TLUG Mailing List

On Thu, Nov 19, 2020 at 17:23 Benjamin Kowarsch <trijezdci@example.com> wrote:

On Thu, Nov 19, 2020 at 3:22 PM Deepika Ghuriani <deepika.ghuriani@example.com> wrote:
Sorry for the confusion if I have created any with my words ...I just meant to say that I have decided to invest in an iMAC considering all the points but at the moment it has 4 weeks waiting time. Is this wait time after effect of co-vid .. or was the scenario same before covid too ?
What they told us in the shop was that iMAC machines are assembled in China only once we specify and complete our order and then they ship it. This was something new to me

Is there any pressing reason why you believe you need to buy the latest model?

With Macs, the best buys are always those models that are being replaced. And this is true for new machines that the shops want to clear at a discount before the new models come in as well as for second hand machines that shops take in as trade-ins from customers who buy the new ones and then resell them refurbished with full warranty for a fraction of the price of a new one.

Unless you have an absolutely extreme set of requirements or you merely want to buy bragging rights for the "latest and greatest" (which won't last long) you are wasting money buying new and you are wasting extra money buying the latest models right at a moment when their release causes many shops to sell the previous models at a discount to clear stocks.

My advice would be to visit Akihabara on a weekend (or whenever you have your day off) and check out the many stores that sell Macs both new and second hand. They always display the model numbers which you can type into your mobile phone or tablet to look up their technical details including what limitations they may have in terms of upgradeability to get a sense whether or not you are getting a good deal.

With iMacs, the primary limiting factor is the maximum amount of RAM they can take. Often you can find a second hand machine that was the top model of the line several years ago at a bargain price. Such top of the line models can usually still be upgraded to sufficient RAM that will serve you for many years to come but the average shopper doesn't know this and the shops selling them don't really bother to mention it, let alone upgrade them which would dramatically increase the resale value. Sometimes you can get such a machine with a defect DVD drive which then causes the resale price to tank to an incredible bargain level. If you really need that DVD drive, you can buy an external USB based DVD drive for 3000-4000 yen, or if you must, you can have it replaced for about 12000 JPY at which point the total cost would still be a bargain.

I bought such a top-of-the-line second hand 27-inch iMac several years ago for 12.800 yen at Sofmap. It had only 8GB of RAM but could still be upgraded to 32GB and it had a broken DVD drive and came without a keyboard. Another such machine with 16GB, a working DVD and keyboard in the same shop was priced at 79.800 yen at that time and that wasn't such a bad deal either. These are the kinds of bargains you can get if you take your time and shop around. Don't be a fool and buy "latest and greatest" for bragging rights.

regards
benjamin

Re: [tlug] buying a iMAC