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PDub

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As the new iMacs are out ive been once again tempted in getting one.

But, for the money is it not better, for photo editing and processing reasons alone, to get a much higher spec windows PC?

For £999 you can get a hell of a spec PC.

I dont care for gaming so its purely for photo editing and processing.

Thanks.
 
PDub said:
As the new iMacs are out ive been once again tempted in getting one.

But, for the money is it not better, for photo editing and processing reasons alone, to get a much higher spec windows PC?

For £999 you can get a hell of a spec PC.

I dont care for gaming so its purely for photo editing and processing.

Thanks.
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I went back to mas a few months ago with a new imac and couldn't be happier.
 
if you already have a decent-ish screen then youll always get better bang for buck from a PC. the only difference being the operating system as both are intel platforms.

the compact nature of the iMac is a good space saving idea. however i note the iMac still doesnt have an IPS panel and doesnt have a matte screen option, those are major downfalls for my liking. also its more to go wrong in one package etc.

couple of things to concider there.
 
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neil_g said:
if you already have a decent-ish screen then youll always get better bang for buck from a PC. the only difference being the operating system as both are intel platforms.

the compact nature of the iMac is a good space saving idea. however i note the iMac still doesnt have an IPS panel and still doesnt have a matte screen option, those are major downfalls for my liking. also its more to go wrong in one package etc.

couple of things to concider there.
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Pretty sure it does have an IPS panel (under features on the iMac page) as did the previous model and the one before that... No Matte which is a pity
 
From the Apple website_

Stunning from every angle.
The iMac display looks great from any seat in the house, thanks to a premium display technology called in-plane switching (IPS). IPS gives you a bright picture with excellent colour — even if you’re viewing the display from the side.
 
PDub said:
But, for the money is it not better, for photo editing and processing reasons alone, to get a much higher spec windows PC?
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IMHO, yes. My i7/16G/90G SSD/1T HDD/2xdell U2410's cost about £1000 less than the equivalent iMac in total.
 
I stick with Apple because I like Aperture, I can still have my normal Adobe software and the back up solution and simplicity suits me. Not keen on the iMac anymore myself though, don't like the lack of expandability etc so I went for a Mac Pro. This allows me to use monitors that I am happy with (and alot of them!), 4-6 Hard drives and a lot more memory as needed. Also I don't have to pay apple a massive premium to have an SSD boot drive.
 
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Just had a look on dell.

i7-2600, 6gb ram, 1gb radeon HD6670, 1.5tb sata HD.

£803.99.

Now add in Quidco deal, £70 off XPS machines over £799 and 6% cashback.

Total after everything: £689.95.

Pretty tempting.
 
PDub said:
Just had a look on dell.

i7-2600, 6gb ram, 1gb radeon HD6670, 1.5tb sata HD.

£803.99.

Now add in Quidco deal, £70 off XPS machines over £799 and 6% cashback.

Total after everything: £689.95.

Pretty tempting.
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Do you know if the Dell i7-2600 is the latest Intel Sandy-Bridge processor? If comparing to the new iMac - they use the latest SB. Also do you need to add on a decent LCD?
 
philshep said:
Do you know if the Dell i7-2600 is the latest Intel Sandy-Bridge processor? If comparing to the new iMac - they use the latest SB. Also do you need to add on a decent LCD?
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Yes (as has been said). The only iMac with this particular processor available is the processor upgraded 27" which is £1809 when configured with this in (and only has 4G of memory/1T disk too). Even buying a 27" IPS display, you'd still be left with over £300 in your pocket via the PC route...
 
arad85 said:
Yes (as has been said). The only iMac with this particular processor available is the processor upgraded 27" which is £1809 when configured with this in (and only has 4G of memory/1T disk too). Even buying a 27" IPS display, you'd still be left with over £300 in your pocket via the PC route...
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There is an option on the 21.5" to upgrade to the i7 CPU for £160 total being £1410. Still a chunk more but I suppose depends if like the design, OS and bundled apps like the iLife suite
 
philshep said:
There is an option on the 21.5" to upgrade to the i7 CPU for £160 total being £1410.
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True, but that's the low power i7-2600S with max clock speed of 2.8GHz. Yes, it will turbo-boost (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Turbo_Boost) on a single core to the same as the i7-2600 does (3.8GHz), once you have all cores running (and PS/LR can get all cores running quite easily) it will be a good 20% slower (2.8GHz vs 3.4GHz)...
 
