What's so good about macs besides retina display?

I like Macs. I have a 2012 macbook air. And my work has supplied me with a 2015 macbook pro and an 2015 iMac. But recently i wanted something more powerful than my macbook air at home. My work stuff and personal work don't mix. I was going to try to save up to buy a Mac Pro or an iMac, but i could not justify the price tag for the specs I wanted. And then I learned about the "hackintosh"

So, if your requirement is it is an all-in-one i can't speak to it as it wasn't my requirement. If, however, you are looking to build your own, you can create a powerhouse that Mac prices can't match.

For example:

IMAC: 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display Item Price:$3,399.00 Quanti​ty (27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display)
1
Line Price:$3,399.00
Remove from bag(27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display) Part number: Z0SC
Order today, delivers: Feb 13 - Feb 15 - Fastest | Feb 14 - Feb 16 - Free
Hardware
4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
32GB 1867MHz DDR3 SDRAM - four 8GB
256GB Flash Storage
AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory
Magic Mouse 2
Magic Keyboard (English) & User’s Guide
Accessory Kit

PC:

I made my own using the same i7 6700K skylake processor
32 GB ram (but DDR4 not DDR3 which is faster)
256 GB NVME SSD also faster
3 GB HDD
and NVIDIA GTX 970 (better video card)

Cost me $950 with rebates including taxes
if you want a 5k 27" monitor it is around $900 (i use a 34" ultra wide instead for $300)

So at under $1900. I have a better machine. Not quite 1/3 and not in a single form factor but it does everything the Mac does.
I also installed MacOS Sierra into it (google hackintosh) if that interest you. So it dual boots as both windows 10 and MAC (Be advised if you want to build a hackintosh you have to use parts that are available in a Mac. There are better and faster processors and graphics cards that Mac does not use yet but cant use if you want to install MacOS in your PC.)

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18267549
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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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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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While I sort of agree with everything he said in his post, I totally agree with you that it was uncalled for given the OP has already made a purchase and is happy with it. There's no reason to belittle someone's purchase decision, you can give your voice for why you would choose differently without insulting someone for disagreeing.

That said... in my opinion being "All in one" is a pretty silly criteria to justify spending an extra 50+% for, though the display does look nice (though again, not worth the extra money in my eyes with all the nice editing monitors out there to choose from).

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #18268371
... in my opinion being "All in one" is a pretty silly criteria to justify spending an extra 50+% for, though the display does look nice . . .

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The need for an all-in-one is not silly, nor is it arbitrary. I NEED my computer to be an all-in-one.

Why?

Because I need a nice big screen with high resolution. This is because I use my computer for photo editing, and I am continually zooming in to look at small parts of my images up close. A big screen means that I do not have to zoom in quite so often, for the big surface area allows me to effectively be "zoomed in" to a couple of areas at the same time, relative to how it would be on a smaller screen.

Additionally, prints are becoming something that I am increasingly interested in. Big prints. It is hard enough to fully envision what an image will look like printed at 48" by 32" on a 27" monitor.........it would be far more frustrating to try to envision such big prints if I had to view the images on some stupid little 21" monitor, or something even smaller.

The high resolution allows me to more accurately and more easily assess the quality of my images, in terms of fine detail and how it is resolved. It also gives me text that looks so nice! I love reading text on a screen that renders every litter with beautiful, even curvatures, even when zoomed in big and close for easier reading. Lastly, I used to have a big screen, but with lower resolution, so I know from experience that I like the 5K monitor better....please don't tell me that I should be fine with lower resolution - I have been there and done that, and I much prefer the 5K. Besides, no one knows what my eyes like looking at better than I do!

