When will these be standard in iMacs?

[mrat93]

I'm currently waiting for update on the iMac to purchase my first Mac. I want a 24" iMac with a wireless keyboard and mouse, a 500gb HD, 2gb RAM and AppleCare. I will also be getting MS Office Student/Teacher Edition. I will be on a budget of $2,100. Thats my problem. After my brother's education discount, the total price comes out as $2,558.95. Without the HD and RAM upgrades, the total cost would be $337 less ($2,221.95). Assuming the price of the iMac itself stays the same, about when do you think there will be HD and RAM upgrades? Or, if recent rumors are correct, when do you think an entirely new iMac will come out?

 

[mkrishnan]

I personally would not hold my breath that either 2GB RAM or 500GB HD would be standard on an iMac / 24" in the next 12 months. I'd suspect that, even if the rumors of a new design pan out, it will still have 1GB standard and probably a hard drive not vastly increased in size... perhaps 300GB. But you never know.

 

[psycoswimmer]

Yeah, the only machines that come standard with 2GB of RAM are the Pro machines. I don't see either the 500 GB or 2 GB of RAM standard. Sorry. 😱

 

[livingfortoday]

You might wanna ask your brother if he can get Office cheaper through his institution. I know my school offers it for $25, same with XP and OS X. Its pretty nice, and a lot less than the retail with edu pricing from Apple.

 

[miloblithe]

I think you'll get closer to your ideal mac with the next upgrade, which should be soon, but I don't think you'll get there. I imagine the specs will be bumped somewhat, or that if the standard is still 1GB RAM and a 250MB hard drive, the base price might be dropped by $100. Or maybe the costs of upgrades might go down. Still, you're not going to see the $459 price reduction that you want. Your best bet on that front might be to wait for refurbs of the current 24" iMac to become available after the newer model is released.

 

[wwooden]

Or hold off on buying the applecare now, you can buy it anytime within the first year of your computer purchase with no penalties.

 

[pianoman]

also look into getting 3rd party RAM. a few months ago, Apple's prices were pretty fair, but RAM prices are falling so you might be able to save $50 or so there.

 

[VortexOfPain]

What I would do is get just the basics to start with, even if it is a 250GB drive and 1GB of RAM.

This is plenty to start using the computer right away, and gives you the flexibility to extended warranty, upgraded storage, and RAM when your finances can afford it. As time goes by, prices fall - I think you're better off this way.

 

[bigbossbmb]

if price is such an issue, then don't buy office. instead go with an open source alternative like NeoOffice. I'm sure it would suit all of your needs just fine. Plus it is free.

 

[zero2dash]

I'm currently waiting for update on the iMac to purchase my first Mac. I want a 24" iMac with a wireless keyboard and mouse, a 500gb HD, 2gb RAM and AppleCare. I will also be getting MS Office Student/Teacher Edition. I will be on a budget of $2,100. Thats my problem. After my brother's education discount, the total price comes out as $2,558.95. Without the HD and RAM upgrades, the total cost would be $337 less ($2,221.95). Assuming the price of the iMac itself stays the same, about when do you think there will be HD and RAM upgrades? Or, if recent rumors are correct, when do you think an entirely new iMac will come out?

Refurb 24" C2D iMac is $1699
Buy the extra gig of ram and larger HD elsewhere and upgrade yourself
Do the same with the BT keyboard/mouse
Buy Student Edition Office if you must have Microsoft Office, the better idea would be either NeoOffice like bigbossbmb said or even OpenOffice (which I think is what NeoOffice is at the core), both of which are free.

There...should run you right around $2100, if nothing else, just upgrade the ram and do the HD later. Do you really need 500g of HD? I doubt it. You could always go external as well and get a firewire SATA for probably a fraction of the price of a dedicated 500g internal.