What to buy?

[catfish743]

Guys and Gals - I need your help.

I am torn as to what iMac I should buy. The debate of 24" over 20" rages on, and I cannot decide what side to take. (I'm used to a 12" tablet screen...PCs suck, I know). I'm afraid 24" might be too big, but I don't want to get a screen that is too small either. As to the processor, I can't decide if 2.4 Ghz would be enough for me or if I should up it to 2.8 Ghz. If I did upgrade, then the only choice would be the 24" screen. However I could get the 2.4 24" screen.

About my uses: I surf the web alot, love music and have a 6.66 GB (laugh it up) library on iTunes thus far. I'd love to dabble in photo and video editing later on, or at least have the ability to, and I also have multiple IM clients. Writing papers and other documents are also uses. Looking at this list, I'd think 2.4 would be more than enough (this computer has a 1.6 GHz Pentium 4 Processor so anything would basically be an improvement). I also plan to upgrade, third party, the RAM from 1 to 3 GB.

So, that being said, any suggestions? Again, thanks so much and I look forward to reading your responses.

p.s. - If you need any more info to make your judgement/suggestion, just ask.

 

[rainydays]

For your usage the 2.4 will be plenty enough, I think it would be a waste of money for you to get the 2.8.

I would highly recommend the 24" over the 20" since the panel is much better. You will initially think the the 24" is huge, but in about a week it will shrink in your mind and become the norm. Trust me on that.
Your 12" however, will look tiny after that

So if you can afford it, I'd say go for the 24" 2.4GHz and buy a third party RAM upgrade for it. It's really the best bang for the bucks.

 

[catfish743]

What about HDD size? would it be worth it to upgrade to the 500?
320 I think would be plenty enough for me but....?

 

[rainydays]

What about HDD size? would it be worth it to upgrade to the 500?
320 I think would be plenty enough for me but....?

I opted for the 500 since I thought the upgrade price was reasonable (although somewhat expensive if you count $/GB). Having more internal storage is always nicer than having to store all the stuff on external drives.

That said the 320 has plenty of space so unless you plan on storing a lot of large files that you need to have quick access to it's a good choice. But since you say that you plan on making movies with it I'd recommend the 500GB.

Only you can answer that question I guess

 

[mrgreen4242]

What about HDD size? would it be worth it to upgrade to the 500?
320 I think would be plenty enough for me but....?

I'll echo the previous response about the 2.4ghz - should be fine for what you are talking. The 24" is a better display all around, bigger and higher quality, but that's not to say the 20" is bad (like many people will tell you). For the HDD, I'd normally tell you to get the biggest one you can afford, but Apple's price for the 500gb upgrade is outrageous and now that the iMac's all have FW800, you can add a really fast external HDD whenever you want, so it's probably a better buy to get the base HDD and add an external later (for the $100 Apple wants to take you from 320 to 500gb you can get another 320gb FW harddrive). But, that's just me.

Going back to the 20" vs. 24", it's a $300 upgrade. You get nothing else for that $300 besides the bigger, better screen. Personally, that's pretty steep for me. I'd rather spend that $300 on a second 20" LCD, if I felt like the 20" wasn't big enough. If I decided the 20" was fine for me, I'd have that $300 to spend on an iPod touch, or an AppleTV, or a multi-terabyte external HDD... but, again, that's just me.

 

[rainydays]

Going back to the 20" vs. 24", it's a $300 upgrade. You get nothing else for that $300 besides the bigger, better screen. Personally, that's pretty steep for me.

I don't think it's steep if you compare it to what monitors costs. Check the prices on 20" TN displays and 24" IPS displays and you will find that the upgrade is actually rather cheap.

For that price you will get a decent TN display. So you will have a dual view setup with two decent TN displays instead of one good IPS display.

It's a subjective thing. But I've always preferred one big display over two smaller ones. Especially in this case where you have a large gap between the two. Some people will think the opposite though.

Either way the 24" upgrade isn't expensive compared to what you get.

 

[catfish743]

Well, I have a 32 inch LCD screen that I could plug it in to if I wanted to, and LCD screens will only go down as time increases, while I can't change my screen after I buy my iMac so I will probably go with the 24.

You all made a good point about the Firewire HDDs being just as cheap as upgrading so I think I'll stick with the basic 320...should be more than enough for now.

Any other suggestions?
And, does anyone have any word as to when we will hear news about how to receive our rebates because we got the iPhone early? (I bought it on the 29th of June, my birthday...come on guys, it was a sign )

 

[Richard.John]

Get the 24 inch. It's a superior panel and you will thank yourself in the long run.

 

[angrygolfer]

Guys and Gals - I need your help.

I am torn as to what iMac I should buy. The debate of 24" over 20" rages on, and I cannot decide what side to take. (I'm used to a 12" tablet screen...PCs suck, I know). I'm afraid 24" might be too big, but I don't want to get a screen that is too small either. As to the processor, I can't decide if 2.4 Ghz would be enough for me or if I should up it to 2.8 Ghz. If I did upgrade, then the only choice would be the 24" screen. However I could get the 2.4 24" screen.

About my uses: I surf the web alot, love music and have a 6.66 GB (laugh it up) library on iTunes thus far. I'd love to dabble in photo and video editing later on, or at least have the ability to, and I also have multiple IM clients. Writing papers and other documents are also uses. Looking at this list, I'd think 2.4 would be more than enough (this computer has a 1.6 GHz Pentium 4 Processor so anything would basically be an improvement). I also plan to upgrade, third party, the RAM from 1 to 3 GB.

So, that being said, any suggestions? Again, thanks so much and I look forward to reading your responses.

p.s. - If you need any more info to make your judgement/suggestion, just ask.

Buy them both.

 

[catfish743]

both? what do you mean?