Getting first mac (imac)

[newmacintosh]

Well its that time to get a new computer. I am fed up with the unreliable pc's i have used throught the years and i am looking into getting a mac. I have never owned one before but i have played around with them at the store. I know a lot about computer specs and things like that for pcs but i heard it was different on macs. And so im having a problem choosing which imac to get. This refurb imac that has the same specs as the 20 inch new imac (except gpu, screen size, and ram). If the ram were the same i would get the 24 inch refurb right away but im not sure because the new 20 inch imac is 2gb ddr3 and the refurb 24 inch imac is 2gb ddr2.
So which one should i get guys they are the same price???
Thanx,
Chris

 

[mstam]

I would either go for the 24" refurb or preferable save up another $300 and get the new 24" iMac for $1499 if the lack of a powerful video card is not an issue.

 

[VulnoX]

Well its that time to get a new computer. I am fed up with the unreliable pc's i have used throught the years and i am looking into getting a mac. I have never owned one before but i have played around with them at the store. I know a lot about computer specs and things like that for pcs but i heard it was different on macs. And so im having a problem choosing which imac to get. This refurb imac that has the same specs as the 20 inch new imac (except gpu, screen size, and ram). If the ram were the same i would get the 24 inch refurb right away but im not sure because the new 20 inch imac is 2gb ddr3 and the refurb 24 inch imac is 2gb ddr2.
So which one should i get guys they are the same price???
Thanx,
Chris

I see no reason not to go with the 24".

DDR3 has not proven itself to be faster than DDR2 (to any real world measurable extent, its there in benchmarks, but you aren't going to see it yourself). In the future, with faster processors, on die memory controllers, yeah, its going to be great, but right now those two systems are about even on the memory side.

Since its a faster processor (but still a shared 6MB cache one, etc), the 24" Refurb is the best value for you.

I don't know much about the ATI 2600, it depends what you plan to do with the computer. For 90% of what people do, that will be more than enough, and the 9400 isn't much better I bet, so unless you want to take a big step to a GT120, 130, or ATI 4850, just go Refurb.

 

[DELTAsnake]

Well its that time to get a new computer. I am fed up with the unreliable pc's i have used throught the years and i am looking into getting a mac. I have never owned one before but i have played around with them at the store. I know a lot about computer specs and things like that for pcs but i heard it was different on macs. And so im having a problem choosing which imac to get. This refurb imac that has the same specs as the 20 inch new imac (except gpu, screen size, and ram). If the ram were the same i would get the 24 inch refurb right away but im not sure because the new 20 inch imac is 2gb ddr3 and the refurb 24 inch imac is 2gb ddr2.
So which one should i get guys they are the same price???
Thanx,
Chris

This is one of those situations you need to weigh up for yourself. Go look at Tomshardware.com, PCper.com and anandtech.com and look for comparisons of DDR2 vs DDR3. Look and see if the performance benefit of DDR3 is enough to justify going with the DDR3.

Mac's and PC's run on the exact same type of hardware and in many cases the exact same hardware so a benchmark on a PC is translatable to the Mac. I ran benchmarks on my iMac and found the results very similar to those done on non-Apple hardware.

One thing I must say. You said your fed up with unreliable PC's. I've had more problems with my iMac in the three weeks I've had it than in the year or so I was running the latest version of my custom PC. Reliability dosn't come down to it being a PC or Mac, it comes down to how well the system is built, maintained and what software is loaded on it. What I'm trying to say is don't expect everything to run perfectly because in the end it's a computer.

 

[newmacintosh]

Well i guess i will be getting the 24 inch. But grrr u are making me have second thoughts lol for saying you had lots of problems

 

[mstam]

Well i guess i will be getting the 24 inch. But grrr u are making me have second thoughts lol for saying you had lots of problems

There were issues w/ the ATI 4850 video card that seems to fixed since today w/ an EFI update. I have friends w/ iMacs for years w/o any issues. Now that the freezes are fixed I'm gonna pick one up this Monday.

 

[VulnoX]

Well i guess i will be getting the 24 inch. But grrr u are making me have second thoughts lol for saying you had lots of problems

Yeah don't let him intimidate your purchase, without more information you can't go just by someone saying "I've had a lot of problems". There were issues with the 4850, which he (and I) have. But Apple fixed them. You are getting an older system with all the problems worked out.

Check their average reliability ratings. And just do it.

 

[itommyboy]

Now that the freezes are fixed I'm gonna pick one up this Monday.

You say that as if you can walk down to your local store and pick one up and be home with it within the hour. You realize you have to custom order the 4850 machine's mate? I ordered mine about an hour ago and even with next day shipping still showing about 10 - 13 days until estimated delivery.

 

[mstam]

You say that as if you can walk down to your local store and pick one up and be home with it within the hour. You realize you have to custom order the 4850 machine's mate? I ordered mine about an hour ago and even with next day shipping still showing about 10 - 13 days until estimated delivery.

I IMO have an Apple Store around the corner here in Miami that stocks most of the 4850 combinations since last week. I rather pay a little in tax extra so I can go back to the store if anything is wrong.

 

[eXan]

I don't know much about the ATI 2600, it depends what you plan to do with the computer. For 90% of what people do, that will be more than enough, and the 9400 isn't much better I bet, so unless you want to take a big step to a GT120, 130, or ATI 4850, just go Refurb.

Radeon 2600 is about 2x as powerful as GeForce 9400, judging by online benchmarks and my own experience.

It doesn't support hardware H.264 decoding though (yet?).

 

[newmacintosh]

Thank you all so much for your information about the imac. But i have just one more question that I forgot to ask. I play my xbox 360 a lot on my crappy tv and i was wondering if i could play off of the imac because the imac screen is 4 inches bigger than my tv's.
Thanx

 

[Exegesis48]

The iMac does not come with Video In capabilities straight out of the box. You'll have to use some 3rd party adapter like Pinnacle Video Capture. And I don't even know if that would even work for live video.

And back to your original question. I would personally go with the Refurb iMac. DDR2 memory is not that much slower than DDR3, and you'd be able to upgrade to 4GB in the future for much cheaper. A 24inch iMac is gorgeous, leave that 20incher behind.

 

[MacAndy74]

Just my thoughts.

I would save the extra and consider a brand new iMac, better still - consider the Apple Care option too. It costs - sure. But it's insurance, basically - for the future.