Just about to order my new iMac but need help

[MapleOne]

The growth of Apple is great news for consumers. As Apple sales inch forward Microsoft will have to deal more effectively with the wants of consumers. I was recently going to purchase an HP laptop but decided on an iMac because I did not care for the questionnaire about which Vista operating system is best for me. I was getting nightmares about choosing the wrong operating system and being stuck with it whilst missing a necessary function. I much preferred the Apple approach to one great operating system for everyone. I imagine that makes the life of the mac IT guys a lot easier too.

I am just about to order my first iMac

Here is my configuration....


So here are my questions....

1. Does anyone have an older iMac who could advise me if it is necessary to purchase Apple Care, or is the unit reliable enough not to worry about it.

2. Does anyone have experience with the wireless keyboard and mouse? I read some horror stories about them but I really like the idea of a clean look without wires. A little part of my reason for purchasing the iMac is the cool look and the lack of cables will only add to that. I do not need the extra number pad.

3. I would have preferred the smaller screen, but looking at it in the store there was a dramatic quality difference. On a side angle view the 20" had a brown hue to it that was not present on the 24 inch model. Does anyone know if that is still the same on the recently updated iMac?

4.Lastly... I want the best system (bang for the buck) I can get without going crazy price all the way to the top. Can you guys look at my configuration and let me know if I left something important out.

Thanks in advance for the help and hopefully you will be seeing me around a lot.

 

[divedeepfl305]

Ram

If I was you I will save the money from the ram and buy it somewhere else like I.E crucial,new egg Apple ram is way overpriced. With the money you save you can get an external hard drive or time capsule to use with time machine.

I have a 24inch IMac and I love it!!

 

[MapleOne]

I thought about that but they include two 1gb chips. This means I would have to replace both of them with two 2gb chips. I don't think I can buy both of them under $200 can I? Also it would have to be way better priced because the apple ram would be covered under their Apple Care for 3 years.

 

[McGiord]

RAM nowadays is very affordable, check here for an example.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/iMac/Intel_Core_2_Duo_PC2-6400

If I were in your position to buy a 24" iMac I'll go with this:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...1354003/wo/B56QYghjYS0a3HxDjnvkys5QGDT/2.?p=0

Check Amazon for no tax, and macmall for some extras.

Be aware that the wireles keyboard doesn't have the numerickeypad.

Anyway I do prefer wireless mouse, but some people say that the mighty mouse sucks for gaming, I don't know...
________
RBX6JM

 

[mrpalmer420]

I got 4gb from OWC for 96 shipped.

 

[kkat69]

1. Does anyone have an older iMac who could advise me if it is necessary to purchase Apple Care, or is the unit reliable enough not to worry about it.

Personally (my systems are in my sig) I picked up Apple care for both my macs. Mainly on the premise of "You never know what could happen" Warranties are there for that reason. If something breaks outside the first year warranty and it can be covered, it will be fixed no problems. Have a complaint (dead pixels for example) you could probably get a new LCD as long as your in warranty. Not all issues associated with electronics show up within the first year. Those that show up afterwards you would not be covered.

Small example.... We had a home warranty we bought and paid for every year, one year my wife said "nothings broke, we don't need it, it's a waste of money" and 6mths after she cancelled it, one of our HVACS went out. NOW if we were under warranty, it would have been 35 each visit and the HVAC would have been free. Since it was cancelled we shelled out 5k to get a replacement installed.

A Warranty is a "just in case" thing. If you like that piece of mind, then get it. Some don't care for it some prefer it. It's your choice.

Now regarding Apple Care you have 1 year from the orginal date of purchase to get Apple Care. So you can put off getting it for now to save some bucks then get it later from eBay for cheaper than Apple's price.

2. Does anyone have experience with the wireless keyboard and mouse? I read some horror stories about them but I really like the idea of a clean look without wires. A little part of my reason for purchasing the iMac is the cool look and the lack of cables will only add to that. I do not need the extra number pad.

My wife loves her wireless keyboard. Since your used to not having the number pad, your set. I like my wired one since it adds the 2 extra USB ports for quick plug ins like my camera or other devices I don't need 24/7. Plus I prefer the extra numpad.

But it should be fine.

3. I would have preferred the smaller screen, but looking at it in the store there was a dramatic quality difference. On a side angle view the 20" had a brown hue to it that was not present on the 24 inch model. Does anyone know if that is still the same on the recently updated iMac?

The 24" iMacs are using a better quality screen than the 20" and I'm not sure if the newer line is using the same screens. My guess is that they would be. So the 24" iMacs would have the higher quality screens still.

4.Lastly... I want the best system (bang for the buck) I can get without going crazy price all the way to the top. Can you guys look at my configuration and let me know if I left something important out.

Thanks in advance for the help and hopefully you will be seeing me around a lot.

Ditch the Apple Care (for reasons mentioned above) and stick with the default ram. You would be surprised what you can do on this thing with just 2g of ram.

