[xxballinboi786]

24" gloss screen
* 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 4GB memory
* 500GB hard drive1
* 8x double-layer SuperDrive
* NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS with 512MB memory

AppleCare Protection Plan
wireless mouse
wireless keyboard

all comes out to $2618 before taxes so lets say roughly $2900..

good, bad, okay?

should i go for it or is there something better for the same price?

i would use it for video/photo editing, LOTS of music/movie downloads, school work, some gaming, lots of side by side programs operating (firefox minimized while itunes is playing as im typing up a paper as limewire downloads stuff..lol)..

[FirstClass]

1) Limewire is shit, use BitTorrent.

2) Unless your definition of "lots" differs from mine, 500GB is nowhere near enough space and iMacs don't have room for the addition of more drives, so you'll want to consider getting either a NAS or external HD. If you're feeling spendy the best of the bunch is the Synology DS508. Yes it's $999, but it's also a RAID NAS with 5 hot swappable SATA ports and a lot of sexy LED ports on the front. (Even with the upgraded 1TB drive, I still think the machine's onboard storage is lacking both in space and redundancy but then again I'm a bit of a power user)

3) If you do want a Mac, and not a PC, then I think that you've made the best choice available to the average user, who would only be wasting money getting a Mac Pro. So my overall response is to get the machine and make sure you're not setting it up opposite a window or you'll never see anything on the screen.

[bling_singh]

man i don't even know how i'd fill up a 500GB HDD. Lots of pron? I've got a 250GB in my laptop, with Vista, and I'm using around 140GB. No porn on my comp so that probably lightens the load. Even then I'm not much of a downloader without a T1 connection like I had on residence back in the day.

to the OP: If having a Mac is that important to you it's not that bad a price. You can always get PCs for MUCH cheaper, but the Apple OS is pretty stable. Don't use Limewire. Torrents are best....there's a program called Soulseek which is pretty sweet for downloading individual tracks rather than full albums....even then uTorrent is great at that too.

[FirstClass]

Everything adds up faster than you can imagine. TV shows, anime dubs, etc. Seasons of things can range from 3-10+ gigs and when you've got a lot of shows and seasons it adds up. I suspect that in a few months I'll be into the 1TB+ range. (Assuming I get some more storage, kinda treading lightly as my current 600 gigs is about full )

[darkphantom]

nix ftw. but since you're not a tech savvy guy, mac for the n00bs?

btw I'd go w/ PC for the GTX 280, 8800s are so old school...

brother just picked up his 24" 1080p monitor w/ HDMI for $400
with 2500 left over, you can build a kickass comp

[AJayE92]

Originally Posted by darkphantom

nix ftw. but since you're not a tech savvy guy, mac for the n00bs?

btw I'd go w/ PC for the GTX 280, 8800s are so old school...

brother just picked up his 24" 1080p monitor w/ HDMI for $400
with 2500 left over, you can build a kickass comp

+1

and thats coming from myself who is a mac borderline fanboy lol

i would only suggest it for laptop there is none better

but for desktop you could create a BEAST for the same price that mac gives you for their imac

[quagmire]

Originally Posted by AJayE92

+1

and thats coming from myself who is a mac borderline fanboy lol

i would only suggest it for laptop there is none better

but for desktop you could create a BEAST for the same price that mac gives you for their imac

Except you can't run the Mac OS. It doesn't matter if you can build a kickass tower if you can't run the OS you want.

[FirstClass]

Originally Posted by quagmire

Except you can't run the Mac OS. It doesn't matter if you can build a kickass tower if you can't run the OS you want.

Well, if you want to get technical, you can run OSX on a regular machine. It's not supported, but it's been hacked onto almost every platform there is.

[quagmire]

Originally Posted by FirstClass

Well, if you want to get technical, you can run OSX on a regular machine. It's not supported, but it's been hacked onto almost every platform there is.

You do lose some of its functionality and stability, but technically you're right.

[darkphantom]

yeah I forgot about the functionality part =P damn you OSX! I must admit though, it's a "wow" OS unlike Vista which is an "ow" P-OS