All-in-one PCs vs Mac

futureal33

futureal33

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Hello all,

I have asked a similar question a while ago, and am finally ready to be making the decision sometime shortly.

Basically, to summarise.. I currently edit on a massive desktop PC tower system with 2 x 27" monitors, enough fans to practically take off, and external HDDs and USB drives all over the place. Being a single lad, living alone, this hasn't ever been a problem...
However. I am moving in with the girlfriend and in respect for her and wanting a nice clean / tidy workspace, I am considering keeping the PC upstairs in the spare bedroom, and having a downstairs system which I can use to edit my photos on, and spend time with her... rather than being tucked away in bedroom 3 on my own for hours on end.

The house we have bought has a very large kitchen / diner / lounge which I have already identified a spot in the corner for such a system to go.

I want it to look tidy, but it must be capable of processing 30-40 weddings a year on, and not be a compromise from my current system.

The obvious choice here is the iMac.. 27" 5K etc - top of the range one. Love them. But I have never used Mac. All my external HDDs are formatted for PC. All my software is PC.
It would potentially be a nightmare...or maybe not... I dont know.

However, I have just found some all-in-one PCs from HP, Lenovo and ASUS which caught my eye.

Very similar to the iMac but they are Windows based, which I think I would prefer - it would certainly be a much easier transition for me.

So - just wondering if anyone has any recmmendations / experience or feedback on what I should do?

I guess another solution would be an extremely high powered laptop plugged into one of my exising 27" displays (which are practically brand new Dell 27" Ultrasharps)

Any help or suggestions seriously appreciated!
Thanks!
 
An all in one PC will use the same components (laptop) as a Mac would so it's really a toss up with operating systems.

I personally wouldn't want to (again) edit on a laptop.

Have you considered building a little editing PC yourself? Quite possible to have a completely silent one even with 8 fans!! I have a small PC I keep under the tv which has an i5 quad core, 16gb ram, gtx 1060 graphics. Faster than even the fastest Mac in the world and less than £400 with second hand parts. I got the psu for free!

Simply fit voltage reducers to any fans and even with your ear to the box I can't hear a thing.
 
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Just doing some googling... am I right in saying that desktop CPUs (such as my current i5 2500k) are more powerful than the likes of those used in iMac?
Struggling to figure out what the difference between Desktop CPU and Laptop CPUs is...other than desktop's being faster - I assumed the top end laptops and Macs would all use desktop CPUs?
 
Look at the tiny mini PCs NUC, ASUS vivo or Mac mini. A tiny, cool looking box with powerful versions available. And a choice of monitors that you can upgrade separately. You can put the Double CD sized pc out of the way too.
 
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futureal33 said:
Just doing some googling... am I right in saying that desktop CPUs (such as my current i5 2500k) are more powerful than the likes of those used in iMac?
Struggling to figure out what the difference between Desktop CPU and Laptop CPUs is...other than desktop's being faster - I assumed the top end laptops and Macs would all use desktop CPUs?
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Nope the macs use laptop cpu's which are all lower powered than their desktop equivalents and throttle much faster due to heat.

Now that said in the latest 5k iMac Apple did sneak in a desktop CPU but again it won't be as fast as its desktop equivalent as it won't hit its turbo speed when things get toasty.

Your 2500k with an overclock is still a very quick and capable CPU.
 
Does it matter what comments are in the machine. The question should be do they work and how well. Had my iMac now several years it is still as good as ever, I know people have had problems with them they are not infallible. I spent 30 years with pcs I know about problems. Would I go back never say never but not very likely.
 
wave01 said:
Does it matter what comments are in the machine. The question should be do they work and how well. Had my iMac now several years it is still as good as ever, I know people have had problems with them they are not infallible. I spent 30 years with pcs I know about problems. Would I go back never say never but not very likely.
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Well you might want a full speed machine if you pay the full speed price. 4 year old components are fine if it's going cheap.
 
wave01 said:
Does it matter what comments are in the machine. The question should be do they work and how well. Had my iMac now several years it is still as good as ever, I know people have had problems with them they are not infallible. I spent 30 years with pcs I know about problems. Would I go back never say never but not very likely.
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I wouldn't say an iMac will give problems in my experience they are pretty solid. But yes components do matter.

In an all in one PC, iMac or laptop the design is put ahead of performance. They are either very small or very slim or both and this means heat build up is an issue. To combat this you can clock the CPU/gpu cores at a lower speed, 2.6ghz rather than 4.4ghz. You can use weaker cores which use less power and produce less heat. This achieves the design aim and allows working components in such a tight space and/or using very little lower. But the downside is a reduction in performance.

Personally I'd prefer the processing power to instantly open and render raw files and juggle them about with zero lag.

