What is a better buy for a new college student for computers?

[|MP|Nomad]

Definetly the iMac.  You have a faster chip and its a G5.  PLus, you have a much much better video card at 128 mb, major difference with the other ones if you decide to do any high rez video or graphics or even gaming.

Take advatage of yer Education Discount and get Apple Care with it, you were gonna spend the $ anyways or just hold off for a few months and then buy it within the year's warrranty.

Yes, the PB gives you portability, and I love that (I have a PB), but to get more bang for yer buck, the iMac is a much better choice machine....although, the most important question to ask is, what will you be using yer Mac for?

[BFG]

Still don't know what he needs the mac for.... don't see how its possible to decide what is the best buy if you don't know what the req's are.

[theweakspot]

well, part of the reason it was a deal was because it was older stock.... check your mactracker, the first iMac 20" came with a 1.8ghz

http://www.clubmac.com/clubmac/shop/detail~dpno~495891.asp


BFG is right.... when i bought my (at the time) brand new dual 867 G4 I was just about to enter college.  I thought to myself... where do i see myself using it?

Taking notes in class?  no.
working in the library? no.
hauling my cpu home for the weekends?  no.
graphic design and final cut?  yes.

it was easy for me to choose the desktop over the iBook.

[Blitz]

Well, for me, at the University of Wyoming, and having a major in Computer Engineering, I need a fast computer to do programming (I'm also planning on getting VPC 7).  The thing is I have an iBook that I will be using for notes and presentations, but a laptop can go so far.  I'm getting an iMac G5 because, one, I haven't had a new computer for over 10 years. Two, I hate running 7 applications on my iBook and it being bogged down with shit. For example, I had Word, Excel, GameRanger, iChat, Safari, iTunes, and Airport Admin Utility all open. When I would type a sentence in Word, it would take a minute or so to write it out. Same with Excel and GameRanger. iChat would just refuse to work, and Safari would be bogged down that I would go take a shit, grab something to drink and eat, and watch TV for an hour before the page loads. iTunes control just stopped... So I really need something faster for my life-style on the computer.

Also, Crypt, there is no FLIPPIN' WAY that I can download porn, UW has one of the best IT guys out there... It'll be hard to do anything that's downloading or seeding.  Plus, I'm talking to the Activities Board to see if I can get a Podcast going for UW and maybe a webradio for Friday Night Fever...

Plus, I can't forget about getting better games than just Ghost Recon...

Blitz