Sure you can spec a PC a bit cheaper but thats not the point. The Mac just works so beautifully out of the box. I love the built in time machine backup software, the cool utilities, software like iMovie that it comes with. The fact that the same company controls the hardware and OS makes it possible for them to just make everything work and they really do get it right most of the time.

Theres tons of things that just make it a pleasure to use. I still have a PC laptop and used windows and linux for about 10 years before moving back to mac recently. My girlfriend had never used a mac before I got this one, she uses a computer all day at work, and after spending a few hours on mine she wants her own iMac.

I know the Mac vs PC thing gets people going but I'm not an Apple fanboy, I hate how apple have hamstrung the ipad by doing things like not having USB and their no flash policy really ticks me off. But I just want a computer that lets me get on with photography and find that the little extra a mac costs is well worth it for the time and frustration it saves me. You really don't realise just how much more pleasurable it is to use a mac until you actually make the switch.


BTW I worried about the glossy screen and it almost put me off, Im so glad it didn't though. The screen is beautiful (27 inch), reflections are not a problem where I have it, and I calibrated it using the colour munki and the results are fantastic. My prints match my monitor really well. I also use the Intuos 4 tablet and it is a killer set up, only wish I had the blue tooth tablet as its my only cable :(
 
lensflair said:
Sure you can spec a PC a bit cheaper but thats not the point. The Mac just works so beautifully out of the box. I love the built in time machine backup software, the cool utilities, software like iMovie that it comes with. The fact that the same company controls the hardware and OS makes it possible for them to just make everything work and they really do get it right most of the time.

Theres tons of things that just make it a pleasure to use. I still have a PC laptop and used windows and linux for about 10 years before moving back to mac recently. My girlfriend had never used a mac before I got this one, she uses a computer all day at work, and after spending a few hours on mine she wants her own iMac.

I know the Mac vs PC thing gets people going but I'm not an Apple fanboy, I hate how apple have hamstrung the ipad by doing things like not having USB and their no flash policy really ticks me off. But I just want a computer that lets me get on with photography and find that the little extra a mac costs is well worth it for the time and frustration it saves me. You really don't realise just how much more pleasurable it is to use a mac until you actually make the switch.


BTW I worried about the glossy screen and it almost put me off, Im so glad it didn't though. The screen is beautiful (27 inch), reflections are not a problem where I have it, and I calibrated it using the colour munki and the results are fantastic. My prints match my monitor really well. I also use the Intuos 4 tablet and it is a killer set up, only wish I had the blue tooth tablet as its my only cable :(
Click to expand...

A lot of folks forget about that bit :thumbs:
 
Scotty Pro said:
A lot of folks forget about that bit :thumbs:
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turn PC on, load LR etc, do work, close LR etc, shutdown.

:shrug:

fact of the matter is that every platform has frustrating little quirks and that its a personal preference point as to which one works best for that person. like i said before one platform over another isnt going to make your world all fluffy and wonderful, promote world peace etc :D
 
Remember to factor in resale value as well, Apple machines hold their value much better than generic PC's.
Buying Apple is only *really* expensive the first time ;-)
 
If I had enough money I would have a brand new Macbook and brand new PC. For my own recreational use, I would probably prefer to have a Macbook, but I also need to run Windows only code, and specialized tasks.
 
Deciding on a new machine myself and would likely go the Dell route.

