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Hello, I’m in a bit of a pickle about what to buy. I’m relatively new to the photography and video world but have invested in an SLR, Drone and Osmo Mobile to get me started and loving it so far I may add. Only thing I am now missing is a machine to edit everything nicely! I have a DIY PC already which I built several years ago, mainly for gaming but I don’t think 4K video editing, colour grading, effects or photo editing etc will cope all too well. I am therefore trying to decide whether to build a new PC or I go for the mid range iMac 2017 27”. Can I get more for my buck by staying PC?

Can anyone provide me with some advice or perhaps someone’s been In the same boat as me? If you need any more info to assist in your well needed advice then please ask.

Thanks in advance!
 
This is very personal, and sure to attract fanboys from both camps. Both PC and Mac are very capable and will do what you want. The advantage of PC is that it's usually cheaper. The advantage of Mac is that it will last longer without requiring upgrades. PCs generally require a good grounding in IT to maintain them and get 3rd party bits working. Mac doesn't require that. It just works.

I speak as a retired IT manager of 40 years experience. I have, amongst other things, built, maintained, and used PCs in that time. When I retired I decided I no longer wanted to tinker and bought into Mac. That was 6 years ago and I'm still using the same unmodified machine with no performance issues. My initial outlay was dearer, but I've not spent on it since.
 
I have a 2011 22" iMac at work, and a decent spec. gaming PC with 27" screen at home, I prefer the Mac for work as I find it a better machine for multi-tasking, being able have multiple desktops on the go at the same time and flick between them with a swipe of a finger on my magic mouse is the single biggest killer feature for me. I know Windows 10 gives you multiple desktops if you want, but Mac + magic mouse is just too simple and I couldn't live without them.

I do all my photo-editing on the PC at home however, and have never felt it lacked anything for that task.

The only thing I think I'd like that I don't have at the moment is screen real estate, both my Mac and PC are 1080p screens, I'm currently trying to talk my boss into buying me a 27" Mac with 5K screen!
 
No right answer to this. I’ve spent 30+ years developing for PCs at work so bought an iMac at home “to get away from it”. I’ve had several since 2002, and Stephen above is right in that they will typically outlast a PC, I get at least 5 years before I want to upgrade for performance reasons.

My kids all have PCs though, mainly because they have a lower entry price point. That said, over time they have added and upgraded their kit bit by bit, so it’s a bit like Trigger’s broom.

I don’t have any issues with my Mac and groan when the kids network dies or graphics card stops working because they updated the drivers, but in fairness, that happens a lot less with Windows 10. I do miss the fact that I can’t just add an SSD to my Mac though, so it’s not all rosy, and if part of the Mac we’re to die, the hard disk for example, it’s a lot more of a faff to fix hardware.

Also familiarity with the Operating System is a factor. If you know Windows like the back of your hand, Mac OS may annoy you, and visa versa.
 
I built my i7-2600K PC seven years ago and it's still flying along, only changes I've made is taking the free upgrade from Windows 7 to 10, and I replaced the graphics card so I could run a 4k screen in addition to the pair of 2209WA monitors I already had. No clean installs or other malarky that some people seem to think are needed (to be fair, they were sometimes needed twenty years ago if you were indiscriminate about the "freeware" you installed).

Modern hardware plugged into a PC running a modern operating system will "just work". Something 15 years old and possibly you'll have to go rooting around for legacy drivers and compatibility modes. Ultimately it comes down to which operating system interface you prefer and how much you want to spend on a shiny box. I don't get on with OSX (I had a Mac mini once and tried to like it, especially as it's ultimately a port of BSD Unix), and xcode is just awful, but others love it.
 
Upgrade the current pc you built. throw out the motherboard, ram, hdd, cpu and put new ones in and maybe an ssd/hdd combo. Change the power supply if you have to.
Spend the rest on a very good screen.
Apple is superb but it is poor value long term compared to just upgrading the guts of a diy pc every couple of years or longer these days
 
I'm with the Mac brigade, as a 30 year veteran in IT I've had and built all sorts of PC's in all sorts of Specs.

