iMac

[neoflex]

Mac guy here and always have been a Mac guy but being a Graphic Designer my field tends to favor them. I have the 24" that is the last generation and have been very happy with it. Maybe this year I will upgrade to the 27" but that may have to wait as I just recently purchased a new MacBook Pro and right now my only reasoning for it is because the 27" screen would look bad ass so my reasoning is only superficial. Before the Imac I had a tower unit but when it came to upgrade I looked at the Imacs and figured, WTH. I knew that if I hated it that I could easily unload it to someone. The monitor is plenty big and I store most of my work on externals anyway so storage space is never an issue for me anyway and it provides everything else I could possibly need. Machine moves plenty fast for the work that I am doing. For example this morning I was working with a Photoshop file that was over 5gigs and although a little sluggish it was not painfully slow but I could use to max out my RAM which would have helped out a bit. They get a thumbs up from me.

[kgoings]

Originally Posted by spectrrr

First thing: DON'T GET LINUX. Nothing wrong with it, but if you have to ask, the answer is always NO.

Now on to the fun stuff. Despite the obvious humor in the picture below, this is by far the most accurate way to describe things, and REALLY should guide your decision Christo. This post is a bit long because I tend to ramble, but I think you'll get the idea.

I'm not a hater of the fruit, I grew up on PCs and I worked in the photo & journalism industry for three years and used macs extensively during that time.

What I will tell you is this: It sounds like you should get a Mac. You would probably be pretty happy with Windows 7 (I won't discourage you), but it sounds like mac is the better way to go for you, based on the things that you have listed that you need the laptop for. You will pay a bit more than you should, BUT complaining about that is like complaining that you went to Saks Fifth Avenue and paid too much --> don't like it, shop elsewhere, you knew the price going in.

NOW that I've told you to get a mac and established that I'm not a hater.... I'll say that I will NEVER, EVER, under any circumstances, get a Mac for myself.

And here's where the fun begins.... to really evaluate the difference between a mac and a pc with as little bias as possible, you have to be honest with yourself, keep from being unnecessarily offended, and separate things out.

The analogy in the picture, if you can not be offended by it, is stunningly accurate. Ridding a motorcycle is not for everybody. If I asked a guy whether he was qualified and possessed the skills required to race a Ducati motorcycle at 150mph+, he would probably say no (although he sure as hell would want to!). This is not saying that he's stupid, its just saying that racing that thing requires a very specific skill set that many people do not have. Far too often in the mac versus pc debate, it becomes a matter of "well, you're just not smart enough to operate a PC". But this is not true. It has nothing to do with intelligence, so don't get offended!

It has everything to do with what YOU need and want, and whether you have the skills to do it. Racing a bike at 150mph is fun (for some)! BUT its NOT free! If you're not willing pay for regular maintenance on that bike, and get it tuned up and running properly, and put the time into learning how to ride it safely at 150mph, THEN you shouldn't own the bike!!!!

If you DON'T know how to ride a motorcycle or want to invest the time and money to keep it tuned at peak performance, and just want the damned thing to WORK every time you turn it on, then buy something that does what it's designed for. To switch to cars, I own and love my Jeep. I don't complain that's its slow, I relish that it has 4x4 and owns the road in the winter. If I wanted a fast zippy car, then I'd go buy a sports car, with the understanding that there was a trade-off in that I might have trouble the next time a snowplow came by.

OK, so I've said the same thing three or four different way and rambled on long enough... I think you get the idea. Two different products, two different uses & users, and a whole hell of a lot of people that can't understand that last bit without getting offended. I learned PC and learned it good. This required time, effort, and a few bruises & injuries along the way. As a result of that investment, I get to enjoy the performance of my 150mph supertuned (overclocked) Ducati, virus free and purring like a champ.

oh yeah, and , don't get the memory upgrade from Apple, get it separate.

Great post