iMac 1.8Ghz - New Or Used? PLEASE HELP!

90s_Kid · Sep 3rd, 2005, 06:04 PM

hey guys, been a pc user all my life, making the switch to mac. i'm a graphic designer and work with photoshop, illustrator, and all that jazz. i'm deciding between buying the new imac g5 1.8ghz from the apple store, or used from an ehmac classified. both have their pros, cons, and differences, and i really need some help deciding what to do.

FROM APPLE STORE

iMac G5 17" (newest revision)
1.8GHz PowerPC G5
600MHz frontside bus
512MB DDR400 SDRAM
160GB Serial ATA hard drive
Slot-load Combo Drive
ATI Radeon 9600 128MB DDR video memory
56K internal modem
OSX Tiger
Bluetooth / Airport

PROS: Bigger hard drive, better video card, built in wireless
CONS: No dvd burner, 512 ram

PRICE: $1850 (incl. tax)

FROM PRIVATE OWNER

iMac G5 17" (Rev.A)
1.8GHz PowerPC G5
600MHz frontside bus
1GB DDR400 SDRAM
80GB Serial ATA hard drive
Slot-load Super Drive
GeForce FX5200 64MB DDR video memory

PROS - More ram, can burn dvd's, good price
CONS - Smaller hard drive, video card not as good

PRICE: $1300 (incl. tax)

I have no clue what's the better deal here, or what's more worth it in the end. Please help!!! Thanks!!

PirateMyke · Sep 3rd, 2005, 06:12 PM

use the education discount get the new iMac and you'll get a free iPod Mini

Commodus · Sep 3rd, 2005, 08:55 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by PirateMyke
	use the education discount get the new iMac and you'll get a free iPod Mini

You're assuming that he qualifies for educational discounts!

I'd actually think that the best iMac for a Photoshop user would be a 20" iMac, whether it's new or refurb. After all, screen space is a high priority for an artist. Also, even a first-run 20" will have at least a 160 GB hard drive. That's a good amount of headroom.

If I had to choose from the two offered, I'd choose the newer one. Is it more expensive? Yes. But you can't replace the video chipset or CPU in an iMac; you can always add more RAM or an external DVD burner if you absolutely need it.

CN · Sep 3rd, 2005, 09:07 PM

Not to mention the failure rates of the Rev. A's...

Macaholic · Sep 3rd, 2005, 10:04 PM

Some of these questions only you can answer:

Do you have jobs on the go for various clients, simultaneously? If so, will you need lots of drive space?

Are you graphics jobs large in nature, where archiving up to CD will prove inefficent and archiving to DVD (4.5GB data format) be more convenient?

Do you intend on having a BIG iTunes library to whistle while you work? A good 4 or 5 thousand song iTunes library can fill up a minimum 15GB?

Do you need BT?

Do you intend do play games on it?

Now, even if you need extra disk space, you could buy the used iMac and slap yourself together one big-ass Firewire drive for real cheap. Frankly, the used one sounds good to me...

BUT, some of the original G5 iMacs had heat issues, where capacitors would fry and burst. NOT FUN. The "Rev B" iMacs, which are the ones currently being sold, appear to not suffer from this issue as badly. Would I trust it? Tough call. Given that the warranty will soon run out on the used one, I'd there buy the used one now and purchase the extended warranty to protect cover your arse, or buy the new one -- and still consider the extended warranty for it before the first year is up. Either way, it's $259.00 at some point down the road.

I tell ya the WORST scenario, though: you buying the used one -- a heat-prone Rev A -- , not getting the extended warranty, and a few months after the initial warranty runs out your iMac possibly frying on ya.

MacDoc · Sep 3rd, 2005, 11:58 PM

Maca all the Rev As are covered for those problems for the forseeable future.
Don't be a drama queen.

Macaholic · Sep 4th, 2005, 01:10 AM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by MacDoc
	Maca all the Rev As are covered for those problems for the forseeable future. Don't be a drama queen.

What are you talking about? "Covered"? I double-checked for Apple recalls. There's none at their site. And then, there's numerous reports at macintouch, macfixit, Apple's tech forums to the point that Popular Mechanics looked into it. The scenario I described could happen to the guy.

And BESIDES, CN brought it up in this thread first. Go **** on his Corn Flakes.

Elias26 · Sep 4th, 2005, 04:37 AM

Ummm CN is a girl.

ErnstNL · Sep 4th, 2005, 07:12 AM

New one.
For the long haul the newer iMac is better value.
For a home user like me the used unit is pretty sweet.

mac_geek · Sep 4th, 2005, 08:33 AM

Get the new one! If you can wait it out a bit, BestBuy seems to be having terrific sales on Apples lately.. a new surprise every week. Just a few weeks ago, the 17" rev.B iMac was going for $1399!

Buy new.. and wait it out for the best deal! Don't succumb to impulse!