To iMac or not to iMac?

[Nono]

So I don't currently own a computer, and haven't for years, but I've been thinking of getting one lately. I get tired of trying to do everything on my phone(iphone 5s). I have a computer at work, but in the past couple of months, they've been turning up the block-o-meter which makes it no fun.

My question is, are the iMac's worth it? Like I said, I haven't owned a comp in a while, so I don't need the most top of the line thing there is, but I also don't want something that will be freezing on me every day. Would like some advice, but mainly I just want someone to say yes, since I pretty much already have my mind made up on it. Thanks.

[brycec]

I do not know about how good the iMacs are now, especially with the habit of Apple and the rest of the industry soldering RAM to motherboards, but they have been good in the past, and my mother’s is still running fine, so you should not have problems.

However, I suggest looking up the iMac at the following site, so you know what you are getting into. It gives some very good details about the various models.

http://everymac.com

[Geano]

I'd say if money isn't a object, and you are not a gamer, or at least not a PC gamer then a iMac is probably a better route than your average off the shelf PC. For one the Mac OS aka OSX is far more secure then Windows ever could be. Second it is easier to use for someone who is just coming back to the world of a desktop computer. Though they aren't cheep that I will say for sure. On average a equivalent PC with the same spec will cost half as much. Though Mac Hardware for the most part tends to be of good quality. I think their most recent practices are something to take into account though as they are really looking at a buy as is kinda business model with very little user serviceable parts. Though if that dose not matter to you then I'd say if you got a couple grand to toss a new comp then go with it. Plus if you do decide you want to start gaming you can always duel boot windows, or run windows via VM too. In fact that concept was made popular by the first IMac users.

[Nono]

Thanks for the responses. Now comes the hard part, walking into an apple store.

[Geano]

18 minutes ago, Nono said:

Thanks for the responses. Now comes the hard part, walking into an apple store.

I mean you can always go with the apple store, but you could save a little money by buying third party like online, or at a regular computer, and electrics store. I suppose you'll get the newest release if you buy directly through apple though.

[brycec]

22 minutes ago, Nono said:

Thanks for the responses. Now comes the hard part, walking into an apple store.

I highly suggest ordering from Apple's website, so that you can get what you want. Many times, you cannot configure a Mac at purchase from places other than the Apple website.

However, if the model you get allows you to upgrade the RAM and storage later, it will not be a problem.

Edited October 29, 2018 by brycec

[Geano]

39 minutes ago, brycec said:

I highly suggest ordering from Apple's website, so that you can get what you want. Many times, you cannot configure a Mac at purchase from places other than the Apple website.

However, if the model you get allows you to upgrade the RAM and storage later, it will not be a problem.

Thats the real issue with the newest Apple line is the amount you simply can't upgrade easy. I mean I suppose you can, but you need a soldering iron to do a lot of it. Even the GPU is soldered to the logic board.

[brycec]

1 hour ago, ArchieKun said:

Thats the real issue with the newest Apple line is the amount you simply can't upgrade easy. I mean I suppose you can, but you need a soldering iron to do a lot of it. Even the GPU is soldered to the logic board.

And that's why I am not particularly a fan of the hardware choices now.

Sadly, it seems this is the way the industry, as a whole, is going anyway, not just Apple.

[efaardvark]

iMacs are basically laptops built into a display.  You're paying a premium price for the laptop parts, but not really getting desktop performance apart from display size.  I used to own a desktop Mac (one of the last tower-case Mac Pros), but when I went to get myself a new desktop computer a few years ago I built a linux box around PC parts* instead of buying another Mac.  I just could not justify the premium price.  Also, Apple seemed (and still seems) to be ignoring/abandoning the high-performance desktop market, even to the extent of bringing a lot of iOS (phone) bits to the desktop.  I'm not a fan of dumbing-down the desktop like that, though other people seem to be ok with it.

That said, my laptop is an older macbook air, which I love.  Email, web (incl. animeforums ), spreadsheets, powerpoints, etc. all do fine.  I'm typing this on my laptop.  Nothing wrong with laptops.  I even bought a new macbook for my Mom a couple months ago for her birthday.  For everything except high-performance uses a laptop is great.

(When I say "high performance" I mean mainly games.  Though there's a lot of games that you CAN play on a Mac, there's a lot of titles that are PC-only, and you probably would not be happy playing many cutting-edge FPS games even if they are available.  I have played both Minecraft and Kerbal Space Program on my macbook for example.  They work, but only barely IMHO.  I wouldn't recommend the experience.  The newer iMacs have finally gotten a GPU bump with Radeon/Vega and can do a lot better than my old laptop, but that doesn't change the fact that they're still basically using laptop parts.  They're way behind in what you could do for the same price in PC-land in terms of desktop computers, even at similar quality levels.)

Bottom line.. if you're not a "computer person" and just want something that works out of the box to get typical computer work done then an iMac is fine.  If the price doesn't bother you and you don't need to play the latest-and-greatest games then you'll be happy.

(*990FX chipset motherboard, FX8370 CPU, 32GB RAM, Radeon RX480 GPU for only about $1k.  Of course I had to build, install, and configure everything myself for that price so that doesn't include the cost of research, labor, integration, or mental anguish.  YMMV.)