What's so good about macs besides retina display?

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18068696
I have said this before and I will say it again, in direct answer to the question posed by the OP in the thread title:

What is so good about Macs, besides the retina display, is their customer service. This is really the #1 priority for me when purchasing any technology. With Apple Care, any time I don't understand anything about my iMac or about anything computer-related in general, I can call Apple Care and speak with a person who is actually right here in the United States and speaks fluently and is easy to understand, with English as their first language. They will spend as much time on the phone with me as I want them to, and there is no limit at all to the number of questions I can have answered. They even help me figure out how to do things with third party programs like Photoshop, or help me reconfigure my Yahoo account. The last time I called Apple for help they were on the phone with me for an hour and forty minutes. AN HOUR AND FORTY MINUTES! Just because I didn't understand how to do something, not because of any problem with the hardware or the software. Will Microsoft or HP or Dell or Sony ever do that for you?

This phone support is invaluable to me. Does any PC manufacturer offer this level of support? Any of them at all?
It is what I am paying all that money for when I buy a Mac.........and I consider that money to be very well spent.

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Of course they are helpful; you are paying them an extortionate amount of money for the privilege.

and for products that are almost impossible to upgrade or repair yourself

Ok I took the plunge bought me a 5k 27 inch 2014 i7 4ghz, 24mb ram 3tb hard drive 4gb video card. Thing runs very smooth. Smoother then my pc. Weird thing is my 5ds raw files don't shut down Photoshop or any of my other programs. Display is crisp. I'm working out an external 3tb external hd.

Do I recommend? Coming from a person that is hardcore pc user, yes. These people were not lying. IMacs are great

jay25 wrote in post #18267029
Ok I took the plunge bought me a 5k 27 inch 2014 i7 4ghz, 24mb ram 3tb hard drive 4gb video card. Thing runs very smooth. Smoother then my pc. Weird thing is my 5ds raw files don't shut down Photoshop or any of my other programs. Display is crisp. I'm working out an external 3tb external hd.

Do I recommend? Coming from a person that is hardcore pc user, yes. These people were not lying. IMacs are great

Congratulations! This is, I believe, the exact iMac that I have, spec for spec.

The 3TB drive is wonderful because with that much space you don't have to figure out how to get a computer and an external drive to "talk to" each other. And the display is really nice - not just for image editing, but also for watching movies and football games, as well as doing slideshow presentations of your images at gallery events and the like.

The "new" iMac works as well for me as my 2008 iMac did for many years......these things really last a long long time with no need to upgrade or change anything, ever. I wish you the very best with your new computer!

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jay25 wrote in post #18267029
Ok I took the plunge bought me a 5k 27 inch 2014 i7 4ghz, 24mb ram 3tb hard drive 4gb video card. Thing runs very smooth. Smoother then my pc. Weird thing is my 5ds raw files don't shut down Photoshop or any of my other programs. Display is crisp. I'm working out an external 3tb external hd.

Do I recommend? Coming from a person that is hardcore pc user, yes. These people were not lying. IMacs are great

hmm 24 mb (mega byte) ram that sounds so 1990s

so how much of a "hardcore" pc user were you?
have fun editing 4K videos, 3D animations and gaming with your expensive Mac
also good luck upgrading or repairing it
Oh, wait maybe you don't mind paying hundreds more for the very same components like ram memory or hire a "professional" to fix simple software errors. oops sorry again I know Mac's are so durable they don't ever break down or get viruses

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FuturamaJSP wrote in post #18267538
hmm 24 mb (mega byte) ram that sounds so 1990s
so how much of a "hardcore" pc user were you?
have fun editing 4K videos, 3D animations and gaming with your expensive Mac
also good luck upgrading or repairing it
Oh, wait maybe you don't mind paying hundreds more for the very same components like ram memory or hire a "professional" to fix simple software errors. oops sorry again I know Mac's are so durable they don't ever break down or get viruses

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The OP is really excited and enthusiastic about what he just bought, and then you come along with a bunch of negativity and say hurtful, sarcastic, insulting things. That is very condescending and mean-spirited of you.

Has it ever occurred to you that an iMac may actually the the best thing for some people? Just because one thing works better for you, doesn't mean that it would be right for someone else. For instance, a mirrorless camera - one of those full frame Sony ones - would be a worthless, wretched piece of useless crap for the type of photography I do. But I realize that it may be an excellent option for someone whose photographic endeavors are different from mine. Therefore, I would be happy for someone who got a mirrorless camera and, upon using it, thought that it was a great choice for what they use it for.

It is best to have a positive, encouraging attitude towards other people, even when their priorities, needs, and preferences differ from yours.

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john crossley wrote in post #18070197
Of course they are helpful; you are paying them an extortionate amount of money for the privilege.

