[newmacnow]

I know this has been discussed in other topics but I just had to ask for myself.
I have a B&W G3/350MHz Mac that I got back in 1998. It is still very useful and has a 900 MHZ CPU upgrade, 512MB RAM, Radeon 7000 and an additional drive in it. We run 10.4.8 although it is a little slow.

We mostly use the computer for web, banking, word processing, an iPod and a few light games and a little iMovie and iPhoto. I used to be into games but a family and a old computer have gotten me away from that.

I was in the market and going to get just a 24" iMac with the 2GB and better graphics card. But with all the pictures and music we deal with I was concerned with the limited hard drive space and if I was going to get external drives it defeats the purpose of the "clean look" of just having an iMac sitting on the desk. I would be interested in using Boot Camp and Parallels. I also am pretty hung up on back ups so I like alot of diversified hardware for backing up. I also like to update to a new OS by testing it first on another partition or drive. I think I would need to have at least 3 or 4 partitions plus another hard drive to do all I like.

So I started evaluating the MacPro. I configured a unit that would allow me to eventually add hard drives and other upgradablility for an extra $900 or so. Including buying a 19" monitor for the unit. Wife says go for it, but I am still a little uncertain bout spending $3000+ on a computer that I may never get back into gaming although our 4 year old son might get there eventually.

We view this purchase as something that needs to last us 8 or more years and I am afraid an iMac will not have the ability to grow as the OS changes. Will an iMac be able to run 10.8 or 10.9 or maybe even 11.0? I think the MacPro would have that ability more because if necessary I could get a new CPU and graphics set in it eventually and I could eventually pump the RAM up to the 16 GB. Kinda like I did with the G3. Where as people I know with iMacs from the same era as my G3 tower are still on OS 9 and can't do web banking because they can't run the latest browsers. And OSX would really be a drag on their older iMacs.

I do use iMovie to compile video and pictures of our son once a year to create a little movie of the past year as he grows up. I have done it for each of his first three years, but this year I have not, because the G3 is just not up to the task anymore, it takes weeks to render all the transitions and add titles so I have skipped this year figuring when I buy a new Mac in January after MacWorld I will be able to do it alot faster on the new computer.

Any responses will be appreciated.

[C.A.T.S. CEO]

a 24" iMac is perfect for you

[P]

8 years is a VERY long time in computing. 8 years ago was late -98. The iMac of the time was the original one, which can just about barely run Mac OS X 10.4, but the tight RAM max of it might make that a bad idea. Add one year and you get the first slotloading iMac which, when upgraded to the max of what it can take, will still run Tiger. I have one, I know. A PC from the same time would be a Pentium II, which might take 384 MB RAM or so (I know an Aptiva from that time that I recently upgraded maxed out at 384 MB RAM). Running Vista on that would be painful, and even XP is a stretch.

Will an iMac of today run the latest and greatest 8 years from now? Impossible to say. Note that you CAN upgrade the CPU in today's iMacs, which will extend the usable life of it. It will be limited to 3 GB of usable RAM by its chipset, and I think that that will be the biggest problem in the long term.

If I were you, I'd buy a 20" or 24" iMac and upgrade it after 5 years instead of 8 years. The 7600GT in the upgraded version is an excellent board for gaming today, and I think it will still be able to squeeze by 5 years down the line. If you're really aiming for more, stick it out with the old one a few more months. The next chipset revision (965M, or Santa Rosa) will lift the 3 GB memory restriction, and I think it's a safe bet that Apple will release a new iMac based on it (or the desktop equivalent 965 if they move to Conroe) in Q2'07 or thereabouts.

[centerchannel68]

Get a 24" iMac. Keep it 2-3 years. Sell it. Use that cash to buy another iMac. Rinse, repeat. Problem solved.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by centerchannel68 

Get a 24" iMac. Keep it 2-3 years. Sell it. Use that cash to buy another iMac. Rinse, repeat. Problem solved.

Don't forget to dry your hands off in between iMacs.

[SciFrog]

You might be better off buying a 20'' iMac, then swap it every 3 years or so, chepaer in the end, 8 years is an eternity...

[larrinski]

Though I have an 20" intel imac, I don't like the fact that it is not very upgradable...If you want a computer for 8 years, you will more than likely need the MacPro for the ability to easily upgrade. You can add hardrives(lots of them), add more RAM etc... I love my imac, but I only plan on about 3 to 4 years of use on it until I sell it and buy a new one... The MacPro also allows you to use different monitors and upgrade that as you go.

[newmacnow]

I appreciate all your responses so far and for the most part I am back on the iMac as my primary choice. A couple of you mention the "sell the iMac and get a new one in a few years solution". I have never been one to understand why anyone would buy a 3 or 4 year old computer and I have no idea how I would go about selling one. Not a big fan of eBay. I know almost no one in my family or friends that use Macs so there is no market there either. I just know that although I like to buy a cheap computer I could never bring myself to buy a 3 or 4 year old computer so how many people would give me any reasonable amount of money for an older computer.

