[delfmen]

Hi guys, I just was at the apple store and I had a huge change of heart. For the past two weeks or so I have had my heart set on a 17” powerbook mainly because I am sick of desktops and all the wires. Well today I got to see the iMac 20” system and I was really impressed. It is better for my purposes because I will be using it primarily as a desktop. And it is still transportable in case I need to DJ or go home from college. This is a big change and I was just seeking some other opinions. The specs seem to indicate it’s a better system all around. A few questions being that I haven’t really researched this machine at all:

Is it easy to open it up and install extra memory and hard drive? I have two options either order through apple ($180 to upgrade from 250gb to 400 gb serial ata && more money for ram which I am positive is a lot cheaper online). I don’t want to mess up a brand new system nor do I want to have trouble installing os x on a new hdd. Is this difficult or worth doing and saving the money? If it is worth doing myself what brands are recommended for hdd and ram?

Is the apple protection plan worth getting? It is $119 for me as a student.

is this a relatively new model? i'm assuming it is because its a g5 but i dont want to buy something and then have a new one come out shortly after.

Any other comments or suggestions on 17” powerbook vs 20” imac?

Thanks a lot!

[Randman]

DJing? You are thinking of lugging a 20" iMac around?

If there's any chance that you'll need a portable, get the PowerBook, It's a great machine. If not, the iMac does offer slightly better specs as it's a G5 and you can bump up the hard drive size.

[uicandrew]

although i am new to the whole mac thing, one of my friends who is a mac expert steered me away from the imac because they have been having a lot of problems, especially with the midplane and logic board. on the other hand, the powerbook has been around for a while. perhaps the cooling problem with the g5 has not been totally solved.

just my 2 cents. there's also a pdf on the apple website which details all the upgrades and changes you can do without voiding the warranty. essentially, you can take out the copper colored screws, but not the silver colored one (or vice versa).

good luck. i personally bought a COMPLETELY decked out mac mini instead of a imac g5.

[delfmen]

i actually think i might just order it all from apple, as the warranty will be void if i add non-apple hardware they say. so i would get the following shipped including tax for $2692.81 (student discount)

iMac G5 20" 2.0GHz SuperDrive
Part Number: Z0C0
400GB Serial ATA drive
2GB DDR400 SDRAM - 2 DIMMs
Apple Wireless Keyboard & Mouse + Mac OS - U.S. English
SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD+RW/CD-RW)
56Kbps Modem
AppleCare Protection Plan (3yrs)

and i will get a free ipod which i can ebay for 200. so thats minus 200.

[MaxPower2k3]

non-apple memory certainly does not void the warranty. And i'm fairly sure the hard drive is the same. you can save tons of money by ordering those elsewhere. And, despite its slender physique, the 20" iMac is not portable. unless you consider 38 pounds portable... but for that purpose, the powerbook is much better suited, at a sixth of the weight.

It is very easy to open up. place it face-down on the screen, loosen 3 screws on the bottom, and the whole back lifts off. you can get to the memory, the hard drive, and everything else in the computer.

[delfmen]

thats what i thought, but the guy on the phone (800myapple) told me otherwise.

hmm, gotta find this in writing somewhere.