I gotta replace my 2006 iMac. Should I just go for broke?

[Touchdown]

Should I buy the top of the line 24 incher?

How much better is 3.05ghz vs. 2.93?
NVIDIA 256 or 512mb?

They want $1000 smackers to upgrade the ram to 8 gigs!:grr: I think 4 is enough for now.

My current 20 incher is falling apart. HD is practically full. It's slow, frezzes up a lot. rainbow wheel of wait on mouse responses are 2 hours long, forcing me to power cycle the machine. Display has menu burn in from the top (even the US flag icon is well seen). Not to mention that some glue or something has dripped onto the screen from the top for about a year.

There's 4 different models. I really don't need the 24" screen, but they have the more capable computers.:shrug:

I usually keep my macs for about 4 years, but this one is the first I HAVE to replace.

Oh' link...

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac

[onehandle]

1. Personally, I would go with the extra pixel real estate.

My wife has a 24" iMac and loves it.

I would need to know what you are doing with the machine to tell you 3.05ghz vs. 2.93 or NVIDIA 256 vs. 512mb.

If you are doing heavy video editing (especially in HD), I would lean towards the high end.

Most anything else, you would likely be fine with the lower numbers.

4GB of RAM will work fine (except again, in the case of heavy/HD video), but if you want to go to 8GB:
$579.99 here. I've bought from them for years with 100% happiness.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/8566DDR3S8GP/

Again, personally, if I anticipated four years of usage, I would reach for the stars.

[Touchdown]

2. I do plan on getting a media player, so

I will be converting DVDs over to hard drive with as little compression possible. I have BluRay, but so far there's no way to play those on a computer, and I wouldn't want to convert those anyhow. The picture of BR is too good to reduce. Western Digital makes a TV player that uses any usb hard drive.

But mostly I use it for photo editing, and storage. I have had CS2, but I uninstalled it because it became so slow. I would like the option of installing a full blown photoshop in the future. Right now, I'm using Elements which has just about everything I need in a PS program anyhow. I also do the typical word docs and spread sheets, surfing, e-mailing, printing, etc. that everybody else does. My big deal is hard drive space. I used up 260G pretty fast, especially with Aperture.

The only games I have are 4 years old and older.

[onehandle]

3. Sounds like you don't need 8GB of RAM or the top speed CPU.

However, if you are Aperture/Photoshop centric, I would go with the 24-inch, for the pixels.

Hard drive space? External drives are cheap and plentiful.

There is a hint that next Wednesday, Apple will be introducing iTunes 9 at a "special event." There are also hints of some form of Blu-Ray support.

Strictly rumor at this point.

[Deja Q]

5. The 24" model has a H-IPS display panel whereas the 20" has a cheap TN panel.

Go 24". By far.

[Deja Q]

4. I have the 2.93GHz model (now $1799)

Don't bother unless you use AfterEffects for HEAVY video processing/rendering.

2.93GHz is quite adequate for DVD/MPEG processing.

RAM is also expensive, especially for notebook models wanting 8GB...

I've 4GB and never needed to upgrade. Can't say the same for Vista...

[Touchdown]

6. Well, I bought the 3.06. I wanted the 1T HDD, and didn't want to wait until

Apple built it custom. It was only about $200 more than the 2.93 anyhow.

Thing is fast and slick!

I also got my friend to remove my broken HDD from my old 2006 20" iMac. WHAT A PAIN IN THE ASS THAT WAS! Everything is locked down, behind the screen, and taped up with a foil covering. Apple does not want you in there!:wow:

A new HDD works well in the old Mac and it's enjoying life at my friend's house now.

[onehandle]

7. Congrats. I recently got my custom 17-inch 3.06 MacBook Pro.

Five days from China to my door.

It is also pretty sweet.

[Touchdown]

8. THIS SUCKS! Two weeks old, and Apple comes out with a 27" for $500 cheaper!

... than I paid for mine. The Quad Core is $200 cheaper than mine.:grr:

They just god some new shit at the store today.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac?mco=MTMzNzQ4NzA