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The iMac option... saves space, gets me a high-quality display, and I've every reason to believe this will suit my needs as a desktop. The other big advantage here over building a hackintosh: resale value.
I'd want a 27" 3.4GHz i7 Thunderbolt iMac, 32G of memory (from OWC?), and SSD (also from OWC?). Right now I can get a refurbished 27" 3.4GHz i7 with Radeon 6970M and a 1TB hard drive for $1869.00. The 32G of memory is $320 from OWC. The OWC SSD DIY Kit (suction cups, tools, and cable) is $45. The OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD is $320. That brings a total of $2554. And I can pretty much get going without the SSD, which makes it $2189.00. And the OWC RAM can be purchased 16G at a time, which brings it to $2031.00. Obviously I'd need an external backup drive or array, but I can worry about that later. In terms of saving my work, that's all in my source code repository (hosted on a machine in my basement).A problem with this route... the iMac stand puts the monitor way too high for my desk, since my desk has 8U of rack space in front of me (2 sets of 4U side-by-side) and a monitor shelf. I'll need a VESA mount adapter and a VESA mount that attaches to my desk. The VESA mount adapter is $39 from Apple. The iMac weighs 30.5 pounds, which means I need a fairly heavy duty arm. There's only one truly graceful arm solution for the iMac: the Boa from Monitors in Motion.
Looking at the total here... I could get a 2012 Mac Pro (sans additional memory) for about the same price, with a 6-core 3.33GHz Xeon, and use my existing monitors. I'm not sure where I'd place it other than on the floor like my exsting machine, and I'd be missing Thunderbolt, but at the moment I don't really need Thunderbolt. Especially if I install a USB3 card.
iMac Option by Category
iMac
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Part Description P/N Qty. Unit Price Total iMac Refurbished iMac 27-inch 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 FD063LL/A 1 $1869.00 $1869.00 RAM OWC 16G RAM 1333DDR3S16P 2 $161.99 $323.98 Total $2192.98
VESA mounting
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Part Description P/N Qty. Unit Price Total VESA desk mount Monitors in Motion Boa with MacHead Large Spigot 050301-0200-03016 1 $418.00 $418.00 Total $418.00
Accessories
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Part Description P/N Qty. Unit Price Total keyboard Razer BlackWidow Ultimate, Mac U.S. BlackWidow 1 $129.99 $129.99 trackpad Apple Magic Trackpad multi-touch trackpad Magick Trackpad 1 $69.00 $69.00 Total $198.99
Totals by Category
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Category Total iMac $2192.98 VESA mounting $418.00 Accessories $198.99 Total $2809.97
iMac Option by Vendor
store.apple.com
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Part Description P/N Qty. Unit Price Total iMac Refurbished iMac 27-inch 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 FD063LL/A 1 $1869.00 $1869.00 trackpad Apple Magic Trackpad multi-touch trackpad Magick Trackpad 1 $69.00 $69.00 Total $1938.00
eshop.macsales.com
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Part Description P/N Qty. Unit Price Total RAM OWC 16G RAM 1333DDR3S16P 2 $161.99 $323.98 Total $323.98
www.monitorsinmotion.com
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Part Description P/N Qty. Unit Price Total VESA desk mount Monitors in Motion Boa with MacHead Large Spigot 050301-0200-03016 1 $418.00 $418.00 Total $418.00
store.razerzone.com
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Part Description P/N Qty. Unit Price Total keyboard Razer BlackWidow Ultimate, Mac U.S. BlackWidow 1 $129.99 $129.99 Total $129.99
Totals by Vendor
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Vendor Total store.apple.com $1938.00 eshop.macsales.com $323.98 www.monitorsinmotion.com $418.00 store.razerzone.com $129.99 Total $2809.97
iMac Option by Date
Someday
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Part Description P/N Qty. Unit Price Total iMac Refurbished iMac 27-inch 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 FD063LL/A 1 $1869.00 $1869.00 RAM OWC 16G RAM 1333DDR3S16P 2 $161.99 $323.98 VESA desk mount Monitors in Motion Boa with MacHead Large Spigot 050301-0200-03016 1 $418.00 $418.00 keyboard Razer BlackWidow Ultimate, Mac U.S. BlackWidow 1 $129.99 $129.99 trackpad Apple Magic Trackpad multi-touch trackpad Magick Trackpad 1 $69.00 $69.00 Total $2809.97
Totals by Date
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Date Total Someday $2809.97 Total $2809.97