Windows 8 or new iMac?

[Switchback666]

fwiw these days windows software perform better than on mac, if osx is what you want theres no reason for pondering get a mac.

Little tip stop trying to justify your choices get what YOU want.

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Btw im sure you can get the same screen experience and at better price; again keep in mind that if you go the imac route when you feel you need more power you gotta replace the whole thing, if money is no issue in the future then go for it hands down the most sexy AIO/desktop.

 

[Tri-stan]

fwiw these days windows software perform better than on mac, if osx is what you want theres no reason for pondering get a mac.

Little tip stop trying to justify your choices get what YOU want.

I would do if the thing was available, but it is not and I cannot stop thinking about which one would be the best choice to get or to stick with. It is a big decision for me as I have little possessions to my name and live a minimalist lifestyle. I am selling my car soon so my only transport other than public is a bike.

 

[Switchback666]

My friend seriously if i were in your position i would hold back from purchase like these until better times come, specially if the machine you have now works perfectly.

 

[Tri-stan]

My friend seriously if i were in your position i would hold back from purchase like these until better times come, specially if the machine you have now works perfectly.

No, it is done on propose. Money is okay for me. I have been eliminating unnecessary things from my life and just keeping singular high quality items. I am fed up of looking round at so much unnecessary stuff, its just horrible and not needed. I know for westerns we just cant live without it but I am ahead of the curve.

I am going to buy all of the things I need before my masters course and get by on it for many years to come without making large purchases or replacing items.

For instance why have a car in a city when easy transportation is every ware. It is just stupid and will save a ton of money and cost to the environment.

 

[visim91]

What if you could run Windows on your Mac? What's that, Ma? I can run Windows on my Mac? Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

 

[Lankyman]

fwiw these days windows software perform better than on mac, if osx is what you want theres no reason for pondering get a mac.

Little tip stop trying to justify your choices get what YOU want.

----------

Btw im sure you can get the same screen experience and at better price; again keep in mind that if you go the imac route when you feel you need more power you gotta replace the whole thing, if money is no issue in the future then go for it hands down the most sexy AIO/desktop.

Absolutely correct, just what I was thinking. This isn't a thread about seeking advice, it's a thread about someone seeking to validate their purchasing decision by rubbishing the opposition, which BTW is a perfectly good product.

 

[Tri-stan]

Absolutely correct, just what I was thinking. This isn't a thread about seeking advice, it's a thread about someone seeking to validate their purchasing decision by rubbishing the opposition, which BTW is a perfectly good product.

If you actually read the thread you will see it is not me that has been doing the "rubbishing"and that I am trying to make a decision here. What product are talking about anyway windows 8?

 

[Roller]

I am slowly falling towards iMac. It will be able to everything I want it to do perfectly and in the end it comes down to price. I then have to say is it worth it?

Well there are a lot of architecture firms that use iMacs and they do for a reason. Creative people are more likely to be working on one than somebody who is not. For me it is all about the operating system, the screen and having good hardware to back it up. The iMac has all of these things where windows does not. I don't really care about the whole thinness thing but it does have benefits, one of them I have argued in other threads is increased simplicity and with it increased reliability.

I am surprised that there are not too much pro mac people on MacRumers, but this is a good thing. One sided debate's prove nothing.

I'm not sure what you mean by "pro mac people." There are plenty of people on MacRumors who use Macs for their work, though I'll admit that the meaning of the term "professional Mac user" is open to debate. Personally, I define it widely as someone who uses a Mac for their work.

I don't agree with your statement that Windows lacks the things you say it does. Apart from aesthetics, the hardware is pretty much identical, and monitors are essentially commodity items. As for the OS, it's largely a matter of preference. I much prefer the Mac OS experience, but I can easily see why some people feel the opposite.

That's not to say that your decision to go with an iMac is invalid, just that objective criteria in the Mac's favor are much less compelling than they used to be.

 

[Tri-stan]

I'm not sure what you mean by "pro mac people." There are plenty of people on MacRumors who use Macs for their work, though I'll admit that the meaning of the term "professional Mac user" is open to debate. Personally, I define it widely as someone who uses a Mac for their work.

