Pc or iMAC

RogDen31

RogDen31

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Roger Denne
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Sorry if this has been asked before

I have been running an old Toshiba laptop and 17" screen when in the docking station, now i am gettig back into photography i want a bigger/brighter and better resolution screen almost HD quality if you like.
Now i know my Tosh isnt going to run higher than 1200pixels, so i will need to get a new base unit to run a 22" or 24" screen.

Do i get an Imac or a PC
My main use is photo editing, internet brousing, website creation and word/spreadsheet processing also it would have to connect to an existing XP network for modem and printer use, I dont do games.

At the moment i use Capture NX for editing
 
personally i would go for a high powered windows desktop purely for value of money and compatability. Myself i would like both but that would be if money wasnt an issue. Macs from what i am told are great at what they do but again i refer to the compatability issues regarding them and price but hey i dont wanna offend any MAC lovers out there
 
Oh no - not another of these freds... :D

I've been using PCs since the boy gates was in nappies. But nearly three years ago I bought an imac. I'm on my second and have just upgraded the OS to Leopard.

I need to run a couple of XP-based applications for work, unfortunately. I was running them under Boot Camp as I couldn't get one of my printers installed properly under Parallels (a label printer).

But now I've upgraded to Leopard, I made a special effort to install the label printer under XP under Parallels and I succeeded. The great advantage of Leopard, for me, is a new toy called Spaces. I can have XP under parallels running in one of these Spaces and simply switch to it with ctrl-right arrow. The rest of the time I spend in a couple of OS-X Spaces. Switching between Spaces is instant and a doddle.

I also have everything duplicated on a macbook - for use when on holiday.

The decision is rather like deciding whether to bat first if you win the toss. Weigh up all the facts. Consider everything, the pitch, weather conditions, weather forecast, humidity, what the groundsman has told you, the form of your opening bowlers, the form of your opening batsmen, the opposition and their strengths - consider absolutely everything. Then stop being stupid and opt to bat! It's the same with this decision. Consider absolutely everything - then buy a mac. :clap:
 
For what you have described you will use it for, I'd second 2Blue's comments.

Both will do what you want, but IMHO the Mac just does it better.
 
my gut feeling is to go with the Mac but i want to be sure it will work on my excisting XPpro based home network (2 other pc's adsl router/modem and printer on network)
 
Yes! 'er indoors has still got an xp box and it is networked to my macs and printers without a problem.
 
i have literally just bought myself the 24" Aluminium imac 2.8 extreme with 500gig HD runnin Leopard and its fantastic(y) and the screen is awsome:woot:

though i have come across the problem of my Photoshop not being Mac compatible:(,

i have however been told that Adobe will exchange your existing software for a Mac friendly version providing you sign a decleration saying you have destroyed the windows version, then there is a nominal postage cost for forwarding a new mac disc to you:woot:

hope this helps

MyPix ( 13 year pc user , now an iMac convert )
 
btw,
it works great on my existing PC wireless network and i can even brows all the files inside my PC, i even transfered 20,000 photographs from one HD to another, only took 16 hours, lol

doin the music atm

MyPix ( see my gallery )
 
looks like i'll be getting a mac soon then, not sure i can afford 24" tho it looks pretty awesome
 
Rog

Take a look at the memory you get with it. The I-Mac uses laptop memory and I think may limit the amount you can add.It only has 2 memory slots. Mac memory does seem a bit expensive as well.
 
Chappers said:
Rog

Take a look at the memory you get with it. The I-Mac uses laptop memory and I think may limit the amount you can add.It only has 2 memory slots. Mac memory does seem a bit expensive as well.
Click to expand...

RAM is expensive if you buy it direct from Apple, but its much cheaper from Crucial.
 
I use an iMac at home for my photo editing (and typing this). I have two other pc's running XP, a laptop with Vista, a wireless printer and a Roku wireless media player. All talk to each other OK over a secured ad hoc network. The Mac just found the network asked for a password and has simply worked ever since.

The Vista laptop has nearly been chucked on a number of occassions and I wish I bought a Macbook. That said if I had then a copy of Mac Office would have been required amongst other things which can push up the costs.

