Thinking of getting a Mac

[oggalily]

I have had enough of my Dell PC and I don't like the look of Windows 8 so I am getting tempted to buy a Mac.  I have a lot of Apple products (phones, ipads, apple TV, airport express) and find them to be well designed and fit for purpose, so having the main home computer enter the ecosystem seems a logical step. 

I particularly like the Mac Mini as it is compact and you can accessorise with a third party screen which is cheaper than the Apple offering.  If not this then the 27" iMac would be my next choice.  They both offer a "Fusion" drive which is a hybrid SSD / SATA HD that learns which apps/docs are most used and moves them into the solid state segment.  So you get the SSD performance on a larger drive.

Any thoughts? Please no "I hate Mac, they're too expensive".  I appreciate that I could built a great Windows machine cheaper but I have been down this route with lots of headaches in the past and want to try something new.

[Hinfrance]

Sounds like you're just seeking approbation Ogga.

You know my opinion on the OS and hardware debate

Two observations though.

Firstly my best friend has a Macbook Pro and has had to have two replacement drives in less than 18 months. So make sure you also lay out for Time Machine if you go for anything using even a hybrid SSD. This is not a Mac specific problem, it just seems that SSDs are not all that yet. Also, if you have a machine with enough RAM you won't even notice the performance penalty of no SSD, except on start-up. My PC has W7 and 16gb of RAM - Windows remembers which applications are used the most and preloads them. So when I load LR, for example, it takes about 5 seconds. Smaller applications just flash up on the screen instantaneously. I have no reason to think that Macs would behave any differently.

Secondly, the screens. I have come to the conclusion that Mac screens are like Marmite. Now, whereas I love Marmite, I absolutely loath the shiny gamma cranked screens, especially on iMacs. They're like looking at an American's teeth, way too shiny and bright, IMHO.

I don't suppose it's worth suggesting that you wait for the sales? Do Apple ever do discounts?

[donoreo]

I just got a new Mac Mini.  I had an old Mac Mini (2007) model.  My new one is the i7 Quad Core at 2.6 ghz.  I just went with the regular drive.  I did fill it with 16GB of RAM (not from Apple, they charge way too much).   This is my 3rd Mac, first new one.  I started with a used PowerMac G4. I am using it with a 24 inch Dell Ultrasharp monitor using the HDMI to DVI converter that comes with the Mini.


My old Mini was running out of RAM all the time and was quite old now.  I could stick an SSD in it and gain back a lot of speed.  I may do that and give it to the girls. 

[donoreo]

RE: Time Machine.  You do NOT need to buy the Apple device, you can use any external drive. 

[kerbside]

just purchased a Mac Book Pro within the last 2 months and love it. Time will tell if it holds together.

Purchased the retina screen version 15" and at the moment i cannot fault it. Running photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 5 on it.

I was told that i was throwing money away but it is what i always wanted and yes i run all the apple devices.

Hope you are happy whatever decision you make.

[spinner]

I own a 27"iMac 2010 model. I love it. I am currently Wintering in Fla. and didn't want to bring the iMac down with me as my vehicle has limited trunk (boot?) space. So I've done the next best thing and built a hackintosh, which is an intel based PC running the Apple OS X. My caveat to you would be as Howard suggested, hold off on an SSD. Yes, they are lightening fast when you first boot it up, but over time it fills up and slows down noticeably. I've also read they don't hold up over time.

[Andrew]

In days of old, because I had the money, and also because I was taking a lot of pictures - i moved over to Mac.

I done this in 2009 with, at that time a top of the range, 24" iMac with 4gb RAM, 1tb HD, 512mb Video Card and an Intel 3.06 Du Core Processor.
My son-in-law has it now - and it is still going strong for him. He does video reviews for fellow geeks on collectable items.

Despite giving a Lenovo desktop PC a try, I finally lost it last month and now have a Mac Mini with a 256gb SSD, 512gb Sata HD, 16gb RAM, 512mb Video card. And a Dell Monitor.
It has made my life so much happier and the reason is simple - it works.

Now, I could go on about Mac vs Win, but for me it is as simple as this - time saved. Oh, and the lack of blue screen of death. And the simplicity of how everything works.
Did i mention the way it synchonrises with all the other Apple Devices? Or the Time Machine back Up system?

My wife has an old 15 inch MacBook Pro from 2008 which was bought S/H. Do you know she still uses it as her main computer with LR 3 for image stuff, MS Office (she now prefers the Mac version) for all that 'serious' stuff and FaceTime. Oh, she says to say:

Time saved. Oh, and the lack of blue screen of death. And the simplicity of how everything works.
Did i mention the way it synchonrises with all the other Apple Devices? Or the Time Machine back Up system? 

Yep, we're now both sold on Apple.