I don't agree with your statement that Windows lacks the things you say it does. Apart from aesthetics, the hardware is pretty much identical, and monitors are essentially commodity items. As for the OS, it's largely a matter of preference. I much prefer the Mac OS experience, but I can easily see why some people feel the opposite.

That's not to say that your decision to go with an iMac is invalid, just that objective criteria in the Mac's favor are much less compelling than they used to be.

I think you would be hard pressed to find a screen better than the ones used in macs. Not even the reference quality monitors, they may produce perfect colors but the way they are used and the settings just don't look as pleasing on the eye.

Take this, so the u2711 uses the same LG display as what is used on the latest macs and it just doesn't match up. Apple made some small tweaks to it which just made it a better display. ie glossy screen and led back-lighting if you can ignore reflections. Dell used a crappy ag coating which made a great display not so great.

The LG displays that I highlighted at the start of this thread you could debate are the best displays that you can buy for a windows machine, if you don't buy a cinema display. In terms of how appealing to the eye they will look.

 

[Kev.LoveMac]

I think you would be hard pressed to find a screen better than the ones used in macs. Not even the reference quality monitors, they may produce perfect colors but the way they are used and the settings just don't look as pleasing on the eye.

Take this, so the u2711 uses the same LG display as what is used on the latest macs and it just doesn't match up. Apple made some small tweaks to it which just made it a better display. ie glossy screen and led back-lighting if you can ignore reflections. Dell used a crappy ag coating which made a great display not so great.

The LG displays that I highlighted at the start of this thread you could debate are the best displays that you can buy for a windows machine, if you don't buy a cinema display. In terms of how appealing to the eye they will look.

I do not trust an OS which is still using regedit.exe
I have 10 years Linux-user history. In any Linux community, if you search "windows" or "Microsoft windows", it outcomes plenty of dirty words on windows. And, they are true. I recently joined some Mac communities, and I found people here are really nice to windows.

It is astonishing that there are still people defending windows and regarding it as a "good", or "user friendly" system. In the opinion of most of my friends, "microsoft windows" is equal to "lack of innovation", "regedit.exe", "unstable systems", "not for professional users", "for zombies". If you want to hear more, please just go to any linux community and search it. I am sure you will figure out that people there have even more talent in criticizing.

If one thinks macs are expensive, go buy a pc and install linux. If you wanna a stable and user-friendly computer, spend some money and buy a mac.

 

[Lankyman]

I do not trust an OS which is still using regedit.exe
I have 10 years Linux-user history. In any Linux community, if you search "windows" or "Microsoft windows", it outcomes plenty of dirty words on windows. And, they are true. I recently joined some Mac communities, and I found people here are really nice to windows.

It is astonishing that there are still people defending windows and regarding it as a "good", or "user friendly" system. In the opinion of most of my friends, "microsoft windows" is equal to "lack of innovation", "regedit.exe", "unstable systems", "not for professional users", "for zombies". If you want to hear more, please just go to any linux community and search it. I am sure you will figure out that people there have even more talent in criticizing.

If one thinks macs are expensive, go buy a pc and install linux. If you wanna a stable and user-friendly computer, spend some money and buy a mac.

I'm sorry but I really should be paid to read such twaddle, do you really believe all this stuff? Windows, OS X Linux, they are all good products so please no more of this guff. Much of the hardware is also common to all three and in many respects it boils down to aesthetics. I have no doubt whatsoever that you can get monitors easily the equal of an iMac as well as Windows hardware. I own a number of Apple products but that doesn't mean I wear blinkers. Please buy what you want and enjoy it, but an end to all this totally unnecessary prejudice.

 

[Kev.LoveMac]

I'm sorry but I really should be paid to read such twaddle, do you really believe all this stuff? Windows, OS X Linux, they are all good products so please no more of this guff. Much of the hardware is also common to all three and in many respects it boils down to aesthetics. I have no doubt whatsoever that you can get monitors easily the equal of an iMac as well as Windows hardware. I own a number of Apple products but that doesn't mean I wear blinkers. Please buy what you want and enjoy it, but an end to all this totally unnecessary prejudice.

As far as I know, here is a free forum, right?
Hardware is just a beautiful box, no matter how beautiful one built it, the key to open it is still the software.
There is the historical reason why many people are using windows, but it does not mean that it is a good product.
You guys are just too nice when talking about windows.

