Considering iMac, but have a lot of concerns.

[auto123]

yeah, I'm a console gamer so that's why I bought my $800 hp laptop that's actually worth $800. it's a tablet that boasts graphics power to destroy photoshop, aero and hd dvd's (blu-ray too if I had a blu ray-drive)

however the sheer pride of building your own system reaps its own rewards.

on a sidenote I picked up a 99% fully working motherboard and 2.8 ghz pentium 4 hyperthreaded for free today. (no network boot, everything else works perfectly)

all I need is a case and then I'm building my second system. hopefully I can find a good case because my last franken pc looks like it was free if you catch my drift.

whatever floats your boat though,
-Tyler

 

[packgrad2000]

Apple is the most reliable brand of desktops

According to Consumer Reports, which surveys thousands of people regarding their problems, Apple's desktop line (which also includes the Mini and Pro, as well as the iMac) has the least amount of problems. Apple's desktop line leads all other brands with only 11% of users reporting "repairs or serious problems." After that comes Compaq, eMachines, Dell, HP, Sony, and Gateway, which range from 15-19% of users reporting problems.

A good indicator of how likely a product is to have a problem is to look at the cost of Apple Care vs. the cost of the machine. For instance, the $1700 Macbook Pro's Apple Care is $350 whereas my iMac (2.93Ghz early 09), which goes for $1800, is only $170 for Apple Care. From that you could say the MBP is about twice as likely to fail as the iMac, which actually turns out to be pretty accurate according to the Consumer Reports Laptop survey. They found that for Apple laptops (all lines), about 20% of users reported repairs or major problems, which is pretty close to double the 11% number from the iMac. Remember, Apple has to pay for repairs on iMac's for 2 years out of that $170, and they're certainly not losing money by selling Apple Care!

Now, those Consumer Reports surveys don't single out the iMac (it's the whole desktop line) so take it for what's it's worth. But it certainly shows that for their desktops, Apple is more reliable in general than the competition.

 

[macjonny1]

You can always have an authorized apple repair center switch the HDD. You won't have the warranty on the new HDD but it wont void the rest of the computers warranty