Others will put a design aesthetic first and that's ok too :)
 
futureal33 said:
Been looking at Mini ATX builds and must admit I am very tempted!!
Looking at £500 for a pretty solid i5 6600k build, using some components from my current PC.

I had no idea the iMac wouldn't use proper desktop components, it has put me right off!
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Why not mini itx? Even smaller, just as powerful. Matx only offers additional ports and a second gpu over itx, neither you will need!
 
All in one is never a good idea - if something dies then you either have an expensive repair or you have to replace the entire system - screen & computer. It's also going to be hard to find a PC based all in one with a quality IPS panel for editing.
 
Having read the original post again you have two monitors if they are good quality maybe stick with windows. If they need replacing then go and try both a windows system and a mac system side by side. It may help you decide. If you are a long term pc user then the leap to mac is a giant step only you can decide
 
having had iMacs for nearly 8 years , and only replaced my original model last year a good speced one will last for a long time. The only reason I replaced my 2009 quad core machine was the increase in video work, and I needed a quicker machine.If I was simply using Lightroom and Photoshop, I'd probably still have the old machine. Having said that I had Del computers that I had for many years before updating.

The screens on the latest iMacs have a large colour gamut. which is not dissimilar to Adobe RGB. It also calibrates very well and is stable over the long term.

New iMacs are rumoured to be announced this month with newer AMD graphics. Not sure if any other changes, but probably some minor ones. Might be worth hanging on and see what's announced. UPDATE Looks like 25th October is the date.

At the end of the day it's up to you what you buy. I've been with Apple now for some time and am very happy. OK the kit isn't cheap, but if you look at the value over time it's a good investment. Plus a 5 year old mac is worth more than a 5 year old PC if you come to sell it. Switching from PC to mac is easy . They work similarly.
 
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asterix said:
Im about to do the same, Just read in this thread and never even thought of it but will my external hardrives work easily enough on a MBP?
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If they are formatted in NTFS or similar then you'll need to buy software to read them. If formatted in FAT32 (also just called FAT) then OSX can read them natively.

TBH OSX and Windows aren't terribly alike, other than using icons and a GUI driven with a mouse, and the philosophy behind each is quite different. Some prefer OSX, some Windows - personally I prefer windows, but would recommend OSX/Macs to people who don't want to be involved in their computing and prefer the OS to be in control of what they do.
 
ancient_mariner said:
If they are formatted in NTFS or similar then you'll need to buy software to read them. If formatted in FAT32 (also just called FAT) then OSX can read them natively.
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There's no need to buy anything.

NTFS volumes are read only on MacOS, if you want to write to them, you'll need FUSE for Mac, which is free.
 
Andy Taylor said:
There's no need to buy anything.

NTFS volumes are read only on MacOS, if you want to write to them, you'll need FUSE for Mac, which is free.
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Thanks for that - it's been a while since I needed to fiddle. Glad they've at least partially fixed the issue.
 
Get a Mac if you like a Mac don't if you don't. Never seen any other brand do an all in one well enough.

However I would rethink the idea. Whilst it is nice from your perspective to sit downstairs and join her to do the editing. But let's face it you aren't really there, you are doing work. I'd focus on getting your workflow sorted so you can do your work quickly. That way when you are with your girlfriend you actually are with your girlfriend.

I've been married 16 years now, a bit of space and truly being there for each other when you are together is very important.
 
dejongj said:
Get a Mac if you like a Mac don't if you don't. Never seen any other brand do an all in one well enough.

However I would rethink the idea. Whilst it is nice from your perspective to sit downstairs and join her to do the editing. But let's face it you aren't really there, you are doing work. I'd focus on getting your workflow sorted so you can do your work quickly. That way when you are with your girlfriend you actually are with your girlfriend.

I've been married 16 years now, a bit of space and truly being there for each other when you are together is very important.
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This in spades.
Use the money to but something for the house you will both benefit from.
 
I've sold so many lenses to fund our young family and house and of course I don't regret it as carpet and curtains are kinda nice too:D
 
minnnt said:
I found there wasn't much difference in feel between two pairs of socks and carpets anyway. We just have towels up at the windows... I mean, have you seen how expensive curtains are?
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Yup 70-200 2.8 oem!!!!
 
I have a Dell AIO 2310 inspiron.. I have had it for 5 years and it's never missed a beat.. it's 23inch, but bigger and better are available nowadays..
 
futureal33 said:
Hello all,


Basically, to summarise.. I currently edit on a massive desktop PC tower system with 2 x 27" monitors, enough fans to practically take off, and external HDDs and USB drives all over the place. Being a single lad, living alone, this hasn't ever been a problem...
However. I am moving in with the girlfriend and in respect for her and wanting a nice clean / tidy workspace, I am considering keeping the PC upstairs in the spare bedroom, and having a downstairs system which I can use to edit my photos on, and spend time with her... rather than being tucked away in bedroom 3 on my own for hours on end.

