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A few questions regarding my purchase of iMac and followup

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piatti said:
1. Best Buy warranty covers accidental damage as well. Then who would get apple care instead of best buy warranty?
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Need to correct something here. The Black Tie Protection that Best Buy offers only covers accidental damage on PORTABLE electronics (ie Laptops, MP3/iPods, Camcorders, etc). Accidental damage coverage is NOT offered for desktop computers (iMac and Mac Mini). Also (not knocking Apple Care as I do like it myself) any technician that opens the case of your Mac through Best Buy's service plan is an Apple Authorized Technician. I can't remember EXACTLY for Mac if they ship it back to Apple or not, but IF they do the work at Geek Squad City (the central repair depot for all electronics that Best Buy services) all service techs are required to maintain any vendor stipulated certifications. Sorry for the long winded explanation, but needed to clarify what I saw were some inaccuracies.
 
thanks for that information. I purchased the warranty for nothing I guess. I probably should return the whole thing with the warranty.

I read here that iMacs are slower than MacAir: http://www.cultofmac.com/93203/why-...ur-new-imac-why-you-should-get-it-from-apple/

Does this mean that it's better to get a MacAir and a separate cheap ISP screen? That way you get a computer that's faster than iMac while also getting portability?
 
piatti said:
Is it easy to build one yourself? Or how much time does it take? And if you can build a windows computer is it easy to make it hackintosh too? Is buying a refurbished/used Windows tower worth it?
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Building the computer itself isn't hard; it's no different than building any other PC tower, because that's all a Hackintosh is; a PC tower with specific components chosen for the smoothest install of Mac OS X.



piatti said:
Ok. What if I bought a Windows laptop for $400 ish and then added 4GB for a total of 8 GB, and replaced the HDD with SSD, then used it with a display? I'm thinking of this one: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung...220&skuId=4700082&st=samsung laptop&cp=1&lp=2
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As a stationary family machine, a laptop is kind of awkward. A desktop makes more sense as it is stationary and accessible to everyone and can't be taken from anywhere.

piatti said:
What would be the best Windows machine (company-wise) out of the ones already built?
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Asus and Lenovo are the best name brands out there. Lenovo comes with more bloatware, but you can uninstall what you don't think you'll actually use with little trouble.

piatti said:
How much can you get an IPS screen for ?

Is this an IPS screen (samsung)? http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-P2770...NC00/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1328872183&sr=8-5
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piatti said:
What kind of people need IPS screen?
http://www.amazon.com/HP-ZR2740w-27...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1328986060&sr=1-1

Is this good enough? 700 dollar HP IPS screen.
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If you don't know what it is, you probably don't need it. I very much appreciate your curiosity with these things, but it makes little sense to actually worry about whether or not to spend additional money when you don't know what it is and thusly, won't need it.

piatti said:
thanks for that information. I purchased the warranty for nothing I guess. I probably should return the whole thing with the warranty.

I read here that iMacs are slower than MacAir: http://www.cultofmac.com/93203/why-...ur-new-imac-why-you-should-get-it-from-apple/

Does this mean that it's better to get a MacAir and a separate cheap ISP screen? That way you get a computer that's faster than iMac while also getting portability?
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Reread that article, it's not saying that the MacBook Air is faster than the iMac, it's saying that the stock model MacBook Air is faster than the stock model iMac because the former has SSD standard and the other one has a hard drive standard and SSDs are faster than hard drives; The MacBook Air is the slowest Mac in the line if all others are configured with an SSD. So, go to the Apple Store, configure a high-end Mac mini with an SSD (or an SSD and a hard drive, if you want the extra storage) and be done with it. How good of a monitor you want is all up to you, but I don't think you need a high-end monitor if you don't know what about it is high-end to begin with.
 
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configure a high-end Mac mini with an SSD (or an SSD and a hard drive, if you want the extra storage)
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How much would that cost? Is there a way to buy a screen with the resolution-density of the MB Air separately?
 
piatti said:
How much would that cost? Is there a way to buy a screen with the resolution-density of the MB Air separately?
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http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC914LL/A <-- That is the best deal you will get on a Thunderbolt display (better than with the educational discount.

