2.93 iMac worth : ?

[TheBritishBloke]

I'm eligible for the Further Education discount, and sometime in the near future I'm looking to get a 2.93Ghz 24" iMac.

I've just phoned up, and I can get it for £1334. And If I buy AppleCare with the iMac, it will cost me £47 (Those of you in the US and other countries use www.xe.com to convert)

Yet again, I'm one of those asking what the chances are of an update within the next 3 months, and whether the price stated is really much of an impulse to people to buy sooner rather than later? If the iMac did get an update, could we expect it to be a huge update, or more likely one of those 10% price cuts with an SD Card slot on the side?

Thanks in advance

 

[thegoldenmackid]

The iMac will see a bump, but like in 4-5 months given Intel and their map.

 

[Hellhammer]

I agree with goldenmackid. iMac won't see an update before early 2010, so if I was you, I'd buy now. And rumors are just rumors, we were supposed to see quad-core, LED etc, in iMac in last update but we didn't.

 

[TheBritishBloke]

I was sort of thinking about waiting until the LED backlight came in, but then after seeing some up-close (never really looked into them at Apple store until now) I just sort of thought that the CCFL backlight wasn't too bad, only worse difference is the warmup time, however they would've practically warmed up by the time it's booted up and logged in. I just worry, as I don't went to spend £1400 on an iMac now, and then in 2/3 months, they decide like with snow leopard "Lets do a nice early release, and give them some quad cores" then I'm left with a machine with half the power (technically).

And main thing is, I don't really want to buy right this second, I was about to go out and buy myself a new TV for my bedroom, along with a new desk (which I will be buying anyway) but when the TV costs £400, along with a couple of extra things I'm gonna be buying (£200 worth) I sorta get pushed away, and begin to think that it may be worth waiting. I'm someone who can afford it, but doesn't want to go all-out, I like to keep my accounts above a certain amount, and never let the balance go below it. I'm weird like that

 

[Hellhammer]

"Lets do a nice early release, and give them some quad cores" then I'm left with a machine with half the power (technically).

Quad-core, hmm, not in iMac before late 2010. Arrandale will be the next step

 

[TheBritishBloke]

Quad-core, hmm, not in iMac before late 2010. Arrandale will be the next step

I would've thought would've thought about popping a Q6600 into there now they're into the whole 'green' situation.

EDIT : So if there is an update in March 2010 again, most likely going to just be another price cut/processor bump to 3.2?

 

[Hellhammer]

I would've thought would've thought about popping a Q6600 into there now they're into the whole 'green' situation.

EDIT : So if there is an update in March 2010 again, most likely going to just be another price cut/processor bump to 3.2?

Q6600? Are you kidding me? It's 95W desktop CPU. That would make iMac like a pizza oven.

Arrandale is a whole new CPU family, mobile Nehalems, Core i5 and i7. New GPUs too, but hard to say what else

 

[TheBritishBloke]

Q6600? Are you kidding me? It's 95W desktop CPU. That would make iMac like a pizza oven.

Arrandale is a whole new CPU family, mobile Nehalems, Core i5 and i7. New GPUs too, but hard to say what else

Who says that's a bad thing? I'd happily cook pizza on it. Lol. I don't know of the Mobile equivalent, and I know mobile quad chips are sort of rare, like Alienware are only just offering Extreme chips in their brick-sized PC's, so I presume Apple are gonna be at least a year or so behind.

EDIT : Do you also think that I could do with a graphics upgrade from the GT120 for photoshopping, and general usage. I might run some basic games like Counter-Strike:Source on there on BootCamp, but that's probably it.

 

[Hellhammer]

EDIT : Do you also think that I could do with a graphics upgrade from the GT120 for photoshopping, and general usage. I might run some basic games like Counter-Strike:Source on there on BootCamp, but that's probably it.

GT120 plays CSS fine. If you want the best, get the ATI 4850, it's only 200$ more

 

[TheBritishBloke]

GT120 plays CSS fine. If you want the best, get the ATI 4850, it's only 200$ more

Now.. You say that word ONLY.. But will I really need the ATI? This is why I've changed my mind from the Mac Pro. I've been told it would just be complete overkill for my needs.

I'm spending about £600 re-doing my bedroom next week, ($1000) So I don't exactly want to go overkill on the iMac.

Unless You'd reccomend NOT re-doing my room, just getting my new desk (£120) and getting the iMac now.. Lol

 

[MacMini2009]

Now.. You say that word ONLY.. But will I really need the ATI? This is why I've changed my mind from the Mac Pro. I've been told it would just be complete overkill for my needs.

If you think you don't need it, don't buy it. The GT120 is fine. Save money.

 

[Hellhammer]

Now.. You say that word ONLY.. But will I really need the ATI? This is why I've changed my mind from the Mac Pro. I've been told it would just be complete overkill for my needs.

As MM09 said, GT120 is fine for CSS, but if you want to play modern games in future at decent graphics and FPS, ATI is worth it

 

[TheBritishBloke]

Thanks for the input.

Well I'm not much of a gamer, as I say I only play CSS when I'm bored, apart from that I might play WoW, but that's kinda rare when I do.

I know I only really need the basic graphics card for photoshop, and as these games aren't exactly graphic intensive.

Thanks again for the input.