I have way too much that I depend on Windows for and love, and besides I really can't stand the attitude of Jobs. I'm half expecting the Apple Store to become a mandatory part of using a Mac to install anything and Jobs to utterly control what can and can't be sold through it.

But aside from that, I've got loads of friends with Apple kit. All looks nice and they often spout the "it just works", but to be honest I've been using XP for a very long time and frankly "it just works" for me. I know loads have issues, but I never seem to have much issue. And from all I've seen Windows 7 is very good and a much improved experience.

There are loads of nice things on a Mac though in terms of user experience and nicely thought out tools. However if you're mainly going to fire up Photoshop, a Mac is OTT as it doesn't really offer much benefit for that one application.

And Mac monitors really bug me. Jobs - matte displays please!! I know glass makes it look sexy which makes it easier to sell, but it sucks.
 
someguy201 said:
, but I also need to run Windows only code, and specialized tasks.
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you can run Windows on a Mac easy, I have Win 7 on mine, and its there for just 2 programmes. FWIW I haven't booted Windows for 2 weeks now so will probably have loads of updates to install :thumbsdown:
 
Scotty Pro said:
you can run Windows on a Mac easy, I have Win 7 on mine, and its there for just 2 programmes. FWIW I haven't booted Windows for 2 weeks now so will probably have loads of updates to install :thumbsdown:
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I'm aware of that, however you can't perform a MBR fix without messing up your entire Macbook drive ;)

I need to be able to run a Windows test box, I would love to have a decent Macbook pro but I don't have enough money right now. Maybe when I need a new computer, I will consider a Macbook as well as a low spec Windows Machine.
 
someguy201 said:
I need to be able to run a Windows test box, I would love to have a decent Macbook pro but I don't have enough money right now. Maybe when I need a new computer, I will consider a Macbook as well as a low spec Windows Machine.
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Use vmware or parallels to create a virtual machine.

I have a whole virtual network setup on my imac for testing.

1 windows XP, 1 Windows 7, 1 server 2k3 and 1 server 2k8
 
Patch tuesday is the second tuesday of each month. Updates are mainly released then, rather than constantly.
 
Id go with a Mac, but i am a bit of a fan boy :P,

Once you use one most people don’t go back, and there’s a reason for that, there easy to use, have cheaper better software so you don’t clog up your hard drive with crap pieces of software you don’t really need,

And as already been mentioned before there resale value means when you wont the next IMac will only cost you £200 max, when you wont to get the next PC it’ll be a good £300-£400 o and you don’t need anything like Norton, Kaspersky, McAfee so that’s a £50 saving year.

But TBH for £1000 you wont be disappointed with either machines, they’ll both be fast and powerful and probably both surpass your needs 
Jack
 
Llama said:
have cheaper better software so you don’t clog up your hard drive with crap pieces of software you don’t really need,
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eh? last i checked adobe prices for example were identical for OSX and Windows. also software you dont need? if you dont need it, dont install it..

and you don’t need anything like Norton, Kaspersky, McAfee so that’s a £50 saving year.
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seriously, you dont need to pay for anti virus. Avast and MSE are 2 of the top end rated software and both are freeeeeeee.
 
Mac malware exists. Let some children use a brand new mac, and see how long it lasts before getting infected with something - my sisters macbook lasted a week before it was infected with a windows xp rouge antivirus program (Don't ask how).

Children = a great test, it never fails. If you want to see the weirdest most bizarre problems that can occur with computers, just let children use them.

Also, I love free antivirus. MSE and Avira are what I usually recommend.
 
someguy201 said:
Children = a great test, it never fails. If you want to see the weirdest most bizarre problems that can occur with computers, just let children use them.
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Tell me about it. I have 500 of the little darlings trying to break mine
 
I'm a few weeks into ownership of an iMac i5 with a 2.8ghz quad core processor and 4 gig of ram. It has a 27 inch high res screen which is just jaw droopingly beautiful.

