iMac Reviews

I am considering purchasing an Apple iMac 3.06 GHz with 4 GB of memory and a 1 TB hard drive, as well as Adobe Photoshop CS2 (for iMac) and Microsoft Word 2008 (for iMac). Now I have been researching a lot on YouTube, Google, and Apple; however, since I am willing to make such a big purchase (about $3,700), I want a lot more feedback - perhaps comparing a PC to a Mac. Telling me some cons of the Mac and not all the pros would also be a great addition to this topic I believe.

I agree that the iMac is one of the best computers on the planet, but I have to know exactly what I'm purchasing before I purchase it. Now here are a couple questions, I am sure more will come up as we discuss through this topic.

Does the latest OS - I believe OS X - come free with any purchase of an iMac?

Also, is the AppleCare Protection Plan a good idea to buy, or are iMacs really that reliable and stable that I probably won't need the extended protection?



Thanks for all feedback and links!

Chase

Hi Chase

I went from HP computer to iMac in January this year. The AppleCare Protection Plan is good to have when you have a first Mac. It gives you the more support and peace of mind. I've used Apple phone support once since I've had my iMac.

Leopard come's on all the iMac's

AppleCare also extends your phone support. Which is definitely better than say Dell's phone support. If you're unsure though, you have a year from the date of purchase to buy AppleCare

You'll likely want CS3 though as it's not a PPC based program. I would skip buying memory from Apple, it's overpriced. Around $90 should get you 4gb's delivered to you from someone like Crucial or OWC, should take less than 5 minutes and a single screw to install it.

I switched to Mac and I absolutely love it. I have had a few minor problems, but solutions were always straightforward and easy. I love iLife, as it has helped me do things never before possible out-of-the-box with a Windows PC. As for reliability, my Macbook Pro is mostly reliable. It comes with OS X Leopard, which is fairly new and still has a few bugs to work out. I have also used Tiger on my Macbook Pro and I must say it was very stable and reliable (it had 11 system updates in its time, Leopard has had 2). Nevertheless I trust that you will find an iMac reliable, stable, simple but powerful, and easy to use.

Okay, is the new OS a resource HOG like Windows Vista? In other words, could I be browsing through Photoshop, a few internet windows, messenger, and other applications without much lock up?

Probably the only other thing I am iffy about is that I can't use any software I have bought for my PC. That is going to suck. How did you all overcome that?

Here is my 2¢ worth.

1. If you are getting a new imac. It is intel based. And you'll want photoshop CS3. I don't think Adobe even sell photoshop CS 2 anymore. CS3 is optimised to run on the intel imacs which you will be purchasing if you want a mac.

2. On my imac I can run photoshop CS3, browse firefox with a few windows open, listen to a few songs on itunes, have some IM app running and have a basic casual game running when the rest are doing their thing and there's no slowdown what so ever. Even if I add in a little video file converting to the mix, there's still no slow down. But I would do any major music editing or video editing with not so many other apps open. But otherwise multitasking on the mac is just a breeze. Well for me anyways.

3. You can use your old PC programs on your mac. There are a few ways in which you can do this.

For any old dos programs. There is an app called Dos Box which you can use to run those dos programs in. Works just fine for me.

For most windows programs, you'll need to load Windows XP (service pack 2) or vista onto your mac. And yes this in most cases will not harm the mac. And you can then access this windows 2 ways.

While the apple system is running. In a window, through apps like fusion or parallels. This does use up a little of the system resources as your basically running both systems at the same time. But the new imacs can handle this without even breaking a sweat.

And the other way is through bootcamp. Basically it allows you to choose whether to boot up into OS X or windows. Then your mac (once properly set up to do so) runs just like a pc. And you need to reboot the machine to get back into OS X.

And it's rumoured that windows runs better on a mac then on a similarly configured pc. I don't know how true this is though.

4. OS X 10.5 comes preinstalled with every new mac purchased. And you can always download the latest update to it through the software updater app.