I bought myself a 27" 4k iMac 2 years ago when my Mum passed away and left me some money. I now use almost solely my iMac ( oh and now a MacBook pro )

There are still a few things I keep my PC for but on the whole I hardly touch it. My Macs are stable and reliable, quick and fuss free. I recently decided to reload both my Macs purely as now I'm settled on what software I use I wanted to get rid of any rubbish. It took less than 2 hrs to reload both and have them running all my software.

At the same time I did my PC and that took 15hrs minus updates of about another 10hrs which put the final nail in the coffin.

PC's if built to a good spec to future proof them can be cheaper but if your going to do what GTG says and replace the mainboard, ram, cpu, power supply and drives then I don't see the point. You've just built a new PC haven't you ?

I would go to an Apple store if you can and have a look at an iMac before you make your decision, remembering you'd be on a new journey of porting over software or finding new software to do some of the things you need to. There are more free programs than there used to be by far, and most can be swapped over like Adobe products which is what I've done.
 
Upgrade the current pc you built. throw out the motherboard, ram, hdd, cpu and put new ones in and maybe an ssd/hdd combo. Change the power supply if you have to.
Spend the rest on a very good screen.
Apple is superb but it is poor value long term compared to just upgrading the guts of a diy pc every couple of years or longer these days
Now that really is Trigger's Broom! :)
 
Mac's and PC's are pretty much parallel to be fair, there's nothing you can do on a mac that you can't on a PC and vice-versa. And both MacOS and Windows have borrowed from each other so it really comes down to if you are happy with Windows or whether you want to learn an OS again?

In order to compare them you would need to look at a PC of equal specification, if you go cheap you will replace it much earlier, the difference is with Apple you don't really get the choice to go in 'cheap'. It's this mindset that makes Mac's appear to have much longer longevity, when in reality they last no longer or are not much more expensive than the PC equivalent

As an example, I have a Dell Precision that was spec'd high 5-7yrs ago, it still flies at doing everything, whereas a cheap HP laptop will likely have bit the dust a long time ago.

If however, you are after the appeal of the iMac due to it's form-factor and design, then short of the Surface Studio there are hardly any PC alternatives that I would be happy to recommend.
 
Now that really is Trigger's Broom! :)

Yep, keep the psu, case, disk drives, fans, blank the hdd and re-use ( probably get ssd instead these days or combo )

But the thing to do is buy the used guts from someone who upgrades every year and get a big discount. Especially ram, i have not had a ram module fail and i have used pc`s since the 1980`s so why bother buying it new.
 
Upgrade the current pc you built. throw out the motherboard, ram, hdd, cpu and put new ones in and maybe an ssd/hdd combo. Change the power supply if you have to.
Spend the rest on a very good screen.
Apple is superb but it is poor value long term compared to just upgrading the guts of a diy pc every couple of years or longer these days

IMG_1650.jpg

Ignore some of the items but there is a list of the current components I have. I also have a 250GB SSD which I run the OS from. I just feel with Windows it ends up running slow after sometime and I’ve got it in my head that it’s not the case with Apple. I’m leaning more towards PC as I know I can get what I want/need but for some reason an Apple is very appealing although I’ve never had one personally. Plus, a part of me feels I will probably want to play the odd game now and in the future as well as my video/photo editing. But with games there is compatibility issues on Mac OS. However there is then the option of Boot Camp which I don’t know too much about?
 
Having had windows machines since 1996, two years ago I bought a refurbed mac mini (late 2012) and (after a period of getting used to it) now find it much better, pleasant and easier to use.
 
Having had windows machines since 1996, two years ago I bought a refurbed mac mini (late 2012) and (after a period of getting used to it) now find it much better, pleasant and easier to use.

