The pros of an iMac???

kabayiri

Give him a bag of computer bits, some shiny accessories, and a tin of high gloss finish paint, and tell him to build his own 'Mac-Beater'

Any 'whizz' can do that .... might even be the making of him.

BackOnTrack

With Macs you get overcharged for some very average hardware but they are very shiny. Personally I wouldn't even consider buying one as you can get a very highly specced PC at the same price with either windows or another OS of your choice.

PC's have more software available, are better for learning how to programme, better for modding and learning about hardware. There is more malware for windows PCs but if the user is sensible with their PC it's not really an issue.

Macs are shiny and havea good user experience but be prepared to pay through the nose for pretty much everything for them. They do come installed with some good video editing and sound editing software, software of a similar standard is available for the PC but you will probably need to pay for it but I would also imagine that there is some decent free alternatives out there as well.

As long as you are happy to pay an over the top price for some average hardware and a shiny user interface then go for it.

shegirl

curriej99 wrote: »

Been using Macs for a few years now. Am on second Mac machine. I feel Windows based PC's are false economy. They quickly grind to a standstill and you end up dumping them for a newer machine, whereas a Mac purchased at the same time would be still going strong. They don't get viruses and you don't have to wait forever for them to number crunch. The whole system is better from the ground up.
Well worth the extra cash. Also, if he is a student at school or college he can get a bit of a discount (about £60 on a £1K imac) if it is purchased from Apple store education (most people are not aware of this)
http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/education_routing

Also, Applecare (a 3yr service and support service) is very useful, and you get an educational discount of about £25 on this.

I kinda agree with some pcs being false economy.We have a few laptops and a pc and they do tend to get problems!Would've been cheaper to get a Mac in the first place it seems lol

Educational discount would've been nice but he'll be 12 in April so no luck there!

Is there support service any good?I've been told it's pretty bad?

shegirl

BackOnTrack wrote: »

With Macs you get overcharged for some very average hardware but they are very shiny. Personally I wouldn't even consider buying one as you can get a very highly specced PC at the same price with either windows or another OS of your choice.

PC's have more software available, are better for learning how to programme, better for modding and learning about hardware. There is more malware for windows PCs but if the user is sensible with their PC it's not really an issue.

Macs are shiny and havea good user experience but be prepared to pay through the nose for pretty much everything for them. They do come installed with some good video editing and sound editing software, software of a similar standard is available for the PC but you will probably need to pay for it but I would also imagine that there is some decent free alternatives out there as well.

As long as you are happy to pay an over the top price for some average hardware and a shiny user interface then go for it.

That's interesting -about the programming,as that's something he's been doing for a while now.Thanks,gives me something to think about,although knowing him he'd keep his Windows and Ubuntu lappys and pc too :rotfl:

Mojisola

johann_van_der_splat wrote: »

It might be worth considering a Mac Mini. They come in at around £400 less than an iMac and although they don't come with a mouse, keyboard or monitor, you can use any USB keyboard/mouse and standard monitor with them. Even if you buy a brand new 22" monitor to use with it, you could still be £300 better off.

They aren't as high-spec as a full blown iMac, understandably given the price, but given that I've got Leopard running on an 8 year old 800mhz G4 iMac with no problems, you're not going to have any issue with Snow Leopard or Lion on a brand new Mac Mini.

I would guess that a youngster would be playing games on his computer. The Mac Mini won't be suitable for that.

shegirl

CoolHotCold wrote: »

Oh jeeze, I hope he is a good boy for getting a grand system.
But Wait a little while, I'm not usually one to say wait for tech, but Apple SHOULD be updating their iMacs so you can either get a good deal on a new system (a older model) or a new system thats a newer model, (and new OS called Lion in the summer released too)

Macs in my Very Honest opinion are possibly one of the best systems and hardware and shiney computers you can buy.

I can say I use Mac, Windows and Linux and Macs are by far one of the best systems you can buy. It does just work, the software is developed by Apple to work on about 20 different configurations of systems (and even then very little changes between most of them) whereas Windows has to work on countless other systems with a almost infinite configuration changes. It just works, the stability of Mac is brilliant and it runs much faster with fewer resources.


But yes, the differences between Mac and Windows are mostly security (None really needed on Mac).
The Absolute simplicity of the Operating System and Apples bundled software.
The Apple displays that Apple use are simply some of the best IPS's I've seen, everything looks so much more alive and perfect.

The software it comes with (iPhoto, garageband, iMovie) if you have kids or take photographs or videos you'll see yourself using it. Your son will probably mess around with Garageband and love it.


Quite simply when you factor in the hardware and the quality Macs are underpriced. I work with people and technology and once you get to learn how a mac works (very easy) you just don't go back, I've had customers who used Windows from 3.1 to Windows 7 and they've said once they used a Mac, they just couldn't fathom going back to Windows systems.


I'm not saying this to influence you, but I love Apple systems, they hold their value and they are so nice to use, but my views aside Apple systems are getting much more popular, Schools, Universities businesses are switching (or have done) to increasing their usage of Mac systems, I mean, Macs are only going to get more popular.

Also right now, go to Dixons website and you'll see 10% all computers over £299, I can guarantee you won't find a better deal right now for Apples.

