Its not a matter of being difficult, its a matter of convenience and not having to maintain it so you can get all updates for OSX ect.
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iMac 27" 2012 vs Building a PC
- Thread starter nicolastzi
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Its not a matter of being difficult, its a matter of convenience and not having to maintain it so you can get all updates for OSX ect.
If computers, hardware and software, are your fascination, feed it by building your own.... Soup it up to the max.
If you just want to get things done without hassle, buy the computer best suits your needs and your budget.
Me? I bought a Mac Mini, and peripherals to suit my needs and budget.... "it just works".
You...... well, it's up to your inclination.
I was in the same predicament as the original poster. I ended up with a 27in iMac for school and business. I then built a small mini itx gaming machine with a GTX 780 to fulfill my gaming needs. Great combo. Best of both worlds.
Your decision should be based on current and realistic future needs. What are those?
Just food for thought:
I built a custom-PC last year. Poured a lot of time into choosing the best components that were also quiet and hackintosh compatible. Then I was able to install OS X and Windows (for gaming).
It was quite awesome for a while to have all that computing power available, but in the end for whatever reason I wasn't getting the same delight from using the computer as I do from Macs.
So this year I sold it and went back to using the MBP '11 that I also have. I'm contemplating on buying the new iMac once its released since the MBP gets so noisy when playing Civ5. My favourite computer of all time would probably be the G5 iMac (white) I had back in 2005 or something. That thing was a work of art.
I built a custom-PC last year. Poured a lot of time into choosing the best components that were also quiet and hackintosh compatible. Then I was able to install OS X and Windows (for gaming).
It was quite awesome for a while to have all that computing power available, but in the end for whatever reason I wasn't getting the same delight from using the computer as I do from Macs.
So this year I sold it and went back to using the MBP '11 that I also have. I'm contemplating on buying the new iMac once its released since the MBP gets so noisy when playing Civ5. My favourite computer of all time would probably be the G5 iMac (white) I had back in 2005 or something. That thing was a work of art.
It's still a bit of work. Try and build a machine equivalent to the top-end 27" iMac - so an i7 + SSD + HDD + desktop 670 (similar to a 680MX) + 27" Dell UltraSharp and you'll get very close to the iMac price (within $300, by my measure).
Hackintosh'ing is easier than it used to be, but even with the UniBeast stuff you still need to mess around with fake kexts and all that. The user-build forum on tonymacx86 is a good example of the "extra" steps many builds need to get running: http://www.tonymacx86.com/user-builds/
The top-end 27" iMac is a (surprisingly) decent gaming machine thanks to the 680MX, and you can expect to run most stuff at native res and med-high settings at solid frame rates. Crysis 3 and Metro might be the only real problems, but that's no surprise.
Uuuhhhhmmmm - yup... i do, started after many years of not playing games with Far Cry 3 (under Windows Bootcamp) high settings and with Civilization 5 (under OS X).
home built pcs resale value is total crap. people would rather build their own then buy someone elses. at best you will have to part it out and you will still lose most of the money invested. imac resale value holds really good plus you can bootcamp for games. knowing with a mac I can use both windows and mac I would never go back to a pure windows machine. to much invested money in the machine is lost.
Since you seem opened-minded and not blinded by the niche market that is power/gamer/modder usage, I'll tell you what the reality is.
At this stage, Macs are the best computers for the money, period.
- When you add all components together (incl monitor and OS), the Mac is not very far off in total cost than a custom PC.
- The only time Apple gouges you on price are with the add-on parts (RAM).
- OS is based on UNIX which is far more reliable and powerful than Windows.
- Very good warranty for 1 year. They don't hesitate to repair or exchange should you have a problem.
- Resale is much, much higher than custom or even OEM PCs. People don't want custom parts, they want a known, sealed system. People know what they're getting with Macs.
No, definitely wrong. Hardwarewise you can buy a similiar PC from a well-known brand (i.e. Lenovo) for 2/3 of the price. Except for the iMac which has no real competition, as it's a strange concept that is not applicable for enterprise use.
Extended warranty is extremely expensive as well. The only thing that I can think of that is actually cheaper is software.
OSX is by no means more reliable or powerful than Windows. It looks nicer and parts of it have higher usability, though.
Agreed
Resale value is much better than with PCs (which actually don't have any resale value), but that's not because of the superior quality but of the closed market and how Apple controls it.
I disagree. Try to build out a decent machine that's equivalent to a decked out iMac (i7, GTX 670, SSD + HDD, etc) with an equally good display (Dell 27" UltraSharp) and you won't be far off the iMac.