I'm really please with it so far - definite plus points are that it boots up to fully usable in 30 seconds - I'm finding Safari to be a lightning fast browser with no delays at all compared to Firefox which was getting irritatingly slow at times . It's a very fast machine and displays fully rendered raw images in a blink in DPP compared to quite a delay on my old PC.

There's no denying you're never going to get the full balls out performance of a high end PC for gaming and it's never going to be user upgradable like a PC, but this machine has all the performance I need and provided it proves reliable will last me a good few years with this level of performance. I 'm running Parallels on it and I have to say that it runs Call Of Duty Modern Warfare at pretty high res with all the options ticked, so it's no slouch in that department. It's just about perfect for me - the only thing I may do is upgrade the ram to 8 or 12 gig, but I'm undecided as yet.

I'm struggling to see how a Mac is intrinsically a 'better' graphics machine than a well spec'd PC with a similar screen except it carries a lot less baggage than the PC and still does the job - perhaps that's it.

The magic mouse is a wonderful sleek design and great for clicking around the screen etc., but a bit wanting when it comes to heavy duty image editing, so I've replaced mine with my Logitech wireless mouse which is far more suitable for the job. Other than that, I'm a very happy new iMac user, but certainly no fanboy - both systems have their advantages,
 
CT said:
definite plus points are that it boots up to fully usable in 30 seconds
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My PC running Win 7 is 25 secs to fully usable (and most of that is the BIOS booting up). Having said that, it's on 24/7 so never gets turned off unless I need to upgrade something...

CT said:
I'm finding Safari to be a lightning fast browser with no delays at all compared to Firefox which was getting irritatingly slow at times
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I ditched FF around 10 months ago - too many bugs and turning into bloatware. Tried Safari and whilst it looked nice, it kept crashing under Win 7. Moved to Chrome and haven't looked back since...


CT said:
There's no denying you're never going to get the full balls out performance of a high end PC for gaming
Click to expand...
Most of the balls out performance for gaming comes from the graphics card/cards you have in the PC, not the processor.

CT said:
I'm struggling to see how a Mac is intrinsically a 'better' graphics machine than a well spec'd PC with a similar screen except it carries a lot less baggage than the PC and still does the job - perhaps that's it.
Click to expand...
It isn't.
 
arad85 said:
My PC running Win 7 is 25 secs to fully usable (and most of that is the BIOS booting up). Having said that, it's on 24/7 so never gets turned off unless I need to upgrade something...
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Does your PC match his Mac exactly in specs, with straight out the box windows?
Boot sequence speed also doesn't reflect general usage speeds.

I ditched FF around 10 months ago - too many bugs and turning into bloatware. Tried Safari and whilst it looked nice, it kept crashing under Win 7. Moved to Chrome and haven't looked back since...
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FF4 is an improvement, but I've always used Opera for years anyway.


Most of the balls out performance for gaming comes from the graphics card/cards you have in the PC, not the processor.
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The CPU is just as important in games. If you have a crap CPU it will bottleneck everything else.
 
I could be wrong but I think Apple comes pretty high, if not first for cutomer satisfaction/customer service. That's probably worth a few quid extra :) Also does pretty well on reliability, my 2006 Mac Pro is ticking along nicely
 
philshep said:
I could be wrong but I think Apple comes pretty high, if not first for cutomer satisfaction/customer service. That's probably worth a few quid extra :) Also does pretty well on reliability, my 2006 Mac Pro is ticking along nicely
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They do have quite good customer service, it's also quite nice having only one company dealing with all the parts, as well as software.
 
someguy201 said:
They do have quite good customer service, it's also quite nice having only one company dealing with all the parts, as well as software.
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Good point that I had the previous MacBook pro with the faulty Nvidia graphics card, took it into Apple, came out with a new logic board fitted for free. Not too bad...
 
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