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Wait for new iMac?

C

CBienvenu

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 28, 2011
2
0
Will the new iMac update be worth waiting for? I will only use it for basic entertainment (Internet, iTunes, email and light documents). Will I really be missing out on anything earth shattering.. Anything that my basic needs will see real benefit from?

PS. This will be my first Mac. I have an iPhone 4 and 1st gen iPad.
 
CBienvenu said:
Will the new iMac update be worth waiting for? I will only use it for basic entertainment (Internet, iTunes, email and light documents). Will I really be missing out on anything earth shattering.. Anything that my basic needs will see real benefit from?

PS. This will be my first Mac. I have an iPhone 4 and 1st gen iPad.
Click to expand...

I decided to wait. My first mac too.:)
 
CBienvenu said:
Will the new iMac update be worth waiting for? I will only use it for basic entertainment (Internet, iTunes, email and light documents). Will I really be missing out on anything earth shattering.. Anything that my basic needs will see real benefit from?

PS. This will be my first Mac. I have an iPhone 4 and 1st gen iPad.
Click to expand...

You should definitely wait. The new ones should be available in a matter of weeks and will be a lot faster. For the sake of waiting a couple of weeks it's worth it.
 
kfury77 said:
You should definitely wait. The new ones should be available in a matter of weeks and will be a lot faster. For the sake of waiting a couple of weeks it's worth it.
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I don't know what you consider a lot faster, but the specs aren't showing anything that will make a major improvement. The 1gb VRAM and the absence of a front bus are both already present and that is the biggest factor in speed, not a microscopic processor change. If the latest is indeed the greatest then wait and get the April release, however I wouldn't expect to be blown away with a whole new experience. The current high end iMacs didn't even get any actual change from the i5 to the i7 short of the processor. Same specs otherwise between the mid 2010 and the 2011.
 
CBienvenu, I am also wondering if I ought to wait for the new iMac. It's a bit disheartening to think of saving for months on end, buying my first Mac, only to have a newer model come out weeks later. However, I have only really heard rumors of a 2011 release. I don't want to wait forever!
 
It's probably only one more month. If you can't wait that long then take some Ritalin.

Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt are reasons enough to wait.
 
One other reason to wait is to possibly save money. If you don't find the next iMac a significant upgrade, then you can the last model (the now current one) at clearance price or get those refurbs for even cheaper.
 
I would wait, there is nothing worse than buying a new computer and having a better one show up a few weeks later.
 
Agreed, you should wait like me. Another 3-4 weeks I'd say from what I'm reading.
 
I recently got a Macbook Pro and I'm foreseeing myself converting fully to Macs. I'm looking forward to iMac news this year as well. It doesn't seem like iMacs come out at a regular annual interval (like the iPhone/iPod/iPad), so I'm hoping it's sooner than later.
 
agree, if its a matter of a few weeks or a month I would definitely wait it out.
 
ShiftyGray said:
It's probably only one more month. If you can't wait that long then take some Ritalin.

Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt are reasons enough to wait.
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+1,,, that be more philosophy at the moment, while puttering along with my >3 yo 24", that ain't too keen with latest digital photo s/w... so, I will wait.
 
ShiftyGray said:
It's probably only one more month. If you can't wait that long then take some Ritalin.

Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt are reasons enough to wait.
Click to expand...


Good post.

Normally, I would say that if you can't wait go ahead and buy now, it's not my money. When the updates come are released in a few weeks, don't get pissed off at Apple or the community for not having the patience and a choice that YOU made.
 
Apple Care Protection Plan

So I think I'm thinking that I might actually get a refurbed iMac to save a few hundred bucks.. but now I'm wondering if the Apple Care Protection Plan is worth purchasing. At $170 its over 15% of the cost of the iMac itself and I thought that Macs are supposed to be really solid machines, so is it really worth $170 to extend the warranty 2 years?

Any opinions and experiences you can share would be great.

Chad
 
CBienvenu said:
So I think I'm thinking that I might actually get a refurbed iMac to save a few hundred bucks.. but now I'm wondering if the Apple Care Protection Plan is worth purchasing. At $170 its over 15% of the cost of the iMac itself and I thought that Macs are supposed to be really solid machines, so is it really worth $170 to extend the warranty 2 years?

Any opinions and experiences you can share would be great.

Chad
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Check what your consumer rights are in your country. Here in the Netherlands we have 2 years warranty for computers so you would only be adding 1 year.
 
For "typical" home user doing iTunes, You-Tube, email, surfing and typical Word Processing tasks, do get the current iMac version. And to save dollars, get a refab version as well. Thus, getting a nice discount with 1 full year warranty (compared to buying used at private sale).

When it comes to computing power, "typical" home user is like driving a 4 cylinder vehicle. Do you really need a turbo charged 8 cylinder engine under its hood? A 4 cylinder "base" late 2009 or newer version of iMac with 4 GBs of memory does great for typical home usage...

If wondering, I bought "brand new" in mid - 2010. Next time around (for my home usage), I'd buy refurb (and with discounted dollars get more memory for it). But that's a topic for a different post...

.
 
They are not worth the wait. They won't even be available until mid-summer when Apple can release it with Lion. Buy now.
 
Spike88 said:
For "typical" home user doing iTunes, You-Tube, email, surfing and typical Word Processing tasks, do get the current iMac version. And to save dollars, get a refab version as well. Thus, getting a nice discount with 1 full year warranty (compared to buying used at private sale).

When it comes to computing power, "typical" home user is like driving a 4 cylinder vehicle. Do you really need a turbo charged 8 cylinder engine under its hood? A 4 cylinder "base" late 2009 or newer version of iMac with 4 GBs of memory does great for typical home usage...

If wondering, I bought "brand new" in mid - 2010. Next time around (for my home usage), I'd buy refurb (and with discounted dollars get more memory for it). But that's a topic for a different post...

.
Click to expand...
Completely agree. The base i3 21.5" 2010 is a fantastic computer, fast and snappy, and can handle far more sophisticated tasks than the usual home needs. Runs Aperture like a breeze. (I guess photoshop would run equally well). But if I were in your shoes I'd wait until the refresh cause I'd get more bang for the buck - or to get a better discount on 2010 model ;)

Whichever mac you get you won't be sorry - all of them are surprisingly good machines.
 
5th said:
They are not worth the wait. They won't even be available until mid-summer when Apple can release it with Lion. Buy now.
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Well in that case, if the need is not urgent, why we dont wait for the new iMac AND OSX lion released altogether. U can save some $$ from upgrading 10.6.x u have to 10.7 if u wait because it's going to be preinstalled on next gen iMac
 
5th said:
They are not worth the wait. They won't even be available until mid-summer when Apple can release it with Lion. Buy now.
Click to expand...

Apple does not wait for OS releases to release new hardware, even a few months. This happened in 2007 with the aluminum iMacs (August release) and Leopard (October release). They will just get a special build of Snow Leopard if there is unique hardware. Thunderbolt, Sandy Bridge and probably updated graphics are definitely worth waiting a few weeks, IMO. This could be as big a change as going from Yonah to Merom in late 2006.
 
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