Buying advice?

I'm looking at picking up a new iMac at some point this week and I am looking to get some advice in terms of what model in the line to pick up.

Is there any credence to the argument that one should buy the best model one can afford at the time? I am currently looking at purchasing the 24-inch: 3.06GHz model; I am not sure I have an outstanding need for that much processor speed or hard drive space (although I do foresee my music collection growing beyond it's current ~60GB range; video accounts for about ~40GB).

I would likely be using the computer for day to day work, school work and some possible video/music editing (I help out a friend's band online, so that may provide me with some additional work in that vein).

I realize the above explanation of my needs may be vague and unfocused, but I'd be happy to clarify basically any point for anyone willing to offer some advice.

Any advice/help that you can offer would be immensely appreciated!

My personal feeling is that if you have a need now or in the near future for an iMac of that power (and you can afford it) then, you should purchase it.

Buying a lesser machine and later on finding out you needed something more can only lead to spending additional money than if you had bought the better one.

Regards.

Don't get the 3.06 model, get the 2.8Ghz with the GeForce 8800.

You're paying way over the odds for the 3.06 because CPU prices scale upwards in a curve.

In everyday use you wouldn't notice whether you were using a 1.6Ghz or a 3.06Ghz Core2Duo to be honest.

I agree, get the 2.8Ghz.
You could tell no performance difference.

I just ordered a refurbished 2.8. I've always bought my PCs way oversized for what I need -- mainly word processing, e-mail, basic Web surfing and PowerPoint -- because I figure that the extra processing power and memory will come in handy as Windows and apps get more bloated. This strategy has always worked well. For example, my XP box is still going strong after six-plus years.

That said, I couldn't justify the ~$350 price premium between a refurb 2.8 and a refurb 3.06. Based on what I've read here and elsewhere, I wouldn't have seen much of a performance boost, if any. Plus, I can spend a fraction of the ~$350 premium on another 2 GB of RAM, which probably will have more of a noticeable impact than a faster processor. Sure, the larger HD would have been nice, but the way memory prices are dropping, I probably will be able to pick up a 1 TB outboard HD in a couple of years for even less than what they are today.

Hope that helps.

CoMo said:

I just ordered a refurbished 2.8. I've always bought my PCs way oversized for what I need -- mainly word processing, e-mail, basic Web surfing and PowerPoint -- because I figure that the extra processing power and memory will come in handy as Windows and apps get more bloated. This strategy has always worked well. For example, my XP box is still going strong after six-plus years.

Click to expand...

I fully understand that approach, the Windows box I'm replacing has been run pretty hard and it's finally starting to fade after about 5.5 years.

I'll be looking into everything you guys have mentioned, all of the advice is very much appreciated.

I really like external HD's.
I have an internal 250GB and 2 externals.
1-500GB 1-1TB

Alexis said:

Don't get the 3.06 model, get the 2.8Ghz with the GeForce 8800.

You're paying way over the odds for the 3.06 because CPU prices scale upwards in a curve.

In everyday use you wouldn't notice whether you were using a 1.6Ghz or a 3.06Ghz Core2Duo to be honest.

Click to expand...

hello...is the new graphics card really neccessary??i mean for someone that doesnt play any games and just wants a graphic card that will be used for quite some time lets say three years less or more it depends, is the previous model ati 256 mb an option?i mean here in europe adding the new card fro the 2.8 model it will cost 120 euros more..which is something like 190 dollars(i think)