new imac 2017

[Blacksabbath25]

i am thinking weather or not to buy a new imac as my current imac is a 2010 imac which has some things that have stopped working after 7 years of use like cd drive and some USB ports but the imac is still working ok apart from that .

but i am not sure weather to go back to windows or buy a new imac ?

i looked into buliding my own windows pc with good parts which works out better spec then a imac but the same money as a new imac and the new imac that has just come out has no cd drive or can you upgrade the ram like i could with my 2010 imac you have to buy the new 2017 imac and choose how much ram you need so the base imac comes with 8gb of ram and the spec i wanted has 16gb with a i5 chip and the faster harddrive which will cost £1600 and i know i could bulid a windows pc cheaper then that but can not see a windows pc lasting as long as 7 years .

 

[Vladimir]

Not going too deep into the PC vs Mac debate, I'll just share this.

There is no difference in hardware between either, same components. The difference is software. It's true that a $400 Dell won't last as long as $2500 iMac. But even the price and you have essentially better hardware in the PC over the iMac.

If I wasn't computer savy and could afford the brand markup, I'd go with Mac.

 

[MajorFubar]

Go with whichever platform best runs the software you want to use. For me that’s a Mac, but if I was an average user who bought a computer to play games and browse the internet, I’d be happy as a pig in sh-t with a PC, probably save me money too.

Upgradability. You raise very valid points there, which I don’t have an answer to, other than to observe that Apple has been deliberately chipping away at their Macs’ upgradability for five years now, since the first retina MacBooks arrived with the soldered-in RAM. If it’s important to you, you should definitely be asking product specialists those kind of questions before parting with your money.

 

[abacus]

If something goes wrong with a PC then it is relatively cheap to replace the faulty part, however an iMac will cost you an arm and a leg.

Look to have a PC built for you by a top company (You can choose the parts) and you will get a full warrantee, as well as all the components being fully optimised.

The new AMD Ryzen CPUs are taking the crown in most performance tests over Intel, even though in most cases the AMD chips are cheaper. (Something that hasn’t occurred for a good 10 years or so)

A lot of users still use XP computers, (Although they really need to upgrade for safety) which are at least 10 years old, and still performing perfectly, so PC reliability is not an issue.

Windows 10 is the last OS that Microsoft will be making, as from now on it will just be upgraded, (Basically following the MAC principle) so will always be up to date.

If you are into professional video, photo or music production (As a business for example) then a MAC is probably still a good option, however, for anything else you might as well save money and get a PC.

In the end it is your personal choice, as everyone requires something different.

Hope this helps

Bill

 

[Vladimir]

*wacko*

 

[Blacksabbath25]

*wacko*

yep they have soldered the ram in the latest imac's when i first brought my imac in 2010 you could upgrade the ram your self and did not have to stick to buying the ram from apple but now you can not which kind of puts me off buying a imac .

you get 8gb with the standerd imac but if you want 16gb of ram thats + £180 on top if you want the faster harddrive that apple do which in the standerd imac only has a drive that reads up to 5200 speed which is slow for today standerds so you want the faster one thats £180 so time your done your looking at about £1600 which i no in the past i have bulit my own windows pc cheaper .

i did want to stay with a imac as the one i have as lasted 7 and a bit years which is not bad when you work it out but can not see a pc lasting that long .

 

[daveh75]

The latest iMacs aren't using soldered RAM, and are using modular CPUs, as you can see from the iFixit teardown, so they're actually more repairable/upgradable than the previous gen (though tearing open an modern iMac just to replace RAM isn't for the faint-hearted)

I still wouldn't buy one though, personally...

