One more time: Mac or PC?

Big G

This has been asked a jillion times, I know, but I'm tossing it out again. Our (wife and my) main desktop at home, Dell Dimension PC ... and I still use a desktop primarily, I hate laptops (wife has one) and haven't gotten into the tablet world ... is getting a little bit of age on it, needs a minor amount of work done on it, most notably optical drive replacement, and while I'm not looking at junking it (am going to have the minor work done and pass it along to the kids to replace their computer that REALLY needs junking), I'm wanting to get another computer.

I'm toying with the idea of a Mac. I've actually worked on Macs for close to 20 years at my place of employment, currently have a 27-inch iMac, 2.66 ghz Intel Core i5 with 8 gigs of RAM. I've always had a PC at home. So I am very familiar with both worlds. I really have the itch to get a Mac, can't talk myself into pulling the trigger.

Basically, we use the home desktop computer for general Internet surfing, email reading, basic photo management, word processing and I do a lot of things with MP3s as far as ripping music and I do a bit of music stuff with Audacity. (I have iTunes because wife and son insist on having iPods for digital players; I despise that software and love my drag-and-drop Sansa players). We don't download a ton of stuff (our average computer usage, which we monitor because of Comcast's limits) is roughly 25 gigs a month, and that's including kids' desktop and wife's laptop on the network. We don't download or stream movies or TV shows, we don't have computer connected to TV or home theater and neither me nor wife nor kids have any interest in gaming whatsoever, and are unlikely to do any of those things at any point in the immediate future. I guess we're luddites given the way things are today, but we do OK.

Anyway, I know given our needs we ought to get just a cheap PC, but fortunately we can afford more, plus cheap PCs are basically disposable today and I'm old-fashioned in that I want to get a few years' usage out of stuff I buy. I'm just wondering if an iMac (and that's what I was looking at, not really interested in Mini), even with the advantages of a Mac (and I know they exist, having as noted operated in both worlds for a long time), would be overkill given our particular situation? Or would it be a wise investment, given all you get with it and the reliability of Macs? The thing is, when I look at PCs that are above the cheap, budget level, you're actually getting within spitting distance of a Mac in price.

Would appreciate any input or response ... even if it's guidance to a PC that's not going to be disposable and would meet our needs ... and sorry for the rambling discourse ...

Answer
Hey Big G!

I just finished reading your question. It sounds like deep down you like the idea of getting a Mac. Who wouldn't? I think you should go for luxury with a new Mac.

You sound like a smart guy, I assume you're the tech support around the house for everyone else. With a Mac, the other people using the computer will have a lot less trouble doing everyday tasks such as internet surfing, email, photo browsing, etc. - there's just less things that can go wrong on a Mac. Buying that new Mac will save you time, and make your family's computer life more independent.

You and I both know Macs are awesome computers. In your situation, it only makes sense to choose Mac.

Which Mac should i get?

Brian

I want a get a Mac computer however i have no idea about their OS or general working process as i have never used one propable. I have no idea which to get as they can all soon build up to the same price, i was thinking about the new mini but then realised you have to buy the screen, mouse and keyboard which quickly bumps it up to the same price as a iMac or some of their laptops. What i want to know is which model to get and the ups and downs of each, or if i should simply stay away from them...

Could someone else also give me some tips or if you own a Mac tell me what software comes pre loaded and how bad the OS is because i understand there is a lot of compatibility issues such as downloading software and things...?

The MAX i want to spend is 1,000 because i know for £1000 you can get a REALLLY high spec PC

Thanks!

Answer
listen brian you have summed it up yourself
for £1000 you could build a near top spec PC

or...

have a mac that looks great but could be outperformed by my old dell laptop (not an exageration)

mac's are...not that good, ive used them, ive tried to like them, ive tried to justify spending half my months wages on one...but no, they are not worth it

if you want to spend £1000 i would be happy to put together a PC build for you mate
that way you get exactly what you want for an even lower price

to put some perspective on it
my current HTPC (home theater PC) will outperform whatever apple offers and it cost me £800 to build

and to your other questions, OS X is overshadowed by windows 7, it just isnt as useable
and software compatibility is getting better, but most companies still provide only windows compatability.

bottom line - please dont waste your money

again as i said, i will HAPPILY source components for you for a PC build
my email is seller.george@yahoo.com

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