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20" imac - 2.16 or 2.0

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Alana the Maineah

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I am trying to decide between :

the refurbished iMac from the apple store
20" (white display)
2.16ghz
1gb ram - (2x512mb)
$1,100

or

a new one from a local reseller
20"
2.0ghz
1gb ram - (1x1gb)
$1,200

Can anyone help make an argument in on direction or the other?

I don't like the white display as much but I am looking for other info. to support my decision.

Thanks!
 
Hmmm a close call, that one. Does the new iMac your considering have the cheaper display, the new entry level iMacs don't have as good a display screen as the older white Macs. On balance, I'd go with the refurb and put the $100 towards more RAM. Either way, you won't be making a big mistake.

Pete
--

If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right. (Henry
Ford)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/petergillman/
 
The White imacs have a better display in the 20" screen than the new aluminum 20" iMacs. Also the white ones do not have a glossy screen, If it were me, I would get the white iMac. If you had more budget, the new 24" aluminum iMacs have a MUCH better screen and the 2.8GHZ speed will be noticable. The processor speed in the two models you are looking at, you will not notice any difference. Get as much Ram as you can! I buy my ram from ramjet.com. That will make more of a difference than the processor speed for most things. You should also get an external firewire drive to run Time Machine under Leopard for backups.

I hope this helps!

Kevin Hawkins
 
All White iMacs that are 20" have a better screen than the current aluminum ones. Also, All White iMacs have a Matte Screen where all aluminum iMacs have a Glossy screen.

Kevin Hawkins

You will be happy with the white one! If you have more budget, then go with a 24" iMac.
 
I'd rather have 3 Gb RAM and a 2Ghz Core 2 Duo, than a 2.16Ghz Mac with cheaper, glossy display and only 1 Gb RAM.

You said you were on a budget, therefore, the best upgrade and still have a chance to stay within your budget is more RAM.

I have a 20" iMac G5 with Aperture (14,000) images, iTunes (14500 songs) & its is fitted with maximum RAM (2Gb). If it didn't have the extra RAM, I would have hit the wall, so to speak. I was intending to upgrade to the new 24" Aluminium iMac, but the glossy screen was a deal breaker. Now, I'll just wait for either a new iMac with matte screen, new Power Mac (short tower) or what I really hoped for was a 30" iMac Pro (with 4 cores, I'm day dreaming on that one).

Given your budget & we assume your interest in photography, go with the white iMac.

Pete
--

If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right. (Henry
Ford)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/petergillman/
 
So, in addition to the two models I mentioned, this killer deal just hit the net.

$1,299 - Apple iMac Desktop with 24" Display MA456LL/A (2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive,white)

Should I jump on it? (as all of you jump on it before me?)
 
Is usually enough for anything (with the exception of Aperture, the second most memory inefficient photo app in history).

My 2 gb MBP runs Lightroom, CS3 and XP on Parallels at the same time without any slowdown. Only Aperture (which I do not really use) grabs all available memory and still limps...

As long as it is a Core 2 Duo, I believe that for photo editing the 24" white is the best option (Core Duo's are a different story, too slow). Actually I will get one as soon as the store in Rome drops its price below 1000 Euros (I am tracking it weekly...).

You can get an extra 2 gb memory bank (or a 1 gb as well) at http://www.crucial.com . Hd is very difficult to upgrade, in the new glossy units almost impossible.

Go for the matte 24" without any backthinking. You can watch yourself in ordinary mirrors, you do not really need a glossy iMac for that...

M

--
Greets from Rome

Mauro

http://www.pbase.com/m_ben/
 
Alana the Maineah said:
So, in addition to the two models I mentioned, this killer deal just
hit the net.

$1,299 - Apple iMac Desktop with 24" Display MA456LL/A (2.16 GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive,white)

Should I jump on it? (as all of you jump on it before me?)
Click to expand...
Go for it Alana, start with the 1Gb and expand lata. Its a really good machine.
 
I snatched a 24 inch - 2.16 for $1299 too!!!
can another video card be put in- and if so is it difficult too do.
also- is additional ram difficult to insert.?
Can't wait to get it!!
Buzz
 
in the white 2.16 ghz is faster than the aluminum one at moving poligons (i.e. games). On static graphics they are on par, difference in favour of new iMacs being mainly represented by the extra cpu performance (clock, cache & bus, +30% on paper, +10% street). Someone posted some lik to benchmarks in this forum.

Ram very easy to add.

M
Buzzman said:
I snatched a 24 inch - 2.16 for $1299 too!!!
can another video card be put in- and if so is it difficult too do.
also- is additional ram difficult to insert.?
Can't wait to get it!!
Buzz
Click to expand...
--
Greets from Rome

Mauro

http://www.pbase.com/m_ben/
 
You will LOVE the 24" white iMac! You can always add Ram when you get the funds. You should also get an external FW drive for backups. Get Leopard too. Everything seems MUCH faster when running under Leopard.

Also, get a UPS power supply for battery backup! You don't want a power surge to fry your new machine! Make sure that you are running PS CS3 with the Intel Processors! If you do any word processing or spreadsheets, iWork is a great deal for the money!

Your new machine will last you for years without problems, and you will love the large screen! Congrats! I am glad you got the 24"!

Kevin Hawkins
 
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