Trying to Decide!!

24" Referb -- very good deal for the $$$. Plus the 24" screen is way nicer than the 20"

 

If you mean Mac Office versus a copy of Office 2007 to run in Windows via Bootcamp, yes, almost certainly. Office Mac 2008 currently has some serious issues, but not having to reboot just to get to Office is a pretty huge advantage to offset, and one hopes Microsoft will be fixing the problems with updates. There's also Fusion and Parallels to save the reboot, but that still means firing up Windows just to get to Office, which I wouldn't do.

You could also try and get a less expensive copy of Office 2004 Mac, which is decent, so long as you're not dealing a lot of .docx etc. files.

 

Given those set of choices I'd probably get the refurb 24" unless you think that screen will be too big for you (believe it or not, I've heard people complain about that--depends on the layout of your desk and how far back from the computer you can get).

At least in the US (I assume UK is the same) Apple's refurbs are generally quite nice--they're most often "open box" returns, meaning in mint condition. Since it comes with a full warranty, from your point of view the only difference is that it probably comes in a slightly less attractive box. If it's whatever the previous iteration of that model is, you should of course be aware of anything that's changed (processor speed, chipset, etc), but if it's the current gen it's basically new but cheaper.

I've recommended Apple refurbs to a number of people, and the only issue that's ever cropped up was a bad optical drive in a Powerbook, but that was fixed under warranty, and of course you can have the same thing happen on a brand new machine.

If you don't want a refurb, it's probably in your best interest to hold out until the next update, since you don't seem to be in any hurry--at that point you can chose between a recently-refreshed iMac or the previous generation at clearance prices (at least in the US, Apple usually lists the previous generation models in the refurb section at significantly cheaper prices until they've sold out, and other retailers usually do the same).

 

I suggest you go with the 24inch refurb... dont waste your life waiting for new releases... i reckon it will be your best bet and tbh there wouldnt be that much difference between it and penryn, and i doubt for your needs you would notice it...

refurbished macs are generally almost brand new... or most are brand new anyway.

go for it and have fun in the mac world....