08-22-2007, 06:11 PM

I have been in a situation to use the new imac and I love it, however even the cheapest version is pretty expensive compared to a pc of the same price (about double the price) what I need to know is if the imac can be self custimzed at ALL? Can I add my own memory? Or would I have to buy mac only parts?

08-22-2007, 06:28 PM

You can add your own memory, any brand.

Apart from that, it isn't upgradeable.

Remember that you're buying a Mercedes here. Beautifully designed with style and cachet. Perhaps expensive to buy in the first place, but holds its value well. Sell your iMac in three years on ebay and you've got 70% of the money towards your next Mac.

A Dell PC on the other hand is more of a Vauxhall Vectra. Worth b*gger all in three years and all the style of a trouser press.

08-22-2007, 06:32 PM

I would NEVER buy dell, I buy my own parts and build my own. I do love the design of the mac, however performance for price is very important to me.
So neither the video card or processor can be changed at all?

08-22-2007, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by theoriginalaks

even the cheapest version is pretty expensive compared to a pc of the same price

say what?

08-22-2007, 06:34 PM

Welcome to Mac-Forums, theoriginalaks.

Well I think the answer is that you continue building your own computer. You really don't need a Mac. Why would you want one? From your posts I can't see any reason you needing a Mac.

08-22-2007, 06:35 PM

I really wonder. Are you sure the prices are double? Cause from my research the prices seemed 'quite there'...

08-22-2007, 06:36 PM

Ah, well you can build a kick a-s-s (don't know why it censors that word) system if you do it yourself.

Problem is you end up with a tacky box and only Windows to keep you company!

You've really got to want a Mac or else there's no point.

I just had a look a Dell's site out of interest. No machine under £1000 has even a half decent graphics card. They're all integrated.

08-22-2007, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by theoriginalaks

I have been in a situation to use the new imac and I love it, however even the cheapest version is pretty expensive compared to a pc of the same price (about double the price) what I need to know is if the imac can be self custimzed at ALL? Can I add my own memory? Or would I have to buy mac only parts?

Your right a new iMac is priced a bit higher than a lot of pc's. And you can not "customize" them that much because basicly you don't need to. Yes you can install ram yourself as long as you use the proper configuration ram.

However, if you actually sit down and figure just what you have to add to the pc to bring it to the level of the iMac i think you will find that they compare rather well, and sometimes even are cheaper.

For starters where are you going to get a pc that is only a couple inches thick and has a screen real estate of 20"-24"... and doesn't cover half your desk or has cables running all over the place. Where you going to find a pc that looks as good (sexy) as a 24" iMac and gives you the day after day dependability that the iMac can and does give?

Where you gona find a pc that allows you the freedom to work and play without the constant fix this fix that of the common pc. With a good iMac and OS X you will find that all your pc problems are gone and computing is once again fun.

If you want to customize the heck out of a computer get a new MacPro and just have yourself a great time, those can be pimped all over the place.

08-22-2007, 06:53 PM

Just to clarify I am talking about this.
The design of it is just amazing, and I love how OS X looks, i'm just curious to see if I can save a lot of money by upgrading. I am willing to lose a little power for the design, but paying 850 dollars (from the mac store) for 4 gigs more of ram isnt something I am willing to cope with.

So just to make sure, what parts, if any, can be personally changed out on this imac

08-22-2007, 06:57 PM

Thanks for all the advice! Any info on where I would be able to find refurbished or used macs? (besides the mac store and ebay, I am aware of those).

I've spent too many years comparison shopping to buy directly from a source without shopping around first.

08-22-2007, 07:01 PM

Originally Posted by theoriginalaks

So just to make sure, what parts, if any, can be personally changed out on this imac

The RAM. That is it. You can use any RAM with the right specs. You do need to purchase it from Apple. I get my RAM from New Egg. There is no Mac ram. Just purchase good quality ram from New Egg.

08-22-2007, 07:03 PM

but paying 850 dollars (from the mac store) for 4 gigs more of ram isnt something I am willing to cope with.

And you shouldn't. Order it with the minimum amount of RAM and upgrade it yourself. It involves JUST ONE SCREW at the bottom of the Mac. Just one screw.

08-22-2007, 09:08 PM

Not needing to customize, upgrade and tinker were one of the things that attracted me to the Mac platform. Sure, I have the abilities to pick and choose the hardware and requisite software to make the platform exactly what I wanted it to be with either Windows or Linux (or FreeBSD for that matter.)

I got tired of that.

A Mac comes with everything you need, and tailored to how one would use it. There is no need for customization and that's fine with me. Oh sure, there's all kinds of tweaks, hacks, or mods one can do on any given platform and of course there are the same with the Mac.

You just don't need to do it. It looks sleek. It looks sexy. It's pleasant to look at. It's a pleasure to use.

Without those tweaks, hacks, and mods. Why bother? Yeah, I have ClearDock on my Macbook and that makes it just a little more asthetically pleasing, but other than that (and the occasional screen background change) I find no reason to make it very different from what was delivered out of the box.

A fast, sexy, useful computer. That doesn't get in my way.

I can do everything I was able to do with my Linux/Windows machines without doing anything more than turning it on. That's how I want *my* personal computer to be. Tweaks, hacks, and mods I'll use for computers that other people might want to use. This one is fine as-is.

I think you'll find similarly.

Oh, and you know it runs Windows, right? (And Linux, and FreeBSD, and MacOS X, and pretty much any OS that runs on Intel hardware.)

08-23-2007, 02:03 AM

Originally Posted by theoriginalaks

Just to clarify I am talking about this.
The design of it is just amazing, and I love how OS X looks, i'm just curious to see if I can save a lot of money by upgrading. I am willing to lose a little power for the design, but paying 850 dollars (from the mac store) for 4 gigs more of ram isnt something I am willing to cope with.

So just to make sure, what parts, if any, can be personally changed out on this imac

It sounds like you are just looking for a computer with a cool looking gui. Just stick to your pc you built and use fedora or ubuntu with compiz fusion. That is the ultimate setup of cool gui. Everything you will probably see in macs and pcs in several years is in compiz fusion right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr__dioHu8I

Theres a video of one setup.

Just be aware that setting up said OSes with everything and your video card drivers could be several days of headaches and work and lots of reformats and blue screens.


If you arent just looking for cool-looking gui and you actually like OSX for what it is, then definately get the iMac. You can still run some games decently on base level iMacs. It's definately not a gaming machine for crysis and max settings so if you wanna play games, you don't want a mac.