The house we have bought has a very large kitchen / diner / lounge which I have already identified a spot in the corner for such a system to go.

I want it to look tidy, but it must be capable of processing 30-40 weddings a year on, and not be a compromise from my current system.

!
Click to expand...

Why think about moving the tower upstairs and get one of those all-in-one system for downstairs?

Have you thought about focusing on the desk and furniture? Find a desk where you can place the tower hidden out of view, yet still leaves the desk looking tidy, or something similar?
 
Also worth noting that you may find your current PC software can be run on a Mac under the same licence. I currently run Lightroom 5 and PSE 11 on an iMac 27 and a Windows 10 HP laptop. The licence allows for two installations as long as they are not being used simultaneously.

FWIW, I much prefer the Mac and this after nearly 30-years of using and building many different Windows machines.

They only thing that bugs me about the Mac is how long it takes for Time Machine to complete a backup. Can literally take days and this to a wired network attached drive. Baffling how it can be so slow.
 
GeeJay57 said:
Also worth noting that you may find your current PC software can be run on a Mac under the same licence. I currently run Lightroom 5 and PSE 11 on an iMac 27 and a Windows 10 HP laptop. The licence allows for two installations as long as they are not being used simultaneously.

FWIW, I much prefer the Mac and this after nearly 30-years of using and building many different Windows machines.

They only thing that bugs me about the Mac is how long it takes for Time Machine to complete a backup. Can literally take days and this to a wired network attached drive. Baffling how it can be so slow.
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Maybe there is an alternative backup that is faster.
 
ianp5a said:
Maybe there is an alternative backup that is faster.
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Yeah, maybe. I might try a USB3 or Lightning attached HDD. The one I currently have is attached via the Ethernet connection, which I thought would be fast enough. There are a lot of threads out on the web where other folk have had similar experiences. On the one hand Time Machine just chugs away in the background so it's not a hugely intrusive, but the slowness is a drag.
 
GeeJay57 said:
Yeah, maybe. I might try a USB3 or Lightning attached HDD. The one I currently have is attached via the Ethernet connection, which I thought would be fast enough. There are a lot of threads out on the web where other folk have had similar experiences. On the one hand Time Machine just chugs away in the background so it's not a hugely intrusive, but the slowness is a drag.
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They should all just run unobtrusively in the background.

But maybe your network or router speed is the cause of the problem.
 
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ianp5a said:
They should all just run unobtrusively in the background.

But maybe your network or router speed is the cause of the problem.
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It's connected directly to the Mac via an Ethernet cable.
 
I went through the same decision process a few years back, changed to an iMac 27" and have not looked back. I even changed my wife's computer to an iMac 21" despite her misgivings and she loves it.
The big of advantage for me is having taken that big step for mankind I have embraced the Apple eco system and now my phone, tablet, and laptop all talk to one another and synchronised effortlessly and with the latest OS I can start a project on one machine and finish it on another without even thinking about it.
There are drawbacks of course as nothing in this world comes free of charge but for me the advantages outweighed the cons.
 
minnnt said:
Hi @GeeJay57 - my time machine backs up to a 500gb external HDD connected via USB3.0. Backs up speedily but it is a relatively new install so it's not rammed full of files and apps etc. Perhaps it'll be different in a year or so. :LOL:
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@minnnt thanks, will have to give that a go. Will probably need a 1TB drive though.
 
Don't forget that Time Machine is in effect only backing up changes from one back-up to the next which is why it is quick, and that once your hard disk is full it just drops off the oldest back-ups for the latest. It is a great piece of software and has saved by bacon on many an occasion. Mine is set to back-up hourly.
 
Clactonian said:
Don't forget that Time Machine is in effect only backing up changes from one back-up to the next which is why it is quick, and that once your hard disk is full it just drops off the oldest back-ups for the latest. It is a great piece of software and has saved by bacon on many an occasion. Mine is set to back-up hourly.
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I did an update to MacOS Sierra yesetrady which took about 30 minutes or so to complete. Next Time Machine back-up was 10GB, it was still doing it this morning.


Andy Taylor said:
If it is taking days there's something wrong with it. It can be fixed: http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
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Thanks, I'll check that out.
 
GeeJay57 said:
I did an update to MacOS Sierra yesetrady which took about 30 minutes or so to complete. Next Time Machine back-up was 10GB, it was still doing it this morning.



Thanks, I'll check that out.
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How often are you doing a back-up? It obviously pays to do them as often as possible, as I said earlier in my case hourly which takes a few minutes. My 1Tb hard disk which I'm backing up is now 80% full so there is a lot of data there.
 
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