should i get the top of the line iMac

[MassiveDuck]

I am a windows user who is looking to make the jump to Mac. I have been oggling over the iMacs for a while and am starting to wonder if getting the the latest and greatest (3.06GHz, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS, lots of RAM and HD space) is simply my tech geek coming out and wanting to brag about having the best.

I don't use my computer for much more than surfing the web, listening to music, and (here comes the confusing part) some gaming. My PC is always running many programs, making me feel like more ram is better. So my basic question is, does the average, non-photo/music/video editing person need the best iMac available, and even more so, will the difference be noticeable with what I would be doing.

Thank you in advance for the help, and I apologize in advance if this came across as confusing.

 

[techound1]

If you can swing it, more is best - it will have a longer useful life and a higher resale on the other end.

 

[Tomorrow]

Consider the future, too

Since an iMac is more or less a notebook computer with a very large screen (I'm talking about hardware, not portability), it's not the easiest thing to upgrade down the road. You don't just swap out processors or GPU's like you can with many PC's. Based on that, I'd recommend getting as much as you can get with your purchase now.

I got the top of the line iMac a couple of months ago, and I've never looked back. With things like computers, I hear of many people who end up disappointed that they didn't buy more, but very few are disappointed with buying "too much."

Best of luck!

 

[kingcrowing]

I agree. I just built a really high end desktop (sig) and I couldn't be happier. If I didn't already have a 24" Dell LCD I would have totally gotten a high end 24" iMac.

Two things.

A) Get the RAM from www.newegg.com or some other site and you'll save a ton of money, it's a super easy upgrade and there's plenty of online guides for how to do it.

B) As a PC user, I'd say get as much RAM as you can (4GB I believe is the max) and put a copy of XP/Vista (whichever you prefer, I live Vista) on bootcamp and then get VMware Fusions and you can boot directly to it or go into bootcamp so if there's some PC-only games you want to play you can go to bootcamp and for other apps you can run it within OS X without a hitch.

If you decide it's too expensive I'd say still get the base 24" and you'll be happy!

 

[warensn]

I ordered my 3.06 Ghz iMac tonight and I'm getting excited! Go for it! Whatever you buy, buy something you can get excited over.
You really can't go wrong with any of the new iMacs.