Interestingly enough, I was the opposite in some regards. I was issued a Macbook Pro from my previous work, and I just couldn't get on with it, I liked the build and Retina display, but found MacOS backwards in many ways and hardly any of the work tools were available. Windows has come a long way (thankfully), but again it's personal preference.
 
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Ignore some of the items but there is a list of the current components I have. I also have a 250GB SSD which I run the OS from. I just feel with Windows it ends up running slow after sometime and I’ve got it in my head that it’s not the case with Apple. I’m leaning more towards PC as I know I can get what I want/need but for some reason an Apple is very appealing although I’ve never had one personally. Plus, a part of me feels I will probably want to play the odd game now and in the future as well as my video/photo editing. But with games there is compatibility issues on Mac OS. However there is then the option of Boot Camp which I don’t know too much about?

That PC is powerful. It is slowing down because when you use the internet it messes them up over time until they hardly work at all.
You can get them working exactly as fast as the day you bought it by completely formatting the hdd / ssd and restarting over again.
Get a windows 10 disk instead though.
Restarting is a pain though and you have to try and salvage anything important from the system by saving it onto usb drives or something and add it to the new system when its up and running.
Do you have all the old discs of the hardware, you may need to load all the drivers for stuff onto the new system to get it working right, or download them from the internet.
I do it all the time and I have never seen a windows pc that did not work as fast as new after doing this procedure.
Even if a gamer wanted to upgrade that system they would just add another used 780 gpu for about £110 and run them in sli mode to give huge graphics power.
The power supply and motherboard can take that and I think its the best upgrade you can do for little over £100 only.
 
That PC is powerful. It is slowing down because when you use the internet it messes them up over time until they hardly work at all.
You can get them working exactly as fast as the day you bought it by completely formatting the hdd / ssd and restarting over again.
Get a windows 10 disk instead though.
Restarting is a pain though and you have to try and salvage anything important from the system by saving it onto usb drives or something and add it to the new system when its up and running.
Do you have all the old discs of the hardware, you may need to load all the drivers for stuff onto the new system to get it working right, or download them from the internet.
I do it all the time and I have never seen a windows pc that did not work as fast as new after doing this procedure.
Even if a gamer wanted to upgrade that system they would just add another used 780 gpu for about £110 and run them in sli mode to give huge graphics power.
The power supply and motherboard can take that and I think its the best upgrade you can do for little over £100 only.

But for 4K video editing I’m not sure if an additional 780 in Sli would be suitable? I’ve downloaded some free video editing software and added some of my 4K drone footage. As soon as I add colour grading the performance is horrendous!
 
But for 4K video editing I’m not sure if an additional 780 in Sli would be suitable? I’ve downloaded some free video editing software and added some of my 4K drone footage. As soon as I add colour grading the performance is horrendous!

What does the software say for minimum system requirements and recommended system requirements and that kind of thing.

Maybe try free trials of paid software because if it is free then perhaps it is slow no matter what pc you have.
 
That PC is powerful. It is slowing down because when you use the internet it messes them up over time until they hardly work at all.
No, it doesn't. Re-installing Windows is not necessary unless you clog it up with crapware, browser helper objects and an accretion of other random crud - people that do this also tend to run "cleaners" and the like to combat their own numptiness.

Like I said earlier, I've not reinstalled my PC since I built it seven years ago, only took the W10 upgrade when it was available and it hasn't been messed up at all.
 
No, it doesn't. Re-installing Windows is not necessary unless you clog it up with crapware, browser helper objects and an accretion of other random crud - people that do this also tend to run "cleaners" and the like to combat their own numptiness.

Like I said earlier, I've not reinstalled my PC since I built it seven years ago, only took the W10 upgrade when it was available and it hasn't been messed up at all.

Good for you but that is not most people experience at all.
 
Good for you but that is not most people experience at all.
The best way to keep a Windows machine running smoothly is by not installing any software. All software on the Windows platform makes its own additions and alterations to the registry.
 
With an imac you are getting a pro quality 5K screen. How much are you prepared to pay for one with PC? Unless you have one already of course.

