"Desktop era over - get a laptop and an external monitor instead " - NO! Here's why:

[Lancer]

Just one phrase: the iMac isn't a real desktop, it never was and seems that never will be.

Do you want a real desktop (more performance, lower price)? Buy your spare parts on NewEgg and assemble a decent PC.

I've got a PC tower, using it as a server and to run PC software not found on my Mac. Case in point I just got a new Garmin GPS, unfortunately while my G5 can connect to it the software for updating the maps is Intel Mac only so until the new iMac comes out I'll be using it to do any updates. I do find it annoying that my XP PC can do this but my newer G5 with Leopard can't.

Mac Pros miss the "lower price" factor, but they're pretty decent and real desktops.

It you have the $$.

The only way I could afford the G5 I have is on eBay when it was a few years old, I bought a G4 PM new back in 2000 but never again, the cost is just too high v when you get with the iMac right now, even the 2011 model.

iMacs are like a giant notebook with a desktop CPU, but that alone doesn't make them a real desktop.
It's a joke the pain it takes for you to just change the HD of an iMac.

Yes good point but I plan to use several external HDDs for extra storage and get a 2Tb HDD installed from new, which should suit me fine.

Really hope they relocate the HDD in the next redesign so like the RAM any user can swap out the HDD for a bigger one or if it dies.

One thing I've always loved about my G4 and now G5 is the relative ease it is to replace the HDD or even the DVD.

But easy access it trumped by the much lower cost and the fact Apple didn't update the Mac Pro with TB or USB3 in June.

 

[sainsburys]

Great post Mister Bumbo I agree with all things you wrote exepct one. You wrote:
"I'm even surprised to see that iPads and other tablets are considered PC's, as if they could some day replace all current desktops and laptops. "

Personally I'm considerig tablets as PC's. They are coherent with computer definition made by von Neumann and because of their great portability and little sizes we can say that they are true personal computer. This computer is always with you, no matter what.

But, as I said, you wrote great post and everything in it is True. Very, very true!

 

[LaunchpadBS]

There is a market for all. Airs for the students, Mac Pros for the pros. iMacs and MBP's in their various configurations for both.

Nail on the head, debate stone dead.

 

[NTurner42]

It really can't get any easier than taking all of 3 seconds to plug three cords from the Cinema Display to my MacBook Pro. And hell, it's gonna be even easier when I upgrade to a new MacBook Pro and Thunderbolt Display. Plus side, I can take my Mac anywhere I please.

 

[mopatops]

A laptop?! An iPad easily suits everyones needs these days...

 

[Seamaster]

I think we are a far ways away from the laptop replacing the desktop.

Not as far as Apple customers are concerned. 2003 was the last year Apple sold more desktops than notebooks. For nearly a decade desktop buyers have been shifting to notebooks. In the last quarter, nearly three quarters of all Macs sold were MacBooks.

This forum is not representative of the marketplace. You can make the best arguments in the world for the survival of the iMac, but it's preaching to the choir here. The simple fact of the matter is that desktops are a niche product at best now.

 

[Abazigal]

To me, the only real debilitating factor would be price. A quick search of osxdaily.com turns up tons of awesome apple laptop + external display setups that take up no more space than an imac. Laptop in clamshell mode, throw in a bluetooth keyboard + trackpad and you basically have an imac, just with lower specs and easily 1.5 times the price.

 

[themcfly]

To me, the only real debilitating factor would be price. A quick search of osxdaily.com turns up tons of awesome apple laptop + external display setups that take up no more space than an imac. Laptop in clamshell mode, throw in a bluetooth keyboard + trackpad and you basically have an imac, just with lower specs and easily 1.5 times the price.

so... why pay double the price and have a slower system if you won't EVER need to work outside your studio?

 

[ihuman:D]

In an iMac you can upgrade the CPU and GPU also(though it would be difficult).
The desktop CPU in the iMac has more stamina too.The GPU is better as well.That's why I prefer the iMac and anyway I'll probably get the 1.67GHz hi-res 15'' powerbook if I want portability.

 

[Abazigal]

so... why pay double the price and have a slower system if you won't EVER need to work outside your studio?

The question here is "if".

Yes, if you don't ever need to invest in a 2ndary computer to bring about outdoors, then a desktop makes perfect sense. In my case, the imac+ipad setup suits me perfectly (imac at home to do the heavy duty lifting and prep-work, ipad in class for teaching, school-issued laptop for everything else that needs to be done outside (I am a teacher).

If you don't want a thunderbolt display, 22-24" led monitors can be had for relatively cheap, and a godsend for when you need the extra space (eg: working on excel spreadsheets). The final price won't really be much more expensive than a baseline imac.

Basically, the premise is, for people who already have a laptop, they can effectively double their investment by investing in a cheap monitor which then turns their laptop into a makeshift desktop at home, rather than having to invest in 2 separate computers.

 

[PhoenixMac]

so... why pay double the price and have a slower system if you won't EVER need to work outside your studio?

