When is an iMac considered "old"--a candidate for replacement?
I've just experienced a broken-down Superdrive on my iMac, like the previous one, occuring 4 years after purchase. My use of the Superdrive was only for moderate burning of audio CD files in iTunes. This leads me to the question: when is an iMac considered "old" and therefore eligible for replacing with an upgraded version?
I've finally discovered the convenience and effectiveness of an inexpensive external optical drive--the Samsung S084 (33 bucks at Amazon). It seems more reliable, fast and dependable than my not-so-super Superdrive did when it was working! So at least this time I'm not as frazzled and desperate for a repair or new computer.
Looking at the current line-up of iMacs can be a daunting experience. I notice some going for $999, a price that can easily more than double once you start adding the options at Apple Store. But my perception is that my present 4-year-old machine is as fast as lightning (except when the Time-Warner cable is receiving heavy usage on my block). In fact, I sense no greater speed when using my new 11" Mac Air with Lion.
Still, I see reviews of current Apple offerings by users complaining about their "3-year-old iMacs." Mine is 4 years old. Is it considered a dinosaur? What improvements would I likely notice (besides a working Superdrive) if I invested $1000 to $2,500 or more in a current iMac? Since I'm seeing the same 21" machine configured EN3, EN5, EN7, I'm all the more confused. Perhaps the next line-up of iMacs (I've read we're at the mid-way point of the cycle - MacRumors is not recommending purchase yet) will clear up some of the confusion about all of the possiblities and exactly what an owner has a right to expect from each. Does anyone have a sense of the average lifetime of an iMac for "serious" users (primarily writing, internet, audio media--not photography or webcasting) and an opinion about the current line-up of iMacs (best configuration, the advantages compared to my present machine, the argument about when to purchase, whether now or after the next iMac release). I realize that 4 years isn't "new" (at my old school, our Macs were replaced every other year, leading me to believe that computers "age" at least 2-3 times faster than, say, a new automobile), but apart from the dead Superdrive, it doesn't exactly seem that "old" to me. But perhaps without knowing it, I'm sentencing myself to primitive computing compared to the EN7 Thunderbolt, etc., present-day technology. (Unless practical reasons argue for a 27" model, I'm still prone to prefer the 21" one).
Any info, advice appreciated,
Cap
iMac 2.4 GHz Intel, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
