Yet another PC switcher with questions

[OscarAlert]

soo.. Hey guys, haha
I've made up my mind, and im going to buy an iMac

But i do have some questions:
1.how long do macs normally last, as in over all speed of the system and becoming absolete. i ask this just because of the lack of upgradablity other than the HD and RAM.

2.shud i fork out a bit more cash for the 2.8ghz now, OR w8 for a new revision of the imacs possibly in january(apple expo thing) or febuary or maybe even as late as march.

im really excited aobut getting this thing (my parents think its a bad idea going mac, fight the power right? hahahah)

any thoughts guys??? or further advice??

 

[CashGap]

My kids use a five year old iMac G4, running Leopard. It would be adequate for me to do everything I *NEED* to do at home and at work (CFO).

I'd say they last a long time.

 

[TimJim]

Its always good to buy a mac, but i cant comment on how good they will be when they are older.

 

[kflook]

Up until this year I still had my old Blue & White Power Mac G3. It was bought in 1999, and was capable of running the last OS (until Leopard). My friend has it now and it's still going.

 

[hartwork]

1. I recently upgraded to an iMac from an iBook G4 which has served me loyally for nearly five years. I only upgraded because I'm using Adobe CS3 more intensively and wanted a bigger screen. In my opinion, it will only become obsolete when your needs change. I used my iBook for the same thing for five years without a problem. Macs generally have a longer life than PCs.
If you are concerned about upgradability, think about your usage (and potential usage in the future) and choose a computer that's appropriate to your needs. Inevitably, new technology will render current machines "old" but it doesn't mean it's obsolete. Change your computer with your needs.

2. I would pick the higher processor whether you buy it now or later.

Get as much RAM as you can. My iMac went from 1GB to 4GB and there's a noticeable difference, particularly when I'm running lots of applications simultaneously.

 

[ilogic]

is this your first mac?

trust me, when you discover all the things you can do and how simple things are, your parents will be quite impressed.

macs are very good quality and typically last longer than pcs.. also mac users tend to treat their macs better than pc users treat their pcs (I'm not making this up, although i dont know if that adds to the lifespan of the mac)

get ram, newegg has them for 60 bucks including shipping for 2GB, totally worth it, if you go with the higher cpu speed, you'll have no problem running any kind of program...

its good to remember that its apples to oranges (pun intended) when determining what you need. what i mean is, when you buy a pc, you get an idea of what kind of specs you need because you know how the programs feel and run. but this doesnt carry over to apple computers... programs run beautifully on apple without requiring top of the line hardware...

have fun!

 

[OscarAlert]

ya its my first mac, so go with a 24" 2.8ghz all out max RAM 4gb???

oh and i just relized the processors are 800mhz frontside bus, so there laptop CPUs correct??

Shudnt i wait for a new revision?? ill only have the money near january or if im lucky for christmas.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

They might update them after January...

and RAM is upgradable in all of their machines. It's the CPU that's a pain to upgrade (possible, but I wouldn't recomend it unless you have an electrical engineering degree!)

CPU wise... I don't think it matters. my old windows laptop could probably do everything I need it to do (except game) and it's only 1.4ghz single core.

Actually, I think the video card is the most important thing to get top-of-the-line. that's the one thing that'll be near impossible to upgrade 3 years from now that matters.

 

[emptyCup]

1.how long do macs normally last, as in over all speed of the system and becoming absolete. i ask this just because of the lack of upgradablity other than the HD and RAM.

Generally, you will give up on your machine before a Mac gives up on you. My 20 year old Mac Plus still runs, and if I still wanted to do the things I did 20 years ago, it would be fine. But I don't, so I buy a new machine every 5 years or so. I am on a 3 year old iMac now and I am still happy with it.

Depending on how current you like to be, the useful life of a Mac is about 3-5 years.