Buying a iMac

[Bob95]

First of all I would like to say if this isn't the right category for this post, please let me know, and I will contact a moderator with the question to move it to the proper forum.

My current desktop PC, which is a HP Pavilion P6340.nl from 2010 is now starting to show it's age, it is still a great machine, and I really love it. But it was never a fast PC to begin with, it has a Intel Core i3 with 6GB of ram.

Recently I started with a new school, and it required me to run Photoshop, while it runs the program just fine, loading takes ages to complete.

So for the last few weeks I have been looking for a replacement, and while I could get a Windows machine again, I thought that I will make the move to a Mac since I recently got a Power Mac G5 from a friend and love it.

First I tought about a Mac Mini, but since the last upgrade removed user accesibly RAM that is not something I would like to have, I really like the stock configuration but if the need is there, I can't upgrade it easily.

My teacher at school advised me to get a Macbook Pro, but since I hate using a laptop as my desktop, as I have done numerous times when my current desktop broke, I don't like it. At school it works fine for me, but at home I don't like it.

So the only option is that is left is the iMac (not taking in account the Mac Pro since that costs way more then I can ever spent), I will be going for the 27 inch base-line none retina iMac, I don't want to spent to money on the retina version, I don't really care how stunning the display might be, I will never really use it's features since I don't have anything that is really high resolution.

Since it will still take me some saving time before I can buy one, I was wondering if this is a good machine for it's price. From what I also understand don't the iMacs apart from the retina version have Thunderbolt 2, so will there be a update anytime soon from the iMac?

These are just some thought that have game through my mind. I really hope you guys would like to help me out with making this decision.

Bob

 

[Skittery Badger]

Hi Bob,

Some thoughts:

The 27" iMac is a great value. For some perspective, look up prices for 27" monitors of comparable quality. However, $2k is still a lot of money and it's not necessarily the best choice for everyone.

The 'Late 2013' iMacs have Thunderbolt ports, not Thunderbolt 2 ports.

I also hate using a laptop as a desktop! I'm right there with ya! A desktop is just a much better experience. And it's not like I'm traveling on business 24/7. For weekend trips to see family, the iMac is light and portable enough that you could bring it home without too much trouble if you really wanted. This cannot be said about PCs.

Are you a gamer? If so, you should reconsider getting the baseline 27" because that's not a lot of GPU to throw at a 1440p display. You might think about getting the high end 21.5" iMac or the higher end 27". However, if you aren't doing anything that will stress the graphics card, the baseline 27 will serve you well. It should do a great job with photoshop and daily tasks.

You might reconsider the mini. You're right that non-upgradeable ram will limit the life of the machine, however that may not be a consideration for a long time, especially if you get 16gb. Although the iMac is a better value than the mini, the mini is still less money and you can get a pretty beefy one for much less than what this iMac would cost. Consider the cost per year of ownership though - the iMac might be a similar or better deal if you would use it longer.

The most important piece of advice that I have for you is to configure the machine with flash storage or a fusion drive. It makes a huge difference.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[Bob95]

Thank you for your response

I will most likely not take my iMac with me everywhere I go, since I have a really nice laptop which I plan on using for a long time to come.

I do plan on gaming on it, since that is also what I'm doing right now. I don't really play high-end games, for the most part it is ETS2, Farming Simulator and since I also make mods for it, GTA San Andreas.

That would mean that I need to run Windows on it, which I'm fine with. But will Windows be capable of taking full advantage of the hardware? That's my main concern that I forget to mention.

About the Mini, I was kind of keeping my hands of that, since it did not have a dedicated GPU, if it had I would have go for it. But since it doesn't have that, I' not so sure.

I won't be taking the 1.4GHz mini off course, but still, in the future I might need some power, and then I personally think the iMac offers a better solution.

If I go with the 21.5inch iMac, do you thing I also shut get the 16GB upgrade? Just to be on the save side?

Adding a fusion drive and the memory makes it around €1800,- with the student discount off it, which I personally do find a lot of money to spend without thinking it through.

 

[Skittery Badger]

Windows should run very well on it. Boot Camp will provide all of the necessary drivers for the hardware. This is one of the reasons that Apple used to brag that the best Windows machine was a Mac.

The 27" iMac has user-upgradeable ram, so I would stick with the 8gb if that's the model you're considering. If you want to increase the ram in the future, it would be a trivial upgrade at a better price than what Apple would charge you. Many people here like Crucial ram.