But here is the rub - my son-in-law went through 2 PC's in that time trying to do his video reviews and he has now settled for a nearly 5 year old iMac - wonder how that 'extra cost' has stacked up?
1 Mac = 2 MS Win PC's in life span. This Lenovo was nearly £1000 just over a year ago, and it is actually not noticeably better than that 5 year old iMac. The Lenovo is using 64bit Win 7 with Office 2007 Pro. Lightroom works (not flies) with 16gb RAM over the 4, and an i5 processor.

Get your Mac Mini, or iMac and just enjoy yourself.

Oh, you know when you switch on your Win PC and go make a cup of tea whilst it is booting up - well make that tea before you switch on your Mac 

[oggalily]

Thanks for all the comments everyone.

Secondly, the screens. I have come to the conclusion that Mac screens are like Marmite. Now, whereas I love Marmite, I absolutely loath the shiny gamma cranked screens, especially on iMacs. They're like looking at an American's teeth, way too shiny and bright, IMHO.

I don't suppose it's worth suggesting that you wait for the sales? Do Apple ever do discounts?

Howard, the Mac Mini comes without a monitor so you can buy a cheaper third party model. 

As for waiting, it looks like the Mini is due for an upgrade so I will probably hold out for a few months anyway. 

[Colin]

Being a long time PC user with iPhones and iPads I decided to buy a MacBook Air earlier this year when my laptop died. Best thing that I did. It just works, not of the weekly updates that Windows does, small light and faster than an equivalent spec PC but unfortunately more expensive. The only problem I have is that one particular piece of software that I use (for genealogy) isn't available in a Mac version, but virtual box has sorted that. When I need a new desktop it will be a Mac.

[ABERS]

I'm following this with more than a little interest because I just get a sneaking suspicion that I might need a replacement PC soon. I keep reading about disc failures, computer crashes and all sorts of mayhem occurring with people's equipment, none of which, and here I'm tempting fate, I seem to have experienced (yet!).

My 5 year old HP desktop keeps trundling along, the HD sometimes gets towards 75% full so I clear out the dross on to an exterior hard drive and free more space up. It only gets used for photography, emails and a bit of BBC news and sport viewing plus on-line shopping occasionally.

Slow and fast are relative words, what may appear to be an eternity to one person may just be a split second to another, so speed of operation is of no consequence to me, I've no deadlines to meet thank the Lord.

When I wander around the computer dept of J Lewis there are all types of nice shiny things large and small and I often wonder if I'd get better results if I bought one of the shiniest.

I suppose it's like buying a car, a Merc with all the bells and whistles or a basic Ford, no contest really but they both get you to where you want to go, and with the traffic considerations with very little time difference.

[Reinardina]

I suppose it's like buying a car, a Merc with all the bells and whistles or a basic Ford, no contest really but they both get you to where you want to go, and with the traffic considerations with very little time difference.

But it must be soooo much nicer, to sit out traffic jams in comfortable leather seats.

[Hinfrance]

Maybe I'm not demanding enough. LR4 and 5 start in less than 5 seconds, switch to develop mode is about 1 second. I start my browser, the screen is up before my finger has left the mouse button. I call that 'flying'. I have six spare drive bays, 8 core processor, spare memory sots, 2 DVD writers, 8 USB 2, 3 USB 3, Firewire. Total cost less than £700 including the W7 OEM. Haven't seen a BSOD for years, although encrypting the hard drive may have been a dodgy decision (see previous WAMTs).

My daughter has my old Vista PC, now 7 years old, and without baseload of all my rubbish on it that flies too now. Both boot up in less than 45 seconds; I don't have time to make the tea, I just open the study shutters. Like Colin I have various bits of specialised software that is not available for Macs. And I know that Cubase runs faster on my PC than it does on a friends 27 iMac. Mrs H has a 3 year old Acer 15" laptop, lowest spec imaginable (cost £300). She uses it for work, carries it around in a cotton shopping bag, and when she gets home it is shared around - so it's been running almost constantly since it was bought, and chucked about a bit too. Never had a moment's bother with it (apart from when Mrs H accidentally switched the touch pad off - that took me a while to work out ). When the battery eventually dies, which it will, it'll cost £15 to replace.

And then there is Face Time. Talk about superiority complexes - it will only communicate with other Apple devices. Luckily you can get Google Hangouts to work on a Mac, but Skype doesn't generally.

Alan, interesting comment about the Merc and Ford. we just replaced our Mercedes with a Ford. The Ford is much better

[Hinfrance]

Forgot to mention, it does look rather like Windows 8 has been one of Apple's most successful marketing campaigns 

[Oldboy]

Just seen the weather forecast and a mac is a must! 

[Hinfrance]

I need a sun hat! It's nippy, mind.