narf
Sgt. Maj. Buzzkill
One thing hard to put into money terms is the ease of upgrading/swapping things. When I hear stuff like "my battery is not removable" or "my desktop only has one drive bay" it makes me shrug.
I've just done a quick snoop around, the low-end 27" iMac is 1700?. A quick speccing of the core components gets me to 520?, that lacks minor details like webcam, wifi, or bluetooth. If you want all of them you're looking at maybe 600-650?. That leaves around 1000? for the monitor.
Now, if you want more powwweeeerrrrrr!!! than the low-end you can always upgrade it at Apple. However, upgrades are costly. Going for the 3.6GHz i5 is 180? extra at apple, 170? when picking parts (ok I admit, bad example). Getting 8GB RAM instead of 4GB is an extra 180? if you want 4x2GB, an extra 360? if you want 2x4GB - when picking parts it is an extra 50? for 4x2GB, an extra 100? (or less, too lazy to go through everything) for 2x4GB. In other words, upgrading RAM saves you 130-260? when not going with the rotten apple.
Upgrading the 1TB HDD to 2TB is 135? for the mac, 40? when picking parts - 95? saved.
Getting an additional 256GB SSD is 675? at apple, 430? when picking parts - 245? saved, even more when going for a 120GB SSD, that's more than enough when paired to a 1TB HDD.
Those few performance mods added together would save you 610? - almost enough to pay for the monitor.
On the list above:
- I'll wager you don't need a 700W PSU.
- You're comparing a quad 2.8GHz with a duo 3.2GHz, not quite fair
- You missed the GPU?
This is my attempt at matching the base 27" iMac's core components:
https://pic.armedcats.net/n/na/narf/2010/12/05/notimac.png
Sums up at 517?. Even with the list price for the 27" Dell you'd be 350? under the iMac's 1700? (or 1500? with 12% discount, 150? under).
If you still have a case, maybe a DVD drive, etc you will obviously save more.
Also, considered this? http://ts.fujitsu.com/products/displays/p_line/p27t-6-ips.html
729? at Alternate, too lazy to look for a UK shop. I'd go for the Dell because I can get it for under 700?, but if you can't get that in the UK then this may be a viable option.
I've just done a quick snoop around, the low-end 27" iMac is 1700?. A quick speccing of the core components gets me to 520?, that lacks minor details like webcam, wifi, or bluetooth. If you want all of them you're looking at maybe 600-650?. That leaves around 1000? for the monitor.
Now, if you want more powwweeeerrrrrr!!! than the low-end you can always upgrade it at Apple. However, upgrades are costly. Going for the 3.6GHz i5 is 180? extra at apple, 170? when picking parts (ok I admit, bad example). Getting 8GB RAM instead of 4GB is an extra 180? if you want 4x2GB, an extra 360? if you want 2x4GB - when picking parts it is an extra 50? for 4x2GB, an extra 100? (or less, too lazy to go through everything) for 2x4GB. In other words, upgrading RAM saves you 130-260? when not going with the rotten apple.
Upgrading the 1TB HDD to 2TB is 135? for the mac, 40? when picking parts - 95? saved.
Getting an additional 256GB SSD is 675? at apple, 430? when picking parts - 245? saved, even more when going for a 120GB SSD, that's more than enough when paired to a 1TB HDD.
Those few performance mods added together would save you 610? - almost enough to pay for the monitor.
On the list above:
- I'll wager you don't need a 700W PSU.
- You're comparing a quad 2.8GHz with a duo 3.2GHz, not quite fair
- You missed the GPU?
This is my attempt at matching the base 27" iMac's core components:
https://pic.armedcats.net/n/na/narf/2010/12/05/notimac.png
Sums up at 517?. Even with the list price for the 27" Dell you'd be 350? under the iMac's 1700? (or 1500? with 12% discount, 150? under).
If you still have a case, maybe a DVD drive, etc you will obviously save more.
Also, considered this? http://ts.fujitsu.com/products/displays/p_line/p27t-6-ips.html
729? at Alternate, too lazy to look for a UK shop. I'd go for the Dell because I can get it for under 700?, but if you can't get that in the UK then this may be a viable option.
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