Who says he won't ever need it to leave? He was just saying it takes up roughly the same space.

 

[PhoenixMac]

A laptop?! An iPad easily suits everyones needs these days...

Everyone's needs? I highly doubt that photographers would rather use an ipad than a MBP out on assignment.

 

[driftless]

A laptop?! An iPad easily suits everyones needs these days...

I love my iPad but I can't run Adobe CS on it. Nor Aperture.

 

[mojothemonkey]

This thread is a victim of oversimplification.

For those of you saying the solution is a rMBP or MBP + Thunderbolt Display: Aside from the fact that you're throwing an extra $1000 (at least) to get this solution working, you're neglecting the fact that many people ALREADY have laptops. If you want to go read some email and browse on the couch, chances are you already have an older laptop that is PLENTY capable of web surfing, word processing, looking at pictures, etc. (pretty much any apple laptop since the intel age began).

Why blow an obscene sum to get a 2 parter workstation computer when the iMac provides that at half the cost? Never mind the fact that the MBP GPUs are in a completely lesser tier.


Also, to those of you talking about how apple sells more laptops than desktops: So what? PROFIT IS PROFIT. Have you ever looked at the OBSCENE markup that apple charges for SSD drives? Seriously... $500 for a drive that the consumer can buy off the shelf (nevermind what apple gets it for) for less than $79. Thats pure profit in a range nearing the total price of an ipad. They have the same kind of margin when consumers upgrade RAM, GPU, etc. You think they're going to ignore this business model?

 

[RustyMacVet]

As I've said to a lot of my PC friends, I don't want to upgrade. When I want to upgrade, I want to buy a whole new computer.

I HATE with a passion how there's so much emphasis on making everyone upgrade their PCs. I want a computer that will work good for the next 5-6 years, more even. My old 1999 iMac got my through until 2006. It was pretty rough at the end, but it worked for me.

It's bs to upgrade your computer with new graphics cards, processors, hard drives, etc, every year. People say Macs cost more, but do they really? How much do you spend on that PC of yours over it's lifetime? I bet it's a lot more than Mac owners, because the PC users are constantly shelling out green for the newest upgrades.

Another question, I asked a while ago but never got an answer. What are you guys doing with all that hard drive/SSD space? 250Gb, 750gb? 1TB!? Why is that necessary? I would never fill up a 128GB HD/SSD.

 

[iMacFarlane]

As I've said to a lot of my PC friends, I don't want to upgrade. When I want to upgrade, I want to buy a whole new computer.

I HATE with a passion how there's so much emphasis on making everyone upgrade their PCs. I want a computer that will work good for the next 5-6 years, more even. My old 1999 iMac got my through until 2006. It was pretty rough at the end, but it worked for me.

It's bs to upgrade your computer with new graphics cards, processors, hard drives, etc, every year. People say Macs cost more, but do they really? How much do you spend on that PC of yours over it's lifetime? I bet it's a lot more than Mac owners, because the PC users are constantly shelling out green for the newest upgrades.

Another question, I asked a while ago but never got an answer. What are you guys doing with all that hard drive/SSD space? 250Gb, 750gb? 1TB!? Why is that necessary? I would never fill up a 128GB HD/SSD.

I couldn't agree with you more about the upgrading fiasco. I owned several PCs and upgrading was always costly for very little gain, usually better to skip the upgrades and go all in for a new system.

As far as HDD usage, here's my snapshot:
240GB - iTunesU developer and WWDC videos
80GB - Music and audiobook library in iTunes
60GB - Games
25GB - Photos / video from iPhones
5GB - Developer tools and resource files
20GB? - OS X / iLife
10GB - Virtual machines (ubuntu, Windows)

I'm okay but cramped on my 500GB, wouldn't mind 250GB more (SSD when cheaper!)

 

[dmax35]

Funny, people mention wanting more desk real estate, thou if you look at this thread. I'd say 70% of the peeps have an Imac plus a laptop hooked into a monitor.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1391693/

Case in point.

 

[mojothemonkey]

As I've said to a lot of my PC friends, I don't want to upgrade. When I want to upgrade, I want to buy a whole new computer.

I HATE with a passion how there's so much emphasis on making everyone upgrade their PCs. I want a computer that will work good for the next 5-6 years, more even. My old 1999 iMac got my through until 2006. It was pretty rough at the end, but it worked for me.

It's bs to upgrade your computer with new graphics cards, processors, hard drives, etc, every year. People say Macs cost more, but do they really? How much do you spend on that PC of yours over it's lifetime? I bet it's a lot more than Mac owners, because the PC users are constantly shelling out green for the newest upgrades.

Another question, I asked a while ago but never got an answer. What are you guys doing with all that hard drive/SSD space? 250Gb, 750gb? 1TB!? Why is that necessary? I would never fill up a 128GB HD/SSD.

