New PC/Mac for web surfing and photo processing

feesh

Our laptop is on its last legs (keeps randomly shutting down, possibly due to overheating).

I would like to get a new desktop (we don't really need a laptop as it will live in the spare room permanently).

I am thinking that given our needs, and because I like them, maybe an Apple machine would be the way forward?

Nearly all of our computer use at home is either surfing the internet, or managing our large photo collection (incl. editing in Photoshop).

We don't do any gaming, and only limited amounts of using MS Office applications.

I don't have much to spend - maybe £400 - but am prepared to wait for a bargain

Also, because the computer is in our spare room, it would be really helpful if the monitor could double as an LCD TV as well, so we can remove my soon-to-be-obsolete little CRT from the room at the same time.


Any suggestions?

Conor_3

Well if you've not a lot of money to spend, you're not going to be wanting to get an Apple because with an Apple, you pay what is commonly known as the "Apple Tax." Basically a PC that's the equivalent spec of an Apple is typically 30% or more cheaper.

£400 will get you nothing more than a Mac Mini WITHOUT a monitor which has lower specs than a £150 Dell Vostro.
You're also going to end up paying more for hardware and software as well.

In short, an Apple isn't for people who are on a budget and want the most for their money. You pay for the brand.

isofa

The cheapest iMac is £800 but they are beautiful computers, with an excellent OS, especially good for photo editing and design. You might find some bargains of older models from Mac dealers (Cancom, Jigsaw, MacWarehouse etc), or from the Refurb Store at Apple. If you have a son or daughter at school, or even better, University, you'll be eligible for some hefty education discounts. But without you're not going to get anything near £400, however you do get a lot with a Mac, decent photo and video editing software and all the little extras.

There isn't much in it price wise, sure cheap PCs are cheaper, but top branded PCs (Sony etc) are very similar in price, so you have to compare like with like.

For the record, I use and own both Macs and PCs! I tend to do all my design work using Adobe Creative Studio on the Mac and all my technical work (database design, bespoke systems etc) on the PC. Each to their own

I disagree that you'll end up paying more for hardware and software after you've purchased a Mac:
Printers, scanners, cameras, external drives, monitors and pretty much everything else is normally Mac and PC compatible (and therefore the same price). Software which is PC or Mac such as MS Office, Adobe Suites, FileMaker are all the same price. All the top free software is cross platform, Firefox, OpenOffice etc. Some software on the PC isn't available on the Mac, and vice versa.

[Deleted User]

You could probably get a secondhand 20" iMac off Ebay for about £400, but it wouldn't be the latest and greatest and you'd have no real recourse if there was at a point in the future a hardware problem which is why buying new might be a wiser purchase.

Are you comfortable building your own system or would you be looking at prebuilt?

feesh

anewhope wrote: »

Are you comfortable building your own system or would you be looking at prebuilt?

Probably pre-built, to be honest.

I used to know my stuff about 10 years ago, when I worked out exactly what spec I wanted and ordered my old NEC to my exact needs at a very good price.

However, since then computers have kind of passed me by - I use one for work, and for fun at home, but I am no longer interested in the detail of them and some of the new technology has completely passed me by I'm only 31, you'd think I was 61!

Just want something out the box which will cope with my massive photo collection - its playing with photos that our current Toshiba laptop just can't cope with (it is nearly 5 years old though, so it's had a good innings).

The photo files I tend to play with these days are massive, due to my fancy new camera, and the old laptop just can't cope.

No student discounts available, unless my colleague (who is on a Masters and has an NUS card) can help. And looking at refurbished Macs, I can see that they are pretty much out of my price range.

So I suppose a good quality, but basic PC is what I'm after. I am particularly keen on after-sales care, based on advice I received in the past which served me well (one of the reasons I bought an NEC all those years ago was because of their reputation, and I found out that they did indeed have excellent customer service, so I was glad I had gone with them).

isofa

Your colleague could purchase via the higher education discount scheme - which offers the biggest discount for Apple purchases.

They are great machines, I've no hesitation in recommending them. I've got Macs from way back from the early 1990s used as severs and old backup systems, and still as reliable now as they were when new.

But you have a budget so... you'll get more for your money from a budget PC.

Have a look at the current best deals from Dell, listed at this third party site (with links directly to the Dell deals): www.dmxdimension.com

feesh

isofa wrote: »

But you have a budget so... you'll get more for your money from a budget PC.

I do have a budget if I bought now, but I could save up for another month or two and stretch to £600 ish.

Do many bargains come up in the Xmas sales?

isofa

feesh wrote: »

I do have a budget if I bought now, but I could save up for another month or two and stretch to £600 ish.

Do many bargains come up in the Xmas sales?

You might with PCs near Christmas (and definitely after), and you can always call companies to see if you can get a better price, especially near the end of the month, when they are trying to boost their month-end sales figures.

Apple rarely discount themselves, they sometimes have offers on their website for free RAM, or £50 off etc, but nothing massive.

Each time they revamp the line up the "older" models are discounted, but always more heavily from Apple dealers.

I'd have a look at MacWarehouse, Jigsaw, Cancom to start with.
The refurb shop at Apple's on-line store is worth checking out, as bargains pop-up from time to time. Visit their store and search for refurb.

Dell is hard to beat on price for PCs.