Which mac should I buy? Old macbook, new aluminium macbook or 20" imac?

[Toff]

I'm planing to buy a mac only because I want to use OsX. I need a mac to surf internet, write texts, listen music, watch movies. Eventually I could play some games (like WoW, Warcraft, Call of duty), but i don't need a powerfull video card. I will use it only in my home.

My options are:
- White macbook (2.1Ghz, 2Gb, 120HD)
- Aluminium macbook (2.0Ghz, 2Gb, 160HD)
- Imac 20" (2,6Ghz, 2Gb, 320HD)

If I buy a macbook I would buy a 22" display to use as a external monitor.

What shoud I do? Buy a macbook and a external display and use it as a desktop or buy an Imac and be happy?

I saw a lot of people with problems with their new aluminium macbooks (problens in display, external display, keyboard, etc). This problems happen with many people or they are isolated cases?

 

[maclover001]

Do you want to take the computer outside your house, or will it just stay in one spot?

The iMac will be ALOT faster than any MacBook, so only get a 'book if you need portability.

If you can live without FireWire, get the Alu MacBook.

 

[cdcastillo]

...I need a mac to surf internet, write texts, listen music, watch movies. ...I will use it only in my home....

Go for the iMac: Gives you more bang for the buck and you won't need a lot of portability. It has a bigger screen, bigger harddrive, a better graphics card and it cost less.

 

[isethx]

i'd personally get a laptop becasue i HATE sitting at a desk. i like sitting in my bed.. the couch.. upstairs.. downstairs.

so i'd get the new macbook.

however if you don't mind sitting at a desk all the time totally get the imac.

 

[skrutzen]

If you have some sort of a web enabled mobile device, (i.e. an iPhone) get the iMac. I have both an iMac, and iPhone and found that the iPhone satisfied my mobile internet needs when my Powerbook died. I'm not doing a lot on my computer other than surfing and emailing.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It's the old power versus portability argument. What feature do you want most from a computer? Do you wish for lots of computing power at a reasonable price? Then choose 20" iMac.

However, if you prefer - or need - portability, then your choice narrows down to a decision between the two MBs. Essentially, the choice here is between a somewhat older machine - which has FireWire and costs a lot less, an important consideration if finance is an issue - and the newer, more modern model, which looks stunning, is an impressive computer, and is the most technologically advanced model of the MB family at the moment.

Your call. Power versus portability - which do you want? New versus old, which also means more expensive versus quite good value.

Personally, as I value portability, I'd go for a MB and get an external monitor. The old MB offers excellent value, and I'm not sure that the new one - stunning appearance aside - is all that enormous a technological advance to justify the extra outlay in cash.

Cheers and good luck

 

[Bengt77]

I have a 24" iMac (mid 2007, 2,8GHz Core 2 Duo Extreme version) and recently bought a MacBook (late 2008, 2,4GHz version) to complement it. Well, the complementing bit is about to be over, as I'm selling my iMac. I barely use it anymore. It's a wonderful machine. Very powerful, too. Yes, I really like it (used to love it, until I got the MacBook), but why keep a machine I don't really use anymore?

I'll miss the 24" screen sometimes, I guess. But apart from that, there's nothing, and I mean nothing, the new MacBooks can't do that the iMac can. The processor is slightly less powerful, sure, but the FSB makes up for that. The GPU might be a tad slower, too (I have the 2600XT in my iMac), but it won't bug me. Sure, I sometimes play games in Windows (mostly Valve/Source games, which run great on most recent GPUs), but the MacBook will be plenty powerful for that. Especially since the 9400M only has to drive a 13,3" screen, whereas the 2600XT has to drive a 24" one. It might even turn out to be better, that way.

And if you don't know yet if you'll use the portability, I'd say future-proof yourself. You might just find it to be indispensable. Then again, you might indeed never use it. Just get what you really want. But don't get the older MacBook, as it'll be considerably slower once Snow Leopard is out, taking full advantage of your GPU in general computing tasks.

But if I were you, I'd get the new 2,4GHz MacBook. It's awesome. And don't get caught with the "The new MacBook has such a terrible screen!"-virus, as the 20" iMac's screen is also considerably worse than that of the 24".