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20" or 17" iMac...

smwatson

smwatson

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 30, 2005
961
6
London, England
which is better, the 17" or the 20"?
The main issues i have are:
  • Is the 2.1GHz noticeably faster?
  • I dont really need the extra screen space but it looks so much better proportioned than the 17"
  • With a 17" i could afford 2.5GB RAM.I dont need it but it would be nice.Is there a noticeable difference between 1.5 and 2.5GB??
  • I dont need the extra 90GB hard drive and its only £50 anyway
If theres anything else you need to know, then please just ask.
Thanks
 
What are you going to use it for?

My suggestion would be to get the 20" with 1.5 GB of RAM and then buy a 2GB stick later on when the price drops.

And you probably do want the 250GB disk, you just don't realize it yet. And you may not need more memory than 1.5GB - again, this all depends on what you'll be using the machine for.
 
Once you see the 20" and 17" next to eachother ... you can never think about getting the 17".
 
Definitely go for the 20-inch model. You may not realize it now, but you really learn to appreciate the extra screen space you acquire with 20 inches.
 
20". When you see it next to the 17"...
I thought of getting the 17", but after seeing them next to each other, I´ll save up a few more bucks and get the 20"
 
maya said:
I know exactly what you mean. ;) :)

If only Apple made a 23" iMac G5. :D
Click to expand...
Make that a 30" iMac and I would trade in my 17" 1.8, SE500, left leg, and right kidney to get it.
To the OP: The speed isnt the difference in the machines, it is the size. If you have room in your budget (and on your desk) for a 20", I would say buy it and bring it up to 1.5GB RAM (more HD space is always a plus too).
 
iMacSE500 said:
Make that a 30" iMac and I would trade in my 17" 1.8, SE500, left leg, and right kidney to get it.
To the OP: The speed isnt the difference in the machines, it is the size. If you have room in your budget (and on your desk) for a 20", I would say buy it and bring it up to 1.5GB RAM (more HD space is always a plus too).
Click to expand...

30" iMac G5 with a TV Tuner. ;) :D

And I have the space as well for 2 on my desk. ;) :)
 
If you can afford the 20", and have room for it, then get it, no question. 1.5 GB of RAM is what i have on my single 1.8 G5, and my activity very rarely says I'm using close to the full amount. Unless you do a lot of professional work (video, large photoshop flies, audio) 1.5 GB of RAM is plenty.
 
I agree with some others here, if you can afford the 20inch, go with that, but the 17inch is a great machine/$.

I've a 17inch on its way because I already have a spare 19inch flat panel, which I'm planning to use with the screen spanning doctor should I really need to.
 
Get the 20" - You can always upgrade the amount of RAM, but you can't upgrade a 17" screen to a 20" down the road!
 
smwatson said:
which is better, the 17" or the 20"?
The main issues i have are:
  • Is the 2.1GHz noticeably faster?
  • I dont really need the extra screen space but it looks so much better proportioned than the 17"
  • With a 17" i could afford 2.5GB RAM.I dont need it but it would be nice.Is there a noticeable difference between 1.5 and 2.5GB??
  • I dont need the extra 90GB hard drive and its only £50 anyway
If theres anything else you need to know, then please just ask.
Thanks
Click to expand...

2.1GHz, I doubt it - ram has much more influence.

20" is nice for heaps of things. Seeing a word doc full page at a decent font size; watching dvds; editing video and photos; seeing big images on websites/downloads from nasa etc

1.5GB to 2.5GB, yes for the right applications or under load of lots of programs, the ram will help. But 1.5GB is still pretty fine so if thats holding you back, go the 20" I say.

250GB means you can have a backup of your critical or even whole files easily. Plus digital video takes 13GB per hour if you ever get into that.
 
I ended up going with the 17 as I am still a student, and the few hundred dollar savings is going towards upgraded memory, and MS Office for Mac. Since this was my first Mac, I wanted to be prepared for any new software purchases that I had to do.

The larger hard drive seemed excessive, as I already have an external hard drive for backups. I would never have my backups and originals on the same HD, what happens if the HD fails?

Of course, if money is no object, go bigger...I definitely let loose with a rather loud "Holy Sh*t!" when I saw the 20 at the Apple store :p
 
iMacSE500 said:
Make that a 30" iMac and I would trade in my 17" 1.8, SE500, left leg, and right kidney to get it.
To the OP: The speed isnt the difference in the machines, it is the size. If you have room in your budget (and on your desk) for a 20", I would say buy it and bring it up to 1.5GB RAM (more HD space is always a plus too).
Click to expand...

Id be second in line for the same OP, a 20" makes me drool, i think id develope a bladder weakness if i saw a 30" iMac!! :p :D :rolleyes:
 
Uma888 said:
Id be second in line for the same OP, a 20" makes me drool, i think id develope a bladder weakness if i saw a 30" iMac!! :p :D :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Or maybe a 30" Powerbook? You never know...
 
m-dogg said:
Get the 20" - You can always upgrade the amount of RAM, but you can't upgrade a 17" screen to a 20" down the road!
Click to expand...

I agree, I would get the best system right now and you can always upgrade the RAM later.
 
BrandonSi said:
Went to the Apple store and saw them next to each other. My 20" is coming Wed. :)
Click to expand...

I tried that as well but they only had the new 17" in stock, and said they wouldn't get the 20" for a week or so. Seeing the new 17" next to the old 20" though I plan to buy a 20".

^Z
 
Bear said:
What are you going to use it for?

My suggestion would be to get the 20" with 1.5 GB of RAM and then buy a 2GB stick later on when the price drops.

And you probably do want the 250GB disk, you just don't realize it yet. And you may not need more memory than 1.5GB - again, this all depends on what you'll be using the machine for.
Click to expand...

so iMac G5s can have 4gbs of RAM? WOW!!(ya well its hard to keep up with all this i did not know the 2gb sticks worked in iMac g5s
 
With your decision, I look at it this way. (In AU$:) It's about $900-$1000 difference between buying a 17" and buying a 20" monitor. (It was when apple used to make 17".), but you upgrade to 20" in $650. Which gives you 90GB more storage, a better graphics card and 200Mhz faster processor.
zap2 said:
so iMac G5s can have 4gbs of RAM? WOW!!(ya well its hard to keep up with all this i did not know the 2gb sticks worked in iMac g5s
Click to expand...
They can't.
REV As and B's had 2 slots, each holding 1GB DRR, up to 2.0GB total.
REV C's have 512MB built in, and one slot that can hold up to 2GB DDR2, for a total of 2.5GB of ram.
 
You all do know that my 17" is listening, right!!?!:D Just kidding. If you have the cash, buy the 20". Otherwise the 17" is a great choice.
 
nospleen said:
You all do know that my 17" is listening, right!!?!:D Just kidding. If you have the cash, buy the 20". Otherwise the 17" is a great choice.
Click to expand...

I saw the 17" over the weekend in the Apple store and it knocked my socks off!!! It was a beautiful machine and the screen was AMAZING compared to the previous revison sitting on display next to it. What a great machine! I can only image what the screen on the new 20" looks like (they didn't have a display model of that yet :( ) Either way your really can't go wrong in my opinion!
 
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