Owning iMac outside of apple care warranty

mellofello said:

Now that the new one is out I guess it's a good time to upgrade.

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You answered your question

mellofello said:

How do the minis stack up to the iMacs for processor power?

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What tasks are you needing the mini for?

mellofello said:

or wait it out and roll the dice?

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I think you answered you own question even better, here.

You will be playing a lottery and look at how much grief you have had already.

My own iMac has had its own share of issues and has currently just had the video card replaced ... it is being retuned to me on Monday. By the way, it is out of warranty so I had to pay for the repair.

I think you should cut your losses with your current machine ... what with its previous track record.

The only reason I bothered paying for my current iMac to be repaired (2008 model) was because I only had to pay cost for the video card and there was no charge for labour by the authorised Apple service company. This was because they screwed up with a previous repair so I managed to negotiate this one off deal.

I'll not pay anymore should it go wrong again (touch wood it won't!!).

I intend to buy one of the new iMacs ... they are TASTY!

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mellofello said:

How do the minis stack up to the iMacs for processor power?

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... the other factor you need to consider is the fact that the Mini only has integrated graphics, whereas the iMac has up to date dedicated graphics cards.

Therefore, in addition to CPU power you need to consider this, also.

Makes a big difference ...

mellofello said:

My iMac has been, for lack of a better term, a piece of chit. In the 2 1/2 years I have owned it every component except for the case has been replaced. Screen, motherboard, hard drive, and power supply.

This has been inconvenient but no big deal. Apple care has covered every repair. Well February 12th makes 3 years. I'm nervous as hell to own this thing out of warranty. The invoices for each repair was usually $8-1500 each time.

Should I bail now and upgrade or wait it out and roll the dice? Since the guts of the computer are actually only a year old will they stand up?

Is it a fluke or are other 2010 iMac guys plagued with expensive problems?

Now that the new one is out I guess it's a good time to upgrade.

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With Japan Applecare, post the 3 year warranty, they charge 400 dollars to fix anything on the computer. So if you've got a few things wrong then it's worthwhile. I had my LCD and GPU replaced for that price after my 3 years were up and they got it back to me in 48 hours.

It sounds like you've got the 6 million dollar man of computers with it being totally rebuilt. It should last for quite a while longer!

mellofello said:

My iMac has been, for lack of a better term, a piece of chit. In the 2 1/2 years I have owned it every component except for the case has been replaced. Screen, motherboard, hard drive, and power supply.

This has been inconvenient but no big deal. Apple care has covered every repair. Well February 12th makes 3 years. I'm nervous as hell to own this thing out of warranty. The invoices for each repair was usually $8-1500 each time.

Should I bail now and upgrade or wait it out and roll the dice? Since the guts of the computer are actually only a year old will they stand up?

Is it a fluke or are other 2010 iMac guys plagued with expensive problems?

Now that the new one is out I guess it's a good time to upgrade.

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If you bought the new model now, would you sell the old one? If so, now is the best time, while it is still under warranty.
If not, I'd keep the old one until it dies, then ditch it and buy the new one then. That way you're getting the maximum value out of your old computer.
I always do that with my computers, keep them until they absolutely can't be used anymore (I've never actually had a Mac die on me yet, my 2005 Powerbook still works, although it's so painfully slow I can't use it). Just because they are out of warranty isn't any reason for throwing them out. Use it till it dies, or becomes so slow you are losing effectiveness (or money).
My 2009 iMac was getting annoyingly slow, so I replaced the optical drive with an SSD. Cost me ~$300, and now it's blazingly fast again, should last me another 2-3 years

mellofello said:

My iMac has been, for lack of a better term, a piece of chit. In the 2 1/2 years I have owned it every component except for the case has been replaced. Screen, motherboard, hard drive, and power supply.

This has been inconvenient but no big deal. Apple care has covered every repair. Well February 12th makes 3 years. I'm nervous as hell to own this thing out of warranty. The invoices for each repair was usually $8-1500 each time.

Should I bail now and upgrade or wait it out and roll the dice? Since the guts of the computer are actually only a year old will they stand up?

Is it a fluke or are other 2010 iMac guys plagued with expensive problems?

Now that the new one is out I guess it's a good time to upgrade.

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I've had quite the opposite experience. I've owned several iMacs over the years with nary a problem. One hard drive and one SuperDrive. When the original iMacs had all those exploding capacitor problems mine was maintenance free. My 4 year old 24" 3.06ghz has been a workhorse even though the screen seems to be darkening around the edges. Maybe consider buying the new Mini, at least it's repairable.

mellofello said:

Plus if the motherboard goes again I get 0.00. I'm going to wait a little bit to see if there is a Thunderbolt Display update. I just can't chance having a $2000 paper weight

Does anyone make a 30 inch plus display of the same quality as the iMac.

