[masraum]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

My general rule of thumb as it applies to hardware with limited upgrade paths like laptops and all in ones is spend your budget.

Spring for the non consumer upgrade able parts like [processors and GPUS.

Skimp on RAM and HD. Those typically are where the insane markup is and you can easily upgrade for a fraction of the price.

Be careful though, there are a few products in the Apple lineup, a couple of the Minis and Pro Laptops where SSD and RAM were not upgrade able.

I have not looked a the iMac line in a while, not sure what the story is there so my advice, check whatever you buy to make sure before you buy.

Excellent point! I hadn't thought of anything being user upgradeable, but there may be some things. As you said, not always what you expect (the RAM in my wife's MB Air is not upgradable). That may be a good way to save a little dough. I think I'm pretty unlikely to need any graphics upgrades for what I'd do.