iMac users who are now considering a PC tower, which one?

Perhaps asking at a PC forums site would yield better responses.

Sam Spade said:

Which PC tower do you guys recommend, preferably one with good SSD options? I've been out of the PC market for a while, so it's unfamiliar territory...

Thanks

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I know it's ironic but I work at a custom PC and repair shop but only use Macs. With that said, I build lots of custom gaming PC's everyday and have been getting tempted to build one.

The raw power for price ratio is off the chart. My heart is still with Macs, but offering the MacPro with 3 year old tech (GPU) inside of it and calling it new is absolutely embarrassing. While the MacBook Pro does have some nice features, I'm not too sure if the price tag is worth it, but I cannot judge that just yet.

Overall, I am thinking of selling my iMac, building a rig for editing and buying a MacBook Air for casual web surfing.

Corsair T600 is my absolutely favorite......nice look and very big for a mid tower.

Icaras said:

Perhaps asking at a PC forums site would yield better responses.

Click to expand...

I think this is a valid place to ask the question... after all different senarios are to be considered now.

Jawersen said:

I think this is a valid place to ask the question... after all different senarios are to be considered now.

Click to expand...

PCs are not Macs. The forum is called "iMac".

While I don't know if it's a suitable option for you, I'm going to build one myself. I've looked around, and building something that performs similarly to what a high-end non-existent new iMac would do costs about $1,500.

An additional benefit is that I can go the Hackintosh route, which will give me some time before I need to switch my Adobe licenses to Windows.

Dell I-mac clone.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-one-27-2710-aio/pd

Blu-ray too


The Adobe license is the real switching cost.

Sam Spade said:

Which PC tower do you guys recommend, preferably one with good SSD options? I've been out of the PC market for a while, so it's unfamiliar territory...

Thanks

Click to expand...

Hackintosh

Icaras said:

PCs are not Macs. The forum is called "iMac".

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Apple has decided to become a luxury mobile device company, rather than a computer company. That means that us desktop users need somewhere else to go.

eightclicks said:

Apple has decided to become a luxury mobile device company, rather than a computer company. That means that us desktop users need somewhere else to go.

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Yeah it's pretty sad and as much as I love Apple, I will never be a blind fanboy. Right now, they just aren't curtailing to my specific needs, whether that be price, power or both.

I do love the integration though, so even if I migrate back to windows, I will always have one Mac regardless.

Really? Did you expect Apple to announce all of their new products today? Is instant gratification all you got?

I'm building one. I'm not one of those loaded kinds of guys that can afford to buy a new $1500+ Mac every year, for me it's about every 3 years. Last year was my renew time and I love laptops so I got a maxed out 13" air at a discount. But I've found that unlike the Macbook Pro I had a few years ago, it doesn't fit all my needs, namely gaming. I don't regret my decision, I knew what I was getting into... it's only recently that I had a desire to run modern games. I considered an iMac since the refresh was supposed to happen today. Glad I went ahead and ordered my parts anyway. $700 hurts me a lot less than $1500 (high end 21"). I'll continue to use my Air for everything but gaming, but it stinks that I have to get a pure Windows machine for something with powerful graphics at a reasonable cost.

Dornblaser said:

Really? Did you expect Apple to announce all of their new products today? Is instant gratification all you got?

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Instant gratification??

Today's Mac Pro upgrade was utterly disgraceful, after two years of waiting. And that was two years after the 2010 upgrade, which was a minor spec bump from the 2009 version.

Meanwhile, the idea was that the iMac would become the new professional tool of choice. The iMac that has gone 14 months without upgrades, and by now has become disgustingly overpriced for what it offers.

I don't want instant gratification. I want reliable products with a reliable update cycle, so I don't have to worry about having to spend thousands of dollars switching platforms and acquiring new software licenses.

eightclicks, my comments were for the iMac and not the Mac Pro. This is the iMac section.

Icaras said:

PCs are not Macs. The forum is called "iMac".

Click to expand...

Intel macs are PCs with Apple logos on them since they use the same parts now.

Dornblaser said:

eightclicks, my comments were for the iMac and not the Mac Pro. This is the iMac section.

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Read the second paragraph, please.

And in case you still don't get it...

The Mac Pro has been all but abandoned by Apple over the past few years, and for many professional users the iMac was the alternative solution. Now, the Mac Pro treatment appears to be spreading to the entire professional part of the ecosystem.

For many people, this is nothing like delayed gratification on new iToys. Rather, it's about seeing the supplier of our professional tools become unreliable and downright flaky.

Certainly not going back to Windows, but I am considering a new MBP with a Thunderbolt Display, since there's just no way of knowing when the iMacs are going to be updated...

Jawersen said:

I think this is a valid place to ask the question... after all different senarios are to be considered now.

Click to expand...

Why are different scenarios to be considered NOW?

