Wife wants an iMac :(

[JAKEBAB]

29 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

for editing and photoshop, it should do fine.

Pain in the ass to update though I ditched mine purely because of it.

[NumLock21]

Your wife wants a Mac then get her a Mac. Take her to the Apple store to buy it. Do not get it online. Now if you still want to buy online then buy it directly from Apple.

[BingoFishy]

47 minutes ago, Dawson Wehage said:

Guy's there are reason's why people buy AIO's. They are much more portable then a normal desktop PC. And they don't take up so much room as a normal desktop PC. I have to say AIO here.

Now compare to a laptop, often a better deal than an AIO.

[WMGroomAK]

1 hour ago, Syphno said:

$999 USD I'm obviously building my own PC but my wife said she wants this prebuilt from Amazon... anybody out there with one can tell me how they hold up, I think the price is fair btw

1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

• Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz
• 8GB Onboard Memory (Configurable to 16GB)
• 1TB (5400-rpm) Hard Drive
• Intel HD Graphics 6000
• 21.5" LED-backlit IPS Display
• 1920 x 1080 Resolution

 

So you get her the Mac then get yourself a better laptop that costs about the same price and wait to see how long before she is always on your laptop.

 

Of course for some people, Mac is all about the 'ecosystem' and 'experience'. 

[mealto]

Love how all the single guys and teenagers are crying fowl because a member's wife wants an iMac. lol

 

1. To the OP, whatever you get, make sure it has an SSD. This will make the purchase much more worthwhile, and should make it more enjoyable to use in the long run, even if it's just for casual tasks.

 

2. Also love the hate for mac because the reason is you are mainly paying for coolness and looks. You mean like how recent PC parts and cases are priced higher because it changes colours and every kid on the block is willing to pay for it? lol

 

People, stop giving bad advice to this guy that is going to get him in trouble with the wifey lol

[The Sloth]

18 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Your wife wants a Mac then get her a Mac. Take her to the Apple store to buy it. Do not get it online. Now if you still want to buy online then buy it directly from Apple.

 

apples awesome customer support with apple care. 

[NumLock21]

2 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

apples awesome customer support with apple care. 

Buy apple care and they will still take care of your Mac, even when you buy from somewhere else?

[The Sloth]

13 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Buy apple care and they will still take care of your Mac, even when you buy from somewhere else?

yup, long as you buy apple care you are good, even in another country, its worth every single dollar. 

[sftgunner]

The key thing I have found with Macs is that it is absolutely essential to spec them with an SSD. As far as I am aware, they come with 5400rpm HDDs which makes anything past Mavericks feel VERY slow! An SSD upgrade down the line is possible (or at least was, not sure you can on newer models), but INCREDIBLY difficult in comparison to most PC SSD upgrades, and comes with loads of risks - See Linus' "iSwitched to Mac" episode 2 for more details there. The iMac is a decent machine (albeit somewhat overpriced), and if your wife is set on one then go to it! MacOS (and OS X before it) is (generally) incredibly optimised for the hardware that Apple choose, so the low core clock on the CPU is NOT a disaster. Remember - the 12" MacBook rocks a Core M at 0.8GHz, and still feels just as sprightly as my 6600k in my Gaming Rig - this is one of the good things about Apple's ecosystem. 

Also take into account that this could be a good thing from your perspective - getting over the initial hurdle of learning the basics (remember to configure right click as soon as possible in System Preferences!), learning another OS is a good thing to do, as you never know when you might have to use a Mac in the future. Besides, if MacOS becomes too much for either you or her, you can always bail and install bootcamp (see iSwitched to Mac ep4) although you will have to get a Windows licence.

 

All in all, it is your decision to make - those are just my thoughts!

 

In case you are interested - I've used Windows in one form or another since XP at home, and got a MacBook Pro back in 2014, which I use on a day to day basis, alongside a machine running Windows 10. My parents have a 2011 iMac with an HDD - hence my advise about going for an SSD.

[NumLock21]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

yup, long as you buy apple care you are good, even in another country, its worth every single dollar. 

 I'll will still buy directly from them, just to be on the safe side, even if paying for Apple Care gives, those who buys Mac products from somewhere else.