Yeah, the screen is definitely a major selling point as buying a standalone 5k monitor is roughly 1k alone! Which is crazy! But then would the mid-range iMac be able to cope with 4K editing?

Also does anyone know how reliable running Windows on boot camp is? So if I did want to play some Windows Platform games in the future, is that sufficient? (Understand this is a photography forum, so people may not know).
 
Yeah, the screen is definitely a major selling point as buying a standalone 5k monitor is roughly 1k alone! Which is crazy! But then would the mid-range iMac be able to cope with 4K editing?

Also does anyone know how reliable running Windows on boot camp is? So if I did want to play some Windows Platform games in the future, is that sufficient? (Understand this is a photography forum, so people may not know).


I actually find a 5k screen a bit overkill for editing - you have to zoom in to x2 rather than 1:1 to see details. More important is accurate colours etc.

A mid range iMac will be fine for 4k, you can do 4k on a 12" Macbook if you really want, my 2015 3.3ghz i5 chunks through 4k pretty fine indeed. With video editing, Mac software is optimised for Mac hardware and that seems to make a huge difference, Final Cut Pro is pretty much the last Mac only software that people will specifically choose Mac for and it renders MILES quicker than Adobe.

Boot camp is as stable as its been on any PC I've ever used. Obviously you can get better outright number crunching performance for the money but as a package the iMac is pretty compelling when you factor in the screen.
 
Assuming the M/c you have at the moment works and you don't need the money you will get from selling it, which in all probability will not be a lot, then keep it and go and buy a MAC purely for editing.
Put the relevant software on it and as they say Bobs your mothers brother.
I did a not dissimilar thing when I switched from Canon to Fuji-I kept some of the specialist ( TS-E and 5D mk2) Canon kit as I did not need the money, I might need the kit sometime, its not costing anything and if I sold it I could not afford to replace it.
If you have the money buy it-there are no pockets in a shroud!
 
Yeah, the screen is definitely a major selling point as buying a standalone 5k monitor is roughly 1k alone! Which is crazy! But then would the mid-range iMac be able to cope with 4K editing?

Also does anyone know how reliable running Windows on boot camp is? So if I did want to play some Windows Platform games in the future, is that sufficient? (Understand this is a photography forum, so people may not know).

No idea about video editing at those res but I'm sure you could play with one in apple store before ordering. It might just take slightly longer exporting than a mega spec workstation but other than that I wouldn't expect any problems.

I don't use boot camp but I run some windows versions on VirtualBox mainly for car diagnostics and what not and I've got no complaints. It can enter full screen just fine, but I've not tested 3D graphics or anything like that.
 
The old rhetoric about Macs lasting longer is only true if you spec a crap pc.

A good spec pc will easily last several years. My second gen i7 is circa 2011 and still going strong. No reason why you can't keep windows fresh, typically it only goes to poop by installing fud software.

As for windows vs osx, that's just a personal preference. Both crash, both have pros and cons. There is no one "best" system.

Screens, personally I'd say a nice dell ips will be better if you have the cash. Gloss doesn't suit all users, can be a nightmare to position to avoid glare. Most pro screens won't have gloss for good reason. And personally they give me a headache.
 
I have no experience of video editing but I have been using a late 2012 mac for several years (probably around 3-4 years now). I moved from a PC as the PC wasn't the best spec and it had got ridiculously slow (that was probably my own fault as probably filled it with rubbish and bought a cheaper spec). Overall I've no regretted moving to an iMac as the simple form of just the screen is nice (the external drives probably ruin that a bit now). There are somethings that are annoying about mac's. Apple's instance to make it practically impossible to upgrade either the RAM or hard drive from 2012 onwards on the 21.5 inch imacs is very annoying. My mac is still in good condition and working well, but I would like to upgrade the RAM and maybe the hard drive to a SSD to help it runs faster. The issue is I would need split the glass screen from the body and its secured with adhesive tape making it nearly impossible to get to the RAM and hard drive. I've looked at the 27 inch macs, the RAM is easily upgradeable but the hard drive is still behind the screen which again has the same issue. I just wish they had kept the magnetic secured screens rather than the adhesive tape of the tapered versions. Another issue with the hard drive is I had nearly filled it a couple of years ago and everything slowed down. I've had to move all RAW files to external drives because of this. In same ways its helped as I was able to buy a faster RAID drive to run lightroom on (the catalogue and RAWs are on the same partitioned drive).That works well for me but does mean I'm now more tied to mac's now as I gone with thunderbolt drives to take advantage of the speed.

