I hate my imac - what do i do now?

Question

every day is a new and frustrating adventure with my imac. i've only had it 8 months and every day it's nothing but problems.
1) ichat suddenly stopped working one day (after working just fine 5 or 6 times.
2) it no longer recognizes my external hard drive (i've tried it on other imacs and they recognize it just fine)
3) iTunes is a beast to use. it often takes as long as 45-60 seconds to click and listen to a new song.
4) i can only do one thing at a time or risk the spinning wheel of death.
5) performance is terrible. applications often don't quit and won't force quit, either. i have to unplug it from the wall constantly.
6) it's the SLOWEST computer i've ever used -- hands down. it takes about 3 minutes to load iphoto and i don't have that many pictures in it.
7) every time it goes to sleep it looses the wireless internet connection (and i have to go unplug the router and plug it in again -- as many as five times a night)
8) sometimes it won't restart or shut down--it just freezes on the blue screen. i have to unplug it.
9) sometimes iTunes won't burn a disc. i just get a 'checking media' message in the itunes window. i have to shut down iTunes and start over.
10) discs get stuck in the drive CONSTANTLY. i have had 7 or 8 discs get seriously stuck. once i had to take to the place i bought it from. the other times i had to shut it down and hold the mouse down over ten times before it ejected.
this is only the beginning. i'm furious because i spent a lot of money on this machine and it's HORRIBLE. i'm having serious buyers regret. has anyone else had so many problems? if so, what did you do? what does anyone suggest i do? i've absolutely reached the breaking point and i'm ready to throw it out the windows. i shouldn't have to hassle with it every single day--not for the money i paid for it.
intel imac Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Answer 1

1) ichat suddenly stopped working one day (after
working just fine 5 or 6 times.
2) it no longer recognizes my external hard drive
(i've tried it on other imacs and they recognize it
just fine)
5) performance is terrible. applications often don't
quit and won't force quit, either. i have to unplug
it from the wall constantly.
8) sometimes it won't restart or shut down--it just
freezes on the blue screen. i have to unplug it.
9) sometimes iTunes won't burn a disc. i just get a
'checking media' message in the itunes window. i have
to shut down iTunes and start over.
Have you tried:
- Repairing permissions?
- Trashing your iChat preference file (or that of any other app which consistently refuses to launch or crashes)? (home/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iChat.plist)
Are you saying you turn your computer off by unplugging it from the wall? That's an extremely damaging way to deal with problems, and it may well cause you a lot more problems. There are ways to power an unresponsive computer down that don't involve manhandling it. You can usually hold the power button down for about 10 seconds to force-shut down the computer if you absolutely have to - does this work for you?
3) iTunes is a beast to use. it often takes as long
as 45-60 seconds to click and listen to a new song.
4) i can only do one thing at a time or risk the
spinning wheel of death.
6) it's the SLOWEST computer i've ever used -- hands
down. it takes about 3 minutes to load iphoto and i
don't have that many pictures in it.
How much RAM do you have? You don't mention it in your profile.
7) every time it goes to sleep it looses the wireless
internet connection (and i have to go unplug the
router and plug it in again -- as many as five times
a night)
Yes, it will disconnect from the network when it sleeps - so don't let it sleep. Set the monitor to sleep, but the computer to never sleep (Energy Saver preferences in System Preferences). You shouldn't have to reset the router, though. What kind of router do you have?
10) discs get stuck in the drive CONSTANTLY. i have
had 7 or 8 discs get seriously stuck. once i had to
take to the place i bought it from. the other times i
had to shut it down and hold the mouse down over ten
times before it ejected.
This does sound like a physical problem. If the computer is still under warranty, this is definitely an issue that Apple should resolve.
Give the other remedies a try, and if you're low on RAM, add more, and let us know if it helps.
Matt