SweetMacTips

Display issues generally are one of 3 components:

• Display panel itself
• Main Logic Board (issue with the video subsystem)
• Components between the two including the Inverter board

If it’s something like an inverter board (generally no backlight but there’s actually an image on the screen) you’re looking at the cheapest repair there. Main Logic Board or display panel are costly. It’s not that they’re ripping you off, it’s that they weren’t exactly sure which component had gone wonky. 
It also sounds like they may not have properly set the expectation of what it could cost vs what you’d like it to cost.

Repairs like this are the #1 reason to buy AppleCare - one repair of a Main Logic Board out of warranty is easily enough to buy AppleCare.

Sorry, but AppleCare is a one time deal. There’s no “renewal” option for it.

From the specs you’ve given, it seems like you’ve got this one, a 2.16Ghz 20” iMac. It looks like it’s the one just before Apple went to the aluminum design. Having it up-to-date on software is a big plus when you’re selling it.

A good way to see what you can get for it is to head on over to ebay and whittle down your search until you’ve got a listing of auctions of machines pretty much like yours. Then, click on the “completed listings” option. Once you do this, look for the auctions with green dollar amounts. (This indicates they sold whereas a red dollar amount indicates an unsold Mac.)

From a quick look, it would seem like the current going rate for yours is $500-700. For the current software, I’d say you’re on the higher end of that range.

One thing that is a plus if you’re re-selling a Mac is if you have AppleCare. AppleCare is fully transferrable and can seriously bump up the price of a used Mac on eBay (as it’s a warranty.) Just think of buying a car. A “certified” car likely comes with some portion of its factory warranty intact. Same with a Mac with AppleCare.

The added re-salve value is also another great reason to buy AppleCare.

If you’re doing graphic design, do NOT buy a MacBook. You’re going to outgrow it fairly quickly and wish you’d bought more Mac. To get that more Mac, you’ll shell out more money than you’d have shelled out had you just bought the MacBook Pro to begin with. 

Trust me on this.

I’d also consider an external display, keyboard and mouse. The small display and trackpad aren’t terribly conducive to GD. Saving a few bucks and going for the i5 in order to spend the difference on a display is likely a good compromise.

Oh, and buy AppleCare. Period.

Good luck!

Apple currently does not offer email support. Is the issue behind making the call the time difference or cost? Time difference is pretty hard to get over, but you can call with Skype for pretty cheap. And unfortunately, because it’s an iMac, if you have AppleCare it only is covered in the country of origin. Portable Mac AppleCare is worldwide (bet you didn’t know that).

What’s up with Boot Camp? Maybe it’s something I can help you with.

All of your questions are really good and normally the only one I’d say to get the upgrade on right away is for the CPU because you can’t change it later.

The new MacBook Air is different. You can’t change anything later. Buy the 2GB of RAM version and now want 4GB? Sorry. Bought 64GB of disk storage but now want more? Sorry.

So, my advice would be to buy the absolute most of everything that you can afford as you can’t change it later. It’s really the first time Apple’s done that and it’s really all down to the design of the machine and the size tolerances that they’ve built it with. What you buy is what you get. For good. 

Now, on to AppleCare. Read this.

Good luck!

I would think AppleCare would be your first stop. Are you “calling around” there? 1-800-APL-CARE.

I’m not familiar with how Apple works the third party pre-installed software. It may use the volume license in which case there actually is no product key.

Well, which one you get really depends on what you do. If you’re doing things that are RAM heavy like Photoshop, video editing or running VMWare, I’d go for 8GB of RAM. Otherwise, save some cache and get 4GB.

iWork vs Office… as much as I love iWork, Office is the defacto standard. I can also say with some authority that Office 2011 is going to be really really good.

AppleCare. In a word, yes. Read why here. If you’re a student, use your discount on it, too.

I’ve done a write-up about how to buy your Mac and what considerations to make here that you may want to look at.

Unfortunately, dogs aren’t covered by AppleCare :(

If it still works, what I’d advise is making it safe. Use some electrical tape to make sure it’s properly insulated. I know the black on white may be a bit unsightly, but if you try and make some sort of pattern up the cord, it may not look so bad.

No!