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Questions about iMac 24" 2.93 GHZ with GT120

K

KratosKilla

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
209
35
Hello Macrumors forum, I'm considering purchasing a 24" iMac 2.93 GHZ. I have a few questions about the purchase...

1.What are the differences between the graphics cards offered in the configurations for this model? Is their a Large difference between the ATI HD 4850, the gt 130 and the gt 120? Can I play Team Fortress 2 at a high quality using these cards or any games? I usually only play Left 4 Dead, Peggle and TF2. I want to be able to play Diablo III in the future. That's as far as my pc gaming goes. I use consoles mostly.
2.If anyone has had the wireless keyboard and mouse in the past do these things eat up batteries and is their much difference in the form factor of the two keyboards and mouse? Would you recommend them?
3.Does the iWork 09 offer and printer offer usually get renewed? I am not purchasing my computer until the back to school early june discount comes into effect, Will these offers still be around? The student discount is always about $100 right? Does it increase in June?

Thanks in advance.
 
If you are playing Left 4 Dead and want to play Diablo, you should probably get at least the GeForce 130. The ATI card will allow you to use the highest graphics settings at full resolution for many games, and support some of future games better than the Geforce cards will.
 
I'm still not sure what the GT 120 really is. Boot Camp drivers said GT 120, Nvidia 182 drivers said 9500 GS, and now the Nvidia 185 drivers say 9600 S. However, I can play Burnout Paradise at max res, max everything but SSAO as well as Battlefield 2142 max.
 
I've ordered that one too and it is being prepared for shipment this morning!

I had a 3.06GHz with a GT 130 last week but cancelled during the weekend it to save some pocket money!

I don't think web surfing and a bit of iPhoto will tax this configuration!
 
KratosKilla said:
Hello Macrumors forum, I'm considering purchasing a 24" iMac 2.93 GHZ. I have a few questions about the purchase...

1.What are the differences between the graphics cards offered in the configurations for this model? Is their a Large difference between the ATI HD 4850, the gt 130 and the gt 120? Can I play Team Fortress 2 at a high quality using these cards or any games? I usually only play Left 4 Dead, Peggle and TF2. I want to be able to play Diablo III in the future. That's as far as my pc gaming goes. I use consoles mostly.
2.If anyone has had the wireless keyboard and mouse in the past do these things eat up batteries and is their much difference in the form factor of the two keyboards and mouse? Would you recommend them?
3.Does the iWork 09 offer and printer offer usually get renewed? I am not purchasing my computer until the back to school early june discount comes into effect, Will these offers still be around? The student discount is always about $100 right? Does it increase in June?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

We don't know yet because the Radeon 4850 has not shipped out yet and so there are no benchmarks available.

It's likely that the 4850 will be the mobility version and might run 15-20% faster than the GT130 and possibly additional speed bumps under Windows for Windows games.
 
I use rechargeable batteries for both the wireless keyboard and mouse. This I think in the long run will save me money. I'm not sure how long normal batteries would last though.

I don't have any experience playing games or getting rebates.
 
Form Factor

Lexlee said:
I use rechargeable batteries for both the wireless keyboard and mouse. This I think in the long run will save me money. I'm not sure how long normal batteries would last though.

I don't have any experience playing games or getting rebates.
Click to expand...

How does the wireless keyboard feel compared to the num pad keyboard?
 
My hands have the tendency to drift to the right when typing but after a while my hands learned. I use the wireless keyboard 95% of the time. It is much easier to throw on my lap. If I do use it on the desk the extra space next to the keyboard now holds my mouse.

I really just wanted it wireless because I use the 24' iMac as a webTV. My wife and I can relax on the bed and watch full screen hulu or iTunes.
 
Does anyone know if their is going to be an iWork and Printer rebate offer in June and are there any other experiences with the graphics card now that the iMac has been out for another week. I'm looking to purchase mine in June when the free iPod back to school sales go on.
 
Yes there will be the printer and iwork rebates still available in june. I have had my wireless keyboard and mouse for about a week and the keyboard has gone down about 13% and the mouse is still at 100% o the battery life is good and I definitely suggest going wireless.
 
Ahh I'm glad you made this topic, I asked a similar question before.

Im thinking of the same model, GT120 included. Because if I upgrade the 2.93 up to GT130 the cost looks kind of bad! - Money isn't really an issue but the principle of spend over £1500 on a computer is daft in my opinion, for what I want to do.

All I want it for is multimedia, music etc, and a few games. But I have consoles, so I'm not anal about high end settings. It would be for Starcraft 2, Diablo, FM09, CSS and not much else. Any RTS games basically.

I really don't think the GT130 is needed. I've returned a new MBP 15" for this new iMac and that was fine for the games I had. Surely the graphics card in the MBP is worse than the GT120?! - I just think people on this forum have high knowledge/expectations, so the GT120 is not fantastic to them but to people like me who won't notice it's fine. Opinions?


I'm also confused as to if to get numeric keyboard or wireless keyboard!!!!
 
The thing is, the iMac has a much bigger screen than the MacBook.

I went for the wireless keyboard and mouse and it's great to use and looks seriously nice - I hate wires!
 
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