Mobile Shoutout: 24in iMac?

[macduke]

I was wondering how the 24" iMac owners like their system. I've never owned a Mac myself, but have used Powermac G3 through Mac Pro Quad at school for graphics design and animation. I'm finally considering making the switch when Leopard comes out. Mac Pro seems a bit too expensive for me, but with education discount and iPhone rebate I've got the 24" iMac w/ 2.8ghz extreme and 2gb ram priced at $1959!

So what do you guys think? Is the screen really that great? I need something good for graphics design, mainly for editing photos in Photoshop with some commercial sign work in Illustrator and After Effects for class right now. Now I have an Inspiron 9300 1920x1200 with truelife, 2ghz Pentium M, 1.5gb memory, 256mb geforce go 6800 (I had OSX86 running on it for about 5 minutes, lol...it was sweet, until it killed my computer). Has anyone compared the two? How does the 24" compare to the 20" iMac? I've heard the 20" is pretty inferior when it comes to the screen.

Also, does anyone have the 2.8ghz extreme? What would you guys recommend for memory, I was thinking 2gb but is that enough? I know how memory hungry Windoze crap is but how does the Mac compare? Is it easy to upgrade memory and is it even possible to upgrade the hard drive, video card or even the processor? Does bootcamp work all that well?

And one last question...have you guys had a hard time finding a place big enough to fit the 24" iMac or is it not really all that huge?

Thanks in advance for all your help!!

 

[AlexisV]

The 20" has a poor viewing angle and isn't as good as the old 20". You get used to it though.

The 24" has a fine screen.

1gig RAM is fine, 2gig makes things a bit smoother when you have lots of apps open. Changing the RAM is easy - unscrew the little panel underneath and slot in a new stick.

The 2.8Ghz is a bit of a waste of money. You won't notice much difference over the 2.4.

Nothing is upgradeable apart from the memory. Macs hold their value though, so instead of spending money upgrading bits over the years like a PC, stick your Mac on ebay in 3 years and you'll have 75% of the money towards the latest model.

The 24" will happily sit on any decent sized desk.

 

[GoCubsGo]

How's this a mobile shout out? Don't you have to be a in car?
AlexisV pretty much nailed it but I have heard reports of the 20" screens being good as well. Often we only hear the bad.

 

[docprego]

How's this a mobile shout out? Don't you have to be a in car?
AlexisV pretty much nailed it but I have heard reports of the 20" screens being good as well. Often we only hear the bad.

I believe all the negative attention the 20" has gotten has to do with a batch of faulty LCD panels, not every single 20" iMac.

 

[macduke]

Thanks

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

@Jessica: It could be a mobile shoutout! I do have an iPhone after all. Actually though I had just finished watching Cash Cab on discovery.

@docprego: I sure hope that the 20" screens were just a bad batch, as I really don't need 24 glorious inches of screen and could save a bunch of money.

Glad to hear you can easily upgrade memory. Think I'll order 1gb and get a stick off Newegg for $40 instead of paying the extra $95. They've also got 4gb for $515 cheaper then Apple. Gotta love that. So either I'll go cheap with a 20in iMac 2.4ghz 2gb ram for $1339, or go all out with a 24" iMac 2.8ghz 2gb ram for $1864. Both those prices are with ed discount, iPhone rebate and installing 1gb myself. Hmmm...$525 more for a 16.4% increase in performance (according to the Primate Laps Geekbench scores) and a 4" bigger screen with somewhat higher brightness, contrast, and resolution. Oh, decisions, decisions.

I really need to visit the Apple Store the next time I go home to KC to compare the screens. I'll also get about $700 for selling my laptop (don't need mobility since I have an iPhone now) on ebay as that's the going rate right now. $639 total cost (less tax) is sounding pretty tempting for a new iMac. I'm such a cheapskate!! Now I just need to wait for Leopard to come out. Now if I could only get some info on the new Canon 40d...time to head over to dpreview forums!!

 

[rainydays]

I believe all the negative attention the 20" has gotten has to do with a batch of faulty LCD panels, not every single 20" iMac.

Nope, it has to do with Apple downgrading from an S-IPS to a TN panel. The screen is perfectly fine for the average user in my opinion, but I wouldn't use it for graphics/photo work.