Wow, really? I built my last computer in 2007 and I havent touched it other than to throw in some extra ram for $25 bucks some time around 2009. Some time in 2010 I also bought an SSD drive for $99 bucks. Both upgrades involved opening a thumb screw, snapping the piece in, re-screwing the thumb screw; each took less than 20 seconds. WHAT A BURDEN! And I certainly dont think that $99 and 20 seconds was worth taking advantage of the major benefits of an SSD drive that was not available at the time of original purchase... (this is sarcasm)

What you are doing is exploiting a fallacy of logic; the straw man. You're creating an artificial extreme scenario to argue against and then having at it.

Most people who own PC's dont "constantly shell out money for upgrades." Perhaps those who you hear about (the most vocal) are the most obsessed, but actually represent a smaller portion of the population than it appears.

 

[RustyMacVet]

Wow, really? I built my last computer in 2007 and I havent touched it other than to throw in some extra ram for $25 bucks some time around 2009. Some time in 2010 I also bought an SSD drive for $99 bucks. Both upgrades involved opening a thumb screw, snapping the piece in, re-screwing the thumb screw; each took less than 20 seconds. WHAT A BURDEN! And I certainly dont think that $99 and 20 seconds was worth taking advantage of the major benefits of an SSD drive that was not available at the time of original purchase... (this is sarcasm)

What you are doing is exploiting a fallacy of logic; the straw man. You're creating an artificial extreme scenario to argue against and then having at it.

Most people who own PC's dont "constantly shell out money for upgrades." Perhaps those who you hear about (the most vocal) are the most obsessed, but actually represent a smaller portion of the population than it appears.

My experience comes from my personal circle of friends, who are all super nerds. It admit I exaggerated, as not everyone maintains their computers with the most up-to-date hardware.

But I still don't really want to upgrade my computer.

As for the people saying 27" is too big, I just don't get that at all, but I suppose our needs are different.

 

[Rlnplehshalo]

Clutter? Say hello to Twelvesouth Backpack 2:

Image

Two cables: one to Macbook Air, one to power. Done. And you can't even see the Air

And even if you get a MBP, you can get a vertical stand and have it sit quietly behind the display.

So your willing to pay thousands for a desktop with the power of a macbook air? Good luck getting anything done on that.

 

[Scythe5]

There is a market for all. Airs for the students, Mac Pros for the pros. iMacs and MBP's in their various configurations for both.

There WAS a market for all. Mac pro's haven't been updated in almost 2 years. (and NO, what they did in June doesn't count). iMacs are going on what...well over a year?

Frankly, that's just to damn long.

 

[Icaras]

So your willing to pay thousands for a desktop with the power of a macbook air? Good luck getting anything done on that.

Never did I say I was willing to.

 

[Yamcha]

Personally I prefer desktops aswell, although my 2008 Macbook Pro is doing me well because of the high resolution.. If it weren't for that I'd be on a Desktop again..

It's kinda scary we haven't seen an updated iMac, I really hope it doesn't end up like the Mac Pro..

 

[bugbear99]

desktop will be exist as long as money still matter.

unless
for the almost same price you can have almost same performance for desktop and laptop+mon
but it wont happen in decade

 

[takezo808]

Opinons from a non techie

Well if you had a 20" iMAC, vs a Mac Book Pro on a 32" 1080p HDTV. which has the bigger screen?

I would like to see a 27" imac connected to a secondary HDTV. where would it go?

Bigger screen victor = MBP

Processing Power. The new Mac Books come with a Quad Core i7 with turbo up to 3.5Ghz. This is much faster than my i7 gamer PC wich is only 2.6Ghz.

Graphics, the new Geforce 650M is very powerfull. If you were a tech person you would know that gamer laptops like ones made from Alien Ware and other PC companies are thick, bulky, and have very lousey battery life. Your opinon only has merit for these poorly designed laptops.

If you got a 2009 iMac. The new MBP will run circles around it. Try watching a movie on a couch with an iMac. a MBP will fit nicely on anyone's lap.

Graphics, entertainment, and flexability
Winner = MBP

Clutter is only an issue to those who don't know the technology to minimize it. The only cable the iMAC saves is the video cable. That is it. iMAC comes with a WIRED keyboard, and a WIRED mouse. MBP has no wires.

Bluetooth keyboard, Bluetooth Mouse or Trackpad, Wirless networking with wirless printing, and network attached storage (accessable via wirless network). MBPs except the retina MBP and Mac Book Airs don't got CD\DVD burners built in. but who needs to burn anything when 32GB flash disks and 1TB external buss powered HDDs are so cheap? These devices are not plugged in all the time only when need to. Cloud staorage is also makes burning obsolete.

To the technically adept the MBP will only have 3 wires when used with an external monitor. Power, video, and audio. iMac is capable of only using just One wire (for Power), when using the same technologies. But when using MBP as a laptop. Their are no wires.

Winner = MBP


It's no wonder MBP and MBA are by far the most popular MAC models.