Is now a Bad time to buy a 20'' iMac

[Mr Mac Newbie]

This is driving me mad guys.

I could just buy now and get it done with.

I could wait until they ship the imac's with Leopard and ilife

By that time thye may announce a new imac meaning it's pointless to buy the older mac as Apple announce new macs when they are ready to ship.

 

[2Shae]

This is driving me mad guys.

I could just buy now and get it done with.

I could wait until they ship the imac's with Leopard and ilife

By that time they may announce a new imac meaning it's pointless to buy the older mac as Apple announce new macs when they are ready to ship.

Why buy now if you know they will be updated soon.

I know waiting is hard (did it myself too, but couldn't anymore) but you are really going to hate yourself if you find out that they get updated 1-2 weeks after you bought yours for example.

SO WAIT !!!


Btw, I have that 20" iMac with those specs and it is freakin' great. it's beautiful and powerful as hell. I bought mine last month after my pc suddenly died but I was waiting the switch since November 2006

I have absolutely no regrets at all...don't know if you're a switcher (like me) but this iMac is so much better than any pc I've ever used. And the remote + Frontrow gets a lot of wow's from visitors
It has a bigger wow effect than windows Vista Ultimate(with all the effects) which I also have installed on Bootcamp just for fun. And yes that too runs perfect. My iMac has a Vista score of 4.7 out of 5.9 which might not seem high but if you look on the internet you would know that that is very high.

Anyway,
Wait!!!...that is what I would do

 

[ksgant]

If you want it, get it now. I didn't wait. I got my 24" iMac last Wednesday and it's great.

There's ALWAYS something to wait for it seems. "Don't buy it now, it's due for a revision...oh, and don't buy it yet because new Software is coming out....but after that you may want to wait a little while longer as new processors are coming out and they may give a speed bump...and if you wait that long you may as well wait until the next revision...oh and wait a little longer and get another software upgrade...and there's rumors of a redesign soon so you may want to wait for that".

So you could always justify something like this by waiting and waiting and waiting.

If you want it and need it, buy it now.

 

[andysc]

go for 24". I was debating to get a 20" until i saw them side by side. much more real estate.

 

[BigPrince]

I went into the Apple store with the goal of getting the 17 inch and came out with the 20 inch. I am sure had they had 24 inch ones, same thing would of happened.

 

[andysc]

definitely go to the store to compare the sizes. trust me, once you see the 24", you won't be able to live with a 20".

 

[Zwhaler]

Yeah, plus the next update coming to the iMac will be quite minimal. We will probably end up with the 2.2Ghz stock and an available upgrade to the 2.4 Ghz. Unless you think it is worth it to wait (most likely) several months for this update, just buy now. Apple never seems to adopt new technology the second it comes out, they usually wait awhile before updating. So I think we can expect new iMacs sometime in summer.

 

[Gosh]

But!

But if you were buying a PC - this weeks Superbox ZX1957/1 would be a ZX1958/3 in three weeks - how would you feel about that? Would knowing that stop you buying if you needed one?

Mac don't change so often - it's more noticeable!

 

[Mr Mac Newbie]

In that case, i may aswell go fortthe 20'' imac as soon as possible.I'm not bothered about Leopard and ilife 07. I'l buy that after it is released. As i said before it's mainly down to the hardware.

I guess that if the revised verion is not likely to be much better then why am i waiting, i should buy iy now. The specs will be rilliant and it's it's not like i am going to be doing games or video editing anyway

That's it, i am going to go and buy the imac as soon as i have the dosh which should be less than 2 weeks

Cheers

 

[macfan881]

I just pulled the plug on a refurb 17" iMac Core2Duo. It is going to replace my 15" iMac G4. It shipped this morning, I hope is does not really take 5 days.

apple is ussally good with there shipping i think thats what happen with my bro it was 3-5 day wait he orderd it friday or saturday night had it by tuesday i think we had a lil shiping problem with ares so there resending us one and anyway they shiped it out last night so i should have mine some time this week fedex is saying earliest wensday some time

 

[Keirdre]

I bought a 20" iMac last month and I'm very happy with it. It's a fantastic machine.

I'm not bothered about waiting for the new iLife (means nothing to me, this iLife seems pretty good!) or Leopard (I'm still marvelling at Tiger!), and I'm confident this'll last me a number of years. Just go for it

 

[Cult Follower]

It all depends on how long you can wait, if you can wait up to four months you should wait but if you need it within the next month go ahead and buy.

 

[Magnum26]

This is fairly easy having got one myself. The 20" iMac is large enough to do work on it easy. Plenty of screen space cos of the resolution, probably more than you would need. Besides if you need more space just hook up an external monitor to it. That's what I've done. I've got the 1st Gen Intel iMac I ordered it 2 days after it came out as I knew they were coming out. If you have the money buy it now, don't worry about waiting for leopard as you can buy the upgrade later on when it does eventually come out. If your not bothered that they might be replacing the chipset soon to the "Santa Rosa" then go for the Intel Core 2 Duo its fast enough to do anything you want, if I can do what I want with it then one that is 15% faster again will be more than enough power for a standard to medium user.