I upgraded my iMac with memory from a local PC shop.

Buy as big a screen as you cannot afford, I bought the 21 and wished I had gone larger - even though the screen is great in every other way.

Good luck! (y)
 
Chappers said:
Rog

Take a look at the memory you get with it. The I-Mac uses laptop memory and I think may limit the amount you can add.It only has 2 memory slots. Mac memory does seem a bit expensive as well.
Click to expand...

Current iMac' use DDR2 5300 667MHz SODIMMS, I bought 2gb from Crucial last year for £56 including delivery. As mentioned elsewhere do not buy memory from Apple.

Also the current range comes with 1gb installed and one free slot, as opposed to the previous ones which had 2x512mb installed :razz:

I don't know if the offer is still on but PC World where doing an offer where you got a free copy of Mac Office when you bought an iMac or Macbook.
 
When I bought my first imac, the price difference (Apple/Crucial) on the extra memory was huge so I bought from Crucial and fitted it myself.

When I bought both my macbook and my 2nd imac, the Apple store made me an offer on the extra memory which made it virtually the same cost as Crucial - and they fitted it in store whilst I waited. But I suspect the extra memory, if bought from the Apple online store will be expensive. Go to a local Apple store.
 
I did the same as you a while back, with the pc Mac debate. I went for a 20'' iMac and haven't regretted it once. I still have the old laptop pc, but it rarely sees the light of day.
 
I'm in the exact same situation. PC user for donkeys years (back to the DOS) days. I work in IT (as a programmer/analyst for years now in management) and am currently running two PC's at work (XP and Vista). However, I only really use my computer at home for Photography, Video, Music, Web (surfing and authoring) and after years of being frustrated with Windows I'm also now going to buy a top of the line iMac. I've been doing my background research into this decision for about a month on various forums, etc. and I now can't wait to jump ship and go OSX.

One thing I will quickly mention...it is Macworld next week (15th) when Apple announce any new products and/or revisions to existing products. There is not expected to be any change to the iMac but you never know (processor/graphics updates are a possibility). Therefore I'm waiting one more week before buying just in case. If no changes great I'll buy straight away...

:)
 
and the apple store is off-line at the moment which often happens when something new is about to be launched.
 
I'm thinking about getting an iMac, can anyone give me any information about the photo processing programme that comes with the product (eg. is it any good, does it deal with RAW) or would it be better purchasing software from Adobe (Elements equivalent).
 
lammie said:
I'm thinking about getting an iMac, can anyone give me any information about the photo processing programme that comes with the product (eg. is it any good, does it deal with RAW) or would it be better purchasing software from Adobe (Elements equivalent).
Click to expand...

I use apple's Aperture, which is one of my main reasons for moving to apple. I'm very happy with it. Load my files after a shot. I can FTP to my agency straight from aperture (with free software from apple), all quicker than my old method of converting to jpg and keywording etc. This doesn't come with mac, it's seperate. the supplied software is great, I use that for my more personal stuff.
 
Thanks natjag, think i'll go for it just using the supplied software for a while then look at the aperture software later when i've saved up a few more pennies.
 
chunkey20012001 said:
personally i would go for a high powered windows desktop purely for value of money and compatability. Myself i would like both but that would be if money wasnt an issue. Macs from what i am told are great at what they do but again i refer to the compatability issues regarding them and price but hey i dont wanna offend any MAC lovers out there
Click to expand...

Its 2008. There are no real compatibility issues :p I can read all Office documents I like, and they're releasing a new version soon for OSX. I have Photoshop, Lightroom. Nothings stopping me doing my job.
 
HIMUPNORTH said:
That said if I had then a copy of Mac Office would have been required amongst other things which can push up the costs.

Good luck! (y)
Click to expand...

what about open office...has good compatability with MS office and is free
 
RogDen31 said:
my gut feeling is to go with the Mac but i want to be sure it will work on my excisting XPpro based home network (2 other pc's adsl router/modem and printer on network)
Click to expand...

I have a macbook at home that runs fine on my wired/wireless network that consists of a mix of Linux, Windows and Mac boxes...all seem to play nicely together most of the time :clap:
 
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