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Purchasing a new iMac...advice please

S

shdowman

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 15, 2008
42
0
Southern California
Ok.

So I sold my MBP over the weekend and am going to be getting a 24" iMac.

I know computers fairly well, but wanted some advice from the more "hardcore" here :)

My decision will be between the 2.4ghz or the 2.8 ghz. Aside from the .4 ghz, they are essentially the same machine, just a $200 difference (I will be buying refurb btw)

So, what do you all think? Save the money, go for the 2.4? OR.....maybe find the 2.8 extreme with the extra 140g of HD space on Craigs List?

I would love to get the 3.06....but cant really afford the extra 5-600 dollars.

I essentially will be using it for graphic design (nothing heavy) and for gaming on WoW (yeah yeah...leave me alone).

/discuss
 
2.8

P.S.: If you're really tight with cash right now, then no point in wasting money, get 2.4!
 
So, 2.4 should be good enough eh? Is the 2.8 extreme that much different than the 2.8 being offered right now? Cause quite frankly, I can live with 2.4...I'm not broke, just making sure I don't wast money....
 
shdowman said:
So, 2.4 should be good enough eh? Is the 2.8 extreme that much different than the 2.8 being offered right now? Cause quite frankly, I can live with 2.4...I'm not broke, just making sure I don't wast money....
Click to expand...

For most day to day activities, you won't notice much difference.
Ok, I'll refrain from commenting about WoW. :eek:
 
haha, i'm not a wow hater! when ordering my MBP that was one of the things i wanted to know, how well it ran wow.. good post, i was actually wondering this stuff myself
 
shdowman said:
Ok.

So I sold my MBP over the weekend and am going to be getting a 24" iMac.

I know computers fairly well, but wanted some advice from the more "hardcore" here :)

My decision will be between the 2.4ghz or the 2.8 ghz. Aside from the .4 ghz, they are essentially the same machine, just a $200 difference (I will be buying refurb btw)

So, what do you all think? Save the money, go for the 2.4? OR.....maybe find the 2.8 extreme with the extra 140g of HD space on Craigs List?

I would love to get the 3.06....but cant really afford the extra 5-600 dollars.

I essentially will be using it for graphic design (nothing heavy) and for gaming on WoW (yeah yeah...leave me alone).

/discuss
Click to expand...

I have the 2.8 Extreme, but judging by your needs the 2.4 should do you fine. As a graphic designer I use all the programs etc. All work great with the imac.

Save the $200 for the difference and max out the RAM.
 
awesome....thanks for all the advice guys. Let me throw this monkey wrench at all your wonderful advice....

I know myself and will sell this before the Apple Care is up....upgrades should be quite significant over the next year and a half.

Do you see the 2.4 vs the 2.8 resale value as being significant?

I am going to max out the RAM on the 2.4, I dont need the xtra HD space in the 2.8 I have a 500g portable drive.

And, yes Insult, WoW is still a a little hobbie of mine. When playing it on my MBP, it got to the point where it was almost unbearable at times as far as FPS. smcFanControl seemed to help. I would rather my computer not come to a crawl playing WoW while I have photoshop open. Should be able to handle it....
 
.....actually,

Just realized something after doing some looking up.

The increase in FSB and Cache might be nice to have on the 2.8. I also get a discount due to where I work...have to check at the store today to see what it is again, but think it might be around 15%. Would be nice to upgrade to the nVidia card as well....

I will let you all know :)
 
I like the 2.8 extreme as well.

So here are my options now (I dont get a discount on refurb)

24" 2.4 for $1200-$1300

or

24" 2.8 extreme for $1550-$1600

I could use the savings from the 2.4 to max out the RAM at 4g.....

hmmmmmmmmmm
 
Ok, so an update (cause I know you all were on the edge of your seat....hahahaha)

I have secured a 2.8ghz Extreme 24" Brand new with Apple Care for $1500.

That sound like something I should be going for then yeah?

My main concern was that since I do some gaming the new 2.8 gets better benchmarks for gaming (wierd I know) with basically the same setup just better L2 Cache and FSB.....

Not sure I can pass up the extreme with AC for that price though..
 
shdowman said:
Ok, so an update (cause I know you all were on the edge of your seat....hahahaha)

I have secured a 2.8ghz Extreme 24" Brand new with Apple Care for $1500.

