Got the same problem. I just put Snow Leopard on my 3 year old, 20" iMac and it works like a brand new machine. Wife won't let me upgrade until that one is completely obsolete.
I’ve got the same one a White 2.16 Core 2 Duo w/3GB Ram and a white macbook with identical specs. Got the iMac refurb from Apple and the macbook brand new off Craiglist for 800 when they were 1200 new. They were anything but overpriced, I was buying new expensive PC’s it seemed pretty often, so it’s been a great value for me. They run just like they did out of the box.
For someone who can’t or has zero desire to “tinker” with their PC the value can’t be beat. I don’t want to know how my car runs either, I just want to drive it.
I just don’t “identify” with Apple’s advertising though, I don’t look like the PC Dork, but I’m sure I could take 6-7 of the Apple nerds at once. So much of Apple’s marketing is vomit inducing, I couldn’t make it through the whole 7 minutes of the new 27 inch iMac promo, so pretentious. LOL