I have been in Costco a few times and noticed the two models of 24" iMac have a $200 difference in price and the only obvious difference is two extra ports on the more expensive model. Is that really it?

(I know I could look it up, but I would rather discuss it with all you fine folks. )

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The $1449 model? If you are gonna do it .. spend the extra.

Gets the ports, extra Core, ethernet, second fan and touch ID keyboard.

Costco does give you an extra year of warranty, and more, if you buy with a costco... but if you arent really interested in that... they are $1399 at adorama, $50 less.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

More expensive one has the 8-core GPU while the less expensive one has the 7-core. Probably doesn't make much of a difference, less than 15% even under optimal conditions.

As per JDC, Costco gives you a second year of warranty. In addition, if you purchase it with a Costco Citi-card, you get an ADDITIONAL two years warranty, for a total of four years. Can't beat that.
I recently purchased the 512gb silver iMac from Costco for $1649. Three days later, they went on sale for $1499 - $150 off. I went online for a price adjustment and they issued a credit for the difference in price.
Of course, it's no longer on sale. You missed it by two days.

It's great Mac. Having only 8gb of RAM is not a problem. It has handled everything I've thrown at it without a stumble. I guess that's because of the SoC. No roadblocks between CPU, graphics and RAM. Apps just pop up on the screen.

Keep in mind that the cheaper one has only two Thunderbolt ports vs four ports on the others.

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richorlin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2021 06:48PM by richorlin.

Here's the metaphor for the base-model iMac...

Truth in advertising laws require auto-dealers to actually have stock of at least one street-legal vehicle conforming to the product they advertise.

In the 1970s, auto-dealers would advertise cars that retailed for $2,000 discounted as low as $500 bucks. With easy financing! Great way to bring in the suckers.

Those cars really existed... And to get them down to $500 they were stripped to the barest metal that could make it onto the road. Engines replaced with 2-cylinders, no air conditioning or seat belts, and in some cases seats swapped out for garden chairs. Sure, some people would really drive off the lot in one of those $500 cars, but nobody who had the slightest idea what he was doing would actually buy one.

The base-model iMac is one of those $500 cars.

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Sarcany
Truth in advertising laws require auto-dealers to actually have stock of at least one street-legal vehicle conforming to the product they advertise.

Even in the 1990's I used to see those ads with the small print "1 at this price", and I even bought a few of those because the "undesirable" model they were selling had a manual transmission which was exactly what I was looking for.

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GGD
Even in the 1990's I used to see those ads with the small print "1 at this price", and I even bought a few of those because the "undesirable" model they were selling had a manual transmission which was exactly what I was looking for.

Nowadays, a Manual Transmission is an extra cost option or not available on the entry level version!

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Eli Weisel

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham 1981

"Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise" - Barry Goldwater

The difference between an entry level 24" iMac, and even the tiniest upgraded model is so enormous, and for so little extra money, it's just insane. Especially back when they were all Intel models.

I think the entry level iMac is a fine machine for many purposes. Not a $500 car at all. Given cloud-based file management, I could use one as a daily driver for all of my office work.

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sekker
I think the entry level iMac is a fine machine for many purposes. Not a $500 car at all. Given cloud-based file management, I could use one as a daily driver for all of my office work.

Agreed.

For a vast majority of users that consider one -- primarily residential -- its got plenty of everything... even with 2 ports and no ethernet.

My teenagers have never seen/used an ethernet cable, (or an SD card) and prob don't even know you can get net any other way than wireless. Everything is in the cloud. google docs, schoolwork, photos, movies, music, etc. the idea of a "backup" or external drive is foreign to them.

This is the base iMac (and MBA) demographic.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

I... just pulled the trigger this morning on the top of the three 'basic' models in green (which, unfortunately, Costco said was unavailable when I went to hit the complete transaction button, so off to the mothership I went).

So... do eet!

(and leader)

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Z
I... just pulled the trigger this morning on the top of the three 'basic' models in green (which, unfortunately, Costco said was unavailable when I went to hit the complete transaction button, so off to the mothership I went).
So... do eet!
(and leader)

huh? Am I reading that right? You bought from apple vs costco?

So $50 more, and no second year warranty?

its only $1599 at adorama... $100 less... [prices.appleinsider.com]

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

<<Engines replaced with 2-cylinders>>>

Puh-leeze.

When I tried to seal the deal with Costco, they said the unit I was interested in was unavailable. Tried a couple of different ways but it wouldn't go thru. As I'm in AK, some of the other places eat up those lower prices with shipping to the Last Frontier.

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jdc

Quote
Z
I... just pulled the trigger this morning on the top of the three 'basic' models in green (which, unfortunately, Costco said was unavailable when I went to hit the complete transaction button, so off to the mothership I went).
So... do eet!
(and leader)

huh? Am I reading that right? You bought from apple vs costco?

So $50 more, and no second year warranty?

its only $1599 at adorama... $100 less... [prices.appleinsider.com]

Just for the record, I'm really not an iMac guy and I wouldn't want to give up my 32" monitor for a 24". [And don't tell me I could run a larger external monitor because that would be dumb. ]

I was just curious about the difference in price (I noticed the 7-core vs 8-core but forgot about that).

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