Thanks

I sure do have kids...well one,my son lol

He uses Windows and Ubuntu but has been desperate for a Mac for over a year now! The fact that he so desperately wants one despite his major obsession with Windows (I unfortunately now know the codename for every single version of Windows,IE etc to ever exsist,along with copyright dates and loads of other useless information:o:rotfl:) makes me think it's worth it!

Some of the Software looks great so that's another plus point for me.

Have to say I'm tempted to buy it as the family computer and get his xbox for his birthday now though

Will check out the Dixons site,thanks

And I know now why he's been talking about Lion:rotfl:

shegirl

Mojisola wrote: »

I would guess that a youngster would be playing games on his computer. The Mac Mini won't be suitable for that.

He doesn't actually play games much at all on his computers!

He's severely autistic but gifted in computers and they are the way he kinda interacts and shows his abilities in other areas too.He does alsorts from toying with animation,creating 'music' and sound experimentation,programming,using packages to create his own moving cursors,designing things,doing allsorts with powerpoint and can strangely write paragraphs of info etc whereas he can't seem to get himself to do it by hand! (the manual he created on using Windows was brill!!!Was like Windows for Dummies lol)

POPPYOSCAR

Give an Apple store a try.

When we bought ours there was a promotion on for a free printer and free ipod.We got a discount(think it was about 15%) as our son was a student but my BIL got a 10% discount just for asking.

The manager of the apple store was really helpful and he threw in one to one for free as well.(one to one: you can make appointments and go in for one hour at a time and have tuition on how to use the mac for a year).

We have found the Apple store really helpful and the staff really knew a lot about their products and how they work etc.

We love our mac. The kids have windows laptops but use the mac when they can.

Cricri

ian2211 wrote: »

Macs just work. They are absolutely gorgeous, are extremely stable, fast, secure, software looks better, the display on my 27" is far superior to my 1080p tv. I used Mac, Linux and Windows and the Mac is far and away the best followed by Linux.

Clearly biased.

"Macs just work": I had old P3 PCs with 256MB of RAM formatted with XP running as servers for months solid without needing a reboot.

"They are gorgeous": for the price, they should be. I've also got an ASUS 17" laptop running Win7, and it's jaw dropping, albeit I bought it for functionality rather than looks.

"Extremely stable": see first point.

"fast": all computers are fast these days. My 5 years old desktop running win7 is idling 99% of the time. The bottleneck on any computer is more likely to be the storage drives than the rest of the hardware or software.

"secure": any computer sensibly used is secure, only people I've seen having security issues is due to their own education, not their hardware/software.

"looks better": see 2nd point, and I'm not convinced it's the case against Win7, or even the latest Linux, especially if you bother customising it to your tastes.

Display: you know what, I'm trying to be objective and I'll totally give you that. Great screen. The real question is, seeing the premium you paid for it, is it worth it? I have no doubt you will say yes, but personally, there is no way I'd ever shell out so much dough for it.

Mac is the best: again, very arguable and subjective, I used a Mac once and hated it because it didn't give me full control of my machine as Windows and Linux does.

To summarise, I'd say that the main reason why people buy a Mac is as a status symbol. Just like people buying iPhones. Most of the people I know who have iPhones do not use it for multimedia or internet, but just as a phone. However, they're proud to display it on their desk despite not getting value for money. And that's a bit the point: if someone can shell out more than they should reasonably afford, that's exactly what makes the device a status symbol. I'd totally buy a Mac/iPod/iPhone myself if they were competitively priced, but they just aren't.

POPPYOSCAR

Cricri wrote: »

Clearly biased.

"Macs just work": I had old P3 PCs with 256MB of RAM formatted with XP running as servers for months solid without needing a reboot.

"They are gorgeous": for the price, they should be. I've also got an ASUS 17" laptop running Win7, and it's jaw dropping, albeit I bought it for functionality rather than looks.

"Extremely stable": see first point.

"fast": all computers are fast these days. My 5 years old desktop running win7 is idling 99% of the time. The bottleneck on any computer is more likely to be the storage drives than the rest of the hardware or software.

"secure": any computer sensibly used is secure, only people I've seen having security issues is due to their own education, not their hardware/software.

"looks better": see 2nd point, and I'm not convinced it's the case against Win7, or even the latest Linux, especially if you bother customising it to your tastes.

Display: you know what, I'm trying to be objective and I'll totally give you that. Great screen. The real question is, seeing the premium you paid for it, is it worth it? I have no doubt you will say yes, but personally, there is no way I'd ever shell out so much dough for it.

Mac is the best: again, very arguable and subjective, I used a Mac once and hated it because it didn't give me full control of my machine as Windows and Linux does.

To summarise, I'd say that the main reason why people buy a Mac is as a status symbol. Just like people buying iPhones. Most of the people I know who have iPhones do not use it for multimedia or internet, but just as a phone. However, they're proud to display it on their desk despite not getting value for money. And that's a bit the point: if someone can shell out more than they should reasonably afford, that's exactly what makes the device a status symbol. I'd totally buy a Mac/iPod/iPhone myself if they were competitively priced, but they just aren't.

This is not true. I had to be convinced by my OH who had used them for work to get ours and now I love it. You can't even see it as its tucked away in a corner of the study so how is that a status symbol?

I am no computer expert I am an ordinary person who has used both and prefers the Mac.