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So... should I buy an iMac?

V

vixenite

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 17, 2015
6
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I realise this is probably a bit of a strange place to pose this question - just a little bit of Mac bias here, I would assume... Also don't know if this is the right category - let me know if it's not.

Anyway. I'm in the market for a new computer. I'm not a super heavy user, but I browse the web a fair bit and do quite a bit of gaming. If I were to get a Mac, I would obviously BootCamp it so I can play games on Windows OS. But I'd use OSx for basically everything else, I would imagine.

I really, really like the 27inch 5k iMacs. That big screen.. and 5k... I think Macs are so much more user friendly and just generally good looking.

BUT. If I were to get all the settings I would like (4.0GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 3TB Fusion Drive, AMD Radeon R9 M295X) plus the external CD drive - it's gonna cost me around $4,500.

Is it worth it? Or should I just build a beastly PC with a 4k (psh...) display and save myself some money?
 
vixenite said:
I really, really like the 27inch 5k iMacs. That big screen.. and 5k... I think Macs are so much more user friendly and just generally good looking.
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If you're a serious gamer, ... gaming performance has always been one of the Mac's weaknesses, when compared to beastly PCs.
 
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vixenite said:
BUT. If I were to get all the settings I would like (4.0GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 3TB Fusion Drive, AMD Radeon R9 M295X) plus the external CD drive - it's gonna cost me around $4,500.

Is it worth it? Or should I just build a beastly PC with a 4k (psh...) display and save myself some money?
Click to expand...

I can get only to $3500 with a fully loaded 27" 5k model. Typo? Regardless, an iMac is a great machine for those of us who need/want the all-in-one design with desktop power but, in many ways, under the hood it's more akin to a high-end laptop than a true desktop.

For that sort of money you should be looking at a Mac Pro. However, as has been said, Macs aren't great for gaming, which is why you need to install Windows too. So, unless you're dead set on an iMac for some reason other than "just coz", there's really no point in you paying up to get one when a Winbox will be much better value for you.
 
vixenite said:
I realise this is probably a bit of a strange place to pose this question - just a little bit of Mac bias here, I would assume... Also don't know if this is the right category - let me know if it's not.

Anyway. I'm in the market for a new computer. I'm not a super heavy user, but I browse the web a fair bit and do quite a bit of gaming. If I were to get a Mac, I would obviously BootCamp it so I can play games on Windows OS. But I'd use OSx for basically everything else, I would imagine.

I really, really like the 27inch 5k iMacs. That big screen.. and 5k... I think Macs are so much more user friendly and just generally good looking.

BUT. If I were to get all the settings I would like (4.0GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 3TB Fusion Drive, AMD Radeon R9 M295X) plus the external CD drive - it's gonna cost me around $4,500.

Is it worth it? Or should I just build a beastly PC with a 4k (psh...) display and save myself some money?
Click to expand...


NO ITS NOT.

I got an iMac 5K 8GB m290X 1TB Fusion model from Best Buy a couple of weeks ago for $1900 including tax. That is a bargain. I spent another 150 for 16GB more memory fro OWC. You could buy 2 for what you want to spend.

The iMac 5K is the finest workstation I have ever owned. You don't need the BTO model.
 
aristobrat said:
If you're a serious gamer, ... gaming performance has always been one of the Mac's weaknesses, when compared to beastly PCs.
Click to expand...

Ah....the iMac is not a gaming system even with the m295x. And from what I've read, heats up pretty quick when playing games.
 
Are you able to hold off for a couple months? If so, I believe that there should be a refresh in the iMac, I would wait to see what those specs are.
 
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I agree that waiting a couple months could be worthwhile for you given the amount of $$$ you are contemplating spending and your uncertainty about Apple vs. PC. As mentioned by others, you can save some by purchasing your extra RAM from Crucial, etc. And the GPU 290 vs. 295 is a situation that could be clarified in the next release cycle.

As noted earlier, if you are really into over $4000 for a system, consider the Mac Pro with external 4K display (Dell P2715Q or similar). Cooler operation and much more configurable. These machines are also likely to be updated by fall, so unless you need something really soon, waiting could be beneficial.
 
gentlegiantcrai said:
Are you able to hold off for a couple months? If so, I believe that there should be a refresh in the iMac, I would wait to see what those specs are.
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I think the refresh will be very very soon! The non-5k 27" i7 iMac has disappeared from Apples site! It's available on their refurb site only. Only the non-5k 27" i5 remains. Hope we see something in a few weeks!
 
Apple gear is not perfect, but it's the best example of it's kind. I started slowly into the Apple ecosystem with an iPhone and over the years when I needed to replace kit moved over to Apple. I love it and have never looked back.

I used to upgrade my PC every couple of years, I intend to stick with my 5K iMac for at least four and then sell it for whatever I can get.
 
Hmm. If your budget is $4500, I'd recommend a Mac retina laptop of some sort and then build a screamer of a PC machine for the gaming. What you save building the PC might leave enough out of that budget for a quite decent MBP or something, especially if you buy an Apple refurb. And it could use the same monitor.
 
