Lando wrote:
If you want to use a 17" screen on your iMac just plug in an external monitor.
That'd be attractive. The iMac with an extra screen sitting next to it.
You can upgrade an iMac with a new CPU, hard drive, memory, optical drive. If you want to completely upgrade your old iMac you should just sell it on Ebay (Macs hold their value extremely well, unlike PC's) and get a new model - it would probably work out cheaper than buying all the bits yourself, even if that were possible.
CPU? Where? I have yet to see a CPU upgrade for the iMac.
Hard drive and memory sure...
Optical drive? Again, I've never seen an internal upgrade, perhaps they are out there but they are not cost effective (example buying an OEM superdrive)
Video card? You didn't answer this, because again it's not offered.
You proved the point. The only way to upgrade the consumer models is to trash them and buy another one. They are closed systems, which in general is bad. On a laptop I can understand, because they are specialized components. But, on a desktop computer it's unacceptable.