If I get the mini I would have a budget of around 1200 for the display.

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Cinema Display wouldn't work? Frys has them for under $800 in-store.

That's awful all those problems for just a 4 year old computer?

I'm coming over from Windows man all these stories about iMacs breaking down in 2-3-4 years has me scared.

mellofello said:

How do the minis stack up to the iMacs for processor power?

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No dedicated GPU on the Mini but a top of the range 680Mx on the iMac

inscrewtable said:

No dedicated GPU on the Mini but a top of the range 680Mx on the iMac

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* top of the range available as a BTO for what is going to be a horrific price on the iMac's, I swear alot of apple fanboys have the same skillset as politicians.

Personally I am going the 27" imac route, i7 upgrade, ssd...maybe gpu if its not insanely priced.

But Mini's fine for what you want it to do, comes with an i7 already in top models and if your only dabbling in photoshop then a gpu isn't important for you. Still, I don't see the appeal in mac minis, due to the top of the range one with a 27" cinema display coming out more expensive than a far more powerful 27" imac all-in-one, I'd sell your old one quickly and get another imac and 3 year warrenty, if you upgrade imac every 2 years before the warrenty, your only loosing a few £££ a year to upgrade each time due to there high re-sale price and even higher re-sale premium with apple care still rolling.

mellofello said:

I'm not sure what's up with my iMac. This is Mac number 6, and I never had problems before.

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I think it is a one off.
I had the same problems with my 2009 27" iMac and like you I wondered what to do after AppleCare would expire.
At the 4th or 5th problem I escalated and proposed a deal for a new model. Apple came back to me and replaced my defective iMac with a new model for free This was 2-3 months before my AppleCare ended. I think that's great service. I will always buy AppleCare.

bobright said:

That's awful all those problems for just a 4 year old computer?

I'm coming over from Windows man all these stories about iMacs breaking down in 2-3-4 years has me scared.

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I with you on that. I'm using a 13 year old Dell Dimension that has only had one hard drive failure and a fan get loud that I replaced myself for 6 bucks lol!!

I want the new 27" iMac but man I don't want to be inconvenienced by constant break downs. I'm not a warranty guy but I may need to pick up apple care on this one.

cynics said:

I with you on that. I'm using a 13 year old Dell Dimension that has only had one hard drive failure and a fan get loud that I replaced myself for 6 bucks lol!!

I want the new 27" iMac but man I don't want to be inconvenienced by constant break downs. I'm not a warranty guy but I may need to pick up apple care on this one.

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It sucks that it seems like a must that you HAVE TO get AppleCare. I never purchase warranty either, take care of my stuff and it usually serves me well. I have a six year old PC tower still running like new now. I mean instead of AppleCare I'd prefer to put that toward a SSD drive as they are expensive enough as it is.

mellofello said:

Yeah that is my conundrum. I7 27 inch imacs still command $9-1100 on craigslist. I paid around $2,000 with apple care. I feel like I got my monies worth. If I'm selling now is absolutely the best time.

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mellofello said:

Plus if the motherboard goes again I get 0.00. I'm going to wait a little bit to see if there is a Thunderbolt Display update. I just can't chance having a $2000 paper weight

Does anyone make a 30 inch plus display of the same quality as the iMac.

If I get the mini I would have a budget of around 1200 for the display.

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Per the highlighted sections above... your total risk is $900 - $1100. You do not own a $2000 asset any longer.

Hence... I would suggest that you use that figure in your risk/reward analysis.

/Jim

I never buy Apple Care or other extended warranties, and I'm far ahead on savings. I have a 2006 17" iMac where I just, within the last month, got the dreaded vertical lines on the screen. Even if I had Apple Care that wouldn't be covered now. I just hooked up a external monitor I had around as this is a side machine in a bedroom; I'll probably get at least several more years out of it. This iMac is one of the few things I have purchased new and not refurbished from Apple. I have a 2010 21.5" iMac purchased refurbished from Apple and haven't had a problem. I have a mid-2009 Macbook purchased refurbished from Apple and have had zero problems. I have two Airport Expresses, purchased refurbished, zero problems. I have several iPods, mostly purchased refurbished, zero problems. My take is that Apple Care is just like other extended warranty programs that don't pencil out statistically speaking. Generally, Apple products are at least as reliable as other quality manufacturers.