Considering buying a Mac? - read this from one noobie to a potential one

Hello All,

I originally posted this as a reply to a forum user wanting to know if Mac are a viable desktop option, but figured seen as I spent time writing it the content may be useful to people in general wondering whether or not they should make the switch.

I literally made the move this month from a Windows desktop to an IMac. I can honestly say it was the best decision I have ever made, I will now NEVER buy a Windows machine again. Some people mention they like Linux but I tried that and found massive compatibility issues with almost everything I used.

Thus far my Mac has been massively quick, awesome to look at, has not hung or crashed and has NO compatibility issues with anything I use. Everything I use has a Mac native client (Eve Online, World Of Warcraft just 2 things to start with).

I also purchased Microsoft Office Mac 2008 with a free upgrade to 2011 when it comes out, this software actually works very nicely and has no issues with files from my Windows laptop.

My config I brought:-

27" IMac
8GB RAM
2TB HDD
Intel i7 Processor

It cost in the region of £2300 which is a lot of money, but this is worth every penny and in 2-3 years time will have retained its value so over a 10 year period it would probably cost more to keep buying Windows desktops .

The IMac also makes for an awesome media centre with the Apple remote.

I hope this helped from one noobie to another

IMac_Gav

Getting 8GB of ran from Apple is always a bad idea. Apple have a history of overcharging for their ram. Just bet the minimum you can and get the rest you need after market from a 3rd party seller like your favourite IT shop. Much cheaper.

Secondly I would have looked into the latest version of iWork. Sure it's not MS Office. But at times it's just as good. And it way cheaper. So it's worth checking out first. Sure you might end up buying MS office. But not checking out iWork first is not good as it's very good and cheaper and some people would like it.

And with bootcamp you can install Windows or Linux if you need on your Mac. Sure you don't need to as most Apps these days have OS X versions. But the option is there.

And if you're a cash strapped person I'd not recommend the imac you bought. You pretty much bought the tope of the range imac. It'll do you just fine. As will the lesser models too. Heck a lot of people have old C2D imacs from 2006 with SL and they run just fine. My 2006 imac runs SL just fine. So your imac will last for 5+ years at least.

Just a few points on your post.

Thanks for your post. It's always nice to hear positive experiences since these forums by their nature tend to include quite a number of posts about problems people are having. My iMac arrived just yesterday (still in the box) and I am hoping that I have a problem free set up and have a great experience as you have.

In my case, I decided to save some money and purchased a refurbished prior generation i7 2.8 GHZ with the stock 4GB of RAM which I will probably eventually upgrade to 12GB, although I'll see how 4GB runs for now. This is still more computer than I need and for my purposes seemed to be a good balance between price and performance. Everyone's individual needs, wishes, etc. will of course vary.

Congratulations on the recent move and new computer. It sounds great. I hope you will have many years of trouble free use and enjoyment!

lol thanks for the comments, you make very valid points its all down to personal preference and how much cash you have at the time.

As for you Jazzer - enjoy your IMac buddy 4GB of RAM should be perfect TBH I only got 8GB just to be future proofed lol Its not even used half of that doing anything I do as yet so no need for 8.

The only time I have heard its fans spin up was earlier today aswell when I was exporting/creating a video for YouTube so its also a very quiet machine and still so when under pressure.

That's some pretty crazy specs there. I would also recommend that people buy the bare minimum when it comes to RAM and the HDD.

You can always buy these from third party vendors for a lot cheaper than what Apple charges.

The CPU and the GPU are not upgradeable in the mini, MB, MBP, and iMac. Therefore you need to buy accordingly.

CrimsonRequiem said:

That's some pretty crazy specs there. I would also recommend that people buy the bare minimum when it comes to RAM and the HDD.

You can always buy these from third party vendors for a lot cheaper than what Apple charges.

The CPU and the GPU are not upgradeable in the mini, MB, MBP, and iMac. Therefore you need to buy accordingly.

Click to expand...

truth here.
buy the best of what you cant replace or upgrade, and skip out on the stuff you can.
also, should buy two of the 1tb hard drives instead of one 2tb hard drives, simply because the 2tbs have more parts and thus are more prone to failure, and if it goes out, you lose everything instead of half.
grats though, enjoy your purchase.

ZachUSAman said:

truth here.
buy the best of what you cant replace or upgrade, and skip out on the stuff you can.
also, should buy two of the 1tb hard drives instead of one 2tb hard drives, simply because the 2tbs have more parts and thus are more prone to failure, and if it goes out, you lose everything instead of half.
grats though, enjoy your purchase.

Click to expand...

Sorry, but, uhm, no...

2TB drives do not necessarily have any more parts than the 1TB drives. The 2TB drives are generally using 500 GB platters while the 1TB drives use 250GB platters - total of 4 platters each. Here's a crash course in areal density.

I agree with the 2x1TB HDs simply cause if one drive goes, you still have the other. But if your 2TB drives goes you have no back up drive you're stuffed. A 1TB internal and a 1TB external for time machine and other things is what I would recommend.