Best place to buy my new iMac?

It depends on how far away the Apple store is from you. luckily, for me, its 5 minutes away from my college. You can ask questions there, as the local CompUSA here, doesn't have anyone who can answer questions for you. Apple stores usually have better parts available for service, shall your iMac need a repair.

That really depends on the CompUSA. My local CompUSA has a full time Apple employee in the applestore within the store.

If you plan on doing any cto changes then you really need to use the online Applestore. If not and you want to save taxes and possibly get a slight discount, I would use amazon.com.


Glor

I have bought most of mine at Mac Mall. Never had a problem withi service at the Apple store if I needed to have it fixed. For me it is the best option as the nearest Apple store is over 75 miles away. Buying at the online Apple store is a good way to go also. I used Mac Mall because they were offering 12 months same as cash so I could use thier money until the last minute and leave mine in the bank to draw intrest! If the online Apple store had offered the same deal I probably would have bought it there.
I did buy an eMac at the Apple store for work in order to take advantage of government pricing on it. It was quicker than sending all the required paperwork to Apple that was needed for a government purchase. I would have done iut at Mac Mall but they were out of stock on the model I wanted at the time.

You really cana't go wrong no matter how you do it. As others have posted, if you need a customized model you have to go to the online store. If you want an off the shelf model then shop for the best price. Apple supplies the warranty so they will fix it as long as you buy it from an authorized dealer.

I have used MacMall for various purchases over the years and have had good luck with them. They usually discount Macs slightly and typically have deeply discounted add ons like printers or software bundles. However, you can not custom configure the machine. So, for a stock machine they offer a good value.

To custom configure the machine you need to use the online apple store. The Apple store can also help you with a custom order but it will be shipped from Apple. I just ordered a 20" iMac through Apple online (custom configuration) and received the computer yesterday about a week after ordering - and that includes the holidays! The whole process was very easy.

Good Luck.

Intel 2.33Mhz 20" iMac Mac OS X (10.4.8)

How do you like it so far? I ordered mine yesterday, (2.33hz w/256VRAM) and hope to get it next week. Is all well with your 20"? Any dead pixels? Fan running to much? Things like that.

-Apple //GS

So far, very happy. No problems to speak of and the set-up and transfer actually has gone well. I have not chosen which system to use on the PC side: Parallels, VM Ware, or Codeweavers which I just heard about.

Good luck with your new Mac.