iMac What Do You Think

Storm 10

Hi Guys I was thinking of buying this iMac with the 21 inch screen, does anyone here have one and what are they like.

http://www.apple.com/ie/imac/

deconduo

They are way overpriced for what you pay for. However, if you like OSX and want something that looks good and just works with a minimal chance of problems then its a good choice.

If you want to save money and learn something about computers, building your own is the best option

biko

Macs are good but overpriced for what you get.
On the other hand all peripherals are made by Apple too so will work without a hitch.

mathepac

biko wrote: »

Macs are good but overpriced for what you get...

What you get are ease of use and transparency and a degree of reliability, compatibility, dependability and upgradeability that PeeSee users can only envy. The main reason is that the hardware designer and manufacturer is also the the designer and manufacturer of the OS.

It's hard to put a price on all of this but in my opinion Apple's desktops and portables are tremendous value for money, given the massive peace of mind intrinsic to the purchase.

biko wrote: »

...
On the other hand all peripherals are made by Apple too so will work without a hitch.

That is untrue. Apple manufactures branded keyboards, mice and displays but no longer manufactures / re-badges printers, scanners, cameras, external storage devices, etc. What they do very well is to provide rigorous software and hardware interfaces to their systems such that peripheral manufacturers no longer write dreaded "drivers" to get their hardware to work.

BostonB

I didn't think Apple made anything any more, that they outsourced it all.

You are paying a premium for a premium product. Its simply that.

stimpson

I have the previous model iMac in work and I love it. I have it stuffed with RAM and have a secondary monitor so I have bootcamped Win7 running in VMWare running on that - it's like having a Mac and PC at the same time - you can copy and paste and drag and drop between the systems. And I can use the same Windows install natively with bootcamp for playing games.

I also have a Mac Mini at home as a media player and a Unibody Mac book, so I'm going to be dismissed as a fanboy. Having said all that, I advised my mother in law to get one when she upgraded her old PC and the weekly support calls quickly dropped off to nothing.

BostonB

Well if you can't maintain a PC properly moving to a Mac is the right thing to do.

54kroc

OP I switched from a pc to a 21.5" imac before christmas and it was money well spent.
I think when people are comparing pc's and imacs they forget about the quality of the screen's in imacs which are epic imo, also i've yet to see an all in one pc that looks as good, I know that might not matter to some.
I was so happy with the 21.5" imac that I picked up a 27" last week, buy an imac you won't be disappointed.

stimpson

BostonB wrote: »

Well if you can't maintain a PC properly moving to a Mac is the right thing to do.

You buy Win PC's because you like doing maintenance?

Do you drive a Rover?

mikemac

Expensive but you'll be using it for many hours a week for the next four years or so. I definitely aim to keep my imac over five years. I'm not one for upgrading constantly

So worth spending extra now. So easy to use and no messing around different maintenance tasks.

I suppose it might be a few hundred extra now OP but if you intend keeping it a few years it's not so much

And it's a pleasure dealing with Apple in Cork compared to Dell in India!
Though Corkonians are difficult to understand too

maccored

i cant believe people are digging out that old 'macs are more expensive' chestnut again. At work, a comparable PC to my mac was actually more expensive. In fact I ended up getting an imac so I can run both OS.

Its a bit like spending money on a car that doesnt cause as much hassle and which last longer than other models. You can buy a cheaper car, but to make it last as long and as hassle freet o use, you;d probably end up spending more on the cheaper one in the long run.

I wouldnt take much notice of those advising against using a mac, as most of those people more than likely dont own one, or their nearest experience is 'a friend has one'. I know people who dont like macs because the one they used in college in 1998 is now a bit outdated. I'd be confident that anyone who owns one or uses one regularly will tell you its worth paying for.

Freddie59

I bought an iMac in June 2010. Couple of minor glitches, but, apart from that it's brilliant. As previously mentioned the display has to be seen to be believed - it was a major factor in my purchase. i'm not really into the whole mac/PC thing (I had a PC for 12 years - still retain my four year-old Dell Optiplex). but you really get a premium product - albeit at a premium price.