Horses for courses here. Many use OS X for the applications (video editing; software development; generally high-quality third party apps), which is the same reason many use Windows. I don't think either OS is a like-for-like replacement, and I'd say that the OS is a more important driver than the hardware unless you're gaming > 90% of the time (and therefore not interacting with the OS).
Also remember to include all the small details about the iMac.
+ silent
+ thunderbolts
+ firewire (?)
+ optical audio
+ webcam
+ microphone
+ cool kb, mouse
+ cohesive industry-leading aesthetical design of all parts (computer, display, kb, mouse,..)
If you're just looking for raw performance in whatever cardboard box and with a TN display, sure, you can get more bang-for-buck in a PC.
I have a 27" 2012 iMac with GeForce 680MX and I have a boot camp partition set up with Windows 7 and it runs all the current games quite well. I have an external drive with Steam installed on it with lots of games and whenever I want to game, switching over to Windows is very quick and easy.
You'll want to get a gaming mouse for the windows side though, the Magic Trackpad doesn't work too well in Windows 7.
1. DIY desktops can also be very silent
2. USB 3.0 is far cheaper
3. You can get FireWire 400 headers in several motherboards
4. Same with Optical Audio...
5. Point taken
6. See 3 and 4
7. You can get nice ones here as well.
8. Several cases have nice designs to them. Same as displays.
Shows you are ignorant in the PC making business.
Perhaps there was a misunderstanding, for I cannot understand your blunt attack.
If you start comparing Apples to Oranges like an iMac with a TB connection and a PC with no TB connection the comparison is not fair anymore. I didn't say it was impossible to get the above listed things, I only meant that they are all going to add significant cost and also make it much harder to piece together the computer you want to build. Thus taking more time, and if you value your time, further adding to the cost.
I've built several PCs for myself in the last 10-15 years, so I would say I know something about the "PC making business".
I used to build PCs professionally. My current PC was built by Digital Storm, which over the years I have rebuilt. Nowadays, it's not that hard to build a PC. It has been described as "Leggos for Adults". OTOH it takes time and work to study, debug and troubleshoot issues.
My wife recently got an 2012 iMac 27, 3.4Ghz, 16GB with 3TB Fusion Drive. The closest equivalent PC is a Dell XPS 27, which costs about the same. The iMac is really nice, very small, very fast, very quiet, aesthetically beautiful.
I could have built a faster PC for that money but to be honest I'm tired of that and have other things to do. I do video editing professionally and well understand the importance of CPU, disk and GPU performance. However my next machine will probably be an iMac because it's fast enough, very reliable, and I'm tired of going through BIOS settings and seeking out an overclock.
At the end of the day, your work performance is determined by more than raw PC metrics. Except in unusual circumstances, workloads are not totally CPU-bound, GPU-bound or disk-bound. It is a combination. I work professionally with video editors using iMacs, they do just fine and rarely crash.
If you want the absolute fastest machine for the least $, there's no question it's a self-built PC. But that benchmark performance advantage may not translate to a real-world difference in work productivity, especially when you subtract the time for debugging, troubleshooting, etc.
No need to be snarky, dude. You stated that you can build a PC for 2/3rds the cost. Although you state that usb 3.0 is far cheaper, you do know that you get USB and Thunderbolt with the iMac. It's not either/or. Plus, even after the upcoming updates for both of them, USB 3.0 is still half as fast as Thunderbolt. That's quite a dismissal you attempted there. The Apple Care protection plan is top notch. If you're calling in the US, then you're speaking to someone in the U.S. and you're speaking to that person quickly. You could also schedule a time to have them call you. You may pay a little more than insurance for PC but you definitely get a LOT more in service.
USB 3.0 is better than Thunderbolt, and it's much cheaper. So it's not a question of either or/and.
AppleCare, yes spend $234 and get 2 more years worth of warranty. Many of the components in DIY PC building come with 3 years warranty as standard. My Corsair case, PSU and RAM modules each brought in 3, 5 and 5 years respectively. Pretty nice for just components.
So who pays what exactly? DIY PC building is the best thing to do if you know how to. Oh and by the way, Asus, Corsair and ATI all have US based call centers for your inquiries. Nifty no?
Out of curiosity, could you show us the components that you would put together to create a PC that is at least as well equipped as the iMac, keeping in mind all the things mentioned here? Since you make it sound so easy, it shouldn't take you too long to put it together here.