If I knew how to properly keep a PC running nicely I would think of going back to a PC. I've now decided I'm going to keep running my 2012 imac for a little while longer, it would be nice to have it a bit faster but its still useable as it is for the time being.
 
Here is my experience. After being with pc’s for 30years I took a leap of faith after much research in 2010. I got a 21.5 iMac. All I say is it’s still going strong today. Would I go back. No
 
If I knew how to properly keep a PC running nicely I would think of going back to a PC. I've now decided I'm going to keep running my 2012 imac for a little while longer, it would be nice to have it a bit faster but its still useable as it is for the time being.

Back up your data and reinstall Windows was the only way I knew to keep it running nicely.

Might have changed in the 6 years I've been using Mac (but I doubt it).
 
Back up your data and reinstall Windows was the only way I knew to keep it running nicely.

Might have changed in the 6 years I've been using Mac (but I doubt it).
Never had to reinstall Windows regularly but the I never install crappy bloat.

Same for osx, it's not invulnerable to slowdowns after time if abused. Did a stint of 10 years supporting a design team of about 20 Macs, they got abused and needed a rebuild on occasion.
 
Never had to reinstall Windows regularly but the I never install crappy bloat.

Same for osx, it's not invulnerable to slowdowns after time if abused. Did a stint of 10 years supporting a design team of about 20 Macs, they got abused and needed a rebuild on occasion.
I've only had my Mac for about 6 years, but I've never had to rebuild it. Although I've found it beneficial to reboot every couple of months or so. And I HAVE installed some crap in that time. But the thing is, uninstalling the crap simply means dragging it to the recycle bin. None of this messing about with uninstallers potentially screwing up the registry. But at the end of the day it's what you want out of a machine. Once upon a time I enjoyed building machines and fault-finding - after all, it had been my job. And PCs DID do what I wanted them to do, and very well. But nowadays i just want a bit of peace. I must be/am getting old.
 
Back up your data and reinstall Windows was the only way I knew to keep it running nicely.

Might have changed in the 6 years I've been using Mac (but I doubt it).

Yes times have changed windows 10 is more stable than Mac OS these days.

Macs used to be good but realistically haven't been all that for many years now.

Then of course there is what you get for your money, I have a business account with Apple and we use both platforms but for example when I needed to buy a new desktop recently I looked at the Apple options and I gave my account manager a list of what was needed and they quoted me £4229 this was with my supposed business discount as well :D but couldn't quite get to the spec I wanted. I asked for the same quote from my account manager at Dell they gave me a price of just over £1900 and the spec was actually better than I asked for. To be fair I did then have to drop another £600 on a monitor but combined the windows based option cost £2500 and delivered a lot better hardware spec than the option available from Apple.

My wife less than a month ago had the same thing however she did opt to go with an imac instead which cost just over £3000 when comparing the two my new desktop is much quicker than her imac at everything. She has had a few issues with her's as well both hardware and software and she has only had it a month and now really regrets the purchase.

I used to believe in the myth that Apple hardware and software was more reliable due to the infrastructure but that simply isn't the case any more unfortunately.
 
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You can't really base reliability statistics on what one or two people report. I'm not saying one is better than the other. Just relaying my personal experience as an ex-IT professional. And speed is relative. My Mac may not be the fastest personal computer in the world, but I didn't realise it was a race. It does me.
 