So that explains my need/want/demand for the big hi-res screen. Now I will explain my need for the all-in-one form factor:

I take my computer with me to a lot of places:

- I take it to my Artist Association meetings on Monday mornings.
- I sometimes take it with me to the office at my side job when I know I will have idle time.
- I sometimes take it with me to my church, where I stay overnight once every three weeks as a homeless shelter volunteer. It's nice to have a computer there so that I can occupy the long boring night with photo editing or Netflix watching.
- I sometimes take it with me to friends houses when I get invited for dinner, because some friends ask me to bring my computer so that I can share my recent photos with them. Sure, I could take a thumb drive and look at the photos on their computers, but they look so much better on mine, and I only want to share my images with friends if they can look their very best.
- I take it with me on photo trips in which I will be staying at a motel. Even on a short 4 or 5 day trip, it is nice to have a full sized monitor to review images on at the end of a day of shooting.
- I take it with me when a print client or a gallery is interested in my work, and they want me to show them a wide selection of images to choose from. Most of my photos look better displayed full screen on a big hi-res monitor than they do printed, and I want to make the best impression. The 27" iMac makes a far better impression than a hard-copy portfolio would make - been there, done that, from now on I'll stick to the iMac.
- I get asked to house sit a few time each year......sometimes for two weeks, sometimes for just a few days........I always take my computer with me when I house sit.

So there you have it! I take the computer out of the house and pack it into the car, and then back home again, about 70 times a year. If I had to do that with a traditional desktop computer I simply wouldn't bother.......and hence I would miss out on all of the joy and opportunities that come with being able to view my images on a nice big screen in a lot of different places. And laptops.......well, again - been there, done that - I won't go back to using a laptop unless they make one with a big huge monitor, like at least 24"........and then it wouldn't be a laptop, would it?

So I hope that you can now understand why an all-in-one is my computer of choice. It is the right choice for me. I know because I have used the other two form factors, and they didn't work for me at all.

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Tom Reichner wrote in post #18268422
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The need for an all-in-one is not silly, nor is it arbitrary. I NEED my computer to be an all-in-one.

Why?

Because I need a nice big screen with high resolution. This is because I use my computer for photo editing, and I am continually zooming in to look at small parts of my images up close. A big screen means that I do not have to zoom in quite so often, for the big surface area allows me to effectively be "zoomed in" to a couple of areas at the same time, relative to how it would be on a smaller screen.

Additionally, prints are becoming something that I am increasingly interested in. Big prints. It is hard enough to fully envision what an image will look like printed at 48" by 32" on a 27" monitor.........it would be far more frustrating to try to envision such big prints if I had to view the images on some stupid little 21" monitor, or something even smaller.

The high resolution allows me to more accurately and more easily assess the quality of my images, in terms of fine detail and how it is resolved. It also gives me text that looks so nice! I love reading text on a screen that renders every litter with beautiful, even curvatures, even when zoomed in big and close for easier reading. Lastly, I used to have a big screen, but with lower resolution, so I know from experience that I like the 5K monitor better....please don't tell me that I should be fine with lower resolution - I have been there and done that, and I much prefer the 5K. Besides, no one knows what my eyes like looking at better than I do!

So that explains my need/want/demand for the big hi-res screen. Now I will explain my need for the all-in-one form factor:

I take my computer with me to a lot of places:

- I take it to my Artist Association meetings on Monday mornings.
- I sometimes take it with me to the office at my side job when I know I will have idle time.
- I sometimes take it with me to my church, where I stay overnight once every three weeks as a homeless shelter volunteer. It's nice to have a computer there so that I can occupy the long boring night with photo editing or Netflix watching.
- I sometimes take it with me to friends houses when I get invited for dinner, because some friends ask me to bring my computer so that I can share my recent photos with them. Sure, I could take a thumb drive and look at the photos on their computers, but they look so much better on mine, and I only want to share my images with friends if they can look their very best.
- I take it with me on photo trips in which I will be staying at a motel. Even on a short 4 or 5 day trip, it is nice to have a full sized monitor to review images on at the end of a day of shooting.
- I take it with me when a print client or a gallery is interested in my work, and they want me to show them a wide selection of images to choose from. Most of my photos look better displayed full screen on a big hi-res monitor than they do printed, and I want to make the best impression. The 27" iMac makes a far better impression than a hard-copy portfolio would make - been there, done that, from now on I'll stick to the iMac.
- I get asked to house sit a few time each year......sometimes for two weeks, sometimes for just a few days........I always take my computer with me when I house sit.

