What imac is for me?

[Alabaster]

Hi Everyone, I need some advice on what mac to buy.

I am leaning towards a imac but cant afford the 24 inch, I have a few options
-17 inch imac with x1600 graphics and 2GB of ram.
-20 inch imac with x1600 (256mb vram and 1GB memory or 128 vram and 2GB of memory)
-2GHZ macbook with 2GB memory

I have owned a imac G3 for 6 years now and it is getting slow at internet surfing and streaming video. I would like to try some of these new games like COD and Half life 2 but 60% of the usage will be used for steaming video, light photo editing and web surfing. A portable would be nice but i cant afford the mbp and i am not sure about integrated graphics. I really like the screen size of the 20 inch, but my budget is telling me to go with the 17 and more memory. Would the 256vram be a huge jump over the 128? Is it worth buying apples memory? I am also using the computer to convert movies to ipod video format.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[ero87]

mac osx loves RAM, as i'm sure you know.

Macbook is the best choice unless the gaming graphics is really super important to you. if not, I'd say get the 17" iMac with 2GB RAM.

 

[FDX]

This is the one I am going to order at the end of month.

-20 inch imac with x1600 (256mb vram and 1GB memory)

I do alot of photo work so I think this will be best. Although I hope to make it
2GB

 

[Zwhaler]

Well, the graphics card upgrade is quite less expensive than the RAM upgrade, so it really comes down to what's more important to you.

 

[it5five]

Keep in mind that if you buy your own ram and put it in yourself it is FAR cheaper than buying it directly from Apple. Just go with the video card you have planned, but buy the 2GB of ram yourself for ~ the price you'd pay Apple to have 1GB.

 

[emptyCup]

256 MB of video RAM buys you about a 3-5% improvement in terms of games. Since your current machine has 8 MB of video RAM you are going to see a big improvement no matter what you buy. Therefore buy what you can afford.

 

[savanahrose]

I bought the 20" imac because the HD had more space. Why I did that I don't know. I think the 20" screen is way too big. I feel like I have to sit far far away. I would if my arms were longer.

I should have went with the 17".

Just something else for you to think about. They may not look that big in the store but once you get them home, it seems like it grew a few inches.

 

[xUKHCx]

Keep in mind that if you buy your own ram and put it in yourself it is FAR cheaper than buying it directly from Apple. Just go with the video card you have planned, but buy the 2GB of ram yourself for ~ the price you'd pay Apple to have 1GB.

In the UK this is not stictly true i bought my iMac with 2 Gb of Ram and it was actually cheaper then buying it from elsewhere.

Having had both the 17" iMac for about 1.5 years (G5 rev A) and a 20" iMac for about 3 months (Core 2 Duo) the 20" screen is worth it, everytime i go back and look at a 17" screen i think how did i ever manage.

 

[Sam*]

17" i would say, perfect screen size for a computer, your not doing any intensive stuff so it should handle it fine,

Just get the ram and maybe bigger hd if you are converting and keeping movies etc..

i heard the 256 graphics card upgrade is pretty pointless and you hardly get much more performace

 

[Liong612]

This is the one I am going to order at the end of month.

-20 inch imac with x1600 (256mb vram and 1GB memory)

I do alot of photo work so I think this will be best. Although I hope to make it
2GB

Things to consider..

1) You iMac will have better performance with 2Gb RAM than with 256 Mb vram
2) You can't upgrade vram later
3) Upgrading RAM later maybe more expensive since you have to waste the old RAM

 

[phungy]

Go for the 20" iMac.

 

[Cosmo modo]

this is a tough choice to make....


if you really can't afford both at the same time i would opt for 1 Gb RAM and add another 1 GB stick later....... VRAM can't be upgraded....

and i guess that 1 Gb will be fine as long as you don't have too many applications running at the same time....

and on the other hand, you come from a very old computer so it's going to be a major speed bump for you anyways.

 

[Zwhaler]

I bought the 20" imac because the HD had more space. Why I did that I don't know. I think the 20" screen is way too big. I feel like I have to sit far far away. I would if my arms were longer.

I should have went with the 17".

Just something else for you to think about. They may not look that big in the store but once you get them home, it seems like it grew a few inches.

You really think so? I love my 20" iMac. It's the perfect size. The 24" however, is far too big for me. I feel like I have to move my head around when looking at the screen. Just push the iMac further back on your desk so it is sitting maybe more than 2 feet from where your head is.

 

[phungy]

Go for the 20" iMac.

I didn't see the MB as an option. Get the Macbook .

 

[JD92]

I'd definitely go for the 256MB VRAM, since you can't upgrade it and you never know what sort of difference it might make in the future. You can always put more RAM into your iMac later on.

 

[dllavaneras]

I'd definitely go for the 256MB VRAM, since you can't upgrade it and you never know what sort of difference it might make in the future. You can always put more RAM into your iMac later on.

I'll second that. you never know what eye-candy Leopard has in store for us, and the more VRAM the better! You can always get more memory later

 

[Gosh]

Just something else for you to think about. They may not look that big in the store but once you get them home, it seems like it grew a few inches.

Funny that isn't it! Very true!

 

[Tarkovsky]

If the Imac dont' fit, it's time to Ikea, not to worry about the prettiest computer in the world.

 

[ctsport1234]

Definitely go for the 20'' imac!

 

[savanahrose]

You really think so? I love my 20" iMac. It's the perfect size. The 24" however, is far too big for me. I feel like I have to move my head around when looking at the screen. Just push the iMac further back on your desk so it is sitting maybe more than 2 feet from where your head is.

I definitely love my 20" especially when watching videos, but I think I should have bought that 17". I can't push it back. My husband has shelves up on the wall. I may pull the desk out a bit and then push it back. Hopefully the desk won't look out of place when I do that.

Thanks for the suggestion, believe it or not, I did not even think of that.
I am such a knucklehead.