Buying a new iMac this week - $1,499 vs $1,799?

[Original.Hybrid]

Hey guys,

First off, I apologize for such a newbie and general question. I love this site and I appreciate all help in advance.

Thankfully, I'll be buying a new iMac this week. I've had a Powerbook G4 for years now and I'm moving up to iMac.

The 24" for $1,499 with the 2.66 and NVIDIA 9400 or is it worth the extra $300 to jump to the 2.93 GHz and the GeForce GT 120 with 256MB?

I'll be using the iMac for editing Music Videos and short to medium films with FCP. Also use DVD Studio Pro, etc. I've been doing this on my Powerbook and I look forward to getting the iMac.

Also, should I get the wireless keyboard....I 've read conflicting opinions?

Thanks so much

 

[Hellhammer]

If you want it to be future proof go for 2.93GHz model. 9400M can be a bottleneck in editing and other stuff. It's just 300$...

 

[danny_w]

$1049 for the 2.4GHz 24" refurb (late 2007). I just bought one and can't tell it from new, and the price can't be beat. Much better video card than the 9400m too. I added 4GB ram for $36 from Newegg.

 

[spencecb]

Hey guys,

First off, I apologize for such a newbie and general question. I love this site and I appreciate all help in advance.

Thankfully, I'll be buying a new iMac this week. I've had a Powerbook G4 for years now and I'm moving up to iMac.

The 24" for $1,499 with the 2.66 and NVIDIA 9400 or is it worth the extra $300 to jump to the 2.93 GHz and the GeForce GT 120 with 256MB?

I'll be using the iMac for editing Music Videos and short to medium films with FCP. Also use DVD Studio Pro, etc. I've been doing this on my Powerbook and I look forward to getting the iMac.

Also, should I get the wireless keyboard....I 've read conflicting opinions?

Thanks so much

I'm in the EXACT same boat as you. I've decided to go with the nVidia 120, since it is a discrete GPU, it will perform much better than the nVidia 9400. It will handle editing better, better performance on games, plus the next version of OS X will be taking advantage of the extra processing cores inside of discrete GPU's for better system performance.

I'm just waiting on my damn Juniper Visa card to come in the mail so I can get 0% financing on the computer!! It should come in the mail on Monday!

 

[nph]

I'm in the EXACT same boat as you. I've decided to go with the nVidia 120, since it is a discrete GPU, it will perform much better than the nVidia 9400. It will handle editing better, better performance on games, plus the next version of OS X will be taking advantage of the extra processing cores inside of discrete GPU's for better system performance.

I'm just waiting on my damn Juniper Visa card to come in the mail so I can get 0% financing on the computer!! It should come in the mail on Monday!

You canalso do what I did and buy an early 08 iMac 24 with. Dedicated graphic card that Can still be had for less than 1300 online.

 

[Original.Hybrid]

Thanks for all of the help guys!!!!!

 

[Scottsdale]

Between those two iMacs, I would choose the iMac 24" with 2.93 GHz CPU, and add the ATI graphics for $200. A year or two down the road, add 8 GB of RAM, and it will be a nice computer and really capable for five years.

Or, there is a last generation 2.8 GHz 24" iMac with 2600 graphics for $1199 in refurbished or $1399 new clearance. I would do this before the low end integrated graphics model, but it eliminates 8 GB of RAM down road. Or even the 2.93 with standard card is far nicer than the integrated graphics. Stay away from integrated graphics and future proof it as well as you can.

Good luck whichever you go with.

 

[Hot Snowboarder]

Just throwing my 2 cents in about the keyboard.

Go with the numpad. Makes anything to do with number entry 100% easier.