What would you do?... new iMac vs. G4upgrade? with a twist....

Oompa_Loompa · Nov 13th, 2005, 12:10 AM

Hello,

Ok, here is the situation:

Bought a new iMac 20" 2.0ghz... (very excited) ....2 days before Apple released their new improved iMac (iSight). So, I call Apple and decide to have the iMac that arrives at my door 9 days after placing order shipped back with plans to order the new iMac 2.1ghz as soon as I recieve my refund....... seems like a very simple plan...

So, I promplty ship it back unopened (oh, to give it back hurts) but dreams of the latest model make it all good. Now. as of today - it has been almost 4 weeks since they recieved my computer back and I am still awaiting credit to my cc so that I can buy my (not so excited any longer) new iMac.

After several calls and some empty promises I am left very frustrated. Yes, i'm sure I will get the credit back eventually but now I'm so dissappointed in Apple's service I'm not convinced I want their new computer. Yes, i absolutely love their computer but their customer service really shouldnt be this frustrating.

I have priced it out and for about $1000 (maybe less) I can upgrade my PowerMac G4 digital audio - to 1.4ghz.... 1.5gig ram.....DVD drive....... OS X with iLife etc.......

what would you do?
Upgrade your ancient G4 which you absolutely loved in it's day .... or get over it and bitterly buy an iMac (iSight) because it's a fabulous computer and your excited to move into the "now" with OS X and GarageBand etc...... (I do alot of graphics work - illustrator, photoshop, golive, flash etc.... if that helps with the advice).

Oh, and please clue me in on what the "Intel" can offer to a Mac? Should I upgrade the G4 now and wait for this other - intel -

Thanks in advance to all responses. Greatly appreciated.

mac_geek · Nov 13th, 2005, 08:18 AM

Patience is a virtue.

Upgrading your G4 simply as a reactionary move against Apple's poor customer service to you will only make affect you.

Wait for the G5.

Irie Guy · Nov 13th, 2005, 08:42 AM

You can always contact your CC company and ask for a charge back. If Apple is slow at giving you your refund talk, a dispute will at least get your funds back to you.

BobbyFett · Nov 13th, 2005, 10:28 AM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Irie Guy
	You can always contact your CC company and ask for a charge back. If Apple is slow at giving you your refund talk, a dispute will at least get your funds back to you.

credit card companies can be wonderful people.

i once had a dispute with a mailorder retailer.... i mailed back some memory that i said was faulty, and they tested it and it worked for them.... so they were going to charge me a restocking fee. because as far as i was concerned, it didn't work, i wasn't happy about the fee.

so i called my cc company, and they dealt with the company and i got my full refund.

the funny thing is, when i got my cc bill the next month, i realised that i'd called the wrong cc company. i have two cards, and i'd forgotton which one i'd used to buy the memory in the first place... and picked the wrong one! so they'd dealt with a query that wasn't actually their problem! marvellous!

zigzagry · Nov 13th, 2005, 10:41 AM

You can pack all the processor power and RAM into that old g4 that you want but your bus speed will always be 133mhz. I'd wait for the G5

NBiBooker · Nov 13th, 2005, 10:54 AM

Dude, G5 all the way.

Admant · Nov 13th, 2005, 10:57 AM

I just sold my G4 466 and picked up an imac and I love it. Much Much Faster. I have the last generation 2.0 gig, with an external isight camera. I actually prefer this since you can't move the isight camera arround in the new ones. I got it for 1189 (demo) at compusmart in the heartland town center on mavis. They still have a 20" demo for I think $1699. I was considering upgrading too, but as bobbyfdet said you can't work arround the bus speed, also the newer ram in the G5's is faster, video card is faster too and you will probably have Dual Layer issues with any third party DVD writer with idvd 5.01 (I did). Sell your G4 while you still can, when the intel's come out your G4 will be best used as a boat anchor.

my 2 cents.

MasterBlaster · Nov 13th, 2005, 12:28 PM

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Oompa_Loompa · Nov 13th, 2005, 12:57 PM

Wow, thanks greatly for all the advice!

MasterBlaster -
multiple or raided hard drives - i dont know what those terms really mean so I guess either one would be fine,

clutter - isn't of huge concern,

OS 9 - since that is all I know right now but would really love to move onto OSX - I guess I would love to have the option of both ...doesnt have to be both on same machine

PCI slot-USB2-SATAcontroller - doubt that i would need to expand using any PCI slots, USB 2 would be great, SATA controller not sure

You had suggested dual G4 processor, I'm sure that would push my upgrade over $1000 and I think I would prefer to stick with a single anyways. I would be doing the upgrading myself so switching too much up within my G4 might be too overwhelming. I just wanted a great computer from Apple running OSX, capable of doing heavy graphics work and solid with GarageBand.

It seemed like such a good idea when I set out on this adventure last month.

MasterBlaster · Nov 13th, 2005, 01:42 PM

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