar Thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=616778) saying similar things.

One thing to ask yourself- will the increase, if any, REALLY make that big a difference. I have the entry level iMac from '08 and it does everything I throw at it with its eyes shut.

Enjoy! :)

[wickerman1893]

haha i also just bought a mac for christmas.....2.66 Ghz, 4gb ram, 750gb,20in

ya i to thought about the new model comming out but its not like i cant save up for the new model aswell....plus i would rather wait a couple months or so for the kinks and glitches to get worked out.

[SnowLeopard2008]

I personally would never buy at the end of a product cycle... I bought my MacBook last year Black Friday because earlier that month, Leopard came out and the specs were boosted. I was buying at the beginning of a new product cycle.

To OP: I would say wait for the new one, because sometimes it's not just a simple speed boost. There could be a radical new design (polycarbonate vs aluminum) around the corner. But, if you don't care, then that's fine. The specs are good but will be better with the newer generation.

[dotdotdot]

Don't listen to anyone - this is a hardcore Apple forum, where people pay attention to the release cycles and every little detail about any Apple product.

Fact is, you bought a great computer that will be able to last you at least three, four years so enjoy it!

[kixsand]

I'm typing this note on my white 24" iMac that I purchased about 4 months before Apple went with the aluminum. I remember being bummed about it at the time but have had nary a regret since. The one thing smart that I did was to protect myself as best I could against the onslaught of redundancy -- upgraded the video card, hd, ram and processor. I don't think my computer is much slower than the new iMacs even to this day.

Enjoy.

[txhockey9404]

Don't worry about those people who say to return it. May I say, Congratulations! You bought a great machine that will hopefully last a long time. I am using a 20in aluminum iMac with 1gb ram and 2.0ghz processor. It was the first gen, and frankly, while it is a performer, the earlier produced ones were not ready. I had mine replaced. Yours should be fine considering it is a revision. Don't worry about an upgrade. At the very most, your included specs could be a 2.6ghz processor, 2gb ram, and a 320gb hdd.

Also, you may want to look into a backup solution. You can use Time Machine and an external drive for that. Just go and get a garden variety external HDD about twice the size of your internal drive (possibly 750gb-1tb), open up Disk Utility, and format it for HFS+, tell Time Machine to use it, and a few hours later, you should have your first backup.

[czachorski]

Don't listen to anyone - this is a hardcore Apple forum, where people pay attention to the release cycles and every little detail about any Apple product.

Fact is, you bought a great computer that will be able to last you at least three, four years so enjoy it!

BINGO! Great points.

I have some friends that bought a 20" White iMac G5 about 3-4 years ago. To them, their computer is still "new" and is a wonder that they enjoy using and discovering every day. They are oblivious to the changes and new models that have come out since - they simple don't track those kind of things. Most people in the world are probably like that, but most people in here are not. The OP should keep that in mind when reading all the "wait" posts.

[BJMRamage]

congrats!

I bought my iMac in October because windows was crashing hard. i had to buy for work. I love it. i feared that an update would not happen the following week...it didn't, then in a month's time it still had not updated. the computer rocks. enjoy it!!

[jamin100]

I say send it back.
Then buy a refurb imac from the apple store. There were some on yesterday for £640. Bargin.

Then with the money you'll save buy some extras!

[Video Monkey13]

I'm typing this note on my white 24" iMac that I purchased about 4 months before Apple went with the aluminum. I remember being bummed about it at the time but have had nary a regret since. The one thing smart that I did was to protect myself as best I could against the onslaught of redundancy -- upgraded the video card, hd, ram and processor. I don't think my computer is much slower than the new iMacs even to this day.

Enjoy.

Did you upgrade the video card yourself or did you special order your iMac with the better card? I'm curious because I have the last-generation 20" White iMac (before the switch to aluminum) and love it! I'm able to run Photoshop, After Effects and FCE with no problems.

[queshy]

Your choice of specs would have been more for the money if the purchase had waited.

Jeez, it's a christmas gift :P

Nothing wrong with the machine that was purchased, and there's not even close to a guarantee that new iMacs are coming soon.