Buying an iMac

[siestafun]

Okay, I was able to get through Christmas without spending any of the 3k I saved for my new iMac. I was sure there would some mention of an upgrade at MacWorld but there wasn't. Should I buy now or continue to wait it out? When is the next Mac event where there might be an upgrade mentioned? The last time I opted not to wait, I bought the 15"powerbook I'm using now, instead of the intel MacBook Pro that came out a month later.

 

[mkrishnan]

Sounds like you've been very patient! I would personally wait a few more months for either a Leopard release or a firm Leopard release date.

 

[eenu]

Okay, I was able to get through Christmas without spending any of the 3k I saved for my new iMac. I was sure there would some mention of an upgrade at MacWorld but there wasn't. Should I buy now or continue to wait it out? When is the next Mac event where there might be an upgrade mentioned? The last time I opted not to wait, I bought the 15"powerbook I'm using now, instead of the intel MacBook Pro that came out a month later.

https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

And as already said i would at least wait for leopard to ship before buying one.

 

[trainguy77]

https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

And as already said i would at least wait for leopard to ship before buying one.

https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/ for all you non members like myself.....

 

[Toddgabweg]

Okay, I was able to get through Christmas without spending any of the 3k I saved for my new iMac. I was sure there would some mention of an upgrade at MacWorld but there wasn't. Should I buy now or continue to wait it out? When is the next Mac event where there might be an upgrade mentioned? The last time I opted not to wait, I bought the 15"powerbook I'm using now, instead of the intel MacBook Pro that came out a month later.

I am in the same boat... trying to be patient... waiting for the best time to buy a 24" imac... I do not want to make the same mistake that I did when I bought an ipod.

 

[Sped]

Santa Rosa

If you need a desktop, then don't wait. Today's iMac will last for several years. I still own a 1st gen G4 iMac, and it works fine.

However, if you don't need a desktop today, I would recommend waiting until the Santa Rosa (Centrino Pro) chipset makes it into the iMac. Santa Rosa is supposed to get released around April, so Apple will likely incorporate it into their computers soon after. That may mean the summer Macworld, however. This new chipset will allow for more memory and faster bus speeds which mean the computer will last longer. There are other features of Santa Rosa which can be found here, but they don't mean that much for the iMac regarding performance or longevity.

 

[siestafun]

Thanks

Thanks for the additional info. Looks like I may be waiting til summer if that's when the next MacWorld is. Anybody have a better than average guess as far as when Leopard will be ready and available? I guess I'll stay with my laptop and my upgraded G3 to G4 tower till then.

 

[Boxer]

Well from my recent experience, or bad timing, I would NOT wait specifically for the Santa Rosa. I have heard that is scheduled to be released in April or shortly after. I was one of the fools who was waiting the whole summer for the new Core 2 Duo update that was supposedly coming at WWDC in August. I waited, waited, waited, and waited until the next major event, and the next. Then Finally way way too long after they said it was supposed to be implemented in the Macbook Pros, it was introduced.

I know that I won't wait that long again for an update to a computer. Not that it matters, but I love the current iMacs and I believe they are very very fast, and very cool looking. I tried and tried to get the fiance to chose an imac instead of the macbook.

 

[akaple]

I am thinking about buying the 24" imac, but I am probably going to hold off and hope that an upgraded version comes out by the summer.

 

[QCassidy352]

I don't think we need another "event" to release new imacs. They are unlikely to see changes big enough to warrant an on-stage presentation. That said, there probably won't be an update until there are new processors to use. I don't know whether core 2 duo is going to get faster or whether we're waiting on the next generation of chip (I'm sure someone here can answer that), but either way, apple can't really update the imac right now because there just isn't anything newer than what's in there now. So IMO if you look at Intel's roadmap and figure out when they will have new laptop chips, you should get a pretty good idea when we'll see new imacs.

 

[wickedpapercut]

Buy when you need, but wait when you can.

I'd rather buy a product a week or two after it's been released than to get one that's several months into the product cycle. Regardless, the next version will always be more powerful and cheaper. Why have the regret sooner than necessary.

Of course if you have a NEED now, go ahead and buy. Any day is a good day to buy a new Mac.

 

[FleurDuMal]

Well, first of all, if you have saved up 3k, then you should look also at the Mac Pro - in which case there would be no need to wait due to the sheer upgradability of the Mac Pro.