Storm 10

Thanks for all the helpful replies you have sold me on getting an iMac now so looking forward to it, Is the spec on the one on the link ok without adding any extras to it including the final cost.

mikemac

Good deals in the refurbished store

Why not stretch to the 27'

maccored

adverts.ie is a great place as well - i got a lovely little intel macbook for 350 euro

stimpson

Storm 10 wrote: »

Thanks for all the helpful replies you have sold me on getting an iMac now so looking forward to it, Is the spec on the one on the link ok without adding any extras to it including the final cost.

I'd bump the RAM to 8GB if you plan to run Windows using VMWare or Parallels. Also, 500GB drive is pretty small - consider a bump to 1TB.

Also, I'd check out the bluetooth keyboard before you buy - it's laptop sized and has half height arrow keys which you may not like. I have a full size wired one in work, but I have a bluetooth one at home for surfing from the couch.

mathepac

stimpson wrote: »

I'd bump the RAM to 8GB if you plan to run Windows using VMWare or Parallels. Also, 500GB drive is pretty small - consider a bump to 1TB...

+1

BostonB

stimpson wrote: »

You buy Win PC's because you like doing maintenance?

Do you drive a Rover?

Don't have a kernel panic. Its just a joke. Most of the people I know rarely have to do anything with a PC other than use it. However "should I buy a mac" threads seem to littered the worlds most unreliable PC's. Just an observation.

As for the Rover's are they that unreliable? They have a problem with head gaskets on K series engines, which you can prevent with a different head gasket among other things. Otherwise judging by the numbers still around they seem to last a long time. Which I guess is because they were basically Honda's for a long time. VW is meant to be reliable yet they have massive problems with Turbo's, ABS failures, Diesel Particulate Filter failures, which can cost a lot to fix. Yet many would hold them up as reliable. Mercedes owner might look down on Honda's but Mercedes had a lot of problems in the past too. Its not like PC and Mac's are immune to defects, either, the Nvidia GFX problems effected them both the same.

Mac's are a premium product. Most find its worth the premium. But its got nothing to do with Rovers.

stimpson

BostonB wrote: »

Don't have a kernel panic. Its just a joke. Most of the people I know rarely have to do anything with a PC other than use it. However "should I buy a mac" threads seem to littered the worlds most unreliable PC's. Just an observation.

As for the Rover's are they that unreliable? They have a problem with head gaskets on K series engines, which you can prevent with a different head gasket among other things. Otherwise judging by the numbers still around they seem to last a long time. Which I guess is because they were basically Honda's for a long time. VW is meant to be reliable yet they have massive problems with Turbo's, ABS failures, Diesel Particulate Filter failures, which can cost a lot to fix. Yet many would hold them up as reliable. Mercedes owner might look down on Honda's but Mercedes had a lot of problems in the past too. Its not like PC and Mac's are immune to defects, either, the Nvidia GFX problems effected them both the same.

Mac's are a premium product. Most find its worth the premium. But its got nothing to do with Rovers.

I forgot the smiley.

Your post reminded me of one from RoverJames where he said that MG ZF's were perfectly reliable if you checked for mayo around the oil cap every couple of weeks and that 60,000 miles from a head gasket was plently.

But yeah, I use to drive a 20 year old VTEC CRX that never needed much more than oil, filters and plugs. I preferred to drive it than be constantly fixing it. Same with the Mac.

BostonB

I used to have a CRX 16-16i. I got fed up fixing it from people trying to rob it. I seemed to remember it shared some suspension parts with the Rover 400. I think some models had the same engine too.

stimpson

BostonB wrote: »

I used to have a CRX 16-16i. I got fed up fixing it from people trying to rob it. I seemed to remember it shared some suspension parts with the Rover 400. I think some models had the same engine too.

Honda had a 10% share in Rover. Apparently they sent a team over to Longbridge to reclaim their IP before the Chinese came over to strip the Rover factory.

Rover 200 was a rebadged Honda Concerto. They had "Powered by Honda" on the rocker cover - it was the same D16 engine in the CRX. I think they sold some with a K engine but the Honda one was the one to have.

You can even fit the brakes from a Rover 620 to a VTEC CRX for extra stoppage.

BostonB

Its a bit like me swapping parts between Mac's and PC's I've owned.

The purists would be horrified. :eek:

Freddie59

mathepac wrote: »

+1

+1 again. Running W7 via Parallels. It gets hungry. And yeah - if you can afford it go for the 27 inch.:)