new imac today

So my friend decided to get me an imac for my birthday (it arrived in the mail today) and while it was very kind and i'm very grateful...she still went for the cheaper route and got the most inexpensive one without any upgrades. (17" $999) - Basically she went to apple.com - clicked on the $999 one, typed in my address, and put it on her credit card. Specs are 18.3 ghz 4MB Shared, 512 MB RAM, 24x Combo Drive, and Intel GMA 95 graphics processor.

I'm a pretty standard user, ideally I will use the computer for downloading media (music,tv,dvd), will be picking up a tv tuner, storing pictures, using the internet, etc. I'm not big on gaming or anything, but will play one occasionally. The only thing I'm a little bummed about on this iMac is that it doesn't have the DVD burning drive, yet all other iMac's do....

I currently have a PC and am tired of the POS so would have gotten myself a new mac anyway (hence the surprise of this new mac) however I probably would have gone for at least the next level up 17" with the standard specs. Obviously my biggest complaint is with the optical drive. As for the memory and video, etc. - Are the specs for the imac I just got pretty crappy or are they perfectly fine for how I'll use my computer?

I'm pretty much looking for suggestions here. I haven't even taken the computer out of the box yet. Based on how I will use the computer and what I want to do with it - do you think i should try to take the computer to an apple store and see if i can just pay the $200 difference on the next level up (do they even let you do that?) or do you think I could just run down to best buy and pick up a new optical drive that burns DVD's and put it in myself?

Any other suggestions I'm not thinking of are definitely welcome!!

I think you should just take it back to the store and pay the difference to get a better one.

It's not as if you didn't like her present it's just that for the money she was willing too spend and the bit of cash you can add to it, it will make the whole experience alot better for you and you'll enjoy it more which can only be a good thing.

Then again' there's not many friends that would go out and buy their mate a new computer.

Since it's still in the box and you have the $200, Take it to Apple. I am pretty sure they would do an exchange plus the difference since it's never been opened. If you decide to keep it, get an external FireWire DVD Burner and plug it in.

Like was said above, what she did for you is VERY nice. Few would buy anyone something that nice.

yeah i know it was so nice of her and yeah a lot of friends wouldn't do that for somebody - that's why i almost feel bad by going and getting the upgrade when the dvd burner's the only thing i know of that would hinder my performance. I wouldn't mind just using the firewire dvd burner idea - i guess i'm really not too sure if the upgraded ghz on the processor and upgraded RAM and video would be that necessary for my needs.

You can upgrade the RAM yourself later if that gets in the way and 1GB is nice with OSX if you run a lot of applications at the same time. Would she really know if you exchanged it? All the 17" iMacs look exactly the same from the outside.

no i guess she really wouldn't have any clue if i did go exchange it...only the guilt in my heart. (well and she'd probably realize before long that i was burning dvds). I just about had to smack myself upside the head today after I got it in the mail, instead of feeling happy I thought to myself "what a cheap *****!" (I know I'm terrible). Then I had to immediately thought "ewww am i really being this snobbish?" I felt pretty wretched about myself after that thought passed on by. Now I think the guilt of thinking that has got me tripping about going and uptrading it.

why dont you just say this to her. Say you love it but want a burner and ask her does she mind if you swap it at the mac shop for a better spec one. Then while your there pic up a nano G2 and give it to her as a present for buying an excellent present.

^^^that's actually a good idea too...

another thought...

would it be better to upgrade with the extra 200 to the next level up mac or just spend the extra money on a higher quality firewire DVDRW/DVDR external drive that could burn faster?

As long as you don't care about really demanding games, your iMac will do just fine. I would install more RAM later but don't get it from Apple if you do. Costs too much from them.

Nar If I was you I'd explain to her that you simply want a better one, it doesn't make sense your'll end up getting more for your money if you just $200 on getting a better one.

Also I'd tell her, don't pretend that it's the same one that's even worse. I'd also go with the idea of buying her something so she doesn't mind.

dtravis7 said:

As long as you don't care about really demanding games, your iMac will do just fine. I would install more RAM later but don't get it from Apple if you do. Costs too much from them.

Click to expand...

Know of any stores in the UK that sell RAM for the Apple iMacs as I have trouble finding any except the Apple Store itself.

Just swap it quick. She'll never know!

You have nice friends!!

Always found Crucial Memory really competitive

I keep going back and forth on what i'm going to do. On one hand I could just buy an external drive and a tv tuner (which I'll get anyway) instead of swapping out the computer. I'm thinking an external drive will probably be 100 bucks or so and a tv tuner about the same (or maybe a bit more - haven't really priced them yet). But on the other hand - how optimally would those run if I didn't have the higher specs on the computer? Any suggestions on that one?

I still haven't had the time to get out and even take the thing to the apple store. Been too busy! I'm going to give them a call tonight or tomorrow and make sure they'll take it back and switch it out before I make any decision to lug it into the store.

I think swapping the machine is really your only option - from the sounds of it you aren't going to be completely satisfied otherwise (even if you do feel guilty!)