5. Apple care. Some people swear by it. Others think it's not really necessary. To me Macs are all on the whole built rather well and I've never had a major issue with any of them. But you might get the rare lemon. Sure it's very very rare. But no person is perfect and things do happen. Apple Care is more a peace of mind to me. It's like insurance. Which actually brings me to another point. Some people have not chosen Apple care and instead put their mac on their insurance policy. Doing this has various benifits which some are different to apple care. You'd have to check with your insurance company to see if this is what you want.

But I think regularly backing up your hard drive does fix most problems. Cause the files are there to be reinstalled if the original gets corrupted somehow. But if you're worried about hardware issues, then it might be worth considering.

Well sure this sounds like doom and gloom, but most (nearly everyone) has their macs with no issues what so ever.That's why I didn't get apple care. Cause I believe it's not really worth it and my mac is built well enough to last me. But it's a personal choice.

And if you have any other questions just feel free to ask. And good luck with your choice.

Chase said:

I want a lot more feedback - perhaps comparing a PC to a Mac. Telling me some cons of the Mac and not all the pros would also be a great addition to this topic I believe.

Click to expand...

First my background. IT guy in the 80's on super mini's. DOS programming since 1984. Windows programming since 1995. I bought into all the MS party line at one time and even did support for them on Excel at one point. I was writing back end server stuff in C++ and the native Windows API at the end. I also wrote stuff in ASP for clients and my self. I have a lot of experience with Oracle, SQL Server and Access. OK, enough of my pedigree...

First off, one thing I've heard people talking about is that the Mac OS is new. It is not. It is a presentation layer that is floating on top of an operating system that was written in the 70's called Unix. Unix was created by computer scientists at Bell Labs with the intent of running on wide area networks (WAN's). Read that to mean the Internet. It was design to be secure and easy to use. Prior to Unix, programming a computer meant having an intimate relationship with a hardware device. One of the Unix mantra's was 'the world is a stream of bytes'. Anyway I digress.

What this means is that Unix was designed to be secure. Windows, on the other hand, was designed for workgroups--a small number of computers in an office that talked to one another. In addition, Windows offered an open hardware specification that allowed vendors to easily incorporate their own code into the operating system. Finally, there was no real file security implementation on Windows. Anyone and everyone was allowed to do just about anything with your computers hard drive and configuration.

In these beginning years, it was crucial for the personal computer paradigm to be universally accepted and creating the Volkswagen was the answer. This analogy is pretty good and just like the VW, anyone and everyone makes parts for PC's.

Mac on the other hand, never had an open hardware specification; therefore, they didn't need to publish internal documentation on how they did stuff. This lack of knowledge makes it harder to figure out how to write viral software and in general, keeps the riff-raff out.

There's another thing I noticed while programming Windows machines. It always felt like the interfaces were written by people trying to somehow impress someone. I suspect it was young college graduates trying to impress their bosses or justify the huge salaries they were getting or ? I'm not really sure. However, it became clear after a while, that whoever was writing their tools was both really smart and really immature at times. Take the whole MFC C++ class library. I bought into it in the beginning only to realize after a few years that it was a total POS. I ended up writing my own Windows class library based on Smalltalk and the work of this other guy (can't remember his name right now) that was way more eloquent and efficient. I was just cracking the surface when I finally had enough of them. The point is that when you work with MS products, expect your skill set to evaporate every five years.

Unix, however, is a tried and true OS that is essentially so well written as to be virtually unchanged in 40 years. I'm sorry but I have a little bit of an axe to grind here now that I realize that the MS approach was so down and dirty. It is based on a quick fix mentality and they are so entrenched in this path that they will likely not be able to pull out of it without alienating their customers who expect plug and play, open hardware, free software etc.

So here I am with a Mac finally and realizing that this machine, its underlying OS, its software, its tight hardware specification, its visual styling, its construction are so vastly superior to Windows that I'm dumbfounded as to why anyone would bother with Windows at all?

So to recap, the reason that Macs are superior is:

1. An OS designed to be secure on a wide area network (the real reason that there aren't any viruses on the Mac)
2. A tight hardware specification that only allows trusted players in the game.
3. Lack of general knowledge regarding system internals.
4. OS releases that leave behind the old problems and move forward (this means that old software won't run on new releases but frees the OS folks to concentrate on actually improving things instead of backward compatibility).

