07-13-2007, 12:48 PM

Hey folks. As part of my annual review/raise, I said I wanted a new iMac. My boss said "how about 4 PCs instead?" jokingly.

I've read around here in passing that part-for-part, a similarly equiped PC would cost the same if not more. Can you help me find the nearest comparison with price as this iMac?

• 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x512
• 250GB Serial ATA Drive
• ATI Radeon X1600/256MB VRAM
• SuperDrive 8X (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
• Apple Keyboard & Mighty Mouse + Mac OS X (US English)
• 20-inch widescreen LCD
• AirPort Extreme
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

Thanks in advance!

07-13-2007, 12:54 PM

You could just show him the cost of the iMac you want, and let him see for himself that they're not that expensive. If he really thinks that an iMac costs as much as four similarly equipped PCs, he may just need his perceptions adjusted a bit.

07-13-2007, 01:04 PM

He knows it's about $2k. He is used to buying $500 windows workstations.

Which is closest?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883107273 (does out of stock even count??)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883107225
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883107211

07-13-2007, 01:12 PM

Or...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883102027
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883227014

07-13-2007, 01:41 PM

with my nice $600 HD monitor, I had not need to buy an iMac, so I got the mini instead. Since I don't play computer games, there's nothing I'm missing. There's no way a mini will cost more than a wintel system, even with upgraded DVD/memory/HD.

07-13-2007, 01:54 PM

I don't want a mini, a G4 mini is what I'm replacing actually.

07-13-2007, 02:03 PM

I just checked your specs on the Apple Store online. It looks like the only changes you've made to the stock config is the 2.33 processor versus the 2.16 one (which is +$250) and the extra VRAM on the video card (256 vs 128, which is +$75). If I am not missing anything, that brings the total to ~$1825, so close to $2000. If your boss won't get you the one you're asking for, I would suggest dropping the upgraded processor- the video card upgrade is cheap, so unless $75 is going to put the company out of business, it's not really worth it.

What do you need the computer for? A dual-core processor at 2.16 GHz will still be a huge improvement over the Mini, surely?

07-13-2007, 03:34 PM

It would be for web development. Which includes processing large data feed files for ecommerce stores, medium duty photoshop, lots and lots of coding, etc.

Yes, any intel mac would be a huge improvement over a ppc mini.

When I started my side biz I bought the 2.33 20" iMac, 2GB ram (elsewhere), 256vram. I was blown away at the performance of such a 'consumer' (non pro) mac. That is what a business can be based on, not a stupid g4 laptop-harddrive 1GB ram consumer entertainment shelf toy macmini. Blech.