topic Re: Would you buy an iMac? in SmorgasBoard

Would you buy an iMac?

jayman2143 — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 05:31:13 GMT

Hey everyone! So I have been going back and forth for months now whether or not to purchase an iMac. I currently have a laptop that is going on year 5 and it is starting to show. I started looking into the iMac back in July but I wanted to make sure that I just didn't buy one because its "Shiny and Apple"! Now, Apple came out with the new 5K retina display and I doubt I can justify the cost for the use I would actually put through it. So, I have been looking at the next iMac down (27" 3.4GHz). I also think it is important to note that my job gives me discounts on Apple products so I would be paying a couple hundred less than list price on the website.

Can you guys share some of your personal stories with the iMac? Both good and bad! I am planning on making a purchase soon but I wanted to see what the MyFico folks had to say!

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

Kirmie2010 — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 06:14:22 GMT

Weve got one, I use it as little as possible. Just not a fan of Macs or how they are setup. Kids love it, wife uses it as well.

That being said, it runs as fast as our other laptop (not apple) that is newer and a faster comparable proc speed. It hangs less when opening things.

If you like Macs and have a reason to use it, id say go for it They are a pretty good machine. (I just cant stand them hah)

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 07:13:40 GMT

@jayman2143 wrote:
Hey everyone! So I have been going back and forth for months now whether or not to purchase an iMac. I currently have a laptop that is going on year 5 and it is starting to show. I started looking into the iMac back in July but I wanted to make sure that I just didn't buy one because its "Shiny and Apple"! Now, Apple came out with the new 5K retina display and I doubt I can justify the cost for the use I would actually put through it. So, I have been looking at the next iMac down (27" 3.4GHz). I also think it is important to note that my job gives me discounts on Apple products so I would be paying a couple hundred less than list price on the website.

Can you guys share some of your personal stories with the iMac? Both good and bad! I am planning on making a purchase soon but I wanted to see what the MyFico folks had to say!

Every electronic device I own is apple. I don't own an imac, however. But I did just buy a new macbook pro. I encourage you to look into the imac. Although, I currently don't own one, I have in the past and they've always lasted longer than the pc's I've owned. Good luck!

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

Kenny — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 07:34:57 GMT

I love my Macbook pro.. I'm sure that I would love an iMac if not just as much maybe more, because of the bigger screen!

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

Turbobuick — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 07:59:14 GMT

The only Mac I like has Big in front of it. Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions – on a sesame seed bun.

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

elim — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 08:23:18 GMT

i program with Microsoft products on Microsoft OS for Microsoft machines. MAC OS doesnt work for me.

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 08:31:10 GMT

@jayman2143 wrote:
Hey everyone! So I have been going back and forth for months now whether or not to purchase an iMac. I currently have a laptop that is going on year 5 and it is starting to show. I started looking into the iMac back in July but I wanted to make sure that I just didn't buy one because its "Shiny and Apple"! Now, Apple came out with the new 5K retina display and I doubt I can justify the cost for the use I would actually put through it. So, I have been looking at the next iMac down (27" 3.4GHz). I also think it is important to note that my job gives me discounts on Apple products so I would be paying a couple hundred less than list price on the website.

Can you guys share some of your personal stories with the iMac? Both good and bad! I am planning on making a purchase soon but I wanted to see what the MyFico folks had to say!

I personally wouldn't buy one, but that's just a preference of mine. I have a 4 year old Windows 7 desktop that I keep current with a fresh video card every two years.

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

jsucool76 — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 16:39:21 GMT

It really depends on what you plan on using it for.

I'm a hardcore windows guy, but there's some things I just CAN'T do on a windows PC.

Protools and photoshop (and final cut but that's Mac only ) are just far more user friendly on a mac than on a windows machine. We have a mac pro at work that we spent a ridiculous amount of money on, and it's fantastic for those programs. I still use our less spec'd windows PCs for everything else though simply because that's just me and I prefer them. I grew up using PC's and I feel far more comfortable with them, and I hate some of the little quirks that macs have, but like everything else, they have their uses.

For the price of a decent mac (even with your discount) you could get a very nicely spec'd windows machine, or even build one yourself if you're that kind of tech savvy.

How much is it you're willing to spend, and what do you plan on using it for? I might be able to point you towards some viable alternatives.

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 18:17:31 GMT

My first laptop was a Dell inspiron and after a couple years it started to crap out on me. I did my research and decided to go with a macbook pro and I couldn't be happier. First Mac I've ever owned. Personally I like the setup of Macs better then PCs, but (depending on how tech savy you are) you can run windows on your Mac through BootCamp.

Like someone else said, what you plan on doing is a big part of your decision. My friend does ALOT of photo/video editing so he bought an iMac and he absolutley loves it. On the other hand, I've read that Macs aren't the best platform for gaming, but are pretty much good for everything else.

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

jayman2143 — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 22:05:57 GMT

Thanks for all your replies! Ironically, I am typing this post on my brand new 27" iMac. I had no intentions in purchasing one today but I was at the mall today and had some time to kill so I wandered into the Apple store (bad idea). Got to talking to one of the employees and I just couldn't help myself. I walked out of the store with a 27" 3.4GHz iMac with 8GB of RAM. I bought the lowest RAM configuration possible since Apple wants $600 for an upgrade to 32GB and I can upgrade myself for less than half of that.

The main reason I went with a Mac was because all of my computers were PC's up to now and I wanted to try something different this time around. Also, I can't stand the look and feel of Windows 8 (I know there is a way to keep Windows 7 but took the opportunity to try something new).