In case I wasn't clear, the Mac/Unix marriage is a union made in heaven. It is based on sound computer science not marketing strategy. It is the way to go and offers the best path right now. It meets 99% of people's needs on a computer (maybe more since most people just need to browse, get email, and do word processing and spreadsheet stuff. It's reputation in multimedia is stellar also.)

Hope I didn't overwhelm you here.

Nicely said eBay. Thanks for the detailed response.

Chase said:

Okay, is the new OS a resource ***** like Windows Vista? In other words, could I be browsing through Photoshop, a few internet windows, messenger, and other applications without much lock up?

Probably the only other thing I am iffy about is that I can't use any software I have bought for my PC. That is going to suck. How did you all overcome that?

Click to expand...

Bootcamp or Fusion. Both let your mac play pc when needed

You can easily have photo, windows, msgrs running, itunes, etc. Your describing my typical desktop and it handles it very well. It has only locked up on me twice, and once ironically it was due to the virtual machine running Vista.

Okay, wow, great feedback guys. I have a few more questions.

1. I have been researching for a good desk for my mac, as I am long overdue for a new desk. The best one I found (http://hecklerdesign.com/) was $1100... That is ridiculous I think. Do any of you know of a good desk (around $300) for a Mac. Modern please.

2. Do Mac's wirelesly hook up to the Wi-Fi in the house, or do they have to be on cable?

if you really want to use photoshop have you considered a mac pro? dunno what you need it for but you know.. if its just for a bit of photo manipulation there are lots more cheaper alternatives.. even adobe make Elements which is good for that.

No, Mac Pros are way to expensive for me. The way I saw them, they are about 2 grand more including everything I will need with them. Way to much.

So here I am with a Mac finally and realizing that this machine, its underlying OS, its software, its tight hardware specification, its visual styling, its construction are so vastly superior to Windows that I'm dumbfounded as to why anyone would bother with Windows at all?

Click to expand...

Amen to that

All new Mac's come with Airport (aka wireless) already installed except I think the Mac Pros, which you need to add on yourself.

I bought my desk at Walmart for like $80, but it sounds like you're looking for something a little nicer. Though I have had it for like 5 years now, and it's held up rather well.

iMac

So, I just bought an new Intel iMac about 3 weeks ago...right before the new release (which actually ticks me off..but they gave me the difference in price in the end, so now i'm fine). Anwho...I am a designer, so I use the entire CS3 creative suite.

I seem to have no problems doing what I need to do. Everything seems to fly...before this I was working on a 15" g4 powerbook. The iMac is even significantly faster than my PowerMac at work (Daul 2 gig).

The only hick-up I've seen was working with a really large layered photoshop file...but you'd have to have a pretty amazing MacPro set up to do it much faster than the iMac can.

If you're wanting a desktop, iMac is the way to go for apple. Very relaible, and if you have apple care (with you should) you're covered on almost anything you're going to have problems with. It's really a beatiful and fun piece of equipment. Good luck on your decision.

Oh yea...as for a desk....I'm looking for a new one of those too. I'm working on an old drafting table right now, which isn't fun. Big Lots! has a few pretty nice ones for a really great price. I'd send a link, but you have to sign up on their site to see any products. There is a glass top one I'm looking into that is only $100, and has plently of space, and pretty decent style.

Chase said:

No, Mac Pros are way to expensive for me. The way I saw them, they are about 2 grand more including everything I will need with them. Way to much.

Click to expand...

I love my iMac and my MacBook greatly. I really have few problems with apple but will always say Mac > Windows. I'm going to use what you said as my pretense for being devil's advocate.

I don't have a problem with the MacBook because you can up the Hard Drive from any retailer of 2.5 inch SATA drives (for example I have a 160 Seagate 7200 rpm in my MacBook) and in my opinion the only things worth upping on a "lower end" laptop (such as the MacBook, amazing little machine) are the hard drive and the ram (very easy to do).

As for my iMac, I love it, 4 gigs of ram, 2.4ghz processor, a 320 hard drive, beautiful 20" display all in one. But it has two vices.

