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What About The $1199 iMac???
- Thread starter youashwag
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So you guys are saying that Final Cut and Photo Shop would be ok on the baseline graphics card?? I know the processor difference will affect the speed ...but I'm like a lot of you in that any money I can save, because I am a college student, is always a plus. I just don't want to cut myself short. I'm a broadcast major who uses a lot of final cut, photo shop, and a little web stuff and i'm still in a mental battle between the base 20", the 2.4 20" and the 2.4 24".
Help....
Help....
Well a faster CPU will always help, but it won't make a huge difference like with a Mac Pro, adding RAM is certainly more important.
However, for those applications I would certainly go with the 24" since the screen is much better in that one. Too bad there's no 2GHz 24".
My thoughts are that when making a decision about personal big ticket items, the first thing one needs to do is take the emotion out of the equation. Then write down what it is you need to accomplish for work or play and what level of product satisfies that need. After that it's just a function of budget. My rule on budget for technical hardware / software is buy as much as you can afford at the moment without spending into the future (credit bad) since technology continues to march into the future unabated. 
Thanks rainydays for your opinion, and that would be interesting to see how a 2.0 would sell in the 24" display! The thing is that I have enought for the computer itself, that being the 24" 2.4, but i don't have enough to get the "free" ipod and "free" printer. So I was thinking if the 20" could do everything the e24" could then I would just pick that one up so i could get the accessories. It's a tough decision.
Has anyone bought the Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Adobe premium package when they bought their computer?? The $300 dollar discount is very very tempting.
Has anyone bought the Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Adobe premium package when they bought their computer?? The $300 dollar discount is very very tempting.
I just bought it with a base model imac, 30gb ipod and a canon all in one printer! I already got the ipod and the printer and adobe cs3 is almost here but my imac isn't even ready for shipment yet...
i'm excited!Hey vicki2314, Which adobe package did you get? I'm thinking about getting the Adobe Web Premium Package, because I'm taking some web designing class this semester. And you'll have to let us know how the software works on the base model. I know I would like to know.
Nice!! I would love to add some ram to mine...if I can ever man up, and fully enter my credit card info to buy it. h ah ah ah a. What kind of ram are you putting in it?
i'm not sure yet, haha, but i've put aside some money for it. i've been reading a lot of the threads about it and looking on newegg and owc and all that but i just haven't made a decision yet!
I believe it's always good to wait and make an educated decision. Just don't be like me and put that decision off and off and off....ect.
I've spent the greater part of the past 2 weeks stressing out over this issue. I wanted to save some money but i wanted a machine to last me long time. I considered maxing out the ram on a low end 2.0 ghz 20 inch iMac later this year but finally I looked at the specs of the graphics cards side by side and buying the 2.0 ghz model was out of the question. So I ordered the 2.4 Ghz 20 inch model.
The way I see it is you only have one chance at buying a system that truly fits your needs so do a lot of research and consider what exactly you need it for.
Also I'm glad I'm purchasing my system prior to the release of Leopard because considering how long 10.5 has taken to develop it'll most likely have a lot of bugs the first few months and having a time tested OS such as Tiger as a fallback is nice.
I prob won't migrate to Leopard until its at 10.5.2 or 10.5.3
The way I see it is you only have one chance at buying a system that truly fits your needs so do a lot of research and consider what exactly you need it for.
Also I'm glad I'm purchasing my system prior to the release of Leopard because considering how long 10.5 has taken to develop it'll most likely have a lot of bugs the first few months and having a time tested OS such as Tiger as a fallback is nice.
I prob won't migrate to Leopard until its at 10.5.2 or 10.5.3
I hope you are not serious with that statement.
Sounds like you have Vista on the brain (don't mean any harm with that line). Leopard has been in development just over 2 years and it looks pretty good as far as the amount of bugs it has. Microsoft worked on Vista over 5 years and still has major issues.
Apple's OS releases have been very stable as I have been around since Mac OS 8.5 and I have upgraded on every release and never had anything more than the minor issues we have in Tiger today. You are overreacting but it's your choice.
