Buying first Mac...should I wait?

staedtler

So we've finally decided to bite the bullet (well, more like our PC bit the big one) and go for an Apple. Finances have restricted our choice to either an iMac or a Mac mini, however I am partial to the 20" 2.4GHz iMac for many reasons.



My question is thus: as we won't be buying it for at least 6 weeks (gotta get the cash together) should I wait just a little longer in the event of a hardware refresh? The system cycles as of late have been between 8 and 11 months (taken from the Apple support website) and as such I would guesstimate that the current system is almost due for replacement/upgrade.



I dunno, should I wait, or take the plunge and risk getting burnt?



Cheers in advance.

backtomac

The iMac should be updated within 6 weeks.



The mini, maybe or maybe not.

troberts

I think both will get updated within the next 6 weeks. The Mac mini went a whole year without an update, but I believe the reason was to give the MacBook and MacBook Pro a chance to get ahead of the Mac mini, especially the processor speeds. Currently we have the Mac mini (1.83, 2.0), the MacBook (2.0, 2.2), and the MacBook Pro (2.2, 2.4).



Reasons for waiting for iMac refresh are:

• Penryn processor (SSE4) which will be faster


• updated graphics (PCI Express 2.0)


• 2GB RAM standard, up from 1GB


• price drop (no more than $100), except for the low-end 20", in preparation for the quad-core BTO option for the iMac refresh in the fall.

Reasons for waiting for Mac mini refresh are:

• Santa Rosa platform - better graphics (GMA X3100) and 802.11n wireless


• faster processor

Where the iMac is concerned, the processor and graphics are the only ones "guaranteed" while the RAM increase and price drop are "iffy", and even then it will be one or the other. For future reference you could take a look at the Buyer's Guide section of MacRumors to get a feel for whether or not you should make a purchase

backtomac

Quote:

Originally Posted by troberts


Reasons for waiting for iMac refresh are:

• Penryn processor (SSE4) which will be faster


• updated graphics (PCI Express 2.0)


• 2GB RAM standard, up from 1GB


• price drop (no more than $100), except for the low-end 20", in preparation for the quad-core BTO option for the iMac refresh in the fall.

Where the iMac is concerned, the processor and graphics are the only ones "guaranteed" while the RAM increase and price drop are "iffy", and even then it will be one or the other. For future reference you could take a look at the Buyer's Guide section of MacRumors to get a feel for whether or not you should make a purchase

I agree.



I'm really hoping the iMac gets 2 gbs of RAM as standard. The processor upgrade is nice but not a killer upgrade. The money saved on not having to buy the extra RAM can be used for extra HDD.



Oh and I hope they get a different graphics card. The 2600 series from ATI have caused nothing but problems. Now I've read that Mac Pro users are having issues with it. I understand they've been fixed in the iMac but still..

staedtler

Thanks for the link. We will now wait just a little bit longer for the next cycle. I have this odd feeling that it may begin mid April, as that is when the 'buy a mac, get an iPod Nano [4GB] free' rebate offer ends. I don't believe in coincidences.