So there you have it! I take the computer out of the house and pack it into the car, and then back home again, about 70 times a year. If I had to do that with a traditional desktop computer I simply wouldn't bother.......and hence I would miss out on all of the joy and opportunities that come with being able to view my images on a nice big screen in a lot of different places. And laptops.......well, again - been there, done that - I won't go back to using a laptop unless they make one with a big huge monitor, like at least 24"........and then it wouldn't be a laptop, would it?

So I hope that you can now understand why an all-in-one is my computer of choice. It is the right choice for me. I know because I have used the other two form factors, and they didn't work for me at all.

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Fair enough... but you have to realize/recognize that you are in the vast minority of people who frequently transport their desktop like that. I'm a gamer and sometimes take my PC to friends houses to do LAN games, and even I rarely move my PC (probably only a handful of times a year), but even when I do it's not as though it takes any more time than an all in one would take... even if I brought a monitor, it's just one more thing to pack. Even with a mid-tower, a water cooled CPU and 2 enthusiast grade GPU's (one water cooled) it's not that heavy or awkward to carry.

As for the monitor argument... I'm currently writing this on a 65" 4K HDR display with sRGB calibration... so no, I don't envy your 27" iMac Though I'll admit, it's not 100% accurate, I use my smaller editing monitor for more serious paid work, though if I were interested there are plenty of very large, very high resolution and very accurate displays to choose from.

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #18268443
I'm currently writing this on a 65" 4K HDR display with sRGB calibration...

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Oh, my goodness - can you imagine having a monitor the size of yours with the pixel density of mine?!!! What an incredible experience it would be to use something like that!

Someday in the distant future such monitors will probably be commonplace. And of course in that same distant future we will probably have video broadcasts and camera sensors that can actually make use of all that resolution by matching it pixel for pixel. I don't think that will happen in my lifetime - I am already 48 years old and will probably die in about 35 years. But the future generations will, hopefully, get to use such wonderful machines and create such wonderfully detailed videos and stills.

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bumpintheroad wrote in post #18267974

Apple's success at creating a cult of evangelical users

this is probably the most accurate decription of some of the fanboys

For a portable computer I much prefer a laptop... :P

The All-in-Ones are amazing pieces of technology, but anyone looking at buying them should carefully think about the drawbacks that come along with it.

My personal day to day portable system is actually a fairly old 13" Macbook pro, last non-retina model I think. I haven't upgraded it because I honestly don't really want a super powerful rig with me when I'm on the move, because then it isn't as much of a distraction while I'm out of the house. (I'm more likely to put off doing something right then on the lower powered rig, and save it for when I get home to the workstation.)

When I did need to move around with a powerful computer, I still prefer a good tower and external monitors. - If I know I'm going somewhere that I need the computer, but will have access to suitable displays, then I can leave my good monitors at home and not risk scratching my screens. In addition, if something happens to any piece of hardware, then it is far easier to swap out or work around. A blown backlight or dead pixel on your external monitor does not require sending off the entire computer.

Related to that: If I want to upgrade one part, then all the other pieces can stay where they are. - A big shiny new 8K monitor can be added to the mix by buying just the 8K monitor, and maybe a graphics card upgrade. Upgrading your 4-5K monitor to the bigger, badder, cooler version means... buying a whole new computer and setting everything up again...


If I do need a powerful workstation grade computer carted along with me, then my favourite option for that are cases along the lines of road show gear. Nice handles, durable latches, ideally stacks with other similar gear. They're not the cheapest thing to buy, but they DO last a long time. Failing that more gaming styled cases with handles can be had that are easy to move.


But buying a computer system still boils down to personal needs: What do you need? What are you doing? Where is the computer going, and why do you want specific features? - All in Ones can be great systems for some people, but they should not be rushed into without considering all the advantages you give up in exchange for the advantage of compactness.