That sound like something I should be going for then yeah?

My main concern was that since I do some gaming the new 2.8 gets better benchmarks for gaming (wierd I know) with basically the same setup just better L2 Cache and FSB.....

Not sure I can pass up the extreme with AC for that price though..
Click to expand...

I would buy that...
 
I am such an incessant pain in the arse on this thread.....

Someone just offered me a new current gen 24" 2.8 iMac for the same price of 1500

faster ram, faster FSB and bigger cache....

I should just start this thread over as now i am choosing between the 2

I am not indecisive, (maybe I am a little...leave me alone)

ok vote:

2.8 current gen, 320 HD, faster (have a year to buy apple care) for $1500
2.8 extreme 500g HD, slower, Apple Care included for $1500

both are new unopened......
 
Get the new 2.8.

Extra L2 cache + faster FSB + faster RAM makes it noticeably faster in CPU-intensive apps. They also have Bluetooth 2.1, as opposed to 2.0 in the previous generation.

Also, because it is newer, you will get a better resale value.
 
eXan said:
Get the new 2.8.

Extra L2 cache + faster FSB + faster RAM makes it noticeably faster in CPU-intensive apps. They also have Bluetooth 2.1, as opposed to 2.0 in the previous generation.

Also, because it is newer, you will get a better resale value.
Click to expand...

Pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

If it wasn't for the other one including the Apple Care, this would be a no brainer. But, I see people throwing Apple Care for sale for cheaper than 170 plus I have the year to get it.

I am buying this for longevity and having the current gen helps with that as well as you mentioned resale value.

Thanks for the advice everyone!! I know my thread was a bit annoying as I do know a bit about macs, but sometimes you just need someone else to reinforce what you are already thinking :)
 
I hate to be the noob @$$ but I want to pick up a 24" iMac but they are alot more expensive here. How are you getting these low prices?
Thanks and sorry if it's a stupid question.
 
Not a stupid question....

Craigs List.

I will say this though.....you really kind of need to feel out who you are selling to/buying from...

true story:

I had an individual reply to my ad regarding my MBP I was selling. He sent me an email basically saying he would take it and when could we meet up.

I scheduled a time and thought about it that day...

I didn't really post that much about it beyond basic specs and he didn't want to ask me a single thing.

Not to mention the number he gave me a number to call and when I did, there was no personal voicemail (just a computer voice saying number) and he would never answer.

I didn't leave a message cause I just didin't like it (gut feeling). He emailed me later asking if I called and told him it wasn't for sale anymore.


1 1/2 weeks later I see a message on my local Craigs List about thanking someone who stole his MBP. I opened it up and couldn't believe that this guy was calling out the same email addy of the guy I turned down....This guy apparently just grabbed his laptop from him at startbucks and took off.

Bad for this guy, and thank god for my gut feeling.

Anyhoo, You can get good deals on CL right now. OR maybe if you have a friend that is a student and might have access to the 2.8 ghz extreme for $1250 that a lot of schools are selling them for lol.

Or if $1500 is good for you and you might be able to afford like $150 more, you can get the new gen 2.8ghz refurb.
 
So does that mean I shouldn't feel bad about paying the $1799 for a new one? I'd like to get it from the apple store, I just hate reading posts about how I got ripped off and what not.
Thanks again.
 
Could you afford it when you bought it?

Are you happy with it?

I have an unhealthy obsession with getting exactly what I want when I plunk down over $1000 for something. Not to mention, a good deal is out there, you just have to have patience when looking.

Be happy with what you have.

In another 2 months I'm sure I will find one for $200 less than I am gonna pay. Oh well. I will be extremely happy with my purchase and not worry about it for hopefully another few years.
 
im actually trying to sell my custom built PC for a 24 incher... i just dont really know how well a mac would hold up to what i do as far as gaming goes, which seems like the problem for you
 
So...

I got my iMac today from a dodgy individual in Hollywood..lol.

Brand spankin new 24" 2.8 IC2D Current gen.

First thing I did was to call apple to check on purchase date to make sure there was one (not that it "fell" off a truck)

All is good and it is pretty damn glorious looking.
 
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