Good luck.

 

[mrthieme]

Going by the MR buying guide, averages say wait it out, but I doubt whatever is coming will make the current iMac obsolete and repulsive to look upon. I have one and love it, and one thing for sure, iMac is more fun than iWait.

 

[BigPrince]

As long as you can afford Leopard and iLife and give up

1. Santa Rosa-Faster processor and front side bus

2. Robson Cache

3. 64 bit memory management allowing for more then 3 gigs of ram

4. Boot Camp improvements

5. updated graphics

6. Possible color options

 

[emac82]

If you need it now, buy it now. There is always going to be something better coming out, but it won't make your computer "obsolete". If it can do what you will need it to do, you will be fine.

In a few years down the road, you'll upgrade again and it will be a way better machine at that time.

 

[ncbill]

#3 is a function of Intel's decision to reserve memory space above 3GB for device I/O.

The fact that you can't use more than 3GB with the current chipset is not a 32 vs 64 bit issue.

As long as you can afford Leopard and iLife and give up

1. Santa Rosa-Faster processor and front side bus

2. Robson Cache

3. 64 bit memory management allowing for more then 3 gigs of ram

4. Boot Camp improvements

5. updated graphics

6. Possible color options

 

[BigPrince]

So Santa Rosa will not allow more then 3 gigs of RAM?

What would be a better way of phrasing it if it can.

 

[student_trap]

buy it

if you need it then you shoul probably just go ahead and buy it. when i ought my powerbook g4 in april 05 everyone said to wait, and my powerbook wasn't updated for 9 months!

Also, i waited for ages to get my mbp simply because of a supposed ilife update, did it come...nope. So i went ahead and bought it and have been using it for nearly two months now without an update!

 

[BigPrince]

We have all these trigger happy folks...Normally this would be good advice...but again PLEASE keep in mind the cost of iLife and Leopard which will probably be at least $200.

 

[Mr Mac Newbie]

Cheers for the advice guys. I am going to go for it and order the imac next weeks.

At the same time i am going to pimp it out with upgrades on processor, RAM and GPU

 

[bonafide]

I am in the same spot right now.

The problem is with an iMac it is so much harder to upgrade then with a PC. So personally I think it is worth the wait until the new version of iMacs come out. Once you buy it your stuck with it. I, luckily can afford to wait and considering the costs think it's probably my best option in order to save for the 24".

Another consideration is with Leopard coming out in the very near future it is really necessary to wait otherwise you'll be spending an extra $100-$150 for no reason! Because we all know you'll want it..

Just my thoughts...

 

[eddiel]

The problem is with an iMac it is so much harder to upgrade then with a PC.

I keep hearing that and I used to think that. Now not so much.

I've had a PC for years and am going to make the switch to iMac at some point. Most likely the 24" model.

However having had a PC for yonks there isn't much that I upgraded on it bar the graphics card - because the my first one stopped working, and my dvd burner because my first one stopped working. Oh and I uped the ram.

So looking at that I figure if my graphics card goes bust, apple fix. If my superdrive goes bust, apple fix. Ram can get that done to.

Granted wanting to change the monitor will hold you back but it's a damn good monitor.

The specs on there are pretty high and even if you wanted a better drive you could ad an external one. Maybe not the best solution but it's a doable easy solution.

So what else am I missing in terms of upgradability?

Although I have to admit I do like the fact that I can open my PC and route around in there

As for waiting I'm not sure how much longer I can wait. By the sounds of it there are going to be some upgrades by end of June but I can't figure out if they are going to be big enough to warrant the wait. As soon as work slows down for me I'll probably purchase.

Eddie

 

[chasemac]

Hi guys

I am so eager to buy my first ever mac and i currently have my sights on the 20'' imac. Upgrades would be 256 GPU and 2GB Ram

Is this the wrong time to buy the Mac?
I know Leopard is out soon but that doesn't bother me that much as i may not want to upgrade staright away plus i don't mind payig for it when it is released as it doean't cost that much i understand

It's more to do with Hardware. Are apple bringing out a new imac soon? Does every new generation have a BIG advancment in terms of hardware power ect?

I need to know soon otherwise i may so silly and buy Vista and a new PC to go with my xbox 360

I would wait now until August to buy the iMac. Meanwhile don't be silly and buy Vista.

 

[netdog]

It's more to do with Hardware. Are apple bringing out a new imac soon? Does every new generation have a BIG advancment in terms of hardware power ect?

Next iMac:

Leopard
iLife 2007
Santa Rosa
Small graphics bump
Small bump in speed

That's what I would be looking for.