i'm condsidering a mac desktop. which one suits me

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Im considering a mac desktop. I'm wondering if a imac 2.5 GHz would suit my needs. It would be used mostly for internet. Im also home schooled (No, I'm not a computer geek) so id use it for school projects. Over the years it will gain a lot of pictures and videos. I also love to edit video. BUT, sometimes i do things that require a little more kick. i play mine craft, and don't worry, i don't care about playing on tiny render distance. i will also play some other mid quality games. I'd really like to boot camp it with windows. but i don't know how well that would work on 2.5 GHz. Also if I'm underestimating the processer and a mac mini would do fine, please tell me! :D
 
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Im considering a mac desktop. I'm wondering if a imac 2.5 GHz would suit my needs. It would be used mostly for internet. Im also home schooled (No, I'm not a computer geek) so id use it for school projects. Over the years it will gain a lot of pictures and videos. I also love to edit video. BUT, sometimes i do things that require a little more kick. i play mine craft, and don't worry, i don't care about playing on tiny render distance. i will also play some other mid quality games. I'd really like to boot camp it with windows. but i don't know how well that would work on 2.5 GHz. Also if I'm underestimating the processer and a mac mini would do fine, please tell me! :D
First, I'm new here but I realized pretty fast, DON'T upgrade your ram at all. Get it after market.

Memory up to 32GB for Apple iMac 2011 Thunderbolt equipped models

iMacs all start with 4GB and they want $100 to go to 8GB or $300 to go to 16GB when you can get 16GB for $100, and save $200 bucks. Also I would pay the extra $14 to get 2x8GB sticks vs. the 4x4GB sticks and keep the old 2 sticks in there then you would have 20GB which is way more than enough. Actually the 2x4GB sticks for $50 or 1x8GB stick for $62 would be fine, for a total of 12GB.

So to sum up, you can go from 4GB to 12 for $50 (instead of $100 for 8) or to 20GB for $114 (instead of $300 for 16).

(sense im new does someone want to confirm the above? That would work right? and theres 4 ram slots?)

Other than the possessor the only things your getting for the extra $300 are a larger hard drive and the graphics goes from AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 512MB to a AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 512MB, and I have no idea what the difference is.

The $300 increase seems worth it (unlike there laptop prices where they bundle in a over priced required ram upgrade) but I think the 2.5GHz model with 12GB of ram for an extra $50 would work fine.

More info on what your using it for would be helpful, and remember the more you spend the longer it will last that extra $300 could be another year before you need a new one.
 
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Boot camp it with windows? Why not build a PC and run OS X on it? If you don't mind having a tower it would be a lot cheaper and you could have a 3GHz+ possessor and a great graphics card.
 
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Boot camp it with windows? Why not build a PC and run OS X on it? If you don't mind having a tower it would be a lot cheaper and you could have a 3GHz+ possessor and a great graphics card.


Again, in chas_m's words

Since one can't install OS X on a PC legally, and mentioning illegal acts here can get you in a lot of trouble, perhaps you'd like to amend your reply to suggest to the OP what sought of iMac will be good for them ...
Qoute amended to suit the thread

@ OP 2.5 will be fine to run boot camp. I have run boot camp on a MBP with less boot than that.
That is a nice Mac for what you want to do. Upp the RAM to 8 and it is still pretty cheap through Apple and saves you, not being a computer geek doing t yourself.
 
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It's really illegal? Like to run it on anything but a mac or what? Because if you build it your self it wouldn't really be a PC just parts put together? I thought they use to sell iOS for anyone that wanted to use it.

I guess don't do that then haha?

It can't be that hard to change ram can it? (I'm not familiar with the new iMac all in ones) for the same money he could have 12 instead of 8, just sayin, thats what I would do, you can also get SSD drive A LOT cheaper.
 
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It's really illegal? Like to run it on anything but a mac or what? Because if you build it your self it wouldn't really be a PC just parts put together? I thought they use to sell iOS for anyone that wanted to use it.

Yes totally illegal. Im not in the mood to try and find the EULA but it is illegal to run ANY Mac OS on anything other than a Apple Mac computer.
Have you heard the term Hackintosh where the work Hack : is to gain unauthorised access to data in a system or computer = ILLEGAL so please dont mention it again as the Staff on this board will let you know in good time ;)
 

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It's really illegal?

Yes…we DO NOT discuss this sort of thing around here. It's the sort of topic that gets threads closed…and members banned. So let's please not discuss it any further!

Thanks,

- Nick
 
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some more i forgot to mention

One thing i forgot to mention. i want a mac that will last a litttle while. I wont buy another one for at least 6 years. It will also be used A LOT. my parents will use it and so will my sister. so 4 people on one computer.
 

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One thing i forgot to mention. i want a mac that will last a litttle while.

Doesn't everyone!:) Nobody says…I want a REALLY cheap Mac that will only last 3 months!;)

With 4 people using it for 6 years…a desktop Mac is the best choice (versus a laptop)…since only the keyboard & mouse get "touched". So from a "durability" stand point…only the keyboard & mouse stand to get "worn-out" from heavy use…and a keyboard & mouse can be easily and cheaply replaced!:)

- Nick
 

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One thing i forgot to mention. i want a mac that will last a litttle while. I wont buy another one for at least 6 years. It will also be used A LOT. my parents will use it and so will my sister. so 4 people on one computer.

If that's the case (and this is my general advice anyway), buy the MOST you can afford. That will mean that the iMac will be relevant and supported in future updates and usable..

Now you might say you an skip the OS updates that don't support your iMac say 4 or 5 years down the line..but invariablly, some piece of technology or software will want the newest version of the OS and will require something to be done..

A case in point is folks who bought the new iPhones, they had to synced with the newer version of iTunes which only works on the newer versions of OS X. So people running Tiger or even Leopard were out of luck..but if you had a PowerPC based Mac, then you couldn't upgrade anyway..so your only recourse was to not use that shiny new piece of technology or upgrade your Mac..

So the idea of not having to buy another Mac is great, but it is largely out of your hands unless you are totally content with using everything from today 5 years from now as well..
 
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A case in point is folks who bought the new iPhones, they had to synced with the newer version of iTunes which only works on the newer versions of OS X. So people running Tiger or even Leopard were out of luck..but if you had a PowerPC based Mac, then you couldn't upgrade anyway..so your only recourse was to not use that shiny new piece of technology or upgrade your Mac..

So the idea of not having to buy another Mac is great, but it is largely out of your hands unless you are totally content with using everything from today 5 years from now as well..
iPhone 5's only work with the newest iTunes, which doesn't even work with Leopard? Wow

Yeah id pay the $300 for the upgrade, over that your getting into a bigger monitor so your paying for that, seems to be the way apple likes to package things and what pigoo3 said about the durability is really smart, my mom would be ok but if anybody but her also used mine I don't think it would last past what I do to it haha.
 
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Thank you everybody. you have been a big help! :D
 
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The new iMac has just been announced so you might want to check that out too! or wait and get the older version at a cheaper price!
 

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I have a feeling the older (2011 iMacs) are going to go very quickly if there are any left in the stores. Buy now while you still have the chance.
 
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I have a feeling the older (2011 iMacs) are going to go very quickly if there are any left in the stores. Buy now while you still have the chance.

The Apple website has (obviously) kicked over to the new product.

Any idea where there's inventory of the older product, with optical drive?
 

Raz0rEdge

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The Apple website has (obviously) kicked over to the new product.

Any idea where there's inventory of the older product, with optical drive?

Keep an eye on the Apple Refurb store, you should be able to find the older iMacs at cheaper prices too..
 

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