so i am in the market for a new imac. replacing my aged g4 mini. i was looking at a 24" with an 8800 upgrade. but its out of my budget. so now im looking at refurbished 24" or new 2.6ghz 20" but i keep seeing people say that the 20" are no where near as good as the 24" but i cant find any evidence or reasons why this is? what are your guyses opinions of those who have actually used the two.
Very briefly: You can get a refurb 24" 2.8 w/ 500GB HD for approximately the same price as the 20" 2.66 w/ 320GB HD.
The 24" is better, besides the obvious reason (30% more screen, 30% more resolution), because it uses a S-IPS display, whereas the 20" uses a TN display.
What this means is that the 24" monitor is sharper, brighter, has better viewing angle and truer color representation than the 20" iMac. The 20" iMacs also suffer, supposedly, from a distinct vertical gradient.
However, that is not to say that there haven't been complaints about the screen on the 24" for similar reasons (gradient and color representation), however, it's still a much better screen than the 20.
TN displays change or invert color when viewed from an angle, like a cell phone's lcd.
However, if you're on a budget, don't need a top of the line computer, or rely heavily on a quality display, the refurbished white iMacs currently offered by apple are excellent. Both the 20" and 24" white iMacs had professional quality H-IPS displays.