As for the cost of the Mac mini with the SSD, it's no easier for you to go to www.apple.com/store to figure it out than it is for me to do it. I entreat you to do so yourself. But in the meantime, I'll spoil the fun for you; a Mac mini with just the SSD is $1399 ($1319, if you shop on the Apple Online Store for Education) and one with the SSD and the 750GB hard drive is $1549 ($1454, if you shop on the Apple Online Store for Education).

piatti said:
I'm looking at "Why you should not buy a Mac" http://cdn.thenextweb.com/files/2010/09/mac01.jpg

It says it's very overpriced. How would you respond to this.
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Given that most would be fine with a Mac that didn't have as high of a resolution screen, yes, I think they can be over-priced. If you paid attention to the argument I was having earlier in this thread, I say that the iMac, for the hardware inside is over-priced, even factoring the screen. The only Mac I don't inherently feel this way about is the MacBook Pro, but again, I only find these overpriced because I'm comparing it to non-Apple hardware running a different OS. Hence all of the Hackintosh talk.

dreilly1982 said:
I used to think that too, until I tried to price one out. You can check it out in this link. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1322846/

What makes them so expensive is the screen, try finding a 27" 2560x1440 monitor in a market flooded with 1920x1080
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True, though most buying that iMac don't need that resolution. Some definitely do, I'd contend that most don't.
 
As for the cost of the Mac mini with the SSD, it's no easier for you to go to www.apple.com/store to figure it out than it is for me to do it. I entreat you to do so yourself. But in the meantime, I'll spoil the fun for you; a Mac mini with just the SSD is $1399 ($1319, if you shop on the Apple Online Store for Education) and one with the SSD and the 750GB hard drive is $1549 ($1454, if you shop on the Apple Online Store for Education).
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I would want to get the one with no hard drive vecause I can always get external hard drive. I don't know what to start with the three choices they offer: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_mini/select

It looks like the $800 version is $200 more expensive for the 2GB extra it has which you could purchase for less than $100?
 
An external hdd? LOL it really sounds like you have no idea what you are doing at this point.
 
Keep the iMac

There is a reason Windows machines come with more robust appearing hardware ie: processors and memory. They need it considering all the crap that is always running in the background. Things like Norton, Spyseeper, and all of the useless preloaded software stealing system reources. Must regularly remove spyware from the pc or it will monopolize your ram and bandwidth. We just received a 21.5 iMac i5 and 1TB (upgraded machine), and though at present I am not quite as happy with it as I am my MB Pro 2010, hopefully Apple will get the little annoying OS-X issues cleared up soon. Nothing major, just annoyances. iCloud and Photostream are worth their weight in gold, and I would not trade either of my Macs for the best top of the line pc. Been on the Mac program 2 years and only regret I did not wake up sooner. Also wish I had pulled the trigger on the stock at $170 when I first researched Apple, oh well.

hawgdropr
 
jwm2 said:
An external hdd? LOL it really sounds like you have no idea what you are doing at this point.
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why's that

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Also I'm curious as to how much the iMac27 i7 would cost more than the Mac Mini with quad core and i7.
 
For what it's worth, piatti, I just ordered and got a BTO iMac 27" 3.4Ghz w/1TB and 256Gb SSD and so far it's fantastic.

I debated between getting that for my coding/graphics work, or getting a new Windows 7 PC. My current Windows 7 PC, mostly used for gaming, still runs things surprisingly well, but is finally starting to show its age. I'll still use that for my hardcore gaming, but the new iMac for everything else.

I also debated getting an all-in-one by HP, Dell, etc., but quickly found through pricing things out that to get one with equivalent features to the iMac would not really save me much money.

And, of course, the question of an imminent new generation of the iMac lineup itself was there.

After a few go-rounds of questioning first one decision then the other I finally decided enough is enough, and made the leap and got an iMac now. (And I didn't want to wait any more because I have all next week off as a "staycation" and wanted to have something by then, so waiting for the next gen iMacs was out)

Could I keep second guessing myself? Sure. The other options I was considering all had a feature/stat/qualities that were desirable, but no one option had enough to feel better than the iMac. And, regardless of what option I had picked, if I kept second-guessing after the fact and doing what-if-this and what-if-that, I'm sure I could make myself dissatisfied with some aspects of my choice.

But, I've chosen to just get on with enjoying the great qualities my new iMac DOES have. I just want to use it and have fun with it rather than keep "looking over my shoulder" to see what I might have/should have done differently. Life's too short! :)

In any case, I hope you can find something that you can settle down with and have lots of fun using!
 
For what it's worth, piatti, I just ordered and got a BTO iMac 27" 3.4Ghz w/1TB and 256Gb SSD and so far it's fantastic.
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Mine was 2.something Ghz. Does 3.4 Ghz come with the i7? If you have 256 SSD does that replace the 1TB HDD?
 
Why not just buy a top of the line Windows machine and use Ubuntu as an OS?

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Just a suggestion.

I might not know what the hell you may need it for, but from what I understand from a friend you can do almost anything you can do with Ubuntu which is a faster and less bloated system than windows.
 
