new iMac purchase opinions, please!
hi guys,
so here's where i am:
so for the past 3 years i have been the proud owner of a 1st gen 24" aluminium imac, 2.4ghz core 2 duo, 4gb ram, self-upgraded 1tb hard-drive, etc. i've been immensely happy with it, and continue to be. it has recently had a full service on its soon-to-be-expired apple care, including a new display (due to ghosting issues)...
so the question: at the moment i'm a master's student, and will be up until the end of september. this does, of course, qualify me for education discounts, and considering the age of my machine i'm strongly considering taking the opportunity to upgrade. furthermore, i should get my free ipod as well. having done research on ebay, i hope i could get somewhere between £500-700 for current machine. however, the question is is now the time, or not?
looking at the line-up, it is a choice between the top two models. the price of the top model makes me fidget somewhat, yet on the other hand it hardly seems worth updating for another dual-core. either of the other two models would involve a downgrading of screen size so not really a sensible option
cons:
current machine is, generally speaking, going very strong.
expense, if the new machine isn't dramatically better
risk in terms of ebay selling price
general hassle
pros:
new video card: whilst not a heavy gamer, i've managed to get myself heavily into GTA4, and the current card is fairly pathetic for it
increased general performance
having a new machine with a minimum of 3 strong years on it
taking advantage of available discounts that i'll soon lose
so, i look forward to hearing some opinions on the situation, especially those a bit more knowledgeable about the performance of the new systems. thanks!
so here's where i am:
so for the past 3 years i have been the proud owner of a 1st gen 24" aluminium imac, 2.4ghz core 2 duo, 4gb ram, self-upgraded 1tb hard-drive, etc. i've been immensely happy with it, and continue to be. it has recently had a full service on its soon-to-be-expired apple care, including a new display (due to ghosting issues)...
so the question: at the moment i'm a master's student, and will be up until the end of september. this does, of course, qualify me for education discounts, and considering the age of my machine i'm strongly considering taking the opportunity to upgrade. furthermore, i should get my free ipod as well. having done research on ebay, i hope i could get somewhere between £500-700 for current machine. however, the question is is now the time, or not?
looking at the line-up, it is a choice between the top two models. the price of the top model makes me fidget somewhat, yet on the other hand it hardly seems worth updating for another dual-core. either of the other two models would involve a downgrading of screen size so not really a sensible option
cons:
current machine is, generally speaking, going very strong.
expense, if the new machine isn't dramatically better
risk in terms of ebay selling price
general hassle
pros:
new video card: whilst not a heavy gamer, i've managed to get myself heavily into GTA4, and the current card is fairly pathetic for it
increased general performance
having a new machine with a minimum of 3 strong years on it
taking advantage of available discounts that i'll soon lose
so, i look forward to hearing some opinions on the situation, especially those a bit more knowledgeable about the performance of the new systems. thanks!
Comments
looking at the line-up, it is a choice between the top two models. the price of the top model makes me fidget somewhat, yet on the other hand it hardly seems worth updating for another dual-core. either of the other two models would involve a downgrading of screen size so not really a sensible option
The 3.2 ghz i3 on the entry level 27" is probably *at least* 50% faster than the model you have. Obviously the longer you wait the more of performance boost you'll see when you upgrade. I have a 2.6 ghz iMac at home and I'm thinking of replacing it with one of these new ones. If so I'll wait for a refurbished one so that I can save a little money.
i do feel like quad-core is desirable, but the price is a bit OUCH