If you needed more definitely 3rd party is the cheapest at a fraction of the cost for what Apple sells it for.

 

[McGiord]

I never bought Apple Care, and I think i never will.
My theory is that any problem that may happen in an electronic device may appear within the first year of use. Apple warranty will cover it, and if it happens to you after the warranty it will be a known issue and they will need to cover it also.

I never needed to call for solutions, some people like that.
Anyway you can buy applecare later on before your Warranty expires. so don't refrain to buy due to applecare indecision.

You have Mac Rumors for free, and the whole internet.
________
drugtest

 

[MapleOne]

OK... so no Apple Care, purchase ram aftermarket and only if I need it.

That is solved

I am still undecided on the wireless keyboard and mouse however.
I read some of the reviews and they go pro and con. Some people say they eat batteries and others say the batteries last 6 months. I have a recharger but those batteries don't even last long in a wall clock.

So the question is.....

Does anyone have experience with the mouse and keyboard with real energizer or duracell batteries? What kind of life can I expect?

 

[skwij]

I can't help with the KB/M issue, as I'm wired at the desk, and the Macbook I use "as is",

If you do decide on extra RAM, get it from CanadaComputers. 2 @ 2G sticks of Mushkin are $82 CDN.

I've got these in my Macbook and no problems at all. Mushkin is good RAM.

Ram at CanadaComputers

 

[HLdan]

Ditch the Apple Care (for reasons mentioned above) and stick with the default ram. You would be surprised what you can do on this thing with just 2g of ram.

Bad advice in regards to the Applecare. Firstly a new user of any computer will have questions beyond the first 90 days of phone support and it's not a good idea to rely on MR to address all of the problems or concerns.

Secondly, hard drives can fail, logic boards can fail, mice and keyboards can have problems and it's a good possibility none of these will fail however Apple will bend over backwards if you have Applecare for the smallest to biggest issues including replacing the unit.

Lastly it's common knowledge if people have leeway as to when they can pick up the extended warranty (in this case 1 year) the consensus is they will never buy it within that time. Only after something goes wrong they will complain how fast the year went by.

Another thing, Apple will cover any peripherals with the iMac Applecare such as Time Capsule, Airport Extreme or Express, wireless keyboards and such as long as they are Apple-made devices.

You can buy ram anytime and most likely people will upgrade the ram at anytime.

 

[ChrisA]

Does anyone have experience with the mouse and keyboard with real energizer or duracell batteries? What kind of life can I expect?

About wireless K/B, I have so many wires attached to my imac the one or two more or less hardly maters. You ARE going to need at least two external disk drives (one for Time Machine and one for an off site backup) and each of those has a data and power cable and then you need a USB hub and the cables to connect a camera and then the iPod cables and the iPod docks and I have a scanner the needs power and data and then the external speakers have wires. Wired ethernet is so much faster then wireless. I have quite a few wires. The only imacs that look "clean" are the ones in Apple's ads.

..Firstly a new user of any computer will have questions beyond the first 90 days of phone support and it's not a good idea to rely on MR to address all of the problems or concerns.

Any extended warenty is a gamble. you just play the odds and bet what you think is best.

All extened warranties are statistically not in your favour. Apple has figured out the rate of failure and the cost to repair and charges you that plus a good size chunk of change for themselves. So if you owned 1000 iMacs you would save money if you just paid Apple for service. But you don't own 1000 iMacs.

The best advice for buying insurance to to only insure a loss that you can't afford to loose. and simply accept the risk if the loss won't break you. In the long run you will come out ahead. What we can't answer is if a $1,000 repair bill would break you. Are you willing to pay $250 up front to avoid the 1% chance of needing to pay $1000 later. Game theory tells us you should only pay the $250 if the chance of having to pay $1,000 in one in four or worse. But if that $1,000 bill would cause you to miss a rent payment and put you out on the street you need to insure it even if the odds are one to a hundred.

Read the quote above. Apple care is also a service. Is it worth $250 to talk to someone on the phone and aviod having to read a thick book or to go to and wait at an Apple store to aks the question. How to decide? What is your time worth? If you value it at $100 per hour buy Applecare if it is worth $7.50 don't. In between, then you decide. All this service does is save you time. What's that worth?

 

[MapleOne]

I have a pretty good understanding of computers and I played with Leopard for almost two hours in the store. It was easy and straight forward, much different from windows yet very intuitive. I don't think I need any questions answered because if I stumble I can just search on Google and find my answer in seconds.

The only real question is hardware reliability and if Apple Care covers all my peripherals like Time Capsule, wireless keyboard and mouse then it may be an idea after all.

I have not decided if I want the 500GB time capsule or the 1TB version. The 1TB version looks so sweet but it's a bit pricey. I know it has a router in it and if I did not have one already then I could technically make a mental $100 allowance for that, but because I already paid for a router this is a bit of a duplication.

So if I buy Apple Care for my Mac and buy Time Capsule a year later will it still be covered under my Apple Care or do I have to buy it at the same time?