 

[harcosparky]

I don't just want the machine to last for the course but go on after that so it's got to last at least 5 years to make economic sense or retain some value in three years time.

There is known problems with both options.

Briefly iMacs: can't run as much architecture software, can't be repaired without apple cover or much upgraded, expensive.

Briefly PC's: windows os can have random driver related blue screens on a brand new system, take up a lot of space and are hard to move, further behind technology speaking, general stability problems are the worst for me I dont want my system going down all the time.

Given the choise which one should I go for given that with the spare cash I could buy an A1 plotter without being broke.

It has been my experience that a Mac would have a longer 'life expectancy' than a Windows machine. This is just my personal experiences using Power Macs, Powerbooks, Macbook Pro's and iMacs. I have become a big iMac fan/user because of the return on investment I have gotten out of the iMac's.

In the past I rarely kept a Windows machine more than three years, however several of the Macs around here are on their 5th, 6th, and even more years still doing the work I bought them to do.

 

[Steve121178]

I would never recommend Windows, especially not Windows 8. iMacs are, hands down, the best desktops on Earth if you don't mind having an AIO.

If you stick with a PC, what can I say? Well, at least the LG girl in the photo above is cute...

Windows Desktop PC's rarely use mobile processors & mobile GPU's though. Plus you can custom build to your required spec and upgrade any component you wish. You can't do that with an iMac.

 

[coolspot18]

If you have a working Win 7 box, stick with it. I have a Mac Pro I am on the verge of selling and moving back to Windows. Windows is just generally superior on more fronts these days, and you get fantastic value for your money, while at the same time getting BETTER technology, stability, and flexibility. Yes OSX is a bit prettier, but that is the primary advantage, and when it comes to work and results, the OSX advantages generally do not matter.

Same here, ironically I find Windows 7 many times more stable and less buggy than OSX...

 

[Renzatic]

A few months ago I switched to a new system running Windows 7. The system has 8 GB of RAM. It crashes only rarely, which I attribute to the fact that I never run low on free RAM. It's still a hateful, time-wasting, high-maintenance experience. The whole package just feels like it was put together by amateurs, from the system to the OS to most of the applications.

If you're even "rarely" crashing, or having to goof around with time wasting, high maintenance BS, you've got hardware problems. I haven't had any of my Windows machines crash on me in years (barring that one time in the W8 beta...), and I never have to go in and tweak settings constantly once I'm past the initial setup.

You've got something conflicting or something weird going on deep down. Actually, if you're running a laptop, it's probably the excess BS OEMs install to replace what comes with Windows by default. That's probably the worst thing about buying a Windows machine over a Mac right there. On a Mac, you don't have to deal with the manufacturer going out of their way to break your machine with useless software that does nothing but bog your machine down.

 

[coolspot18]

It is astonishing that there are still people defending windows and regarding it as a "good", or "user friendly" system. In the opinion of most of my friends, "microsoft windows" is equal to "lack of innovation", "regedit.exe", "unstable systems", "not for professional users", "for zombies". If you want to hear more, please just go to any linux community and search it. I am sure you will figure out that people there have even more talent in criticizing.

Many of those criticisms are not warranted, Windows 7 has proven itself to be a solid and reliable OS, well received by users. If Linux were so superior to Windows, surely it would have a much larger user base

 

[lixuelai]

Lol the OP is obviously set on an iMac. Just buy the iMac. You will probably kick yourself 3 years down the road for buying it, but then you only live once...

 

[Renzatic]

Eh, the new thin iMac is the first one I'd consider getting. It's actually sporting some fairly decent hardware underneath that shiny, sleek exterior.

There's always one thing to keep in mind when choosing between a Mac and a PC. Every Mac you get is guaranteed to be at least halfway decent. It's less likely to bug out on you because the OS is tailored to fit a specific set of parts. On the flipside of that, not every Windows PC you get is guaranteed to be all that good. If you get a cheap $300 computer, you're likely getting offbrand parts barely supported by the OS, made by an OEM intent on cutting as many corners as they can to get as cheap a product out to you. You're likely to get nothing but a buggy, crappy mess out of a machine like that.

