Upgrade or Sell and Buy New?

Currently, I have a 5th Generation iMac. This is the one with the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor. It is a good machine but I am thinking that I either need to upgrade it or sell it and buy another Mac (most likely the 24" iMac). I was wondering if any one could offer an opinion based on amount of money I will have to spend total to do either option and what not. A little more background:

17" display
1 GB memory
Bought May of 2007


Thanks in advance

 

not really a price conscious decision, but why not get a nice 24" screen?

 

I will caveat my response with the qualifier that although I have been a bit of a portable aficionado (in pursuit of writing an article earlier this week I counted 19 laptops that I have been through in 8 years), I have only been on the Mac platform for the last year-and-a-half.

My first response is a question: why do you feel you need to upgrade? It would help if I had a better feel for where you think your bottleneck is, with relation to what activity it is that you are trying to do that makes you feel like you need some more pep.

There are a few things that I have noticed in both the Macs that I own and others that I have experimented with. The Mac platform, at least on the Intel architecture, does not seem to exponentially scale when you bump in speed. My MacBook Pro is not blazingly faster than my MacBook in pure processor speed, despite the 340MHz difference in CPU clockspeed. Further, playing with Macs that pre-date and post-date mine, I do not see big jumps in the frequency of beach-balls when the only change is in the processor speed. I do not think this is a criticism to the Mac platform, but rather supporting observations that explain why people tend to go into a Mac and stay in it for excess of 3 or 4 years, rather than the shorter upgrade timelines on Windows boxes for some.

There is a big jump form 1GB of RAM to 2GB of RAM, so my first suggestion would be to make that jump before considering the upgrade to a totally new machine. If you are going to try and solve your concern with a new iMac, my feeling is that you will need to jump to at least the 2.8GHz model if I understand that you are on a 17" model with 2.0GHz processor. Even on Windows-based machines, in this era of multi-GHz processors, I question making a leap, when based only on speed, that is anything less than a 500MHz increase in clock-speed. Architectural shifts plus clockspeed increases are where you will see the biggest jumps. I will admit that my statement becomes arguable when you consider that your current machine is most likely on a 667MHz Front-Side Bus (FSB). The newer iMacs you are considering are on a 1GHz FSB, thereby multiplying the factor of pure, linear speed increase experienced if you were to jump from your current iMac. My own subjective thoughts, though, are that unless you jump into the 2.8 or 3.06GHz model, your experience will not be worthy of the $1500+ required to make the transition.

I also think you might improve your experience by trying to move to Leopard if you are still running Tiger.

A memory upgrade to 2GB would be relatively simple and cheap enough, plus the $130 or so for the Leopard package.

The entry level 24” iMac is $1800 simoleons, and I question this expenditure to replace a machine, and specifically a Mac, that is a little over a year old. It may be worth bumping your memory and transitioning to Leopard to the tune of about $200, and wait until next year to make a more significant jump on the iMac platform, or even by a current 24” iMac next year at the reduced prices that will be available in the refurb section of the Apple Store if you want to make the jump and save some cheddar.

These are just my entering thoughts. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I am will chime in and either corroborate or dismiss my concerns, and you will come away with a few perspectives to weigh on. Best of luck and if there is more data that helps in determining your requirements, pls let me know. Thanks.
- Vr/Zeuxidamas.

 

Thanks for the responses. To clarify a bit more:

I am running Tiger, so my thought (in terms of upgrading) would be memory and Leopard, that's about it. (so roughly $200 bucks). I don't do any gaming on my computer or anything else involving graphics (pretty much music, movie burning, and web surfing). I do find it to be slow in terms of multi-tasking so I'm assuming that the memory upgrade would help quite a bit.

In terms of buying, I would probably go refurbished 24" iMac (aluminum).

My two choices would be:

24" iMac with 1 GB memory and 2.4 GHZ processor for $1349 (would be more like 1400+ with the 2GB memory that I would upgrade myself

24" iMac with 2 GB memory and 2.8 GHZ processor for $1549

I'm not sure how much I could get for my current G5 Intel iMac but I imagine a pretty good amount.

I might also try and buy from eBay.

Lastly, I liked your idea of waiting and going for a higher end one in a year or so b/c that way I might go with a MacBook Pro with a very nice monitor (not feasible right now for me).

Thanks for the advice and I look forward to more.

 

OK, those are some significant clarifications. I did not realize that you were on a G5 Mac. When I Googled for 17" iMacs circa 2007, I came up with 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo equipped units, but I focused on the hits that were circa May of 2007. I reckon you maybe also got that one on refurb?

The memory upgrade will help with multi-tasking. While 2GB will certainly help, it may be worth it to see if that version of iMac can go higher. I assumed its max was 2GB, but I am strictly an Intel-era Mac-evellian. My understanding of OS X is that it does not suffer from the same memory ceilings as 32-bit versions of Windows, so more memory than 2GB is feasible in the OS, but it will be based on that piece of hardware's ability to accommodate more than 2GB in its memory slots.

Based on the price differentials you list below, I would pitch going for the higher end, which will only run you $100 more or so, and eliminates the need for the investment in your personal labor in cracking open the case and doing your own memory upgrade.

So now my recommendation hinges more on the financial aspects of the upgrade, vice the technical. I'd say that you have a viable technical reason for upgrading in order to make the leap into the Intel era. That is one of those architectural updates that net you more of a metric reason for upgrading than just the pure processor speed.

However, I question the dollar and cents/sense points of upgrading off of a platform that you have only been in for a little over a year. I would say that you have not received your full return on investment yet. Of course, staying in it longer will increase its depreciation and will lessen your potential resale value a year from now.

All in all, though, I'd say look to make your move next spring. Little is more aggravating than buying an Apple computer package at this point in the year when updates are likely around the corner in the next month or two. In March/April/May of next year, anything new from the MacWorld announcements will have hit the Apple Store, and refurb'd products will be that much cheaper.

Hope it helps and I hope others with more experience can layer more knowledgeable recommendations on top of my own. Thanks.
- Vr/Zeuxidamas.

 

"Alcohol and calculus don't mix... Don't drink and derive. " best quote ever

 

Danka Schein!!!