Repair Imac or get a new one?

My Imac is a few years old (4, I think) and I just had the harddrive replaced 2 months ago after a frightening experience (I thought I had lost everything!) I paid around $450 to have it all taken care of. Now it's back in the shop because of power source issues - keeps cutting off on me. It's out of warranty, and the price tag to have this problem fixed is another $450! Should I repair this thing and pray that it lives, or scrap it and buy a new one? If so, which Mac is best? I am a graphic designer, and use it for print graphics.

What are the specs on it? I'm guessing it's one of those desk lamp style iMacs with the round base?

victoriab said:

My Imac is a few years old (4, I think) and I just had the harddrive replaced 2 months ago after a frightening experience (I thought I had lost everything!) I paid around $450 to have it all taken care of.

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I hate to say it...but if your iMac is truly 4 years old...$450 is not too far off it's market value. Spending $450 on a computer that's worth about $450 is not a good investment.

Please don't spend any more money on this computer!

My vote is get a new or newer iMac.

- Nick

A 2004/5 iMac could be a G5 . . . which, if so, probably explains the power supply problem since they suffered from the "bad caps" of that period. $450 would likely get a nice early Intel iMac 17" . . . hopefully one without the LCD lines . . . or an early Intel Mini.

If it were me, I'd tear the thing apart and replace the capacitors myself. I don't think capacitors are that expensive, and it's a good learning experience. But I seem to remember hating the disassembling process involved with the iMac G5.

My vote is to buy a new one, why keep wasting money on something that's going to be outdated (even after spending $450 on it). If my emac or powermac ever has problems, I don't think I would even spend $50 to "fix" them. Depending on your budget, a used iMac should run you about $600 (depending on age, screen size, etc).