On a MyFico related note, I did use my American Express Blue Everday card for this purchase. I still have about 10 months on the 0% APR intro offer so I decided to take advantage of that.

I think it would be cool to keep this thread going, however, and just discuss the preferences of different members along with reasons for those preferences.

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 00:01:54 GMT

@jayman2143 wrote:
Thanks for all your replies! Ironically, I am typing this post on my brand new 27" iMac. I had no intentions in purchasing one today but I was at the mall today and had some time to kill so I wandered into the Apple store (bad idea). Got to talking to one of the employees and I just couldn't help myself. I walked out of the store with a 27" 3.4GHz iMac with 8GB of RAM. I bought the lowest RAM configuration possible since Apple wants $600 for an upgrade to 32GB and I can upgrade myself for less than half of that.

The main reason I went with a Mac was because all of my computers were PC's up to now and I wanted to try something different this time around. Also, I can't stand the look and feel of Windows 8 (I know there is a way to keep Windows 7 but took the opportunity to try something new).

On a MyFico related note, I did use my American Express Blue Everday card for this purchase. I still have about 10 months on the 0% APR intro offer so I decided to take advantage of that.

I think it would be cool to keep this thread going, however, and just discuss the preferences of different members along with reasons for those preferences.

Well congrats!!! I'm sure you'll love it

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

eddie84 — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 19:17:47 GMT

Congrats! I have a Macbook Air and love it (use it when traveling). At home I built 2 rigs with Windows 7 on both (get good deals on parts straight from Intel, Microsoft, etc).

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

JamesB95 — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 09:48:37 GMT

I thought about it before, but, I can't jusify the costs, currently.

I am happy with my HP laptop with Windows.

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 14:49:33 GMT

Stick to a PC, don't go after a laptop or Apple product...yes getting a Desktop PC would be something you keep at home, but outside of work and home, do you really use a laptop enough to justify buying one?

I have a laptop, Desktop, and phone. I use the phone outside of work and the home.

I use the Laptop (almost non-existantly) going to a friend's or meeting someone for coffee in my personal life ((I don't go out much))

I use the Desktop outside of work, and about 8 hours a day...basically being the time i get off work til i go to sleep that night.

The Desktop can be upgraded and renewed where an Apple product can't,

if one piece breaks, you have to drop another 2k on a new one.

A laptop can be fixed here and there, but not everything can be fixed.

Also, never trusted Apple products, they never last

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

jayman2143 — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 01:01:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Stick to a PC, don't go after a laptop or Apple product...yes getting a Desktop PC would be something you keep at home, but outside of work and home, do you really use a laptop enough to justify buying one?

I have a laptop, Desktop, and phone. I use the phone outside of work and the home.
I use the Laptop (almost non-existantly) going to a friend's or meeting someone for coffee in my personal life ((I don't go out much))
I use the Desktop outside of work, and about 8 hours a day...basically being the time i get off work til i go to sleep that night.

The Desktop can be upgraded and renewed where an Apple product can't,
if one piece breaks, you have to drop another 2k on a new one.
A laptop can be fixed here and there, but not everything can be fixed.

Also, never trusted Apple products, they never last

For me personally, yes I do use a laptop quite often outside of the house. I travel a lot for work so I am constantly on the computer. I can't speak for longevity of Apple computers considering I have never owned one up until now. However, I did have an iPhone 4 for about 4 and a half years and now my mom is using it for about a month now. Still going strong with no problems. Sure, it is slower than all the new phones out today but it hasn't failed yet.

So far (and by so far I mean a little over 24 hours) I am loving this new iMac. Much faster than my 5 year old laptop. And the 27" screen is huge to say the least. I enjoy reading all of these different preferences!

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 04:40:03 GMT

No.

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

Revelate — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 01:24:53 GMT

Personally unless you need the screen real estate I would've gone with a laptop. Lot more flexibility both around the house and if you need to take it somewhere.

That said I started using Macs back in 2007 and have never looked back... and I used to work at both Dell and Microsoft in their support arms earlier in my career, so it's not like I'm unfamilar with all the details of Windows; however, my efficiency both in every day things and for my work-related items (heavy SSH usage and some open source products) improved dramatically without having to run a *nix distribution either dedicated or in a VM is a blessing.

That said Adobe Flash still sucks compared to the Windows based version; if you're heavy into web browsing / youtube / whatever, expect non-trivial CPU utilization though it seems to have gotten better under recent releases. That's really the only downside I've seen, other than the more limited selection of computer games which I mostly stopped playing a while back anyway.

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

Dalanar — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 17:16:31 GMT

I would not buy a main desktop Mac, as I like to build my own PCs. I can generally get better parts for less cost than an iMac

However, I am considering getting a Mac Mini for TV entertainment purposes.

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

jayman2143 — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 01:20:30 GMT

I am really enjoying reading everybody's different preferences. Like I said in my previous post, I haven't had enough experience with the iMac just yet to name any cons. Everything I have experienced up until now has been a great upgrade from what I have been used to for the past 5 years. The large screen real estate has been a nice upgrade from my laptop because I usually have a lot of windows open when I am working. I also like to mess around with Illustrator and Photoshop which originally got me interested in the iMac. Depending on how my experience goes with the iMac, I may get myself a MacBook Pro in a couple months to use when I go on business trips. Who knows!

Re: Would you buy an iMac?

jayman2143 — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 04:30:25 GMT

Ive also always wanted to build my own PC but I always scatched that idea because I'm just not all that familiar with the workings of a PC. Seems like a large learning curve