Input needed on Apple iMAC computer

[Road Runner]

I am seriously considering purchasing an imac. If any of you own one, your comments of pros/cons would be appreciated. I can get all the free classes I want to go with it and that is something I really need. :)

[Libertytree]

Mac for me, anyday!

[Mister_Pennyweather]

If you or someone you know is technically inclined you can get all the benefits of a Mac OS for 1/4 of the price with hackintosh. You buy compatible hardware or a netbook and can install the Mac Operating System.

http://www.hackintosh.com/

[big country]

We own a new-revision 21" iMac. Only had it for about 2 weeks now. First Mac in the house, ever. Its taking awhile to get used to but I like it, my wife still hasn't decided as she is getting very confused on how to do things.

Pro:
Its pretty, we have it set up in the living room and it doesn't look out of place. Very neat, only one cord (power). Comes with wireless mouse and keyboard which help make it look uncluttered.
Fast enough for most computing tasks and light gaming
OSX app store is convienent, also if you're into photography Apperture 3 is only $80 on the app store ($200 from apple retail store)

Con:
its OSX, and I don't know it well. (I'm a unix admin by profession though so I'm more comfortable on the command line on it)
expensive for the hardware you get.


I bought ours refurbished from apple.com. There is no reason NOT to get a refurbished one if it meet the specs you want. refurbs are 15% cheaper and come with a FULL WARRANTY with the otpion for applecare if you so choose. Presumably a refurb actually geos through MORE testing then a new one, as I'm sure they test each one after they repair it (and I promise they dont test every NEW one)

Also if you want more RAM don't buy it from apple. RAM is user replaceable on an iMac and cheaper elsewhere. Apple charges $200 for 4GB and you can get 4GB of apple ram gauranteed to work from Crucial.com for $60

[chad]

i bought my first mac about a year ago, just to try one out. hadn't used one since i was in junior high in the early 80s.

LOVE it.

case in point: tried figuring windows movie maker out for about 2 years with shitty success. played with imovie for about 20 minutes the other day and had something almost semi-professional.

[Ares]

Apple products:

Pros: Easy to use, great for their market. AWESOME for graphics and video editing bar none.

Cons: Price. They are a niche market and like to price accordingly. Since moving to Intel based systems their hardware shouldn't cost anywhere near what they are charging for it. Gaming has pretty much been cornered by the PC market. But there are of course MAC made games.

Like Big country said, stick with refurb or you'll pay out the nose for your MAC. For a decent desktop you can pay anywhere from 2,300 to 2,500 FRN's on a mac. THIS EXCLUDES ENTRY LEVEL HARDWARE (hardware specs i7 processor, with decent ATI/nVidia graphics card with 6+GB of RAM.) The same system say from Dell, or HP would run you 1,500 to 1,800. If you look at Mac Pro's you see the starting price is at 2,500 and the top of the line is 5,000 FRN's.

[Ash_Williams]

I haven't used a mac in a long time (they were weird boxy things back then and I feel like the mouse only had one button) so I gotta ask what the advantages exactly are? It sounds like a unix-running, intel machine which designed to be more expensive and much harder to customize, fix, or upgrade.

People mention the "ease of use" of some programs... are there really no equivilents of those programs available for windows?

[chad]

I haven't used a mac in a long time (they were weird boxy things back then and I feel like the mouse only had one button) so I gotta ask what the advantages exactly are? It sounds like a unix-running, intel machine which designed to be more expensive and much harder to customize, fix, or upgrade.

People mention the "ease of use" of some programs... are there really no equivilents of those programs available for windows?


i really only use mine for internet and media programs. in terms of photography and video editing, i've never found anything even remotely close to what the mac offers. it's like they crawled inside your brain when they were designing the software for ease of use.

[BabushkaLady]

The very best thing about the Mac: You can plug almost any device into it and the Mac recognizes it. It just Knows everything.

I've heard salesman say, you'll need to download the driver . . . I smile and say, I have a Mac!

[Silver Shield]

Love the macs, good quality, no problems, slick design, and I have 5 but they are so fucking expensive for what they are.

iPad way to expensive for what it is...

Always wait for the second generation of anything they do.

[Neuro]

One thing that is seldom mentioned in a pros cons list of Mac vs PC is the product quality in terms of longevity, I would guesstimate that a Mac product would last about twice as long as an average PC of half the price, given that during that time you won't have to sit and wait for anti-virus software to sit and do it's job, and it's ease of use, less crashes lock downs etc I would say it is well worth the extra outlay to get the IMac and the screen IS fantastic!

[Ares]

One thing that is seldom mentioned in a pros cons list of Mac vs PC is the product quality in terms of longevity, I would guesstimate that a Mac product would last about twice as long as an average PC of half the price, given that during that time you won't have to sit and wait for anti-virus software to sit and do it's job, and it's ease of use, less crashes lock downs etc I would say it is well worth the extra outlay to get the IMac and the screen IS fantastic!


Since moving to intel based systems the hardware is the same for both PC and MAC. Only difference is the design of the case.
Hard Drive failures will always happen no matter what OS is running on it.

[gunDriller]

no ! don't do it !

SLOT-LOAD OPTICAL DRIVES BUG ME.

[Neuro]

One thing that is seldom mentioned in a pros cons list of Mac vs PC is the product quality in terms of longevity, I would guesstimate that a Mac product would last about twice as long as an average PC of half the price, given that during that time you won't have to sit and wait for anti-virus software to sit and do it's job, and it's ease of use, less crashes lock downs etc I would say it is well worth the extra outlay to get the IMac and the screen IS fantastic!


Since moving to intel based systems the hardware is the same for both PC and MAC. Only difference is the design of the case.
Hard Drive failures will always happen no matter what OS is running on it.
I am not sure about this, but I think the more frequent freezes and soft ware crashes on a windows machine may create the environment for a hardware failure...

[Book]

Since moving to intel based systems the hardware is the same for both PC and MAC.



Exactly. How Apple gets away with charging twice as much for the exact same hardware is head-shaking.

[big country]

Since moving to intel based systems the hardware is the same for both PC and MAC.



Exactly. How Apple gets away with charging twice as much for the exact same hardware is head-shaking.


most people pay the price for the hardware to get access to the software. I know you can "hackintosh" but there aren't mainstream compaines selling them...and not everyone is smart enough to build one. Really what it boils down to is people pay twice to price to access OSX and the software that is exclusive to apple.