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Don't know if I should be an iMac or not. *epic sadface*

T

toloratedmeat

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 29, 2008
50
0
Hey,

I'm living in Australia and I need a new computer. Usually, my pattern goes PC -> Mac -> PC -> Mac. Being a Mac year, I want to invest in the i5 iMac. I'm going to Uni and there is the "Buy a Mac get a free iPod Touch" promotion on until 29th March.

Should I buy the Mac now, or wait until WWDC.

Three Major Questions:
1. What are the chances of the iMac being revised in June?
2. What are the chances of the price dropping in June?
3. What are the chances of them being revised AND the price dropping in June?

These are the questions that haunt me.
 
if money is the primary consideration then you shouldn't buy a Mac as there is no value in them.

If a price drop will haunt you then....no.

There will always be upgrades

just build your own machine and stick Ubu or Mint on it if you don't like Windows.
 
no value in a mac???

i sold a 3 year old macbook for £425.00 over half what i paid for it... what other computer maker has that resale value??
 
Living in the shadows of the next upgrade is never a good place to be
There will always be another upgrade, price drop, or new addition just around the bend

As far as the iMac upgrade, it is like any other Mac upgrade, nobody really knows

All you can do is make the best choice with information you currently have and live with your decision. Don't look back based on knowledge you did not have at the time.

The rule of thumb is always...
If you have a compelling reason to buy... then buy and get the use of it now
If you can afford to wait on a new release indefinitely... then wait

If you always have to have the newest, fastest, biggest, smallest, latest and greatest, then you will only be satisfied for about three months out of any year
 
toloratedmeat said:
Hey,

I'm living in Australia and I need a new computer. Usually, my pattern goes PC -> Mac -> PC -> Mac. Being a Mac year, I want to invest in the i5 iMac. I'm going to Uni and there is the "Buy a Mac get a free iPod Touch" promotion on until 29th March.

Should I buy the Mac now, or wait until WWDC.

Three Major Questions:
1. What are the chances of the iMac being revised in June?
2. What are the chances of the price dropping in June?
3. What are the chances of them being revised AND the price dropping in June?

These are the questions that haunt me.
Click to expand...

the iMacs have just been revised, personally i'd buy one now, it's kinda unlikely that they'll have the price dropped, but if thats a primary concern then you could always stalk the refurb store to see
 
MacDawg said:
The rule of thumb is always...
If you have a compelling reason to buy... then buy and get the use of it now
If you can afford to wait on a new release indefinitely... then wait

If you always have to have the newest, fastest, biggest, smallest, latest and greatest, then you will only be satisfied for about three months out of any year
Click to expand...

Best advice I've seen here in a while.
 
If you need it, dont wait!! I am waiting for new mbps which havent been updated since june 09...and atm, still no new upgrades. Maybe ill have to wait until june for new mbps:s So if you want to wait for the new imacs...youll probably need to wait a long long time. Or maybe not, but you dont know and the not knowing and waiting is horrible!

So if you buy an imac now, you will have the newest mac for at least 2-3 months. Its only mid product cycle now...i wouldnt wait!

Updates will shift cpu(i5 to base, i7 to high end with option for a new faster cpu(which isnt out yet!!) => if you buy now youll still have the latest cpu after next update), gpu will be ati 5 series instead of 4 series, and maybe they add usb3.0.
 
ttopp said:
no value in a mac???

i sold a 3 year old macbook for £425.00 over half what i paid for it... what other computer maker has that resale value??
Click to expand...

any laptop holds its value, i sold a 2 year old Compaq for £269 and I paid £449 for it originally.

what I should have said is that with a Mac you don't get performance with the price.
 
archipellago said:
what I should have said is that with a Mac you don't get performance with the price.
Click to expand...

A very subjective measure to say the least

The spec/price debate has been waged over and over and will continue to be the subject of strong feelings

The bottom line is, value is defined by the buyer/user, not a spec sheet
 
I think it will not refresh before June, Why?

Because Apple need space for their other products, such as the Ipad, later the Mac Pro, and also Macbook pro. Normally people will not buy several products at once, therefore it make sense for apple release their product one by one.

looking at the last release of mac pro and MBP, you will see the refresh of these products first before the imac.

Conclusion, if you want it now, go get it.
 
MacDawg said:
A very subjective measure to say the least

The spec/price debate has been waged over and over and will continue to be the subject of strong feelings

The bottom line is, value is defined by the buyer/user, not a spec sheet
Click to expand...

True, to an extent however it is easy to 'cost up' a system based on individual components.

In my opinion with Apple products there is a 'perceived' but not actual monetary value because of their bull***** and FUD marketing.

if OSX is worth the $300+ (its not to 99% of the world) surcharge then yes there is value in them.
 
archipellago said:
if money is the primary consideration then you shouldn't buy a Mac as there is no value in them.

If a price drop will haunt you then....no.

There will always be upgrades

just build your own machine and stick Ubu or Mint on it if you don't like Windows.
Click to expand...

The imacs are great value for money, Dell sell an all in one with worse specs, worse 24" screen for the same price as an i5, 27" imac. You can beat the specs slightly for the same price with a standard desktop and the dell 27" screen but its very close and theres a world of difference in style and design quality between the two.

Before you start with the build your own pc for less crap, some people, me included dont want the hassle.

Other mac lines such as the macbook pro and mac mini are offering too little, for too much at the moment, but you cannot fault the imac for value.

Why exactly are you on macrumours if you seemingly dont like or use macs? :s
 
Our Power Mac G5 lasted five years, my MacBook pro is now 2 and a half and still going strong. Yes, you miss out on knowing that your machine has the fastest processor available (for a good few weeks at least), but in my experience you get a lot more life out of it in the long run because the Mac OS doesn't seem to bloat as fast as Windows.
 
if you want to wait until you get better spec or lower price you will simply wait forever, as there will always come a improvement in a couple month , so the price will stay at the same level or even go up , but better spec , so as soon as you buy your mac in a couple month it will be outdated anyway when the new one gets a faster processor or better graphics card or ..or..or..:confused:
 
Just buy the iMac, or as somebody else suggested, go and get a PC and install your favourite distro of Linux onto it.
 
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