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I was thinking about that. And then I could use Parallels when I need Windows-only program. But do you need a top Windows computer? Maybe I need just $500 one.
 
piatti said:
I was thinking about that. And then I could use Parallels when I need Windows-only program. But do you need a top Windows computer? Maybe I need just $500 one.
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Couldn't tell ya tbh since I know little about it, but I suspect with some research you might find those answers.

Good luck!
 
piatti said:
Mine was 2.something Ghz. Does 3.4 Ghz come with the i7? If you have 256 SSD does that replace the 1TB HDD?
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Do you have to buy that expensive a SSD? If you buy the lowest of SSD then store everything in the external HDD would that be cheaper? How much did your iMac cost?
 
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Right now I'm leaning towards returning the iMac because:

The MacBook Air is faster because it comes with SSD and I could buy cheap ISD screen like this one $239: http://www.amazon.com/LG-IPS231P-BN...4AQY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329355465&sr=8-1

...for about the same price as the starting iMac, except it wouldn't be 27 inch screen anymore. But could I use the 13 inch MacBook Air and the LG ISD monitor as dual monitor? (instead of LG ISD monitor channeling the MB Air monitor) If so, I think that would be nice because although 13 inch is small, the resolution is very dense and better than iMac 27, right? I remember when I first saw the screen resolution of the MB Air the high resolution was very pleasing to look at.


Hmm.. I just realized that this iMac does include what I deem to be a pretty high quality speaker. How much is the included (attached in the all-in-one) speaker worth if you bought separately? And it does include a HD webcam. Is that like $60? Like $100 if you include the speakers?
 
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Piatti, don't confuse resolution with Pixels Per Inch. The 27" iMac has a much higher resolution than any Macbook Air. (2560x1440 vs 1440 x 900). You're always going to be able to fit a heck of a lot more on a 27" iMac screen than even the largest Macbook Air screen. However, the Macbook Air screen has a much higher pixels-per-inch, and it sounds like that appeals to you.

What is more important: to be able to fit more on the screen at once (like having a couple things open side-by-side) or to have fewer windows open, but have them look sharper? If the former, the 27" iMac is much better, if the latter then the Macbook Air is better.

In my case I really wanted to have multiple windows open simultaneously and didn't care about portability (I'll be getting an iPad 3 for that), so there was no question the iMac was a better choice for me.

EDIT: In regards to sound, the built-in iMac speakers are surprisingly good, but I added on some Harmon Kardon Soundsticks (only around $100 to $150) and they sound fantastic.
 
piatti said:
I would want to get the one with no hard drive vecause I can always get external hard drive. I don't know what to start with the three choices they offer: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_mini/select

It looks like the $800 version is $200 more expensive for the 2GB extra it has which you could purchase for less than $100?
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You can't configure the $600 model to have an SSD which you are insistent upon having at this point.

piatti said:
why's that

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Also I'm curious as to how much the iMac27 i7 would cost more than the Mac Mini with quad core and i7.
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Go to the Apple Online Store and gather this data yourself. Seriously. It's not hard to do.

piatti said:
Right now I'm leaning towards returning the iMac because:

The MacBook Air is faster because it comes with SSD and I could buy cheap ISD screen like this one $239: http://www.amazon.com/LG-IPS231P-BN...4AQY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329355465&sr=8-1

...for about the same price as the starting iMac, except it wouldn't be 27 inch screen anymore. But could I use the 13 inch MacBook Air and the LG ISD monitor as dual monitor? (instead of LG ISD monitor channeling the MB Air monitor) If so, I think that would be nice because although 13 inch is small, the resolution is very dense and better than iMac 27, right? I remember when I first saw the screen resolution of the MB Air the high resolution was very pleasing to look at.


Hmm.. I just realized that this iMac does include what I deem to be a pretty high quality speaker. How much is the included (attached in the all-in-one) speaker worth if you bought separately? And it does include a HD webcam. Is that like $60? Like $100 if you include the speakers?
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The MacBook Air is a terrible family machine. It's also much more expensive and much less powerful than the SSD-equipped Mac mini, plus the SSD equipped Mac mini has better graphics than the MacBook Air.
 
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Yebubbleman said:
You can't configure the $600 model to have an SSD which you are insistent upon having at this point.
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I see.
Go to the Apple Online Store and gather this data yourself. Seriously. It's not hard to do.
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Ok. sorry about that.

The MacBook Air is a terrible family machine. It's also much more expensive and much less powerful than the SSD-equipped Mac mini, plus the SSD equipped Mac mini has better graphics than the MacBook Air.
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[/QUOTE]
By better graphics do you mean higher pixel density? Can you get an external screen that has as good a pixel density as the Air?
 
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