If you stick with the iMac (and there are many, many reasons to do so), then definitely wait till the Leopard release. Although there may not be any hardware upgrades with it's release, its nice to get the latest OS (and, perhaps iLife 07).

If I decide to go ahead with buying an iMac, I'm waiting till at least the end of summer. I want to know how well the iMac will run Vista, and I also want to see whether the graphics card in the top end iMac will be improved. Also, I have a feeling Apple will make a minor re-design to the iMac to allow for two hard drives. This seems logical as, given the emphasis Apple puts onto 'digital content' (movies, music, photos, etc) in all aspects of its business, and how increasingly common it is becoming in the mainstream to have a backup drive (external or internal), Apple might want to provide iMac users with an easy, integrated approach to backing up their stuff.

 

[Sdashiki]

Im now afraid to buy a 20" iMac, until after this Feb 20th thing.

Id still want a 20" iMac but if there is a speed bump, redesign, or what have you, then id be SOL.

Because, Id be "customizing" my iMac with the better graphix card, and thus its not available for the 14 day return. BS!

 

[DarkNetworks]

Im now afraid to buy a 20" iMac, until after this Feb 20th thing.

What's this Feb 20th thing?

 

[Zwhaler]

What's this Feb 20th thing?

Look on MR Page 2...

I would still buy an iMac now, but not a Mac Pro. The iMac hasn't hit the point of "wait til next upgrade" IMO. I say go for it, I love my iMac.

 

[2Shae]

Im now afraid to buy a 20" iMac, until after this Feb 20th thing.

Id still want a 20" iMac but if there is a speed bump, redesign, or what have you, then id be SOL.

Because, Id be "customizing" my iMac with the better graphix card, and thus its not available for the 14 day return. BS!

I know what you mean..I just ordered my iMac last week and now this news suddenly comes in!!

You know, this whole "Should wait till update" wouldn't even be asked if Apple would just allow the iMac graphic card to be upgradeable

 

[ViM]

If there is a iMac revision I still wouldn't buy it Apple's quality control seems to have gone downhill and it looks like the new rule is to buy Rev B products. I'm also saying this because I'm going to order an iMac sometime this week

 

[trainguy77]

If there is a iMac revision I still wouldn't buy it Apple's quality control seems to have gone downhill and it looks like the new rule is to buy Rev B products. I'm also saying this because I'm going to order an iMac sometime this week

Well the Mac Pro has been fine. I have a rev A. No problems at all....but this is a tower....

 

[MauiMac]

I should be getting my iMac by Fri. so if anything comes out on the 20th I'll be kicking my self... but then I'll get over it (after I read all the problems people are having with their Rev. A iMacs)...

I hope if Apple release iLife 07 and/or Leopard any time soon, they'll send me a free upgrade...

 

[holamiamigos]

buy it now man no regrets you'll still have one of the best computers on the market

 

[redmeister]

discussed numerous times and it goes like this

buy now if you really want it

wait if you can for leopard

or sit there and play the waiting game forever haha. wait for leopard, then hmmm should i wait for new chipsets too> etc etc

your choice man dont let others make it for you haha. need vs want

 

[puckhead193]

my parents, just got a 20" like 2 weeks ago and they love it. Either way it comes down to how badly u want it/need it and if the new processor will be much value to you....

 

[ezekielrage_99]

I just got my refurbished 20" c2d iMac, and it was soooo worth the wait.
If you don't want to spend the money on a new iMac getting a refurb is the way to go I can highly recomend it plus you can save a considerable amount compared to buying a brand new one.

I'm a happy iMac user at the moment, still I can't wait for Leopard

 

[applemacdude]

buy a mac and be happy. :]

 

[iMacZealot]

I agree with most of what's been said: Wait for Leopard and iLife if you can (which I think will come out in March or April), or buy now. You can keep on waiting and waiting for better and better things to come out, but eventually, you just have to say that what's out there is fine.

I'm very happy with my iMac G5. It's getting old by some peoples' standards, but I love it. The only two things I regret about it is that I thought the 17" would be suitable when I discovered that the 20" would've been the way to go, and I wish that I'd gotten a bigger hard disk than 160 GB as I've bought more than that in external hard disks, too.