If you insist on comparing a PC to a Mac read this first

i say whatever floats your boat.

but after venturing over to apples site

look at the first system 1199

Core 2 duo 3ghz
4gb ram
500gb hd
9400m GPU
21.5" ips display

you could build a pc for less even if its 100 dollars less you have the ability to upgrade, actually game on it and so forth.

yes apple does have the sleek design

and i always get a kick out of the apple commercials look pc got a virus now its slow.

Apple computers are cracked just as fast as pc's but why make a virus for them when the market is so low.

i for one will never buy a new mac, and as far as everyone i know they wont either only because a basic user will never have the need for the features of a mac.

only apple product besides my iphone i would be interested in buying is an ibook not the clamshells either, ive not found one cheap enough to suck me into buying it though, since i dont wanna dump a ton of money just to familiarize myself with the os
 
^I agree with you. Whatever works for you. I enjoy building computers too much to buy a stock one from any company. However I am very tempted to pick up a used macbook and install Linux on it as well as picking up oue of their 24" cinema displays. They look so amazing!
 
THERMAL-REACTOR said:
The typical web page/pamphlet/logo designer that I deal with never could max out a 920. I am talking about the average user. Even in your friends case he went Custom because that is where the price/performance is. If an OC'd 920 is holding him back then a iMac would be a terrible downgrade.
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your missing the point, you were trying to claim an i7 is totally unnecessary. Most rendering programs are not gpu accelerated. Just rendering my simple case design in kerkythea took me over 24 hours to fully render, and i'm running a pretty overclocked c2q. Not to mention, anyone who works in photography can tell you, photoshop is a resource hog.

trust me, i'm not an apple fanboy by any means, I own a palm pre, not an iphone. I have a zune, not an ipod(well, I do own an ipod shuffle for running). I primarily use custom built pc's and build custom pc's for people. I just look objectively and feel for their purpose, that apple products are at a decent enough price point.
 
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bomberboysk said:
your missing the point, you were trying to claim an i7 is totally unnecessary. Most rendering programs are not gpu accelerated. Just rendering my simple case design in kerkythea took me over 24 hours to fully render, and i'm running a pretty overclocked c2q. Not to mention, anyone who works in photography can tell you, photoshop is a resource hog.

trust me, i'm not an apple fanboy by any means, I own a palm pre, not an iphone. I have a zune, not an ipod(well, I do own an ipod shuffle for running). I primarily use custom built pc's and build custom pc's for people. I just look objectively and feel for their purpose, that apple products are at a decent enough price point.
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You are both right. Yes if you do CAD, video rendering, photo editing, DVD authoring, etc., it makes it much quicker if you have a fast i7. However you do not NEED an i7, you can get by with an original Core Duo, it will just take you longer.
 
Ok, let me throw in some more facts here:

1) an optical drive is an optical drive and Apple uses Sony and Pioneer drives in their computers. Meaning, you can toss any optical drive in a Mac out of warranty and it will work. How do I know this? I have done it many times.

2) Almost all rendering and design work is for the most part processor intensive. Things like CUDA are mostly a joke when it comes to performance boosting over a better processor. Even the Nvidia Quadro cards don't show super leaps and bounds more performance. Granted, the Quadros do help, but only after certain aspects and conditions of rendering.

Saying that you cannot change out the optical drive in an iMac is false. Under warranty apple will do it for free, out of warranty you can toss any laptop optical drive in there. Apple doesn't special design those parts, they use standard parts. Same thing with hard drives. Apple does however design the main logic board and you can only get that part from Apple.
 
salvage-this said:
Is that Apple's version of a motherboard? If so, that is not so different. Dell and HP do that for their towers.

On a side note if you did want a mac and you also wanted more of a chance to upgrade it would a Mac Pro be a better choice over the iMac? http://www.apple.com/macpro/
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Not comparable. iMacs are for consumers with a core 2 duo or iseries Intel processor. The Mac Pro is either single or dual Xeon processors. Different machines, different hardware, different market.
 
JoeSamo said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009165

most expensive 27" on newegg = $449.99 + $13.19 Shipping

Acer B273HUbmidhz Black 27" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 400 cd/m2 40000:1 Built-in Speakers


Just saying =P
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not comparable, where is the IPS support? I have two iMacs on my desk right now, one is 3 years old and the other is brand new. The 22" IPS screen looks leagues and leagues better. It has way more color depth than your normal LED back lit LCD.

