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realityisterror

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 30, 2003
1,354
1
Snellville, GA
<sigh>
More doubts about what to buy...
</sigh>

Okay... I can get a 1GHz eMac Combo Drive refurb + 512MB + Airport Extreme = $1003

or

800 MHz iMac Combo Drive refurb + 256MB + Airport = $1058

not too much different...
My space is very limited so the iMac is good, also better speakers, like flat panel, etc.

On the other hand the eMac is faster, I can afford more RAM, and larger screen, etc.

Am I going to notice much of a difference with iMovie, iTunes, Safari, Word Processing, Dreamweaver, and Flash? Also, what about the life span of the computer? And since the iMac was recently updated, is there a chance that one of the refubished computers could be a new "left-over" computer?

help is appreciated,
reality
 

Dont Hurt Me

macrumors 603
Dec 21, 2002
6,055
6
Yahooville S.C.
1 gig emac will be faster in everything. it has for the most part pro speakers built in, you dont have to worry about dead pixels, and you can put it on that cool apple stand if you need every inch of desk space. you can notice 200mhz increase dont fool yourself.
 

realityisterror

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 30, 2003
1,354
1
Snellville, GA
but would you rather have a faster computer sitting 7inches away from your face (literally) or a bit slower more asthetically pleasing computer at a more comfortable distance?
 

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,028
6,036
Bay Area
emac is the way to go; there's no question. It has a faster bus, faster processor, more RAM (in your case), airport extreme instead of airport... pretty sure the radeon 7500 is better than the Geforce2 MX also. The emac is just a faster, more powerful computer.

What about waiting until some of the new 15" imacs are available as refurbs? (i'm sure you can only get them new right now.) Is that an option? It would cost a little more, but not much.
 

OutThere

macrumors 603
Dec 19, 2002
5,730
3
NYC
MacAddict did a thing about emacs and imacs last month - the 1ghz emac is faster than the 1ghz imac. Say anything to you guys?
 

jrs8084

macrumors newbie
Sep 20, 2003
3
0
NC
800 iMac

I got an 17" iMac in Jan so I could give my Cube 450 to my father. The honeymoon was short lived as the iMac seemed slugish compared to the Cube.

It took me only a few minutes to figure out that Apple had a bunch of slow 5400 RPM drives sitting around. I swapped out the drive for a faster HD, and then the performance was quite zippy.

The new eMacs have 7200 RPM drives in addition to the faster processor. If you want speed, get the eMac. However, for style and function, the iMac is grand.

Remember to evaluate how much speed YOU need-it is easy to get carried away with specs. We all have watched people upgrade their intial $500 bargain PC to a $2000 machine. That $300 ultra faster video card really pays off when checking email!

iApps will probably be faster on an eMac, but would be more than adeqaute on an iMac (even with the original HD)
 

jrs8084

macrumors newbie
Sep 20, 2003
3
0
NC
800 iMac

I got an 17" iMac in Jan so I could give my Cube 450 to my father. The honeymoon was short lived as the iMac seemed slugish compared to the Cube.

It took me only a few minutes to figure out that Apple had a bunch of slow 5400 RPM drives sitting around. I swapped out the drive for a faster HD, and then the performance was quite zippy.

The new eMacs have 7200 RPM drives in addition to the faster processor. If you want speed, get the eMac. However, for style and function, the iMac is grand.

Remember to evaluate how much speed YOU need-it is easy to get carried away with specs. We all have watched people upgrade their intial $500 bargain PC to a $2000 machine. That $300 ultra fast video card really pays off when checking email!

iApps will probably be faster on an eMac, but would be more than adeqaute on an iMac (even with the original HD)
 

realityisterror

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 30, 2003
1,354
1
Snellville, GA
Re: 800 iMac

Originally posted by jrs8084

The new eMacs have 7200 RPM drives in addition ...

are you sure that they are 7200RPM? can anybody verify, because i was under the impression that they were/are both 5400RPM?

reality
 

jrs8084

macrumors newbie
Sep 20, 2003
3
0
NC
Spindle Speed

I would be intersted to see what people have out there. When they made the last speed bump on the eMac line, that was one thing I looked at-to see if what drive was installed.

I swear I remember seeing 7200 RPM listed on the product spec .pdf. Now it says nothing-not even 5400 like the older .pds did on the iMac.

The .pdf for the new iMac notes a 7200. I wonder if a change was made. Maybe somebody found another dusty box, so they removed that from the .pdf :)
 

Lancetx

macrumors 68000
Aug 11, 2003
1,991
619
Re: Re: 800 iMac

Originally posted by realityisterror
are you sure that they are 7200RPM? can anybody verify, because i was under the impression that they were/are both 5400RPM?

I have a 1GHz eMac and it's definitely a 7200rpm drive. Mine has an IBM drive, here's the listing from the system profiler (IBM-IC35L060AVV207-0).
 

realityisterror

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 30, 2003
1,354
1
Snellville, GA
according to the apple store there are no more refurbished eMacs. could this mean updates soon? they shouldn't be coming for another month and a half....


reality
 

realityisterror

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 30, 2003
1,354
1
Snellville, GA
what's up with this???
over the past 5 days, items have been dropping from the refurb store like flies. there are now no emacs and no 15" iMacs not to mention lots of other stuff...

:mad: :( :mad:

reality
 

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,028
6,036
Bay Area
he makes a good point. All objective analysis is in vain when the "better choice" isn't the one that you'll really be happy with.
 

Freg3000

macrumors 68000
Sep 22, 2002
1,914
0
New York
eMac updates are definitely coming, and I can't see what much they could add besides CPU clock speed and base ram. If I am right, the prices won't be going up, and might even come down a bit. So then you might be able to get a really good deal on the current eMacs, and possibly even a new one.
 
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