Not really. With an iMac you can get an all-in-one with a 27" 5K (5120px) screen for under $2,000. Are there PC all-in-ones with the same screen specs that are really that much cheaper?

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both you and op were questioning the PC users and their choices so of course I asked some valid questions about your choices

jay25 wrote in post #18267029
Ok I took the plunge bought me a 5k 27 inch 2014 i7 4ghz, 24mb ram 3tb hard drive 4gb video card. Thing runs very smooth. Smoother then my pc. Weird thing is my 5ds raw files don't shut down Photoshop or any of my other programs. Display is crisp. I'm working out an external 3tb external hd.

Do I recommend? Coming from a person that is hardcore pc user, yes. These people were not lying. IMacs are great

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18068696
This phone support is invaluable to me. Does any PC manufacturer offer this level of support? Any of them at all?
It is what I am paying all that money for when I buy a Mac.........and I consider that money to be very well spent.

IF the op knows anything about computers he would notice that the hardware in his imac are very much the same you could find in a pc
there are 5k monitors or even 8k Dell UltraSharp 32 Ultra HD 8K monitor (UP3218K) for PCs, intel has been making cpus for DOS/Windows pcs since at least the 80s and it wasnt until a few years ago that Apple ditched their PowerPC cpus and started using Intel's PC cpus. his 4GB gpu is most probably one of the older gen AMD GPUs that you can also get for any PC but of course we PC gamers prefer Nvidia cards because they are simply more efficient and faster.

Personally i believe if I have time to call some technical support I might as well Google it or ask in some online forum and learn to fix the problems myself

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18267549
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john crossley wrote in post #18070197
Of course they are helpful; you are paying them an extortionate amount of money for the privilege.

Not really. With an iMac you can get an all-in-one with a 27" 5K (5120px) screen for under $2,000. Are there PC all-in-ones with the same screen specs that are really that much cheaper?

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I was referring to the $169 you are charged for Apple Care.

john crossley wrote in post #18267637
I was referring to the $169 you are charged for Apple Care.

Oh, that!

I do not consider that to be an "extortionate amount" of money. I actually consider it to be the biggest bargain ever! I mean, of all the things in life that I spend money on, I get more for my money via that $169 than I do for anything else. That $169 gives me 3 years of unlimited phone support.

I run into things that I can't figure out on a continual basis - every week or so. And so every week or so, for three years, I get to call Apple Support and have someone work thru my problem with me. I don't learn well through other methods - I mean, I am not able to "follow" instructions in manuals or emails. I need someone to either show me (not tell me) how to do something, or I need them to do it for me. Apple phone support accomplishes this.

If Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom had an unlimited phone support option, I would buy Creative Cloud (or whatever it's called) and gladly pay as much as an additional $400 a year for the phone support - if they enabled screen share support. That would be a very good value to me. But sadly, Adobe does not offer any such thing. So, $400 every year would be a very good value for photo editing support because it would open up so many possibilities of me, and enable me to do things that I would never, ever figure out on my own.

In comparison, the Apple Care support only costs me $57 a year, and it has enabled me to accomplish many things that I never, ever would have figured out on my own. That is a friggin' steal! An incredible bargain! So much value and empowerment for such a teeny weeny insignificant sum!

It is difficult for me to understand how you could possibly consider $57 a year to be "an extortionate amount". For many, many phone calls and many dozens of solved problems every year, it is a "no brainer"!

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FuturamaJSP wrote in post #18267562
IF the op knows anything about computers he would notice that the hardware in his imac are very much the same you could find in a pc

I don't know about the OP, but personally I know practically nothing about computers. I certainly don't know anything about hardware. I don't care about hardware - what I care about is a system that is easy to use - something that I never have to "tinker with" and never have to upgrade or modify. An operating system that "just works" without me ever having to do anything with (such as virus stuff).

It's just like it is with a car - I couldn't care less what engine is under the hood because I will never, ever fix anything myself and all I want the car to do is to start when I turn the key and go when I push the gas pedal. I will buy a car that is sufficient for my needs so that I never have to modify the car. I will never do any improvements to a car because I don't need any improvements* because I buy the car that is right for me in the first place, and my needs do not change during a cars' lifespan. So it is with computers - a perfect parallel.

*except for photography related improvements, such as a roof rack and a camera mount
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FuturamaJSP wrote in post #18267562
Personally i believe if I have time to call some technical support I might as well Google it or ask in some online forum and learn to fix the problems myself

But, as I explain in paragraph #2 in my response to John Crossley (above), I do not learn well by reading or following instructions. That just doesn't work for me - never has. I learn when someone shows me how to do something. I need personal tutoring. That is what works for me. There are no computer tutors within 100 miles of me because I live in an extremely small town in a very remote area. Trust me - I have looked high and low for someone in my community that I could pay to show me computer stuff, and there just isn't anybody anywhere around that can teach me what I need to know. Years ago I paid a woman $40 an hour to help me, but she didn't know anything about photo-related computer needs, and it was just a waste of $80. The Apple support I get is the only personal "hands on" support that I have access to, and it has been an absolute Godsend!

