Custom Built PC vs. Upgraded 17" iMac

[thescottandrew]

As the title tells, i can not decide between the two, i currently a proud owner of an iBook and i have to say that i love it. i will be going to college soon and my parents will give me 1200-1500 dollars for my computer, with that money i could get a 17" iMac with the RAM upgraded to 2 GB or my friend helps me build a pc, he says for that kind of money i can build a great pc, but will that money cover a monitor too? one other worry i have are viruses, i have had bad experiences with pcs running EXTREMELY slow due to viruses, and i have not had any of that sort of thing on my mac. now i know that the pc was not on any anti-virus software and it had many users so it engadged it some suspicious activity. i also love my operating system, but in the end i go for power over the OS. what do you think, i should mention that i will be doing hardcore photo stuff and a little bit of everything else, but photo stuff is the primary concern. thanks for all the input, sorry for such a long post.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

For what it's worth, I've had this pc I'm using for a couple years, and it runs as fast now as the day I got it, and what's more, I've yet to have a virus of any kind.

[Moppie]

For the money you could build a real monster of PC, with lots of grunt and really high end CRT,or a pretty good LCD monitor.
It would certianly out perform an iMac for the same money, and if custom built properly be considerably more upgradeable.

But then you might not need the extra prower it will have, so the iMac will perform suitably well for photo editing, and surfing the net etc. As well as word processing.
And, it has the advantage of being something you are more familar with.

[Wilt]

In the US you can walk in and get PC's [with AMD 2.4-2.8 Ghz dual core processors, big harddrives and DVD-R/W drives and 100-baseT internet connection] for $500-700, 2GB add-on RAM for $200, 19" LCD for $300. I just did that myself recently, in upgrading my own PC...(I already owned the 19" LCD). Price an equivalent MAC and compare for yourself.

[rklepper]

Get the iMac. You will be much happier in the long run.

[Billginthekeys]

also keep in mind that if you are planning to run a current version of photoshop, it will run very slow (compairtivly) on the new intel macs. I personally would go with the pc, i have nothing against macs (my parents have a 20"imac and my dad has a new macbook, and they both are real nice) i just perfer the expandibily and compatability of a pc. I am a biit of a gaming nut, and so i just cant afford to give up my pc, even if the mac runs smoother. Although for you, already being used to a mac you would probably say get the mac and wait for the new software to come out (which is supposed to be soonish), because they should both run quite fast, and if you are used to mac, stick with it. (i might suggest you wait for the newest OSX update to come out so you dont have to pay later)

[jbkalla]

I'll never buy/build another PC again, unless someone asks me to. I've completely switched over to Mac, so I can't see paying any kind of money for one. (Totally my subjective opinion!) :-)

[Mathiau]

If your going to college you will want porability, get a new intel based MAC or PC based laptop - forget a desktop.

[thescottandrew]

thats what i thought, but my brother and and his fraternity friends said laptops are overrated, and desktops are cheaper to make faster, i have a laptop right now and have already done college classes in high school and never once have i brought my laptop to class, people give me funny looks :), if i could make a laptop run as fast as a desktop for the same price, i would definetly go that route, thanks for the input

[Mathiau]

yes, desktops cheaper, and can be faster, but there are laptops out there faster then some people's desktops, but your fraternity friends seem to not be keeping up with the times, the mobilty and space saving a laptop has is not over rated, if you want those features, if you only plan to use your computer at home / office, then yes, those features are not appealing.

Unless your into hardcore gaming, you can get a laptop that is just as fast as a desktop now, and sometimes faster, especially with intels Memron and now Conroe's mobile chips. THey have 7200 RPM laptop drives now, which was the only thing desktops had that laptop didnt, but that has been different for some time now, at least 2 years.

Even if you do game, you can get SLI laptop now with dual video cards and 20" screens, they are not really "laptops" but desktop replacements, but they cost a good chunk of change.

If you dont think you will take your laptop with you, then for sure build a desktop.

