New Hardware - Change to Apple / Stick to Windows?

[Dan_1981]

Lets not get caught up on the gaming side of things - its definitely a minority activity, and really could be limited to Football Manager

I'm more concerned with having a spec that'll serve me well for a good 5 years, which I'm willing to spend more in the first place.

[chibbard]

Interesting post this as I too am about to make the switch from PCs to 27" iMac as they really are a nice bit of kit. I'm just going to wait in hope they get slightly reduced in a January sale (hoping Apple give a bit off the price). Won't be surprised if they don't get reduced though knowing my luck. Go on, treat yourself, hehe.

[onlynik]

There's always educational discount (if you are eligible)

[steveatesh]

Dan_1981 said:

3 months down the line and still haven't made a decision.

PC is on the verge of dying.


May possibly have managed to work in space for a desktop version of whatever I choose.


Sooooooo

If I was to go for Windows based / PC system what sort of spec do I need to be looking at these days? Need some future proofing - don't tend to upgrade anymore often than once every 5 years or so.

And if I was to go Apple, are the specs comparable in terms of processor speeds and so on?

I made the switch in November and never looked back up to now.
My computer needs are general computing such as internet, some office stuff including Minitab, photography including lightroom etc.

I went for the retina iMac, base model and upgraded ram my self as it is far cheaper to do it that way.

I have been amazed by the retina screen. The clarity is superb to use, not just for photography when you can see pictures in detail and quality I just couldn't in the PC, but with the general use too. The fonts are bright and clear meaning documents are easy to read and the screen real estate means it's easy to have several documents open and visible at once to help workflow.

It does game too, I only play Tombraider but it is very smooth and the resolution brings the graphics out.

Have a look at them in the apple shop, then make your mind up. Best of luck with it

Edited by steveatesh on Thursday 25th December 08:06

[GrumpyTwig]

I'm not sure screen resolution is much of an argument for buying a Mac, you can buy hi-res displays and plug them into a PC and the DPI scaling in Windows 8 is good now.

[ZesPak]

steveatesh said:

I went for the retina iMac, base model and upgraded ram my self as it is far cheaper to do it that way.

Which one is this? The 5k one?

[Flip Martian]

steveatesh said:

have been amazed by the retina screen. The clarity is superb to use, not just for photography when you can see pictures in detail and quality I just couldn't in the PC, but with the general use too.

Edited by steveatesh on Thursday 25th December 08:06

The retina screen is a high end product of course - and similar high end products exist for PCs. Just as there are some really crappy monitors and display cards for PCs, Compare like with like and you WILL pay more for the mac equivalent. Having said that, there are some aspects of the Mac I like a lot and wouldn't want to give up. So my next laptop will probably be a MBP too. Just that for desktops, I choose (good spec) PCs.

[andysgriff]

Bought a 15" retina display Macbook Pro 3 years ago, its been superb both in hardware quality, operating system stability, its crashed 1 time only. RAM is fixed at 8gb, thats enough for most people unless you are doing some serious rendering etc. 256SSD more than enough as I store most stuff externally either HDD or Cloud. Super fast start up, shut down, silent, great keyboard and the best display ive seen. The MAC feels like it will last for years.

I use Windows, HP for work and have spare Dell PC's but not the same quality IMHO.
I do still prefer the file management of Windows.

[CDP]

andysgriff said:

Bought a 15" retina display Macbook Pro 3 years ago, its been superb both in hardware quality, operating system stability, its crashed 1 time only. RAM is fixed at 8gb, thats enough for most people unless you are doing some serious rendering etc. 256SSD more than enough as I store most stuff externally either HDD or Cloud. Super fast start up, shut down, silent, great keyboard and the best display ive seen. The MAC feels like it will last for years.

I use Windows, HP for work and have spare Dell PC's but not the same quality IMHO.
I do still prefer the file management of Windows.

My Dell Precision has run for years though it wasn't any cheaper than a Macbook it is just as well made though chunkier it had the advantage of being easy to upgrade. (I did need to replace the battery but that was easy)

[Flip Martian]

andysgriff said:

Bought a 15" retina display Macbook Pro 3 years ago, its been superb both in hardware quality, operating system stability, its crashed 1 time only. RAM is fixed at 8gb, thats enough for most people unless you are doing some serious rendering etc. 256SSD more than enough as I store most stuff externally either HDD or Cloud. Super fast start up, shut down, silent, great keyboard and the best display ive seen. The MAC feels like it will last for years.

I use Windows, HP for work and have spare Dell PC's but not the same quality IMHO.
I do still prefer the file management of Windows.

