Quote: Originally Posted by GadgetGav (original)
I really can't justify a Mac Pro and 23in screen, so I'm saving myself $1000 and getting the 24in iMac. I know it's a single dual core processor, rather than two dual cores (when are the quads coming?) but I've tried stress testing it in the store and it seems to do all the things I'll want to do well enough. If I buy the ADC / DVi adapter, I could even use my current 17in Studio Display alongside..! Oddly enough, with the 2 memory slots on the iMac, it's actually cheaper to buy the 2Gb upgrade from Apple, rather than from a third party, assuming you're not going to be able to sell the 512Mb memory for anything significant. Does anyone know if they do memory upgrades like that in the bricks and motar stores? I remember they did it with the PowerBook Jane bought a year or so ago, and I think I read somewhere online that they were doing some BTO options on desktops too...
You're in luck on one front...the iMac is Core 2 Duo...the only consumer model that isn't at this point is the Mini. However, on the idea of upgrading the memory at the Apple store, they charge you for the memory already in the machine, plus the upgrade, where when you do it online they only charge you for the upgrade. When I looked into doing it for the MacBook I got on Black Friday, it would have cost something rediculous like $600 to go to 2GB. Call before you go over so you know what to expect. I ended up buying from Apple.com because I couldn't justify the additional money. The problem after that was the first MacBook was DOA on arrival and I got to see a whole different side of Apple...not so good if you have a problem and didn't buy it at a store. Had I bought it at a store I'd have just been able to take it back...because I bought it online, it turned into a bit of a nightmare and took about 3 weeks to get a new machine.
Buy it at the Apple store with regular memory configuration and then buy 3rd party memory after the fact. That's what I'll be doing when I get a desktop for home in February.