Your best options right now is Intels new Conroe, it is faster then AMD now in everything, but parts may be pricey.

Or wait a few weeks for AMD to do their massive price drops, and Intel as well and pick up an AMD X2 AM2 system for a good price, or an Intel Pentium D 9** series system.

[Belmondo]

I'm always waffling on this subject, but right now seems a very interesting time for computer buyers. I just purchased a 17" Powerbook Pro. It's my first venture back to the Mac OS in over 7 years. Paart of what influenced me was Apple's decision to switch to the Intel Core Duo processors. That, and the release of Boot Camp, which allows me to run Windows from a separate partition seemed an unbeatable combination. It took a couple tries before I was able to get it working, but it's 100% as advertised---I can boot into either OS. Except for the logo on the computer, there's no way of knowing I'm running Windows on my Apple.

I understand this might not be a great advantage to a student, but then again, it might be. The iMacs have the same capability as the Powebook Pro---all Core Duo Macs do, including the Mac Mini. At present, only the G5's won't run Boot Camp.

Great (but useless) fun.

[thescottandrew]

thanks for the input, i think i have decided and will get the iMac, only because i have a laptop, and most of my work is done inside, but thank you so much for the input, dont get me wrong i would love, just love, to get my hands on th 17" MacBook Pro, but WAY too much money, thanks again

[Michaelmjc]

Get the iMac. You will be much happier in the long run.

well put.

[Mathiau]

^^^ With boot camp now, yes i can see that being more true, now for them to improve PS on it.

I am considering the 13" mac, but not until boot camp is %100 supported by apple.

[Belmondo]

I am considering the 13" mac, but not until boot camp is %100 supported by apple.

It's supposed to be incorporated into 10.5.

[Wsman2]

Don't forget that Apple gives discounts to college students. Check the Apple Store for Education (http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/routingpage.html).

[Mathiau]

It's supposed to be incorporated into 10.5.

10.5 or are they waiting for leopard now ?

either way as long as it run on a MacBook, i may have a new one with in the next 5 days :D

[cjm]

I bought a cheap piece of crap from Staples for $600 CAD. Its a compaq with not even a graphics card but internal. Never had a problem with it and would probably buy an Oversized Xbox again too. For the money, this thing has cost me about $300 a year. Not bad at all I think.

[Mathiau]

yeah, even the lowest end laptops these days are sufficient for %90 of joe blows needs.

[Canuck]

Well, what are you gonna do with the computer most? If gaming, probably PC is the way to go; if pics and A/V, then go Mac. I am definitley Mac. OSX is cool. I am running 10.3.9 on this G4 500, 768 MB RAM. Sure it's not cutting edge by any stretch of the imagination, but considering the HD on the laptop I was using bit the dust, all is good. Near as I can tell, OS 10.3.9 is bulletproof...tried to crash the OS with no luck. It seems that it is very easy to do on a PC. Oh, yes, remember, all that adware, spyware, viruses, and etc that plague IE/Windows is a non-issue on a Mac! This is the coolest part! I haven't the time to do surgery on the 12" iBook at this time. That's back burner material. That 12" iBook is great for a mobile digital darkroom! It weighs under 5 lbs...4.2 lbs, perhaps. I used apple products way back in the days of the apple IIE/IIC and wonder why the heck I went to windows...glad to go back to Mac.

[Mathiau]

Windows is not easy to crash, the reason windows crashes is because 3rd party companies do not follow the specific guidelines for programming under windows.

i cant recall my last BSOD.

Yes, it is nice for OS X to know you can open that email or visit that link with out wondering now if your computer is going to blow up in front of you :), helps you sleep better at night to say the least.

I am getting excited now to try out a 13"macbook at the store, i hope ilike it!

[blonde]

i have been using my powerbook G4 for the past year and a half and i couldn't be more happy with it. it never crashed on me and everything works so smoothly on it. my next computer will be probably the new iMAC 20" with 2gigs of ram. i already have my powerbook so the desktop with the nice 20" screen will be a nice addition.