[dizmo]

iMac's actually aren't that bad. I used one when I'd be studying at the gf's place, and for what they are they're quite solid. The OS is nice and easy to use for most, and they've had quite nice screens on pretty much all models.

 

That said, have you considered pitching the idea of building something for her that attaches to the back of the monitor?

There are tons of ITX VESA mount cases, and judging by her workload she doesn't really need a GPU.

There are also small cases like the In Win Chopin, which include a PSU.

Space is an issue I totally understand though. You can always get one of those bamboo risers for the monitor, and position a smaller case underneath it.

As for the "why should I go PC", you can point out that if something goes wrong the individual parts are replaceable.

It'll also run faster, you're getting a significant amount more for the money you're spending.

On top of that, something like this build offers a much larger, more pixel dense monitor for editing.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG C7 40.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($29.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M-ITX/DL Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($86.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($97.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital WD Blue 1TB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($57.90 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Dell U2515H 25.0" 2560x1440 60Hz Monitor  ($332.28 @ B&H)
Total: $849.91

 

Both the In Win Chopin and VESA mount cases with PSU are around $80.

RAM is critical if she's doing a lot of Photoshop work. I'd almost suggest 32GB if she's really into it and the budget can allow.

I'd also consider a larger SSD, 500GB would be nice.

 

Have to remember, at the end of the day it's happy wife, happy life. I can't really think of a good reason not to get her an iMac, other than the fact that you've come to a forum to listen to the opinions of a bunch of (mostly) children.

 

1 hour ago, matrix07012 said:

i3 6100
Gigabyte GA-H170N-WIFI (you need to change the wifi card though)

8GB RAM

Some SSD

Why would you get a more expensive board to remove the feature that makes it more expensive?

1 hour ago, mmaatt747 said:

Yea for most people getting an all-in-one is all about aesthetics. The problem with them I see is that not only are they usually under-powered, they are also difficult to upgrade components.  So it's almost like you're getting the difficulty to upgrade aspect of a laptop WITHOUT the portability feature of a laptop.  It's a lose/lose

See, the problem with that is that most people that buy all-in-ones will both never notice that they're "under powered" (which honestly, they're generally not for what they're designed for) and have absolutely no interest in upgrading them anyway.

By the sounds of it portability isn't needed, so you'd get a much larger screen going with an AIO.

[The Sloth]

Just now, NumLock21 said:

 I'll will still buy directly from them, just to be on the safe side, even if paying for Apple Care gives, those who buys Mac products from somewhere else.

 

yup just make sure what you are getting, i bough my last mac in 2013, a MacBook pro 15 inch with 16gb ram 512gb ssd and a i7cpu. now apple is just a fashion company for expensive facebook machine. 

[KuJoe]

My wife wanted a Macbook because she was tired of Windows 8/8.1/10 and wanted anything that wasn't Windows, I installed ChromiumOS on an old netbook and let her try it for a day and now her primary PC is a top of the line sub-$500 Chromebook and she couldn't be happier, the specs also blow away the Macbook she was looking at for $1400 at the time.

[kaiju_wars]

I mean, if that's what she wants... get it I guess.  Happy wife, happy life.

Are Macs overpriced?  Yes.  Are they bad?  No.

 

[Guest]

You could get a Mac Mini, they are average priced, look nice, and you can easily hook it up to a TV or a monitor.

[daniielrp]

Well I had 2 iMacs over a span of 6 years, and I would definitely recommend them. Here are he good points: 

- They look so great, and take up hardly any space. Also only needs 1 cord going in it - simple. 

- Fast enough for casual and a bit of productivity. 

- They last. You're gonna get at least 3, if not 5 years out of it easy. Also the resale value is great. E.g my first one bought for 899, sold for 650 after 3 years. 2nd one bought for 1099, sold for 750 after 3 years.

- No need to worry about updating every few weeks, not much worry about viruses etc.

 

And a few drawbacks:

- No upgrades (except hdd, but it's tricky)

- expensive up front, but worth it in the long run.

- People who've NEVER used one think they know better and will judge you.

 

If she wants one, get it, you won't regret it. 