Because Apple did not release a new desktop today?????


I guess this is another ...

" Waaaaaaaaaah Appple Dinnit Gimme A New Desktop So I'm Gonna Fix Them By Purchasing A Windows Machine " thread?

eh?

Icaras said:

PCs are not Macs.

Click to expand...

Although all Macs are PCs

Building is the way to go. New Asus motherboard with thunderbolt is about $450 or around $200 without. Supports over clocked memory, dual graphics cards, Ivy bridge. Memory is cheap. Ivy Bridge i7 is $319. Add latest graphics card, power supply, SSD, case with 5 fans for heat and I am almost $3k.

Downgrade to no thunderbolt motherboard, i5, standard RAM, mid-line GPU and price falls to $1,250.

I am considering PC now ... after over 20 years of macs

I like to get a new mac, every 5 years. They do last that long.

My 2006 iMac 24" is now flakey ... the HD is gone, and along with it, its thermocouple, so I run the fans manually. It got a new power supply a few months ago from Apple. They wanted to charge $250 to put in a 250GB hard drive - they wouldn't put in any other one ... despite the machine being close to lacking support whatsoever. And the DVD drive they said was faulty ... although it works ...

I've had: SE-20, CX, Mac II, that docking notebook that was very tiny, a notebook, a G3 macbook, a G4 Titanium notebook, a G4 tower (twin CPUs that was the noisy machine), the household has several Macbook Pros and a white macbook ... but also a twin GTX570 GPU games machine.

the issue for me is getting the photos across ... but they are all over the place anyway. the interoperability of the HDs is my concern now.

I am not going to spend a lot on an old motherboard architecture ... I want USB-3, and todays Intel archictecture, preferably with an SSD booting the common programs, and an HD linked to storage, as per Intel's architecture.

Since Apple are no longer a computer company, its time for me. Sad really ... but they just want to sell phones, pads and notebooks. We have two new ipad 3 s too ... but stuff you Apple. I am going to go Android for the household from now on, new phones coming too - Android it will be. And a PC. F**ck you for not offering contemporary technology for a big screen machine.

and how much for a PC?

$650 ($850) Intel Video Editing/Photoshop/Multi-tasking Config

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K $249 (For HD 4000 graphics instead of HD 2500)
Mobo: Asrock H77-PRO4-MVP $99
RAM: Kingston 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1333 $45
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB (ST2000DM001) $129
GPU: (Intel HD 4000)
Case: Coolermaster Elite 371 $40
PSU: Antec VP450P $52
ODD: DVD burner $19
Peripherals: [ 23" LG IPS236V-PN / Microsoft Wired Desktop 600 / Logitech LS11 2.0 ] (+$201)

Total: $633 ($834)

$1,100 ($1,300) Intel Video Editing/Photoshop/Multi-tasking Config

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K $249
Mobo: Asrock Z77 PRO4-M $119
RAM: Kingston 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1333 $90
SSD: Intel 330 Series 120GB $155
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB (ST2000DM001) $129
GPU: 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX560 (non-Ti) $159
Case: Antec 302 $79
PSU: Antec VP550P $69
ODD: DVD burner $19
CPU HSF: Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO $39
Peripherals: [ 23" LG IPS236V-PN / Microsoft Wired Desktop 600 / Logitech LS11 2.0 ] (+$201)

Total: $1,107 ($1,308)

$1,700 ($2,150) Intel Video Editing/Photoshop/Multi-tasking Config Quiet Deluxe

CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K $379
Mobo: Asrock Z77 PRO4-M $119
RAM: Kingston 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1333 $90
SSD: Intel 520 Series 240GB $355
HDD1: Seagate Barracuda 2TB (ST2000DM001) $129
HDD2: Seagate Barracuda 2TB (ST2000DM001) $129
GPU: MSI 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX560 (non-Ti) Dual Fan $159 (Use MSI Afterburner – or a similar program – to set the fan speed curve to your liking)
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini $129
PSU: Antec High Current Gamer 520W $79
ODD: DVD burner $19
CPU HSF: Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO $39 (Use Asrock fan control software to tune the fan to your liking)
Extra Fan: 1x Nexus Real Silent 120mm $9 (Move the stock exhaust fan up front as an intake fan, install the Nexus fan in its place, use the case's PCI fan controller to tune the fans to your liking)
Soundcard: Asus Xonar DG $39
Peripherals: [ 24" Dell U2412M / Logitech Illuminated / JSCO JNL-101K / Edifier M1350 2.1 ] (+$466)

Total: $1,674 ($2,140)

Build your own.

http://pcpartpicker.com is a good tool to price out a build. Do some research first. If you prefer OSX, check out http://tonymacx86.com for Hackintosh info and advice, as hardware requirements are different.

Wow

You guys cave easily. We still have 6 1/2 months left in 2012, plenty of time for Apple to enhance the IMAC.