Upgrade or Buy New PC?

NightDragon

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supabeast

Contact your school and find out what they use there. Most art schools are Mac-centric, and make no concessions to PC users at all, so getting a PC could be a big mistake. Also, if you'll be using a computer for schoolwork (other than word processing) find out what software you'll be using in classes—even in a mixed Mac/PC environment, you might have a major that's all Mac or all PC.

LaCabra

Definitely get a new PC. Upgrading that mac won't get you far at all.

Sam

I'm not sure how much selling the imac would fetch you, but an intel imac would be like a new PC and a new mac. Or just get a macbook instead of a new PC.
I'm not a mac zealot, but I can't think of any reason why you'd get another PC if you like using your mac more.

corcorigan

Now if you're going to an arts college, you should explain to your parents you really need one of the new 24" iMacs, with eyeTV so you can watch TV too. It'll help you on your course, or something. Some excuse anyway.

Stick a 17" one next to a 24" one and the 17" one looks like a child's toy.

Szechuanosaurus

I don't think you could upgrade the iMac even if you wanted to. Maybe squeeze in a bit more RAM and get OSX, but that's about it.

However, as supabeast says, I'd hesitate to just buy a PC instead. What sort of art course exactely are you transferring to? Fine Art? Graphic Design? Illustration? 3D Animation?

NightDragon

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EggyToast

They're more expensive than a bargain-bin PC, but the prices are pretty equivalent for equivalent hardware. As in, they don't really make commodity hardware that works like an iMac, nor stuff as small as the MacMini. And Core2Duo Windows laptops aren't exactly any cheaper than Apple laptops (and usually have gimped FireWire or crappy video cards).

But ignore all of the price comparison stuff. Look how long you've been using your current computers. You don't seem to really fall into the "constant upgrade" trap, and you seem pleased with working a computer hard even if it's older. Under those circumstances, you'll probably get a LOT further on an intel mac. Use OS X for years and years, occasionally booting into Windows if you need to.

I think what's a better solution is to look at how much money your mom was willing to spend. If she's only planning on spending $500, for instance, a barebones Windows machine will both a) be better than your current windows machine and b) probably suck. So it's kind of a wash. But if she's willing to pay about the same as an iMac, then I think it's a no brainer to go with the iMac.

If you were hardcore Windows or really into gaming, it'd be a harder sell since your future campus is pretty even. But if you use OS X almost all of the time, I can't imagine why you'd want to go to Windows 100% of the time.

Of course if you bought a new computer, you'd get Vista on it.

Malkor

Could it be you like using the Mac more because really there's not much you can do with your PC? See if any of your friends have newer systems than the one you have. Go to a Mac store or a Best Buy. Go to the BB first though, 'cause Mac Stores make it so you want to hand them your wallet and walk away with the closest MacBook Pro.

NightDragon

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Brodo Faggins

I'd say go for an Intel Mac. You already know about the advantages of Apple hardware over their PC counterparts, and you can always natively boot into Windows should the need arise.

Educational discount + refurbished unit = should fall into your mom's price range.

edit: I should mention that refurbished units are broken units that Apple takes in and repairs completely. They also consist of units that customers didn't want and returned to Apple stores. They are as solid as new machines, sometimes even moreso because they have been repaired.

NightDragon

Brodo Faggins wrote: »

Educational discount + refurbished unit = should fall into your mom's price range.

Oh man, I hadn't even considered that either.

See, now this is why I post here. Thanks for all the advice guys, I think I've got a good idea of what I need now.

supabeast

Does Apple give a student discount on refurbs and display units now? I thought student discounts only Apply to new machines.

blanknogo

I'm fairly sure there are no educational discounts on refurbished models.

NightDragon

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Food?

NightDragon wrote: »

For an Intel Mac, booting in Windows would be identical to working in Windows on a regular PC, right? In other words, I can have my cake and eat it too - booting in OS X when I want to do artstuffs, and booting in Windows on occaission if I feel the need to play a game? Regular PC-based games would be able to be installed on the Intel Mac with no issues? That sounds splendid.

Yes. You download the Boot Camp installer, which will partition the hard drive to whatever you want, make you a drivers disk for all the Mac hardware (pretty sure iSight is included now), and have you put in the Windows CD, and it'll install it for you. From then on out, Windows runs exactly like it does on a PC. Hell, all my games have so far run a whole lot better on my Macbook Pro vs. my desktop at home.