But that's not Windows fault. You get a good PC, and you won't notice any difference in performance and stability between it and a Mac. Plus you get more of that aforementioned bang for the buck. The latest and greatest hardware for cheaper. You just have to do a bit of research to make sure you're getting a good PC.

Of course you can get buggy hardware even when buying a good PC. That just happens. As hard as it will be for some of you here to believe, there are people out there who have experienced nothing but trouble out of their Macs. Computers are pretty dumb, finicky things when it comes right down to it. Your experience with anything made out of silicon, aluminium, and whatever is all based on luck and chance.

You want a Mac? Get a Mac. Want a PC. Get a good PC. As long as you don't go to Best Buy and grab the cheapest thing on the shelf, you'll probably have a good experience with it.

 

[dreamyguy]

It's about the combination of hardware and OS, but mostly the OS

I used to be a PC guy for years, until 2 years ago. I think the great thing about Mac is that the hardware is made to work with the OS - your machine will run nearly glitch-less and with the same performance as long as you continue to use it with the OS it shipped with, in some cases you could even get improvements in the performance with OS upgrade.

But if you need to keep upgrading the same machine, PCs are still the ones to go for. But even upgrade-ability has a cost...

I built several custom PCs for myself with top-notch components and because I did a lot of research before starting it was a relatively less painful process. It was fun but to be very honest I don't miss the long nights I spent researching and putting the pieces together.

Personally I just need to get my job done, and I can do that without having to troubleshoot hardware + OS as much as I use to have with a PC.

I got so generally frustrated with Windows as an OS at this point, that I would buy a Mac just to use the OSX, regardless of hype or looks. Microsoft has a way of doing things that I simply got a fundamental aversion to their products. Haven't tried Win 8, but am not too curious either.

Both PCs and Macs will give you trouble from time to time, they're after all, machines.

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

Many of those criticisms are not warranted, Windows 7 has proven itself to be a solid and reliable OS, well received by users. If Linux were so superior to Windows, surely it would have a much larger user base

The funny thing is that Windows 7 was finally something that could compete with Mac OSX, but then MS went berserk and tried to revolutionize everything with Win 8. It's like they got impatient or something.

 

[cirus]

I think you would be hard pressed to find a screen better than the ones used in macs. Not even the reference quality monitors, they may produce perfect colors but the way they are used and the settings just don't look as pleasing on the eye.

Take this, so the u2711 uses the same LG display as what is used on the latest macs and it just doesn't match up. Apple made some small tweaks to it which just made it a better display. ie glossy screen and led back-lighting if you can ignore reflections. Dell used a crappy ag coating which made a great display not so great.

The LG displays that I highlighted at the start of this thread you could debate are the best displays that you can buy for a windows machine, if you don't buy a cinema display. In terms of how appealing to the eye they will look.

I dont know about the new imacs but here is a review of the 2011 27 inch.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4340/27inch-apple-imac-review-2011/7
The dell u2711 is also in the comparison its very similar to the 27 inch imac.

Any professional monitor (the really expensive ones) are going to be much better than the imac monitor.

Note: Im not talking about the upcoming models, just the current ones.

 

[blanka]

Lets compare Apples with Pears (read OS-es with hardware makers).
Why not both? Windows 8 on an iMac?

 

[northernbaldy]

Mac mac mac mac lol




Actually, I need to go over to pc world and have a play with win 8

 

[Lankyman]

It has been my experience that a Mac would have a longer 'life expectancy' than a Windows machine. This is just my personal experiences using Power Macs, Powerbooks, Macbook Pro's and iMacs. I have become a big iMac fan/user because of the return on investment I have gotten out of the iMac's.

In the past I rarely kept a Windows machine more than three years, however several of the Macs around here are on their 5th, 6th, and even more years still doing the work I bought them to do.

I have one very old Laptop running Windows 3.1. one Pentium 4 that's now ten years old and one Dell Laptop running XP now 8 years old. All are more than serviceable though the Dell needs a new battery. I work with colleagues many of whom have Windows PC's between seven and ten years old and all have been faultless. Given the above it begs the question - what the hell do you do with your tech that it only lasts such a short time?