Ordering iMAC & Leopard: the waiting game

Hi all, I've finally decided to take the plunge away from my PC to a 24" iMac.

Actually I can't wait to order it, but I'm thinking of holding off until it ships with Leopard.

Anyone else in the same boat, or would you advise me to just order the thing? From what I've read, it will ship sometime in Spring (but that could be still 3-4 months away)

If I do order the machine with Tiger, any ideas how much Apple have charged for updardes in the past if someone purchases a new system a few months before a new OS release?

One last one, when Apple issues a new OS, do they tend to tweak the hardware too?

Any comments greatly appreciated...

Lots of posts and opinions elsewhere on this, but personally, I think I'd rather buy a new machine with Tiger, see what happens when Leopard's released, read the posts about any problems that might occur, wait until a couple of updates have been released, then go for it.

The bonus of this is, you get a new Mac with Tiger, then when you upgrade to Leopard, you feel like you've got another new Mac...!

I am personally waiting for Leopard.

BUT I don't need a mac yet so I can afford to wait. However, although I've used Macs before, I realise I am taking a risk waiting for Leopard; if I go out and buy a mac the day Leopard is available and then the OS is buggy - my first impression of the Mac and OS might not be as good as it would be if I bought a mac with an OS that had all it's bugs ironed out.

It's a difficult one and I think it is very much an individual decision, of course it might help people make up their minds if we knew just when that new OS was due out.

MartinS said:

The bonus of this is, you get a new Mac with Tiger, then when you upgrade to Leopard, you feel like you've got another new Mac...!

Click to expand...

I like this idea

I'm looking forward to that feeling too.

Id buy the thing mate, the 24inch is amazing and so is tiger, lep is probs about 3-4 months away so just get used to the Mac and then get lep, its not gonna cost that much, same as tiger now

Jchavoush said:

Id buy the thing mate, the 24inch is amazing and so is tiger, lep is probs about 3-4 months away so just get used to the Mac and then get lep, its not gonna cost that much, same as tiger now

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Yep, these things are always outdated rapidly: I ordered the following yesterday:

-24" iMAC 2.16MHz
-2GB RAM
-500GB HDD
-258mb Graphics
-Wireless keyboard & mouse

According to Apple it won't arrive until 14th Feb, as it is a custom build and needs to be shipped from China.

I've always used a PC and never an Apple... ever since 1991. So I consider myself a true "switcher": I've taken a leap of faith, and can't wait until this baby arrives!

Azura, welcome aboard! Like you, I was a life long user of PCs, then a short time user of Linux, and then I made the switch. It is worth it. It is a bit of a shock when you first get it. You are used to being an expert and suddenly you are a novice, but you get over it quickly. After a month or so you wonder how you ever managed on a PC!

OS X Leopard will probably run in excess of $120.

If you buy now, Apple will not update your existing OS to the next gen.

If you wait, you get all the Leopard goodies and discs to boot.

I'm holding off until spring.

You will do what you think you should.

fcgrabo said:

OS X Leopard will probably run in excess of $120.

If you buy now, Apple will not update your existing OS to the next gen.

If you wait, you get all the Leopard goodies and discs to boot.

I'm holding off until spring.

You will do what you think you should.

Click to expand...

Hmm... A good point. OK, so if I wait until Leopard's released to buy a new iMac, how easy is it to transfer all my files and apps, etc from my Tiger-based mini? Would this be done using Migration Assistant?

Most likely it will be with Migration Assistant, and be just as easy as it was from Panther to Tiger.

Even without Migration Assistant, its still very easy.

Hi There....

I'm having the same dilemma...

Switching to an iMAC after too many years on a PC and can't wait....

Think I'll go with the buy now upgrade later theory.....

Also I'm working to a budget can anyone tell me if it would be better to have the faster processor in a 20" screen or go for the 24" panel and the standard offering.

cheers.

newbie-switcher...:bone:

mayhem said:

Hi There....

I'm having the same dilemma...

Switching to an iMAC after too many years on a PC and can't wait....

Think I'll go with the buy now upgrade later theory.....

Also I'm working to a budget can anyone tell me if it would be better to have the faster processor in a 20" screen or go for the 24" panel and the standard offering.

cheers.

newbie-switcher...:bone:

Click to expand...

I would like to know the same thing. iMac 24" looks so awesome but I could also get 20" with better processor or more ram.

Also a long time PC user, can't wait to finally make a switch.

my opinion is that the processor upgrade isnt worth the pennies i doubt you would notice a difference, u defo want the 2gb ram though i have 2gb in mine and its almost always fully in use particularly if you need to run parallels.
i would get the 24" and push for the 7600gt in it as you cannot upgrade this at a later date (unlike ram)

Cheers tp, I'll go and re-asses my shopping list.

:dummy:

I know Leopard is coming, but I went ahead and bought a 20" iMac for family use a week ago. I checked my favorite computer site (newegg), and they sell the current Tiger upgrade for $100 which is very reasonable. Having worked with computers the last 17 years, I've become leery of new OS updates, and would wait until 10.5.2-3 are out anyway.

The iMac replaced a Dell which died the previous weekend, so it's not like I really had the luxury of waiting. The 3 year old had his edu games to play, after all. neye:

The thing that amazes me the most is how FAST it is. Safari is blindingly quick, they clearly did a lot of work on the rendering engine (I have an iBook that runs 10.3, and by extension Safari 1.3).

Tonight I get to dump some DV using iMovie for the very first time and poke around with the tool's capabilities, I'm very much looking forward to it. That is, if I can get my wife off iPhoto. I swear that is all she's done all week once the kids are in bed! I should have told her there was a "problem" copying her gigs of pictures over from the PC, and it would be a couple weeks.

Well I couldn't wait any longer and have ordered a 24" with the graphic card upgrade and memory to 2meg.

I called through to the order line as I had some questions about it.......

I would recommend this to everyone as I managed to get about £300 ($520??) with a bit of haggling.

Took the extended warranty which he took £40 off the bill for and after some searching found a student union card from last year and he accepted this as proof of being in education, night classes count. Bonus....

One of the questions I asked him was about Leopard and he said.

"I wouldn't wait around for it as we do not know when it will be released". I don't think this was a sales pitch as I had already agreed to buy.

He also said;
"We don't know if there will be a free upgrade for recent purchase or a small fee but Past experience would suggest around about £80 (probably cheaper in the US) to upgrade. The guy was top dollar and very friendly

cheers

I exchanged a few emails with a guy called Joel in Cork yesterday – he got in touch with me as I had a saved basket on the Apple website. As you say, very friendly...

Is there any difference in spec between the student discount machines and the ordinary, undiscounted units?

MartinS said:

I exchanged a few emails with a guy called Joel in Cork yesterday – he got in touch with me as I had a saved basket on the Apple website. As you say, very friendly...

Is there any difference in spec between the student discount machines and the ordinary, undiscounted units?

Click to expand...

Not at all. I worked for a campus computer store in the early 90s (we sold both Apples and Zenith PCs), and the reason the hardware and software is sold so cheap is that college-educated people tend to buy the same stuff for full pop later in life.

Apple's edu discounts actually used to be much better, but then again the machines were a LOT more expensive back then. You could buy a Centris for a somewhat reasonable price, but the Quadras were horrific (5k+ easily for a base model, not including display).

No, all the hardware and SW are the same.
I believe they get a tax break from the government for it.

And it makes them feel all warm and cuddley inside:bone: