Buy or wait? iMac

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I'm a switcher (thanks to my office giving me an old Powerbook with OSX to play around with) and I'm going to buy a 17" iMac this month...UNLESS I should wait???



I know there will be new hardware announcements later this month, and I expect that I might suffer buyer's remorse if some major surprises are announced...



My question for the plugged-in is this; Does anyone expect a major upgrade/redesign in the iMac line-up? If so, How long will it take those products to hit the market...



If you don't know or don't care what the future holds, just tell me if you think it's a good time to buy or if I should wait...THANKS!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Oh great... this thread will be fun...



    I would wait for a good price drop and OSX 10.3

    Give it a month then see what's new.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    Wait, apparently there is some buzz of a G5 release at WWDC or something else big. Probably not the answer you wanted. \
  • Reply 3 of 12
    roborobo Posts: 469member
    No harm in waiting a week or two. That's what i'm going to do.
  • Reply 4 of 12
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    In a week or two there will probably be announcements that the G5 (aka the IBM PPC 970) will be hitting Macs soon, or so the rumors go. I'm not sure if they will hit iMacs, but they will probably at least find their way into PowerMacs. I wouldn't put it past Jobs to announce that they will be using the new chips at the same time as introducing new versions of current lines using the chips (and the rumored 10.2.7 patch that will add 970 support to Jaguar). Whether or not the iMac will be in this who knows... The PowerMacs will be sure to be in this line though, but that's not what you're looking for. Long story short, wait a couple of weeks and see. If WWDC announcements don't include new iMacs then you might as well go ahead an buy unless you really REALLY want to have the 'new 970 latest and greatest G5 chip'. Then you might have to wait until August or September if nothing comes out of WWDC. It's up to you how long you think that you want to wait. I think that you should at least wait and see what comes out of WWDC and make a decision based on that. Because waiting for a completely new chip (G5 / IBM 970) is a little different than just waiting for a speed bump in the current chips (G4) since the archtecture and bus and such will be different (I know that the arch is still PPC, but I'm sure that the mobo design/specs are completely different from the Moto G4's).



    [edit] : That's kinda long so here is the summary :

    Wait until after WWDC. Then make your decision. If nothing is announced there you might have to wait until the end of the summer so it's just a matter of how long you're willing to wait for upgraded iMacs.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    cyclecycle Posts: 187member
    there will be summer edition imacs...no doubt...maybe just a mhz increase...maybe more..who knows...but i think they get an upgrade within july-september
  • Reply 6 of 12
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    The 17 inch i mac is a good buy avalaible immedialty. There will be perhaps a new release in september, but you will have to wait to have one.



    The 15 inch I mac is not a good buy, i will advice anybody seeking to buy it to wait for the next update.
  • Reply 7 of 12
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Powerbooks are a better buy than the iMacs, and portable too! iMacs are a horrible buy right now. WAIT!
  • Reply 8 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Matsu

    Powerbooks are a better buy than the iMacs, and portable too! iMacs are a horrible by right now. WAIT!



    Says you! I betcha my Imac would kick your powerbooks ass!!

  • Reply 9 of 12
    chinneychinney Posts: 1,019member
    At first glance, the new 970 sounds like it will be worth the wait. However, I wonder whether all of this extra speed will be relevant to the 'average' user. The 970 will be great for those who are, for example, doing graphic design work or maybe for gamers. But for the rest of us, a G4 is a plenty fast. (Heck I have a IMac G3 500 and find it quite satisfactory for the low-end stuff that I do - word processing, internet, e-mail and simple Excel stuff.)



    So, I would definitely wait for the 970 if you really need extreme speed. If not, then the question is when will you get the best deal on a good G4. The current eMac seems to be a pretty good deal now.



    Edit: But I am not sure the iMac is all that great a deal right now.



    Also, another strategy might be to buy a used G4 PowerMac when the high-end users start to cash in theirs to buy 970 machines.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    sport73sport73 Posts: 438member
    Good idea! I bet I could find a PowerMac cheap once the new 970's hit...



    Although, I have to admit that I'm dying to get my new Mac and I might not be able to resist just getting the iMac, even though I know I might regret it.



    I just want it for the iLife stuff (digital video editing, music, photos, web etc.) and the occasional game.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by The General

    Says you! I betcha my Imac would kick your powerbooks ass!!





    Umm... NO,

    15" and up models of the PowerBook would skool the iMac.



    Why?

    LEVEL 3 Cache! To which the iMac does not have.



    Please think before you post.



  • Reply 12 of 12
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Not really, the L3 contributes to about 5-10% better performance all round. The Combo 15Ti 867 1MB L3 and PB12 867, no L3 are about the same. A Ghz iMac probably comes close enough as makes no big difference, most of the time. I give the edge to the 12 and 15" models because for substantially less, or about the same, you can get just about the same performance (or more) and features in a package that travels with you. They're not the same by any means, but variously there's almost always a better cheaper laptop choice for you just sticking to the two 12" models and 15" combo.
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