I would agree with all this. I run Parallels on my MBP and have Win7 for file management (and a few other things). But the MBP is beautifully made and feels like a premium product. I've never quite had a Windows PC that feels this good and slick.

[Efbe]

Dan_1981 said:

Lets not get caught up on the gaming side of things - its definitely a minority activity, and really could be limited to Football Manager

I'm more concerned with having a spec that'll serve me well for a good 5 years, which I'm willing to spend more in the first place.

for what you want £500 will cover it easily.

don't bother future proofing at this price range as it will cost you more to buy 1 machine that will survive 7 years as it will to buy one now, and one in 5 years.

also if you have come from an older windows machine get windows7.

[ZesPak]

Efbe said:

for what you want £500 will cover it easily.

don't bother future proofing at this price range as it will cost you more to buy 1 machine that will survive 7 years as it will to buy one now, and one in 5 years.

also if you have come from an older windows machine get windows7.

Meh, Windows 8.1 is fine, it takes some getting used to (think Office 2003 -> 2007), but there's some nice additions in it.

[steveatesh]

ZesPak said:

Which one is this? The 5k one?

Yes th retina screen iMac

[ZesPak]

steveatesh said:

ZesPak said:

Which one is this? The 5k one?

Yes th retina screen iMac

K, thanks, I was thrown off by the "base model" description, I get it, but it's a bit like saying "I've bought a base model Audi S8"

What applications are you using? Are they all scaled properly?

[WinstonWolf]

ZesPak said:

Efbe said:

for what you want £500 will cover it easily.

don't bother future proofing at this price range as it will cost you more to buy 1 machine that will survive 7 years as it will to buy one now, and one in 5 years.

also if you have come from an older windows machine get windows7.

Meh, Windows 8.1 is fine, it takes some getting used to (think Office 2003 -> 2007), but there's some nice additions in it.

It's a Marmite UI, on a desktop 7 is probably a better choice. The only place where 8 is a real winner is on the Surface Pro 3.

[Dan_1981]

Having a hunt around if I want to go Mac I have to go MBP to get a 15" screen (wouldn't want to go smaller) and would need to spend around £1500

A similar spec / feel laptop is gonna set me back a similar amount - thinking Yoga pro or a Zenbook or similar. So again £13 - 1500

If I go desktop then I can spec up a PC for far cheaper than what seems to be the equivalent Mac.

.

[steveatesh]

ZesPak said:

K, thanks, I was thrown off by the "base model" description, I get it, but it's a bit like saying "I've bought a base model Audi S8"

What applications are you using? Are they all scaled properly?

All the Mac client software scales and runs properly as does Lightroom and Corel after shot pro 2 . So does Tombraider played on Steam. Libreoffice scales too. The scaling problems occur when using parallels. Windows itself and MS Office are fine but not all Windows software scales well. Corel paint shop pro X6 has tiny menus and toolbars.
So Mac is superb, some windows software needs to be brought uodae for HdPI monitors.

What particular do you want to use?

[Efbe]

Dan_1981 said:

Having a hunt around if I want to go Mac I have to go MBP to get a 15" screen (wouldn't want to go smaller) and would need to spend around £1500

A similar spec / feel laptop is gonna set me back a similar amount - thinking Yoga pro or a Zenbook or similar. So again £13 - 1500

If I go desktop then I can spec up a PC for far cheaper than what seems to be the equivalent Mac.

.

it depends on how much money you have to blow on it.

£1500 is a lot of money, and as nice as the apple OS is, unless you can afford this very easily it is hard to justify. I spent this much on my current laptop 5 years ago as I wanted a gaming laptop. The longetivity of it however is not the specs but how long it keeps on working for!

A £300 laptop would meet the requirements you describe, though personally I would be looking to spend £500.

[funinhounslow]

Dan_1981 said:

Having a hunt around if I want to go Mac I have to go MBP to get a 15" screen (wouldn't want to go smaller) and would need to spend around £1500

A similar spec / feel laptop is gonna set me back a similar amount - thinking Yoga pro or a Zenbook or similar. So again £13 - 1500

If I go desktop then I can spec up a PC for far cheaper than what seems to be the equivalent Mac.

.

Or why not have the best of both worlds with a MacBook air hooked up to a monitor when you're at home? That sort of budget would stretch to a 13" MacBook and Thunderbolt Display. Just a thought...

[Dan_1981]

Apple have updated their refurb store and even the 27" Mac is now looking attractive

I don't suppose there is anyway to combine both the education discount and also buy via refurb?