New to Macs and buying a iMac.....Advice?

[maf2k8]

so I own a iPhone......love it.....then I got my hands on a iPad, awesome! and also got a MBP a few months ago. iam still new to OSX but iam finding it to be very smooth so to speak....

I was always anti apple simply because I had no experience with them and when I did have a encounter with a Mac it seemed rather boring....

well times have changed and I think it's time to put windows in the back of the line and a Mac up front.

i think the 27" iMacs are awesome (fully loaded i7s)

I don't have much experience with them except for just playing around with one in store... going thru these threads I see some have issues and some don't. I see some say wait for a refresh and others say, it will be awhile so buy now if you want one....

with that in mind is there anything I need to look out for? or do when buying a iMac?

also I have a apple store and a best buy close to me so I can purchase my iMac there but was curious if I should buy in store or online? are there any benefits of either?

I plan on going with the highest i7 and 8gb of ram....

I really don't do anything hardcore with my pc but having the power is nice...

any advice or buying tips would be great, thanks.

 

[flopticalcube]

Buy the RAM from somewhere else. Look into a refurbished model as its already been given a once over by Apple staff.

 

[Hellhammer]

Just get it from near by store so you don't have to wait. I wouldn't get 8GB yet, see if 4GB is fine. Then upgrade to 8GB later on from aftermarket, it's a lot cheaper

 

[maf2k8]

I was actually looking into refurbs...question though. I know apples refurbs are pretty much brand new but I have always wondered about refurb devices that have a LCD panel ( tv, laptop, monitor, etc )

if you notice over time tv's and laptops become dim as there backlight gets old, would a refurb iMac screen go faster then a new one? are the bulbs or backlights or whatever they are refered to, replaced? that's really my only concern buying a refurb unit is the dim, short life backlight.

 

[Hellhammer]

I was actually looking into refurbs...question though. I know apples refurbs are pretty much brand new but I have always wondered about refurb devices that have a LCD panel ( tv, laptop, monitor, etc )

if you notice over time tv's and laptops become dim as there backlight gets old, would a refurb iMac screen go faster then a new one? are the bulbs or backlights or whatever they are refered to, replaced? that's really my only concern buying a refurb unit is the dim, short life backlight.

Refurbs are used for less than two weeks. Usually they are used for couple of days, then sent back. I wouldn't worry about the backlight, never heard of it going bad

 

[brdnboy]

I was actually looking into refurbs...question though. I know apples refurbs are pretty much brand new but I have always wondered about refurb devices that have a LCD panel ( tv, laptop, monitor, etc )

if you notice over time tv's and laptops become dim as there backlight gets old, would a refurb iMac screen go faster then a new one? are the bulbs or backlights or whatever they are refered to, replaced? that's really my only concern buying a refurb unit is the dim, short life backlight.

The degradation of backlight brightness is because the panel uses a CCFL backlight as compared to LED backlighting. All of the iMac's now use LED backlighting, which reaches maximum brightness instantly at power on (doesn't have to warm up) and should not diminish in brightness over its life. But as the poster above said, a few weeks of use out of a device meant to last many many years won't have any effect on longevity.