1) Graphics card can not be upgraded
and
2) Hard drive can not be upgraded

This is where the MacPro comes in. Towers > All in one computers in my opinion and I'll tell you why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHzvn5D1d4Y&feature=related

That will make sure your computer will remain competitive for awhile, its vast and easy upgradeability. Ram (lots of, 32 gigs), up to 4 hard drives (max of 4 terra bites), graphics cards, and up to two optical drives.

The iMac has great specs, a amazing video card (the high end version has an nvedia 8800), fast processor etc. But you can not upgrade it, other than at the original time of purchase (and apple's pricing is not worth it if you can do it yourself, which you can not with an iMac with the exception of ram).

The mac pro will cost more because you have to buy a display, that is a given, but you get choice of well, everything. That is a pro of the Mac Pro over the iMac.

The iMac is great, very very great, but before purchase it is always good to have opions that challenge what you "want".

Thanks for your time.
Cpt. Morgan

MS and Macs

Hi I used to build pc's and attended ms meetings, also IT meetings.....
I liked pc's because I could build them and fix them. ms used to give me software for free. My ten year old pc ran fine and over clocked is as fast as my new imac. Did I say new imac yes, my mother board could no longer get updates in it's bios and could not read the large drives so it was time to buy new or build new. After looking at Vista I finally gave up on ms, although my imac is not faster it is far more stable. I work with many layers while working on different programs and mac wins hands down. I went through the pros and cons of a mac pro or imac, but knowing the industry I know photoshop mac and ms plus many more have a five year software plan. They all put out new software along with hardware every five years. So by the time I could up grade to a pro where i would like it to be, a new pro would be out. The stuff sitting on the shelves is way cool. Bigger is not always better in this revolving world of software and hardware. Buy what you need and ;D wait for the next cool thing to come.

Chase said:

I am considering purchasing an Apple iMac 3.06 GHz with 4 GB of memory and a 1 TB hard drive, as well as Adobe Photoshop CS2 (for iMac) and Microsoft Word 2008 (for iMac). Now I have been researching a lot on YouTube, Google, and Apple; however, since I am willing to make such a big purchase (about $3,700), I want a lot more feedback - perhaps comparing a PC to a Mac. Telling me some cons of the Mac and not all the pros would also be a great addition to this topic I believe.

I agree that the iMac is one of the best computers on the planet, but I have to know exactly what I'm purchasing before I purchase it. Now here are a couple questions, I am sure more will come up as we discuss through this topic.

Does the latest OS - I believe OS X - come free with any purchase of an iMac?

Also, is the AppleCare Protection Plan a good idea to buy, or are iMacs really that reliable and stable that I probably won't need the extended protection?



Thanks for all feedback and links!

Chase

Click to expand...

I'm sure you can find a very detailed pros and cons comparison thread here in this forum if you do a little search. I have done some research here myself, very useful. I don't supposed I should go over those again.

In regards to your questions, however, I can try to answer. Yes, Leopard OS X comes with every new Mac purchased, no worries about that. What you have to check out for when you get your Mac is probably the version of Leopard. Just check for software update and then just download the latest version (10.5.3) if you don't already have it.

And as for the Applecare Protection Plan, I remember an article I read online which was an interview with a nameless employee at an Apple Store. He said that the Applecare Protection Plan isn't very necessary if you are just an ordinary everyday user. I haven't been using Mac for very long (Since September last year), but I can say that it is the most stable platform I have ever used. I had some minor hiccups when I first purchased my Macbook though, but then an ordinary one year warranty should get you through without much problems.

I won't recommend buying it, but then it sure gives you a peace of mind if you know that your machine is covered for the next three years or so. It's really up to you as to whether or not you want that peace of mind. Even without that plan, I trust my iMac to survive for a very long time.

imac

I had pcs for years and as long as you put top quality parts in them they last and last. My friend had macs and had to replace his cd burner, and his monitor. So with large drives that get hot, I would suggest having a back up. A computer is only as good as the parts they put into them. Knowing this you know that large drives are more likely to fail then the mother boards. so if you know how to fix your hardware, then you worry about repairs when some thing fails. If you are clueless as to the contents of your computer then paying for peace of mind can take the tension from between your shoulders. But logic tells me Mac is making money off of apple care plans, so I am betting that the hardware is good enough to assure Mac of making money off apple care. The decision has to be yours!