Which iMac

[Elven]

Basically I am or was a gamer, I built a Quad Core Flagship of a computer, but as time progress I have grown older wiser and tired of it. As of recently I tend to only play Team Fortress 2 here and there when I am not learning CS3 on my MacBook.

I am selling the Quad Core gaming pc to help fund an iMac for myself, this machine would have to handle basic photoshop duties, and playing Team Fortress 2 in bootcamp on Xp or Vista.

While the 3.06ghz model is tempting I am wondering whether I could just be as happy with the cheaper models?

 

[markiv810]

Basically I am or was a gamer, I built a Quad Core Flagship of a computer, but as time progress I have grown older wiser and tired of it. As of recently I tend to only play Team Fortress 2 here and there when I am not learning CS3 on my MacBook.

I am selling the Quad Core gaming pc to help fund an iMac for myself, this machine would have to handle basic photoshop duties, and playing Team Fortress 2 in bootcamp on Xp or Vista.

While the 3.06ghz model is tempting I am wondering whether I could just be as happy with the cheaper models?

Go for the 3.06 model with the 512 MB graphics card, you could also wait for the new iMac (I think the iMac line would be revised in Jan 2009), so maybe waiting would not be such a bad option. I personally would wait for the release of Snow Leopard, so that my computer comes pre-loaded with Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). There is also a rumor going on the next iMac is going to have a Quad Core Processor in it, I don't know how reliable that info is. We have 4 iMacs at our office 2.4 ghz machine with 2 GB RAM and they are plenty fast, no problems handling CS3.

 

[mgridgaway]

I say go for the 2.8 and just upgrade the video card. The $200 price jump really isn't worth the extra .52 Ghz boost. Also, consider bumping the Hard Drive up to 500GB as it's messy business trying to upgrade it yourself.

 

[richard.mac]

iMacs can play games fairly well in Windows and some Mac games are good. but if youre a mad gamer you should maybe think about keeping a PC just for gaming.

the added clock speed from 2.8 GHz to 3.06 GHz wont do much for gaming and the 2.8 is a lot cheaper. so go for a 2.8 GHz 24" iMac with the 8800GS.

an extra 2 cores also wouldnt do much for gaming but its good for multitasking and video. so just get the iMac now and dont wait for the quad core version.

 

[Elven]

When is this rumored Quad Core version due to come out? Given the 2.8GHZ iMac with 2GB ram 320GB HD, and 8800GS is with Apple Care £1482, it's about a couple of month away so I'd be purchasing it likely in November.

 

[richard.mac]

maybe near the end of this year. maybe the start of next year. no one knows but Apple . im guessing Macworld 2009.

 

[Elven]

maybe near the end of this year. maybe the start of next year. no one knows but Apple . im guessing Macworld 2009.

How well do you think the iMac would sell for say this time next year? not sure on depreciation.

 

[richard.mac]

not sure sorry. but Macs are known to hold there value quite well.