Go back to what I first posted and you need to research the specs, the features, and overall cost of ownership to actually really compare a Mac to a PC. You failed to match the specs on that monitor to what is built in on an iMac.

Those are great monitors and great prices though. I got myself a 22" Samsung last year and I love it.
 
tlarkin said:
not comparable, where is the IPS support? I have two iMacs on my desk right now, one is 3 years old and the other is brand new. The 22" IPS screen looks leagues and leagues better. It has way more color depth than your normal LED back lit LCD.

Go back to what I first posted and you need to research the specs, the features, and overall cost of ownership to actually really compare a Mac to a PC. You failed to match the specs on that monitor to what is built in on an iMac.

Those are great monitors and great prices though. I got myself a 22" Samsung last year and I love it.
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I think now that would be my main complaint on Apple prices. You have to pay for something you don't necessarily want/need. I understand that they want everything to look a certain way, it's part of their brand but some options would be nice. Instead of the $1000 LED LCD why not offer some high quality LCDs in the $400 range.
 
Cromewell said:
I think now that would be my main complaint on Apple prices. You have to pay for something you don't necessarily want/need. I understand that they want everything to look a certain way, it's part of their brand but some options would be nice. Instead of the $1000 LED LCD why not offer some high quality LCDs in the $400 range.
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This is one of my beefs with Apple as well. However, it is part of Apple's business model. Like I stated earlier I have two iMacs on my desk right now, one brand new aluminum 22" with a glass covered IPS screen and the other one is the older white Intel model (same size) with just a LED screen. The IPS screen is definitely a whole league above the LED screen. You can tell and I find myself squinting a bit more when looking at the LED because it is not as vibrant.

Does that mean I want to pay for one? Nope, not really, but it does make the iMac not comparable to those Samsung displays linked earlier.

I wish Apple just made a prosumer mid tower core i3/i5/i7 desktop tower where users could just pick their HD and video card and slap it in. They don't though.
 
I wish apple did a lot of things that take into consideration that not all of their users are computer illiterate. Like the Ipod, I cant stand that thing, I upgraded my moms computer not too long ago and the majority of the time took moving over her ipod/itunes crap so it would work right. I have a sony walkman (i liked the name it seemed very nostalgic to me) and it is a breeze, never have to do a thing to it if I change computers or whatever.
 
Total cost of ownership

One thing to always consider when buying anything, be it a car, boat, computer, clothing, house, property, so on and so forth is the total cost of ownership.

This can consist of many different things, but to give you an idea:

1) Initial out of pocket costs
2) return investment
3) labor you need to put in yourself or pay for work done
4) resell value
5) down time
6) features and benefits

So basically you need to take into account everything that revolves around the product you are buying. Now taking in comparison the Mac versus the PC in total cost of ownership the Mac shines a lot more in certain aspects. Especially when it comes to resell value. I sold my 5 year old G5 tower two summers ago (so it would be seven years old now) for $500 bucks. That was about the going rate. Show me a PC that you can resell for $500 after it is 5 years old. You won't be able to.

So the point of upgrade-ability is kind of moot. You can just sell your whole Mac and apply it all to a new mac and help mitigate the cost and you get a brand new machine with a full warranty every time.

When looking at overall cost of ownership you need to take everything into account. How often will the computer crash? Will you get down time due to malware and viruses? If a part fails what entails for warranty replacement? What is the down time? Does this even apply or matter to you? Overall cost of ownership is something that gets forgotten a lot in the world of Microsoft, but if you talk to any old beard stroking Unix admin they will tell you all about overall cost of ownership. Smart consumers will do the same, but many people over look such mind sets. Overall cost of ownership is for a large part based on opinion as well, as everyone has different needs and wants, but some of it can be used as facts for a basis of what something is worth.

For example, Antec is starting to piss me off personally. My PSU died last week and I am trying to do an advance RMA and their customer service sucks, so they may lose my next purchase if they don't get their act together. I don't want to send mine in and wait for a week, I want a new one sent to me and I will send the defective back.
 
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