Time to buy a new iMac or not?

[Raven]

As a semi retired graphic designer, I've been deliberating about this step for over a year. Finally decided to buy a refurbished 21.5" iMac from apple.com 2 days ago.
3.0 GHz quad core i5. 8mb RAM. 1 TB Hard drive. 
$1419 Cdn funds or $1061 US funds.
BUT...
I've just learned that the next new Macs have just been introduced. I tried to cancel my order, but it's on its way. Should I send my new purchase back and wait a week or so to see what better refurbished models might come up? Or not bother?
 I never know the right time to buy!

[jchuzi]

Ah! Murphy is alive and well. One corollary of Murphy's Law is that, as soon as you have bought something, a new model will appear that is either better, cheaper, or both. IMHO, don't worry about it. The refurb that you selected will serve you for many years, so don't eat your heart out.

FWIW, the same thing happened to me when I bought my current refurb iMac. I have no regrets.

[Raven]

Whew! Sigh! And now anxiously waiting. Not regretting... maybe! 

[jchuzi]

A possible advantage to buying a refurb is that Apple has (likely) checked it thoroughly before selling it, so it should be in perfect condition.

Good luck with your new computer and enjoy! 

[jcarter]

I bought a re-furb long ago from another vendor. It worked for a good long while but began to crash. So I asked here, and somebody said, 'check the serial numbers against this list'. I did and found it indeed had motherboard and power supply issues. I had replaced mine 3 times, but Apple paid for it. But the AppleCare rep said, 'if this happens again, you are entitled to a new Mac'. It happened again, so I sent my 21 inch one in, and got a brand new 24 inch one! Its about 12 or 13 years old, so I dont use it much.

Now I have 2, 27 inch Macs both around 2010, egads almost 9 years old!

I just had to upgrade the OS on one to run TurboTax, and now it wont run some of my favorite old programs.

So the option is,,,,,,,buy one of these new ones just hit the market?
And give one of these with to somebody, after I strip it of my pictures, programs, and stuff.

[Paddy]

I'm late to this discussion (just returned from 3 weeks in Chile & Argentina) but I guess my only concern is the 8GB of RAM - which I think is the bare minimum these days. Of course, it depends on what you're doing, but Photoshop et all do tend to be memory-hungry apps. For that reason alone, I wouldn't consider the 21" iMac - I want to be able to add more RAM if necessary. I also love the 27" of screen real estate. Of course, it's a bit more expensive...

This is the one I'd recommend if you can swing it...https://www.apple.com/ca/shop/product/G0TP0LL/A/Refurbished-27-inch-iMac-34GHz-quad-core-Intel-Core-i5-with-Retina-5K-display?

[jchuzi]

An advantage of the 27" iMac is that the user can add memory. If you do that, the memory that you can buy from third-party vendors is considerably cheaper than memory you buy from Apple, and is just as reliable (most memory comes with a lifetime warranty).

I did that when I bought my iMac. It came with 8 GB RAM and I added another 8 GB which I bought from OWC.

[jcarter]

We love our 2 27 inches, and we also have bought cheap memory from OWC and sticked it into them. Photoshop runs very happy.
What is bothering me is both these old machines run very fast, and they are so very stable, so I really hate to upgrade to a new one, when these do the job for me.
It was just having to move the OS up to run TurboTax which made some of my favourite older programs quit running.

Dilemma for sure.

[Raven]

Paddy,
re: "This is the one I'd recommend if you can swing it..."
It's already unavailable! 

I've had several refurbished Macs and never had a problem.
Still waiting for my 21.5" iMac to arrive. This one does come with 8 gb RAM. Can I or an Mac store add more RAM later?

[jchuzi]

Only the 27" iMac has user replaceable memory. You'll have to take the 21.5" to Apple to have them do it, unless you are either very brave or very foolish. I don't know if this applies to your 21.5" model, but I, personally, wouldn't try it. OWC installation video. Note that OWC recommends professional installation!

[Raven]

So based on the RAM upgrade option, I’ve just ordered a refurbished 27”. Will have to send the 21.5 unit back. More questions later when I transfer CS6 apps, fonts, and work files.  There have always been glitches. 
Thanks TS!

[jchuzi]

For app compatibility (and undoubtedly, your new iMac will come with Mojave installed), consult https://roaringapps.com

[jcarter]

Thank you for roaring apps!
 Im looking at older programs I absolutely love and see that some arent going to work if I update or get a new Mac.
Thats one reason I always keep an older Mac so I can run these oldsters.

[Xairbusdriver]

Hardware is not the only thing that "marches onward" at Apple. I started trying (the operative word, indeed) to learn Swift back in 2017. I'm now on my 4th(at least) book/course and still working on the basics. Meanwhile, Xcode (the app in which one writes and compiles Swift) has moved from version 9 to 10.2, Swift itself has moved from 4 to 5 with 5.1 already in beta. I dumped a couple of books/courses which claimed to be "updated" when I found they really weren't.   The faster I run, the further back I get... Fortunately, I don't have to depend on my learning to pay the bills! This "learning" is purely for fun! At least that's what I keep telling myself! It does keep me out of traffic.

[jcarter]

We love learning too, at our age, it keeps the old brains running. As our grandkids grow older and more independent, we get to spend less time with them sadly.
My husband studies constantly, usually history, and fascinating subjects which we want to learn about. For example, we know little about religions, and took a course in the 'history of religions'. It was totally incredible! Now he is studying 'the state of surveillance', thats another one which is fascinating.
And the TedTalks are another great source of finding interesting things. The internet is education and fun if we use it correctly. Thats one reason why I love Techsurvivors.

Grandma sticks with more techie stuff, and gardening. Also placing dogs needing homes, Labs in particular.