 

[Vladimir]

There's smart and reasonable proprietary, and there's Apple's soldered-in RAM or Sony's 'special' phone connectors. *nea*

 

[MajorFubar]

Soldered-in RAM

*wacko*

Didn't you get the memo...soldered-in memory improves sound quality, especially when using one of those high-brow audio apps which load your music straight to RAM. Socketed RAM introduces distortion*

(*tongue firmly in cheek, but hey, some gullible people in the computer-fi arena with their audiofool-spec USB and CAT cables would probably fall for it if they were told so by their favourite evangelist)

 

[MajorFubar]

Mac Mini (late 2012 model bought in 2014 with user upgradeable RAM) with 16GB RAM installed last year

You can spend more money buying one of those 2012 models second hand than it costs to buy a new one. Especially the range-topping quad-core i7. Not that Apple care because once they've had your money they've had your money, but the second hand value for '2014-on' Mac Minis is through the floor, mainly because you can't upgrade them. At a push you can change the drive if you like a fight, but there are no quad-core options and all the memory is soldered in.

Quad-core Mini was discontinued because it was just too good, basically sapping sales of their £3k black ashtray, aka Mac Pro.

 

[CnoEvil]

I was disappointed to find that this wasn't about a new Hair Removal product. *blush*

Carry on....

 

[Vladimir]

It will constantly have non-hardware related issues. Even if you don't fill it up to the brim with malware, never defragment or clean anything, Windows will send you ocassionally updates that will kill your PC, BSOD it, lose data/settings etc.

It's never borring with Windows. If you ask a W user if s/he has problems, the usual answer is no. They are used to it like ppl in Syria, Sudan or Somalia are used to ignoring Mayham in order to keep sanity. "What's this sudden popup error? Meh, probably nothing" *sniper fire in the distance.

Which is why I said if you're not computer savy better get yourself a NYC loft, a Mac. Enjoy first world problems like soldered-in RAM.

 

[daveh75]

You run Linux if you want a reliable, problem free PC.

Unless you miss the Windows 'fun', in which case you just install a bleeding edge distro...

 

[Vladimir]

People who desperately cling to old Win OS versions are not ludites. They are just sick of Microsoft's idea of fun updates and fresh ideas. I personally love the flexibility Win OS offers me, both hardware and software, so I've been putting up with their sense of humor since Windows 3.11.

 

[chebby]

... with their audiofool-spec USB and CAT cables would probably fall for it if they were told so by their favourite evangelist)

Standard CAT6 STP from RS ...

 

[MajorFubar]

You run Linux if you want a reliable, problem free PC.

...with a software / app base so comparatively non-existent it makes MacOS look common. Though that depends what you need the computer to do of course...many people these days only use home computers to access the web and play games.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Well after much thought I think I might go back to windows and buy a pc but buy one from a company called Novtec which they build one for you at sensible money as I do not really want to spend £1600 on a iMac .

as much as I've like the iMac and my current one as lasted 7 years I feel I could buy a windows pc with a much better spec for less money .

as I need about 4 TB of harddrive space and the 2 drivers running at 7200 speed to fit all of my media files which I was thinking of having 2TB mirrored to 2TB as backup and then a solid state harddrive for windows boot up .

then a i5 chip 7th generation , CD/DVD drive so I can still burn cds , DDR4 ram 16gb and a gigabyte motherboard , regulated power supply 500 watt , a stand a lone graphic card , soundcard , monitor which is going to be a hard one as the iMac display is hard to beat to get the same quality .

or I could buy a harddrive caddie and slot what ever size I want as backup and only use 1TB for the main pc .

now if I buy all that in a iMac it would be well over £2000 or more to do it and no more future upgrading of the iMac .

 

[Vladimir]

If you don't play games I'd recommend putting the GPU money into an i7 CPU for the initial build. If you occasionally or rarely game you can get a graphics card later on, meanwhile the integrated GPU in the i7 will do more than decent. Just stick it in and done. No limitations like with Macs.

Regarding PC monitors there are really good 27"+ with quality IPS screens that cover 100% Adobe RGB gamut for $500. Example Dell UltraSharp UP2716D PremierColor. Don't bother with 4K, 5K etc. for a 27" or less. It's pointless at this screen size. Zero chances you'd be able to see a pixel with 2560 x 1440. Aim for good color reproduction.

Important:

- Needless to say, having your main drive where Windows will be installed has to be an SSD drive. From my experience 256GB is sufficient if you are tidy and organize your chunky files on the HDDs.

- Super quiet cooling fans are a must. Example Austrian made Noctua.