Been extremely happy with an all-in-one machine that doubles as a gaming machine with my 2012 iMac. Different strokes for different folks but I'll never invest in PC Windows hardware ever again, even if it will be better at gaming. I love the convenience of having everything I do in one machine.
 
vixenite said:
I realise this is probably a bit of a strange place to pose this question - just a little bit of Mac bias here, I would assume... Also don't know if this is the right category - let me know if it's not.

Anyway. I'm in the market for a new computer. I'm not a super heavy user, but I browse the web a fair bit and do quite a bit of gaming. If I were to get a Mac, I would obviously BootCamp it so I can play games on Windows OS. But I'd use OSx for basically everything else, I would imagine.

I really, really like the 27inch 5k iMacs. That big screen.. and 5k... I think Macs are so much more user friendly and just generally good looking.

BUT. If I were to get all the settings I would like (4.0GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 3TB Fusion Drive, AMD Radeon R9 M295X) plus the external CD drive - it's gonna cost me around $4,500.

Is it worth it? Or should I just build a beastly PC with a 4k (psh...) display and save myself some money?
Click to expand...
Personally, I stopped gaming after I got my iMac. Reason being that it was becoming a chore booting into Windows 7 whenever I wanted to game and then booting back to OS X for everything else. I also found that my entry level 27" iMac's graphics card was insufficient for pushing games at native 2k resolution. I had to run most of my games in 1080p windowed format.

I think this will be your biggest problem - that the 5k iMac is not going to be able to support decent gaming performance at that resolution. You will likely want to do your gaming in 2560x1440 resolution upscaled to 5k.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/10/the-retina-imac-and-its-5k-display-as-a-gaming-machine/

According to this article, the 5k iMac should game just fine. I can't comment as to whether it is worth your money though.
 
steve23094 said:
I used to upgrade my PC every couple of years, I intend to stick with my 5K iMac for at least four and then sell it for whatever I can get.
Click to expand...

My iMac is 5 years old. I got one that had the fastest processor available at the time for some future-proofing. I have just swapped out the HDD for a new one and added a SSD for a "home made" fusion drive, and the thing is a beast! I think I'll get another 5 years out of it.

Oh, and it's a refurb, so I got it at a discount originally! It has been significantly cheaper to own than any Winbox that becomes obsolete within months without constant and significant hardware upgrades.
 
rayward said:
Oh, and it's a refurb, so I got it at a discount originally! It has been significantly cheaper to own than any Winbox that becomes obsolete within months without constant and significant hardware upgrades.
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The above has me puzzled. Given the components in both an iMac and a Windows machine are the same off the shelf parts why would a Windows machine become obsolete any sooner than the iMac?
 
Lankyman said:
The above has me puzzled. Given the components in both an iMac and a Windows machine are the same off the shelf parts why would a Windows machine become obsolete any sooner than the iMac?
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I think that Rayward was taking OS X in account, and with the good optimizations in OS X, the machine will last longer due to those optimizations. If you look at windows, it requires a faster machine (give or take) to run as well as OS X does on most machines.

The hardware will be the same age with off the shelf parts ofc, but you won't necessarily feel the age as quickly on OS X.
 
Dubadai said:
I think that Rayward was taking OS X in account, and with the good optimizations in OS X, the machine will last longer due to those optimizations. If you look at windows, it requires a faster machine (give or take) to run as well as OS X does on most machines.

The hardware will be the same age with off the shelf parts ofc, but you won't necessarily feel the age as quickly on OS X.
Click to expand...

Yep. It was how Windows software became more and more bloated, and quickly overran my PCs' hardware.

OS X goes the other way, getting skinnier as it evolves.
 
Dubadai said:
If you look at windows, it requires a faster machine (give or take) to run as well as OS X does on most machines.
Click to expand...
Not true at all. OS X is not faster than Windows 7 or 8.1 on the same hardware. It's a missconception.

OP, if you are willing to spend $4.5k, then I suggest you get a 13" or 15" Macbook Pro ($2000 max) for your daily activities. Spend the other $2500 on building a beast of a machine with a nice $4k monitor for your gaming which would put the 5k iMac to shame.
 
z31fanatic said:
Not true at all. OS X is not faster than Windows 7 or 8.1 on the same hardware. It's a missconception.

OP, if you are willing to spend $4.5k, then I suggest you get a 13" or 15" Macbook Pro ($2000 max) for your daily activities. Spend the other $2500 on building a beast of a machine with a nice $4k monitor for your gaming which would put the 5k iMac to shame.
Click to expand...

It's a misconception until you put a 3 year old windows machine next to a 3 year old mac. Working at a computer store where we only have a few Macs in stock (99% of what we sell are windows machines) I promise you that none of them run as well as those macs that are the same age. Fine, when you talk about 4,000usd machines. Of course they are just as fast. But when we are talking low end, OS X is faster.

Anyone who buys a 5K iMac to game shouldn't be allowed to buy one, jokes aside, it was never built to be a gaming machine and will never be... Not for a good while at least.

On another note though, the quality of apples trackpad etc makes a huge difference in how the computer feel and responds after a few years.

Sure, OS X only have their own machines to optimize, while windows have thousands of machines that it should run well on, but OS X is better optimized and do run better on low end machines. Also, SSDs do wonders on both operating systems.
 
Op never replied, but the way I see it is this:

If you can, skip the current offerings, and wait for the Intel Skylake revisions.
 
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