[Wan70]

See if you could build a smaller low profile Unit with a case such as the Thermal Take Core V1 or CoreV21, The Rosewill Slim MicroATX Computer Case, or finally the SilverStone Tech Mini-ITX case. Or just try to se about laptops. These would be good options as you can build it yourself and has somewhat upgradability (depends on case) and is small and out of the way. (personally have used the Thermaltake CoreV21, would recommend for small case)

[kaiju_wars]

Just now, aidanapple said:

You could get a Mac Mini, they are average priced, look nice, and you can easily hook it up to a TV or a monitor.

This too.

[Mira Yurizaki]

If anything, buy a used iMac. The last major revision should be cheaper if not at the same price as the current revision and yet be more powerful.

 

Apple seriously screwed up their computer lineup lately.

 

5 minutes ago, aidanapple said:

You could get a Mac Mini, they are average priced, look nice, and you can easily hook it up to a TV or a monitor.

The new ones are eeeh. It's telling that the one I'm trying to sell (a late 2012 model) has a lot more performance than the current one.

[Aleks NE]

1 hour ago, Syphno said:

$999 USD I'm obviously building my own PC but my wife said she wants this prebuilt from Amazon... anybody out there with one can tell me how they hold up, I think the price is fair btw

1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

• Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz
• 8GB Onboard Memory (Configurable to 16GB)
• 1TB (5400-rpm) Hard Drive
• Intel HD Graphics 6000
• 21.5" LED-backlit IPS Display
• 1920 x 1080 Resolution

 

 

That's not worth it, they don't hold up price that well, why don't you ask her if she would mind a hackintosh, build it and load mac os x, and you can probably get a better monitor as in resolution.(They will probably hold up their price for about a year or two and then fall as new and sort of better ones will be out).

[kaiju_wars]

Just now, <Aleks> said:

That's not worth it, they don't hold up price that well, why don't you ask her if she would mind a hackintosh, build it and load mac os x, and you can probably get a better monitor as in resolution.(They will probably hold up their price for about a year or two and then fall as new and sort of better ones will be out).

Yeah they do.  Apple computers hold their value really well.

 

2 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

If anything, buy a used iMac. The last major revision should be cheaper if not at the same price as the current revision and yet be more powerful.

 

Apple seriously screwed up their computer lineup lately.

 

The new ones are eeeh. It's telling that the one I'm trying to sell (a late 2012 model) has a lot more performance than the current one.

You have the quad core i7 model?

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, kaiju_wars said:

You have the quad core i7 model?

Yes. Even the i5 one should smoke the current ones because none of them are quad core.

 

And another thing: you can upgrade the RAM on the older models.

[Aleks NE]

1 minute ago, kaiju_wars said:

Yeah they do.  Apple computers hold their value really well.

 

You have the quad core i7 model?

 

They don't hold up really well, they will drop when new ones come out.

[ZimFreak]

2 hours ago, Syphno said:

$999 USD I'm obviously building my own PC but my wife said she wants this prebuilt from Amazon... anybody out there with one can tell me how they hold up, I think the price is fair btw

1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

• Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz
• 8GB Onboard Memory (Configurable to 16GB)
• 1TB (5400-rpm) Hard Drive
• Intel HD Graphics 6000
• 21.5" LED-backlit IPS Display
• 1920 x 1080 Resolution

 

I'm sorry but $1,000 for that?! That's a terrible deal, even for a prebuilt. Only 8GB RAM? With a sluggish dual core and integrated graphics? No fucking solid state? Fuuuuuuuck man that's highway robbery. 

 

 

Look at my sig. That build was under $1,000 (not including the Vive or monitor). Now of course it wasn't a pre-built but still...

[kaiju_wars]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Yes. Even the i5 one should smoke the current ones because none of them are quad core.

 

And another thing: you can upgrade the RAM on the older models.

Actually, the Core i5 model from 2012 was also a dual core... but it did have upgradeable RAM.

 

1 minute ago, <Aleks> said:

They don't hold up really well, they will drop when new ones come out.

Yes, they actually do.  

If you ever actually sold Macs before, you would know the used market is amazing cause you will get a good portion of what you originally paid, back.

 

Hell, I sold my 2014 Mac Mini two years later for only $50 less than what I paid for it.