Should I buy now or wait

[Welmore84]

Hello
I was wondering what to do, I just bought an iPad2 to find out a month later iPad 3 came out. Been thinking of getting an iMac 27" for graphic design and some gaming but now I here a new iMac is coming out, wondering if it would be worth the wait or just buy now. How much better will it be? Also I am a student and I graduate in June so will it be about by then? Would love to use my discount. Help advice helps thanks.

 

[tunerX]

Apple is pretty consistent with their announcement dates during any year. Once you learn them you will be a little more informed as to a products refresh cycle. I expect the iMac will be a couple quarters away and, personally, I expect something big. The current system is still pretty good, but it would definitely suck to order now, receive in a couple days, and then see that the refresh is so mindblowingly absurd that you feel cheated.

 

[Welmore84]

Only thing I am worried about is the time, my pc just died and I only have 3 months to use my student discount. But I would have to get and have something awesome come out...again

 

[Moonjumper]

If you are without computer access because your PC just died, get it now. If you can muddle through, I would wait to the end of the period where you can get a student discount. There is almost certainly an update on the way, what is less certain is how soon, and how big an update it will be.

 

[MsWano]

Going Crazy Waiting

I am also going crazy waiting for the new iMac to come out--since becoming a freelancer, I've been doing all my design work on my MacBook Pro, and the screen size is a huge annoyance.

However, I can't justify buying the 27" iMac since I've been reading for months, it seems, that the new one is just about to be released. I was certain there would be at least a mention of it during the latest press event when the new iPad was announced, but NO.

When people say it is coming soon, do they mean weeks or months? Will it cost about the same as the current version?

Thanks!

 

[Welmore84]

This is enough to drive someone nuts lol but I might give it a few months see what happen I have the school computers to use and my iPad so I should be ok to wait. It's such a hard thing to do though thanks everyone for all the comments. Just have to play the waiting game...

 

[WhatsHisFace]

For what it's worth, I ordered a 27" iMac last week and it should arrive on the 20th. I needed a new computer, this current model is plenty powerful (I maxed it out) and it seems the wait could be a while, and that's not accounting for the couple of months after the release most people will wait so they're not the guinea pigs for a new release.

I can't say I'm tapped into the computer world, but from what I've been reading on this forum, it doesn't seem like it will be a life changing update. I guess if you're going to need every last drop of possible computing power it might not hurt to wait, but for me, the computer that will arrive next week will be plenty good for quite some time

 

[SlugBlanket]

If you can wait then wait. If the model hasn't been updated by the time your academic year ends, you could always try and use your discount since technically the new academic year would not have started. Apple are well known to be lenient and give a little lee-way on things like this. Also, you could purchase just as your year ends and if the new one comes out within 14 days you can return your just-purchased model, get the refund and then order the new updated model again. Apple tend to have a 14 day return policy, no questions asked.

The yet to be announced new model will undoubtedly be "better" than the current model but the current model will be a good computer for several years yet. And even if you waited, 10 months later Apple will still bring out a newer model. No matter when you buy, the certain fact is that sooner or later a "better" machine will come out; just depends on how much you value having the latest model for the longest length of time.

With regard to the yet-to-be-announced new iMac, you might want to consider the following:

No Mac Pro model has been announced and the line may even come to an end this year. If the line dies, are Apple going to bring out a beefier iMac to cater to that market? Would you be interested in that?

The rumours are rife of a new form factor MacBook Pro coming out this year that has a similar look to the current MacBook Air, essentially losing it's DVD drive. If this is the case then the new yet-to-be-announced iMac may also lose it's current DVD drive. This I think is a real possibility. Is the current included DVD drive important to you or would you be happy to have to purchase the current Apple external DVD drive?

If the new iMac loses it's DVD drive then that paves the way for the inclusion of either a second standard (non-SSD) internal hard disk or beefier components to satisfy those that might otherwise have purchased a Mac Pro. Also bear in mind Apple are pushing Thunderbolt EXTERNAL storage options which also play to the killing-off of the current Mac Pro.

Of course all of this is just my own speculation but when you look a little deeper there are a lot of considerations to weigh up.

Look on the bright side though; if you buy now and an "uber" upgrade comes in the next four months, you only have to wait another few years before you upgrade to a newer model that will trounce this years yet-to-be-announced iMac

 

[boy-better-know]

Hello
I was wondering what to do, I just bought an iPad2 to find out a month later iPad 3 came out. Been thinking of getting an iMac 27" for graphic design and some gaming but now I here a new iMac is coming out, wondering if it would be worth the wait or just buy now. How much better will it be? Also I am a student and I graduate in June so will it be about by then? Would love to use my discount. Help advice helps thanks.

Personally, I have been waiting since last year. If you can wait, then wait.

 

[Welmore84]

Thanks guys I know running after new technology sucks and I'll never get the best cause when I do someone is already working on better, but is it really going to be worth waiting for? I have some time to wait but if it's not going a big wow factor then maybe getting it now might not be a bad idea. But I still am going keep my eyes out for a month or two see what comes out.

 

[forty2j]

Thanks guys I know running after new technology sucks and I'll never get the best cause when I do someone is already working on better, but is it really going to be worth waiting for? I have some time to wait but if it's not going a big wow factor then maybe getting it now might not be a bad idea. But I still am going keep my eyes out for a month or two see what comes out.

With The New iPad (tm), everyone paying attention knew exactly what was coming and when it was coming, well in advance.

With the 2012 iMac, we're flying blind. We're cobbling together guesses based on what Intel is doing and AMD is doing and nVidia is doing, but we don't know for sure what the final product will be and when we will see it. Consensus best guess seems to be late April/early May, but that's little more than a bunch of folks on the internet throwing darts.

If you're using it for gaming, hold out as long as you can so you can get the latest GPU, and hopefully a standard or reasonably-priced SSD option.

 

[tikitommy]

Only thing I am worried about is the time, my pc just died and I only have 3 months to use my student discount. But I would have to get and have something awesome come out...again

If you buy from Amazon, you save a little off the list price, then most likely don't have to pay sales tax. Those savings usually are greater than the savings on the educational discount plus sales tax. FYI.

 

[Spink10]

If you buy from Amazon, you save a little off the list price, then most likely don't have to pay sales tax. Those savings usually are greater than the savings on the educational discount plus sales tax. FYI.

I would second the Amazon! There CSRs rock!

 

[MacOG728893]

As always, if you need it now, then buy it now.

But there is one main thing I am wanting on the new iMac, USB3.0 and I am willing to wait.

A little easier for me because I have a pretty good iMac, but still, it's worth the wait just for that, at least for me.