Please don't argue with me about these things with critical, negative responses. Realize that you are you, and I am me. My needs are completely different from yours. I will never figure things out on my own the way you do. Therefore, I need different types of computers and different types of help and support when it comes to computers.

I get way more out of my iMac than I would ever get out of a PC because of the way my brain works and because of my brains' limitations, and also because there is no help to be found in the remote area in which I live.

You get way more out of your PC than you would get out of an Apple because you seem to like to modify things and customize things and upgrade things, and you don't need/want an all-in-one with a big 5K screen.

Your choice is right for you. And whether you will ever accept it or not, my choice is right for me.

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FuturamaJSP wrote in post #18267562
both you and op were questioning the PC users and their choices so of course I asked some valid questions about your choices

I only saw one question - everything else that I saw from you was a negative, critical statement, not a question. And that one question was not a question about our choices - it was a question about the OP's history with PCs. The overall tone of your posts has been negative and critical. Condescending, even. You said that you asked some valid questions about our choices - where are those questions? I do not see them.

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I've been using and building PC's since the 1970's, so I'm probably not a typical user. I would say the best things about a mac are:

• The physical design, i.e., aesthetics
  
• Apple's success at creating a cult of evangelical users
  
• The Operating System, which is not to be confused with the Graphical User Interface
  
• Closed ecosystem
  
• Customer Support at Apple Retail Stores
  

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18267856
But, as I explain in paragraph #2 in my response to John Crossley (above), I do not learn well by reading or following instructions. That just doesn't work for me - never has. I learn when someone shows me how to do something. I need personal tutoring. That is what works for me. There are no computer tutors within 100 miles of me because I live in an extremely small town in a very remote area. Trust me - I have looked high and low for someone in my community that I could pay to show me computer stuff, and there just isn't anybody anywhere around that can teach me what I need to know. Years ago I paid a woman $40 an hour to help me, but she didn't know anything about photo-related computer needs, and it was just a waste of $80. The Apple support I get is the only personal "hands on" support that I have access to, and it has been an absolute Godsend!

The fact is there's several options available for Windows PC's that will provide the same type of assistance. Remote desktop control was available on Windows for many years before it made its way onto Mac. You might need to pay extra for this level of service, just as you do on a Mac via AppleCare. Microsoft provides free support including remote desktop control for Windows boot-up, install and update issues, and offers Microsoft Assure support with unlimited coverage for all Microsoft products (Microsoft also provides free in-store support for these kinds of problems, even if your computer is out-of-warranty). Dell, Lenovo and other manufacturers provide Premium support options with this type of service.

Also you pointed out in an earlier post, this type of "remote control" support is not universal among software publishers, most notably Adobe. However, when I ran into a problem last year with CC licensing problems, Adobe support took remote control of my computer to troubleshoot and fix the problem.

I don't think you're being unfair or mean spirity, just that you aren't informed on the current state of the industry or all the options available regardless of what platform you use. Maybe mixed-in a bit with the effects of evangelism that seems to affect people no matter whether they are Mac or Windows users.

I'm not trying to convince you to switch. But to claim this type of hands-on remote support is unique to Apple is false and misleading, particularly since it was available to Windows users for years before coming to Mac, as long as you paid for that level of software support. So if you are on the fence or just keeping score, this isn't necessarily a distinguishing factor.

john crossley wrote in post #17976356
Well, having used both Mac's and PC's, the only conclusion I can arrive at is that a Mac cost three times as much as the equivalent PC.

Very well said!

John from PA wrote in post #18268236
Very well said!

And also very incorrect.

john crossley wrote in post #17976356
Well, having used both Mac's and PC's, the only conclusion I can arrive at is that a Mac cost three times as much as the equivalent PC.

Please, please, please show me where I can get an all-in-one PC with a 27 inch 5K (5120px) screen for $633. Or even $950.

Several people continually say how PCs are so much cheaper than the equivalent Apples, but not one person has been able to back this up with any PC that is equivalent to the 27" iMac.

I looked online for an all-in-one PC that could match Apple's screen specs, and couldn't find anything that is half the price, let alone 1/3 the price, as you claim. I am getting tired of people making claims in favor of PCs, and then never backing those claims up with facts that are helpful to me.

The all-in-one form factor and a top-notch screen with 5K resolution are essential to the things I use a computer for. I would really like to see if there is any PC at all that is significantly less expensive than the 27" iMac that can be had for around $1900. Now is the chance for some of you to back up your statements with some facts.

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