Well actually you will see about 15% performance boost. When you put it that way saying it's only .4Ghz (which is correct but sounds small) it's really 400Mhz and that's a large jump in performance. The Intel Macs are plenty fast regardless of the model that you have but don't downplay the 400Mhz difference because there is a big enough difference between 2000 Mhz and 2400 Mhz.
Sorry for the hard love but the poor college student stuff doesn't set you apart from the rest, many of us would like to spend as little as possible because there are other financial obligations.
You said that you don't want to cut yourself short. You are if you need to keep a meezly $300.00 (which can be easily thrown away over the weekend) in your pocket instead of putting it towards your computer which is actually helping you with your WORK.
After a couple of months go by you will feel the normal regret as many would and say, "It was only $300 difference and I could have had a 400Mhz more powerful iMac"! At that point it's too late. Remember it's an AIO and you can't upgrade the processor.
I don't think everyone necessarily regrets getting something cheaper. After all ,there really is no limit, if we always thought like that. Next would be a 24-inch, then an extreme, then a Mac Pro, then a Mac Pro with this or that.
You just have to look at everything, and see what is right for yourself.
You just have to look at everything, and see what is right for yourself.
I hope you are not serious with that statement.
Microsoft worked on Vista over 5 years and still has major issues.
Apple's OS releases have been very stable as I have been around since Mac OS 8.5 and I have upgraded on every release and never had anything more than the minor issues we have in Tiger today. You are overreacting but it's your choice.
Yes I am dead serious, they've been reworking major elements of the OS and its most used Applications like Safari, iChat, iCal, Mail etc.... Of course it'll have bugs when it comes out, be it minor or major (like when Panther would erase certain Firewire drives contents when it would mount them) Just because they've been working on it for 2 years doesn't mean it'll be perfect.
I see your point but you can't decide that the new OS will have issues just because of others in the past and there will never be an OS version (seasoned or not) that doesn't have issues. Tiger as seasoned as it is has issues.
You were not getting my point. I was saying that Leopard has been in development for 2 years meaning it's not very long. You were saying it had been in development a long time and I'm saying 2 years isn't very long.
Don't worry, I'll tell you all about Leopard on the release day. My new iMac will be graced with it that evening.
Don't worry, I'll tell you all about Leopard on the release day. My new iMac will be graced with it that evening.
I'll remind myself to be excited for you
*writes on a sticky... "don't forget to acknowledge congrats to HLdan for using Leopard on the release day, throw big party, and make sure to remind him that he paid 3 grand for a ****ing iMac"
I'll remind myself to be excited for you
*writes on a sticky... "don't forget to acknowledge congrats to HLdan for using Leopard on the release day, throw big party, and make sure to remind him that he paid 3 grand for a ****ing iMac"
LOL, you're a funny guy, but the jokes on you. My cousin works for Apple so I got the top of the line 24" iMac 2.8 for only $1450.00 including Applecare. Leopard will not cost me a thing either for the same reasons, I got the family hookup.
Man, I wish I had the family hook up at the apple store! Hey HLdan, are you or your family looking to adopt?? Ha h aha haha, just playin. Hook ups are always nice, especially in the electronics industry since they are always being up graded!!
LOL, you're a funny guy, but the jokes on you. My cousin works for Apple so I got the top of the line 24" iMac 2.8 for only $1450.00 including Applecare. Leopard will not cost me a thing either for the same reasons, I got the family hookup.
So you got a $3000 iMac for 1450, with applecare huh? Well, according to my calculations, that is around 50% off, give or take a few %. According to some information I found out on the internets, the BEST discount that a Apple employee can get is the once-a-year 25% system discount, according to this page, which tracks information on Apples retail locations(The specific information on employee discounts can be found here). Now, since you got a 2.8GHz iMac with a 500GB HDD and 4GB of RAM for under 1500, what kind of discount dose your cousin have, the "I am Steve Job's Bitch" discount? And given that, your cousin was ACTUALLY supposed to use the 15% discount for family members. So, if Apple finds out what happened, your cousin could be fired! Well, lets all hope for the best, now, shall we!?!