iMac 27 new spec advice

[pottinger]

Hi guys

Excellant forum...

Please forgive me now for any dumb newbie questions I may ask here, I'm not a technical person so please bare with me....

I am replacing my PC and have got as far as BELIEVING the iMac is for me.
I was very very tempted by the windows 8 environment and a touchscreen Dell that on a 10 minute trial seemed a very nice thing to live with... after doing a bit of research I think i may have concluded the touchscreen whilst very fun/nice short term, the novelty will probably dissipate fairly rapidly over months of use....i mayb wrong.....
I am the typical windows user (years and years worth) and have an iPad / iPhone so familiar with Apple.....

So seeing the iMac 27 I was fairly smitten, I do think the deletion of a optical drive a bit previous / tight but not a deal breaker I suppose...

Not wanting to open the which is better debate etc I suppose I better get to the point lol

A PC/iMac for me has to cover the following:-

Be a PC that can sit well in a lounge (hence aio)
Predominently serve for childrens homework. This has to include MS word/excel/powerpoint (office for mac 2011 I presume?) want to try to stay away from running windows too....
Storage for photos
Play music pretty well (presume speaker purchase would be way to go ?)
I will also require a colour printer for kids homework - suggestions baring in mind I detest ink costs ;lol?

Any advice for the above good or bad would be rearly appreciated.

Lastly, If the iMac 27 is the definitive choice for me (quite tempted by the 21.5 tbh too lol) what is the spec that considered best to suit me/you recommend I think about.... on the apple store theres optional 1tb fusion drives / optical drives / magic pads etc etc etc

You as users probably are much better suited to tell me than a rep at PC world etc

Thankyou very much for reading the above

cheers
potts

 

[Shinerkyd]

This or that?

Hey there! If you are wanting the computer to predominately serve for children's homework I would say to go with the base model. You won't need the faster processor or increased graphics card as the system will last you for several years.

That being said, if you do want to do more extensive photo/movie editing and/or gaming, the better graphics card and/or processor may be the route to go.

As far as the music goes, the iMac 21.5" and 27" both have great built in speakers (I listen to music and play games w/ built-in speakers and am perfectly happy), although the bass is limited, but you also have the option to buy external speakers from a various number of companies for relatively cheap.

As far as the hard drive goes you don't need to spend the extra money on a Fusion drive if, again, you are mainly wanting kiddos homework to be the primary use. The Fusion drive does offer a much faster respond rate, but not really worth it if it is kiddos homework.

Yes! MS Word/Excel/PowerPoint are industry standards and of course you would just want to buy the Mac version. One thing to keep in mind though is that the user interface of the Mac version is not like the Windows version. Yes they do the same things, but the Mac version is just setup differently. So finding where one button is on a Mac will be different from the Windows version, but the suite of products is 100% compatible with Mac and cross compatible with Windows (note* saving files with a different extension (easily done and provided in the suite) may be required, but that takes like 2 clicks to accomplish.

As far as the printer goes, it's up to personal preference and just doing the research as to which one best fits your needs.

While yes Mac's do run OS X and not Windows you can still purchase Parallels which will allow you to partition part of your hard drive so that you can then install and run Windows. (This was just an extra little bit of info)

You will want to add-on a SuperDrive since the 21.5" does not have a CD/DVD player, but the current (late 2012 iMac 27") I do believe still has one in it. The next (presumably Late 2013 iMac 27") most likely will follow its smaller version and not have one built in, but that has yet to be released (hoping for an October release of the new 27" iMac).

Real quick, the next 27" iMac, presumably Late 2013 model, will most likely have some rather large upgrades. These might include the new WiFi ac, which is the successor to the n version, allowing radically faster transfer speeds, but you will need a router that supports the ac upgrade. If you don't have one that supports ac don't worry the computer will simply recognize and run on n.

The new iMac will almost definitely utilize Intel's 4th generation processors, which are amazingly faster and use much less power than previous generations. The less power part really comes into play on laptops, but still.

The cost of the new iMac 27" - upcoming, but not revealed yet, will most likely mirror the current price(s) of the 27" models. So if you can wait a month or two it would be very much worth it.

If you are leaning towards the 21.5" model then now is as good as any other time to buy as the new models will not be out until sometime in the first half of 2014.

You don't need a magic pad or anything like that. If you like the numeric keyboard, like me, you will want to make sure you check the correct keyboard type. I am not sure if it is wired or not, mine is, but I have an iMac 27" Late 2009 model. Magic mouse is a mouse, and may take some getting used to and couple minor configurations to make it feel and work as you are used to.

Personally, my philosophy is if I am going to spend over a grand or two on a computer I am going to get the best of the best so the odds of it being able to remain viable with the ever growing and demanding nature of applications as long as possible. I think spending 2k every 4-5 years is well worth it when you look at the alternative which is either constantly replacing or upgrading parts. $4k every 10 years for a machine that is solid and reliable throughout the years is ok by me.

I really didn't mean for this to turn into a novel, but I hope that this helped at least somewhat. I just wanted to try to give the best overview of the product and timeline of upgrades as possible. Take care, and let me (us) know which computer you decide to buy.

Have an amazing day! And welcome to the Apple family.

 

[pottinger]

cheers for the great advice....

not going to order from there but went to currys today and had another little play etc etc

I am pretty sure I will go with an upgrade 27 in couple months (or when it comes out) more so in the reasoning of why not, the wait isnt a problem for me.....and IF the price is the same or thereabouts blah blah blah.....

Funny thning is, had a play on a HP touchscreen windows 8 and even tho I feel dead stupid saying this on a Mac site, im still rearly impressed and like the interface and the way windows 8 is layed out/runs....felt very logical....
Maybe I am the typical non-techie its aimed at appealing to ?

Perhaps my naivity here, but I would be more tempted IF i didnt have that thought in my head of viruses / poxy antivirus programs having to be installed/updated and the slowing down of the machine pretty darn quickly that you end up wishing it was an iMac.....

cheers
potts

 

[Shinerkyd]

Lol yeah, the "newness" and fun new look of windows 8 is enticing, but like you said you still have various worries that still come around with using Windows, not discounting Windows by any means, just that Macs are generally more stable.