Not complaining about your responses, just wondering.

Thanks again.

[Big Mac]

Most people do not upgrade their computers - they like expandability, but they often don't do anything with it. The only thing that bothers me about an iMac as a long term computer is the built-in display because displays do have to be replaced on occasion. The iMacs are a great value proposition, and if you can deal with the built-in display, an iMac is probably a better choice than the Mac Pros, unless expansion slots are a requirement. I would certainly wait until Macworld before making any decision, however.

[pyrite]

Originally Posted by newmacnow 

I appreciate all your responses so far and for the most part I am back on the iMac as my primary choice. A couple of you mention the "sell the iMac and get a new one in a few years solution". I have never been one to understand why anyone would buy a 3 or 4 year old computer and I have no idea how I would go about selling one. Not a big fan of eBay. I know almost no one in my family or friends that use Macs so there is no market there either. I just know that although I like to buy a cheap computer I could never bring myself to buy a 3 or 4 year old computer so how many people would give me any reasonable amount of money for an older computer.

Not complaining about your responses, just wondering.

Thanks again.

you'd be surprised, it's amazing what people will pay for a second hand mac. even if you dont like ebay, its a very good option, provided you have an ebay account with enough feedback for people to trust (10+ points and 100% positive feedback is a must for selling expensive items like an iMac - otherwise you'll get a poor return).
once people start bidding on a mac, often they end up lusting for the exact one they've found for no particular reason, thinking they're very clever to find it, then paying way more than they should have.. i've sold 2 macs on ebay with great results.


in my opinion, this is the most cost-effective way to always have a new mac...

buy a refurb from the apple store (current model of course), most people on this forum will tell you they're an even better option than a brand new mac as they have been touched by human hands and thoroughly checked over, and they're usually within a few weeks of brand new anyway. they come with a full 12 month warranty and are roughly 20-25% cheaper than retail.
buy the base model of whatever you're looking at, eg basic 20" imac or basic mac pro, as you'll never recoup the additional cost of the high-level/BTO options when you resell. (ram is an exception, a little extra is worth it and will encourage higher bids... 3rd party ram is much cheaper!)
just before the warranty runs out (11 months in), sell it with a 1 month warranty, encouraging higher bids again, and you'll get within a couple of hundred dollars of what you originally paid.. then buy a new refurb, current model, start again.
this way, for a couple of hundred dollars a year, you can always have a new mac, and never have to rely on your trusty 6 year old G3 again... sentimental value can be a liability

in the long run this is MUCH cheaper than going all out every 6 years and buying a $3000 machine.. by the 6th year it's almost worthless, you've lost almost $500 per year, and you'll be stuck on an old machine for most of the time anyway. i'm fortunate enough to be able to salary sacrifice macs through my work as well, so believe it or not i break even using this method (after the tax break of course). i'm actually making money by regularly upgrading

[dn15]

My idea for your situation is similar to pyrite's.

Consider a refurbished Mac mini (current, full warranty, but already discounted) with maxed-out RAM, a large third-party display, and use external drives for backup. Also, if your desk happens to have a closed door for hiding a tower, stick the mini and drives in there for the "clean look" you wanted with the iMac.

With this setup, you swap out the mini itself every two to three years, hopefully with a loss of only a couple hundred dollars each time. Keep the same nice, large LCD and external storage like you would if you had a tower. If you're lucky, you may be able to keep your extra RAM, too.

This way you'll always have a reasonably recent computer (including better bus speed, etc. which you can never change on a tower no matter how much you upgrade.) In the long-term it should save you money because you won't be spending hundreds of dollars on a new video card and processor as the resale value of the tower gets closer and closer to zero.

[centerchannel68]

Sounds like a plan... only downside is the videocard on the mini is so SO horrible. If there was some way to upgrade it I'd be all over one. I just want fast videocards... I don't need 4 cpus and a gigantic case.

[dn15]

Originally Posted by centerchannel68 

Sounds like a plan... only downside is the videocard on the mini is so SO horrible. If there was some way to upgrade it I'd be all over one. I just want fast videocards... I don't need 4 cpus and a gigantic case.

I know how you feel, but then you mentioned you are only a light gamer. If that is the case then I don't think it matters much. I use a MacBook with the same video hardware and it runs just fine. Even the onboard Intel video should be lightyears ahead of the Radeon 7000 in your G3.

[macintologist]

The Intel GMA chipset actually fares quite nicely with older games. I play Quake 3, Unreal Tournament '99, Payback, Dungeon Siege on my Macbook and they are play beautifully. Just don't play the latest games and you'll be fine with the Intel graphics.