New 21.5" iMac, or refurbished older 24"?

Hello,

Firstly thanks for taking the time to read this, and thanks to anyone who can help me.

I have £1000 to spend on an iMac. I have always had PCs before, so this will be the first Apple product i have ever owned, and i am very excited!

However, no one can seem to answer a simple question for me. Which is better...the new 21.5" iMac, bottom spec (see link below)

Buy New Apple iMac MB950B/A 3.06GHz SuperDrive Desktop Computer with 21.5 Inch Monitor online at JohnLewis.com

or a re-conditioned 24" (see link below)

Refurbished iMac 24-inch 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - Apple Store (U.K.)

These are out of stock at the moment, but aren't likely to be for long. There is also another higher spec refurbished one for £999, and i think the reason is the fact that it has a better graphics card. It's not the Nvidia one, but ATI Radeon.

Both new and refurbished machines seem to have pretty much the same spec as far as i can tell, the advantage being with the older model, the screen is a little bigger...and with the newer model, i get a wireless keyboard and mouse (which i actually do need as will be occasionally using the machine with a projector)

I do not play any games with my PC, and will not be playing any on the Mac. I use photoshop and various video editing software, but i am no expert so i wont be using them to the extent of a real graphic designer.

I am very much into films and TV shows which i download from the net, but again, aside from the screen size, i think the actual screen resolution is the same for both of the models above.

My first question is -

Which would you buy?

My second question is -

Can you recommend any better iMacs for the money? (Maybe eBay??) In the Apple store they just tell me to get the new one....obviously! So i thought i would go on the net and ask the people who would be able to give me an honest opinion.


Thanks loads for any help guys, it's much appreciated, and sorry for being a bit of a Mac noob!

Paul.

The only reason I'd buy the older 24" is if I thought I needed that extra screen size. For example, some folks like to have several windows displayed at one time. The larger the screen area, the easier it is to accommodate that. However, the 21.5 inch size is plenty big for a couple of windows, or one large and a couple of small ones. So, I would think most people would go for the newer, smaller Mac.

VegasGeorge said:

The only reason I'd buy the older 24" is if I thought I needed that extra screen size. For example, some folks like to have several windows displayed at one time. The larger the screen area, the easier it is to accommodate that. However, the 21.5 inch size is plenty big for a couple of windows, or one large and a couple of small ones. So, I would think most people would go for the newer, smaller Mac.

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That's what i'm thinking George, i don't really need the extra screen size so am leaning towards the 21.5" rather than the older model.

Also John Lewis offer a free 2 year guarantee with the new one, which is good.

Thanks for your help, it's much appreciated.