Decisions, Decisions

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Hello everyone,



I've been doing some pondering this morning. At the moment, I've got a 1.8GHZ SP G5 and a little 15' Packard Bell LCD. I really don't like the LCD, it's got an awful glare, and it hurts my eyes to use it for two long no matter what I do with the brightness and contrast. So I want a new monitor, and an Apple Cinema Display is top of my list.



But then I got to thinking. I really don't use all the power of my G5. The most I do on it is a little Photosphopping or Quark-ing. I don't need all that power. If I'm buying a new monitor, I realised I should investigate the possiblity of selling both my current monitor and G5 and buying an iMac.



Here's how I see it. I could get $1000 for my G5, and maybe $150-$200 for my monitor. The leaves me with about $800 to make up for a 20' iMac, and about $250 to make up to the 1.8Ghz 17' iMac.



If I just buy a new cinema display, it leaves me with about $800 to make up after I sell by current LCD. Perhaps I could get one of the last generation LCD's online (They are sexier!) but I want something that is going to last as long as possible.



I'm also looking at future costs. I like to make my machines last as long as possible, ideally 4 years. If I buy the monitor, it will leave me paying $1600 or so every four or five years to buy a new bottom-of-the-range G5.



If I buy an iMac, it will be about the same for the midrange machine or more for the top-line. It does seem a waste to get rid of such a perfectly good screen every four or five years.



So has anyone got any advice? The iMac option is attractice as I'll have just as good a computer, 2" extra screen space and lot more free space for only $300 more or so. But I'm not the kind of person to impulse buy or buy what's new and cool, I want functionality and longevity.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Don't buy the 20" Cinema Display. If you can stand the design, get the Dell 2005fpw for $700 or less when it's on sale.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MCQ

    Don't buy the 20" Cinema Display. If you can stand the design, get the Dell 2005fpw for $700 or less when it's on sale.



    Agreed. I scored a 2005fpw 20" widescreen for something like $650 delivered and it rocks. Stand is a little clunky but otherwise not a terrible design, nice specs, and a lot of bang for the buck.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    I'm going to advise getting the iMac.



    You're not "throwing away" anything. When it's no longer useful to you, its resale value as a complete system will be higher than if you were just selling a box with the same specs. Tiger, the next version of OS X, includes preliminary support for resolution independence so that developers can update their apps to support it. And what that means is that Apple sees displays getting a lot denser (higher resolution) in the next 2-3 years. In other words, by the time the iMac has served its time, the "perfectly good" display will pale beside what's newly available in the same way that the ViewSonic pales beside what you can get now—only, more so. By then, whatever the iMac is might have an OLED screen whose picture is indistinguishable from a photo printer's today in terms of color and resolution.



    Get the iMac. Use it. Sell it or hand it down when you're done, and get another one. It'll cost you about as much as your plan to keep buying PowerMacs, except that your whole system will improve every time you do it.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    messiahmessiah Posts: 1,689member
    I can't recommend the 17" 1.6GHz iMac highly enough. It's got a great 17" screen (which is bigger than the one you are used to) and are you really going to notice the difference in processor speed?



    My mum bought a 17" just before Christmas and it's a really impressive little machine (if you can get over the looks).



    Another way to look at it is that it's got the same screen as Apples top-of-the-range PowerBook, a faster processor and it's a damn site cheaper to boot.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    I guess what I'm trying to figure out is which machine will last longer.



    To me it seems both machines have about the same longevity. I'll only ever use a gig or two of RAM, won't upgrade the graphics, might want to get a bigger hard disk but I can put a 160 in the iMac.



    So, in my mind, I've got two computers with the same insides (for what I do) and the iMac gives me a gorgeous 17/20 screen, a beautiful design and the potential to wall-mount.



    Am I seeing this wrong?
  • Reply 6 of 6
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Smileyguy

    I guess what I'm trying to figure out is which machine will last longer.



    To me it seems both machines have about the same longevity. I'll only ever use a gig or two of RAM, won't upgrade the graphics, might want to get a bigger hard disk but I can put a 160 in the iMac.



    So, in my mind, I've got two computers with the same insides (for what I do) and the iMac gives me a gorgeous 17/20 screen, a beautiful design and the potential to wall-mount.



    Am I seeing this wrong?




    Looks to me like you're right on target.



    The iMac G5 just might be the first AIO Mac I've bought new, as well. It's hard to argue with.
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