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Got my heart set on an iMac however I could do with spending a bit less than the retail price hence looking at 2nd hand. Is it worth getting a 2012/13 ish model to save a few hundred or just stump up for a new machine. With them being a closed system I've been told they're a little safer than buying a standard PC however I'm not in any way PC minded.
Used iMacs still command decent prices, there an STWer recently who was considering selling his for around £1000 and there where a few of us after it. Many people buy/sell used Apple products, far more than for Windows equipment, so it's a good endorsement of the quality and longevity of the kit. By "closed system" do you mean not tinkered with as you can add memory on an iMac and change the hard drive (more effort depending on model), so my point is they may have been opened up.
If you know a student or academic (teacher ?) you can get 10 or 15% off a new one, note base model generally considered poor spec, have a look on MacRumors buying guide,
Happy hunting.
Depends on what you want to do with it (and what spec it is in the first place). I reckon even for fairly intensive tasks you'd expect to get a couple of years out of something of that age but if you just want it for word processing, browsing, emails etc. then you should get a great deal longer.
I'm currently using a late 2010 model iMac daily for work which involves photoshop, illustrator some animation in after effects and although I'm in no immediate hurry I'll probably replace it when apple announces the next spec refresh.
As a follow up to @Mupett I am still using a 2009 Mac Mini, it now has 8gb RAM and a larger faster disk both of which I put in myself. The great thing with Apple is the annual OS upgrades are free and easy to do meaning you get the latest software and features even on older kit (within reason as eventually its not supported)
What size you after?
I've got a 2013 21.5" iMac in very good condition, standard spec, that I'm considering selling. For my needs, an older Mac Mini makes more sense (hence that's what I recently bought).
Thanks for the replies guys some sound advice! It's predominately going to be used for web and word processing however I'll also be doing video and photo editing so ideally want it smooth and powerful enough for that. I hadn't even given educational discount a thought, I'm a third year student!
Mboy when you have 5 minutes could you drop me an email about yours I could be interested
I just got a 27 inch one 2nd hand for 850 quid
I have always bought used macs and this is the first one that has ever broken down. So far it seems to have been repairable and still cost less. (The luck of the draw, It was fine for a month so I doubt seller would know.) A wee app for manual control of fan speed and we can keep it at below 37 degrees and see how it goes!
The i7 case and graphics cards are not great at dealing with heat and the leadfree solder can crack. Apple quietly extended the warranty on these. You could buy new and still have the same problem. It's not unknown.
Not so convinced about new incarnation of final cut pro...the jury is still out until dropped frame render issues are solved. manual searching and deleting of blank frames is not conducive to productivity!
You could also have a look at the refurb site [url= http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/browse/home/specialdeals ]here[/url]
Refurb site doesn't give student discount (I think!) so better off going new if you have education discount - works out similar in price.
What @cb says, you can't beat student discount. OP on the MBP I bought for my student daughter she got Apple Care really cheap (80% discount ?) so that was a no brainier. Price up the machine you want with student discount and check MacRumors for buying advice. For web and Mail my ancient 2009 Mini has enough horsepower, the wildcard for you is the graphics work whuch I have no experience of. My mini will do video conversion (eg .avi to .mk4) happily enough I just leave it running on large movie files, editing home shot films interactively may need more power.