Slight aside here: in the PC world, I notice a few folk still talking about the Dell 27" 5k monitor. Is that still available in the USA? Dell in the UK doesn't seem to be selling it any more

on't think either is better to be fair, sure Win XP was around too long and became out dated and MS dropped the ball with Vista that was a right pain. Since Win7 the Windows OS's have been very good and perfectly workable, once your in LR or PS it works pretty much the same. However I use Mac OS on a Hackintosh as I can instinctively work with it, I like it and am faster on it but if I had to switch to Windows tomorrow although it would take a good while to get used to it, it would be a liveable with situation. I don't know about comparing prices, certainly the iMac is not bad value if you want a 5k screen, but as no mac currently allows me to have a load of drives in the box I am forced to either go Hack or Win, I was going to buy a MacPro but not like the new one. I do like the OS though it is the one thing that keeps me in the Apple environment, but don't know if it is still better than Windows any more.

alex66 wrote in post #18283842
on't think either is better to be fair, sure Win XP was around too long and became out dated and MS dropped the ball with Vista that was a right pain. Since Win7 the Windows OS's have been very good and perfectly workable, once your in LR or PS it works pretty much the same. However I use Mac OS on a Hackintosh as I can instinctively work with it, I like it and am faster on it but if I had to switch to Windows tomorrow although it would take a good while to get used to it, it would be a liveable with situation. I don't know about comparing prices, certainly the iMac is not bad value if you want a 5k screen, but as no mac currently allows me to have a load of drives in the box I am forced to either go Hack or Win, I was going to buy a MacPro but not like the new one. I do like the OS though it is the one thing that keeps me in the Apple environment, but don't know if it is still better than Windows any more.

For a superior MacPro system have a look at this Youtube video. In it the guy takes a basic stock MacPro, the little tubular thing, and soups it up a bit for running Final Cut Pro. He went out and got a secondhand 12 core Xeon chip, an ATI Radeon RX480 GPU, a RAM upgrade, and a case to stick the external GPU into. This turned it into a system something like twice as fast as the most fully loaded $8000 MacPro. Total cost about $1000, plus the $1500 odd for a second hand base MacPro. The MacPro only supports TB 2, so limiting the GPU to about 60% max throughput, and still easily bested the fully loaded machine. Because it's genuine Apple it is fully OSX compatible.

Using a full PC case for the external GPU also means that you have space for the other extras like additional drives and other stuff you can't have inside those silly Apple cases.

Alan

The design plus ecosystem is what brings people to mac. My phone is apple my main music source is iTunes and Apple Music so keeping a mac to edit photos keeps everything simplistic.

If I wanted to switch solely on cost I would have a new system every year.

yep! some smart ppl have been doing that for years.
I wonder if it is possible to run Mac OS on the new AMD Ryzen
the Ryzen 1800x sounds like a very interesting and cheap alternative to some of the high end but also very expensive intel i7/xeon cpus at half the cost!

Not to come off rude I got both platforms PC and IMAC. I can build another PC if need be. Now going back to IMAC 24GB ram is what I got not mb LOL. I can repair the Mac myself can't be that hard. Still under warranty anyways. In any case the resolution that monitor has alone to get one for my pc is what $1500 at least. I'm happy with that Mac trust me I am. She out does my PC hands down. Thing is fast! IMAC is good for what I need it to do. My 50mb files don't hurt it at all, now my PC she don't like them 50MB files. And I have on PC 16GB. That's maxed out on that mother board.

jay25 wrote in post #18342921
Not to come off rude I got both platforms PC and IMAC. I can build another PC if need be. Now going back to IMAC 24GB ram is what I got not mb LOL. I can repair the Mac myself can't be that hard. Still under warranty anyways. In any case the resolution that monitor has alone to get one for my pc is what $1500 at least. I'm happy with that Mac trust me I am. She out does my PC hands down. Thing is fast! IMAC is good for what I need it to do. My 50mb files don't hurt it at all, now my PC she don't like them 50MB files. And I have on PC 16GB. That's maxed out on that mother board.

RAM has little to do with how fast your computer is over all... what are the other specs of your PC?

Dollar for dollar a PC will run circles around any Mac. That's not to say Mac's are "bad". If you prefer Apple's software over Windows that's reason enough for many people, it's also nice if you like the plug and play nature of a Mac... but to say Mac's are "faster" for equivalent systems (especially for equivalent costs) is flat out false.

Yesterday I was processing some images on my PC. Was using LR and linked to NIK Define to touch up some noise. Define had an issue and locked up. Tried to kill it every way I could think of, but nothing worked...not even killing the process from Task Manager. I had to reboot the computer to remove the hung up application.

That is why I'll not be getting another PC...too much frustration and too much driver incompatibility. Done.