I've only had my Mac for about 6 years, but I've never had to rebuild it. Although I've found it beneficial to reboot every couple of months or so. And I HAVE installed some crap in that time. But the thing is, uninstalling the crap simply means dragging it to the recycle bin. None of this messing about with uninstallers potentially screwing up the registry. But at the end of the day it's what you want out of a machine. Once upon a time I enjoyed building machines and fault-finding - after all, it had been my job. And PCs DID do what I wanted them to do, and very well. But nowadays i just want a bit of peace. I must be/am getting old.
I don't want to drag this off track too far. But if you think dragging the program to trash always removes all program data from osx you're mistaken.
 
Macs used to be good but realistically haven't been all that for many years now.

Really??

My Mac (both of them) are on 24/7. I get the occasional update and for the most part I never have to reboot. On the odd occasion that I do have to reboot the do so faultlessly. I've NEVER had a crash or slow down of any sort. I guess your "realistic" quote is just based on your opinion and have never actually owned a Mac?

My Macs are both 27", one a 2012 and the other a 2015 5K. My 17 year old son still uses my 2009 24" Mac which also still works perfectly.

My windows 10 PC that we use in the warehouse for picking stock is always failing updates and just last week we had to reinstall the whole damn thing just to get an important update to install.
We often come in, in the mornings and find the PC has rebooted and we have to reopen everything and login before we can start working.
 
I don't want to drag this off track too far. But if you think dragging the program to trash always removes all program data from osx you're mistaken.

It certainly doesn't, but dragging the app onto App Cleaner seems to do a pretty good job and almost as quick.

App Cleaner is a 3rd party app.
 
My Mac (both of them) are on 24/7.

That's another reason I love my work Mac, I only ever put it to sleep, never switch if off, so when I start work in the morning just tap the mouse / keyboard and I have a login prompt on screen immediately. To be fair, now I have Windows on an SSD in my home PC boot up time is only about 30 seconds, but it was several minutes before that, not a problem I've ever had to deal with my Mac. :)
 
Really??

My Mac (both of them) are on 24/7. I get the occasional update and for the most part I never have to reboot. On the odd occasion that I do have to reboot the do so faultlessly. I've NEVER had a crash or slow down of any sort. I guess your "realistic" quote is just based on your opinion and have never actually owned a Mac?

My Macs are both 27", one a 2012 and the other a 2015 5K. My 17 year old son still uses my 2009 24" Mac which also still works perfectly.

My windows 10 PC that we use in the warehouse for picking stock is always failing updates and just last week we had to reinstall the whole damn thing just to get an important update to install.
We often come in, in the mornings and find the PC has rebooted and we have to reopen everything and login before we can start working.

You know what they say when you assume. :D

I have had macs since before the original iMac was launched have also have also had various other units including power p.c's, the cube, Mac Pro's etc. and loads of Macbooks. We currently have 4 mac's, my brothers business has 12 ( I help support these) they have issues all the time, they are never all working as they should. We have had less issues with the windows units, mainly because when the odd issue happens it's easy to resolve. With the Mac's it used to be that they very rarely had any issues but when they did it was always a major problem, now days they have far more minor issues that are a hassle to resolve. Between my 2 businesses, my wife's business and my brothers business we have in recent years had far more issue with our Apple equipment compared to our windows equipment.

I am going to make an assumption myself and say that the Windows desktop you have is a low spec cheap standard desktop and you are not comparing like for like.
 
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It certainly doesn't, but dragging the app onto App Cleaner seems to do a pretty good job and almost as quick.

App Cleaner is a 3rd party app.
I don't hold much stock in 3rd party tools on either platform personally. How does a 3rd part app know what to remove and what to leave, and if it damages/removes system files as a result you have no recourse.
 
I don't want to drag this off track too far. But if you think dragging the program to trash always removes all program data from osx you're mistaken.
No, I agree. But my point is that there is no registry to be rebuilt after deleting a program.
 
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