Imac buyers question, 2.66 or 2.8?

[mauibarber]

Guys can you help me out here? I have been really studying these two machines and can't quite figure out the best bet for a purchase of an imac.

Last revisions 24 inch, 2.8 for $1355 from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MB325LL...3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241067325&sr=8-3

Or
The current 2.66, 24 inch for $1500 from Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-iMac-MB...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241067416&sr=8-1

Is the extra ram and hard drive worth the extra $150?
Whats the better deal?

Mahalo,
Alex

PS
There may be "better" deals out there but I live in Hawaii so the free shipping is why I order from Amazon.

 

[miles01110]

For the time and trouble you'll save installing a bigger hard drive and ram yourself I think the 2.66 is the better deal.

 

[mauibarber]

But...does the fact that the graphic card is better in the 2.8 and that the 2.8 is a better processor than the 2.66 make any difference?

I thought putting in RAM was easy?

 

[miles01110]

Sure, they're both "better" in the absolute sense, but since you give zero information on what you'll use your machine for, I can't tell you if you're going to notice it or not.

 

[mauibarber]

Mostly basic internet stuff. I don't have plans for any video editing or things like that.

Maybe a few blizzard games, warcraft 3, starcraft 2, diablo 3.

-Alex

 

[neiltc13]

Mostly basic internet stuff. I don't have plans for any video editing or things like that.

Maybe a few blizzard games, warcraft 3, starcraft 2, diablo 3.

-Alex

The older machine (with the Radeon graphics) yields almost double the performance in 3D Mark 06. It will be MUCH better for gaming, but still complete crap compared to even some of the cheapest standalone graphics cards currently on the market.

If you are at all serious about playing games you really need to get the new iMac which has the 4850 graphics. I believe it comes in the second and top models.

 

[mauibarber]

I thought the 4850 was full of problems?

 

[nick9191]

Kind of.

There's nothing wrong with the hardware to my knowledge, it's a software problem and should be fixed hopefully when 10.5.7 (free update) arrives in a couple of days/weeks.

 

[mauibarber]

I can't justify paying that much more for a computer to play games.

How hard is it to install ram in these new iMacs? Also if I buy the mac with the 2G of Ram can I simply buy 2 more G of ram for a total of 4 or do I need to replace the 2 with a new set of 4?

 

[QCassidy352]

I have the previous gen. 2.66 imac with radeon 2600 graphics (same as the 2.8 you're considering). I can't speak to Diablo III, but my imac plays war3 at over 100 fps with everything maxed, and rbarris (blizzard rep who posts here) says that even the 9400m and x1600 (early intel imacs and mbp's) will be able to play starcraft 2.

So in short, while the 2.8 imac may not be a good gaming machine compared to current cards, it should handle the games you want to play just fine.

Also, changing RAM on imacs is very easy - don't let that stop you. changing the HD is a whole other story - if you need more space than the 2.8has you'd be better off with an external than upgrading the internal.