Buying Refurbished: Do I upgrade separately, or..

[Guerodemonio]

What's up guys hopefully THX for the advice..

I'm trying to figure out which refurbished imac I should go with:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB952LL/A?mco=MTU2MzE1ODI

or

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC510LL/A?fnode=Njc4MjQzOQ&mco=MTkwMzU2NTQ

I want to be able to play games on this badboy on bootcamp version of Win7 so I want at least 512-1gb video card, and probly 8gb of ram.

Should I buy the cheaper one and upgrade the ram and video card myself? Or buy the more expensive one and upgrade the fewer remaining parts? What OTHER parts need replacing to run topnotch games very well?

Anything else I should be aware of?

I want to go the less expensive route but I don't want to short myself on the value of the purchase overall.

***edit: I will run my business on this computer as well. Fully forgot to mention that. Web design, html, photoshop, etc.

Cheers fellas (and gals?),
Jon

 

[MacDawg]

If you are wanting to run top notch games, do yourself a favor and don't buy an iMac at all
You will be much happier with a less expensive PC with higher specs

 

[Guerodemonio]

hey dude thx for the quick response. I didn't mention I'll be running a business off the comp as well. I edited the OP

 

[talmy]

The only thing in an iMac that is readily upgradeable (and which won't void your warranty if you do it) is the RAM.

 

[Mal]

I would pay the slight bit more to get the i3 with the better video card (note that you can't upgrade the video card unless you manage to find a better one that Apple used in that same model, they're not standard PCIe cards), then just upgrade the RAM yourself.

jW

 

[shadowbird423]

What's up guys hopefully THX for the advice..

I'm trying to figure out which refurbished imac I should go with:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB952LL/A?mco=MTU2MzE1ODI

or

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC510LL/A?fnode=Njc4MjQzOQ&mco=MTkwMzU2NTQ

I want to be able to play games on this badboy on bootcamp version of Win7 so I want at least 512-1gb video card, and probly 8gb of ram.

Should I buy the cheaper one and upgrade the ram and video card myself? Or buy the more expensive one and upgrade the fewer remaining parts? What OTHER parts need replacing to run topnotch games very well?

Anything else I should be aware of?

I want to go the less expensive route but I don't want to short myself on the value of the purchase overall.

***edit: I will run my business on this computer as well. Fully forgot to mention that. Web design, html, photoshop, etc.

Cheers fellas (and gals?),
Jon

No contest, i3 machine. Go i5 if you can afford it, nearly nothing in these things is upgradeable.

 

[Guerodemonio]

Ok..

I'm definitely comparing i3's vs i5's now.

I'm pretty sure I want a 1gb video card (will this really make a difference vs a 512 graphics card?)

.. and I like the multi-tasking capability of the i5 because I run my business on it.

You guys are seriously knowledgeable thx for takin' the time