Mac vs. PC debate continues. Which is better?

Stilton Company -Over the years, as an IT manager for many companies, I’ve always been frustrated by the mindset splits between PC and Mac computers.   From a business standpoint, it has always made sense to standardize, but in the age of digital media and graphic design, most design and arts teams have always claimed to require Mac technology to get their job done, but the new  full line of Apple iMac’s being pushed out by Apple are finally taking serious aim at the Dell business PC stronghold as the price per processing power unit of the line finally becomes business affordable.

Today, most design, graphics and arts based business practices rely heavily on Mac products, but the Mac is now making some serious inroads with casual home computer users who are getting fed up with the complexities and ever changing environments in PC based Windows operating systems.   Macs have proven to be less prone to viruses, spyware, hacks and crashes and in the casual user community, they are finally starting to be recognized as a practical and affordable solution, not just for the eccentric artsy types.

The following review serves as testimony that among casual computer users in the web, email and social networking age, Apple is becoming a serious consideration where it was once balked at for being the PC for hippies.

How much money does an iMac cost?

Today, You can buy a high powered and high end mac for just over $1,000:

Apple iMac MB418LL/A 24-Inch Desktop

This review is intended mainly for PC users who are new to the Mac. I’m not a huge computer person, I’ve always had PCs, and frankly I’ve always thought Macs were for hippies with ponytails. I pretty much have to use a PC for my job functions, but over the last few years I’ve been underwhelmed by both my home and work desktop (both dells) and my home notebook (HP). I’m fed up with the windows BS - freezing for no reason, slowing down for no reason, taking forever to shutdown/startup, constantly nagging to update virus software etc. I’m ok putting up with this for my work PC, but when it was time to replace my home desktop I decided to take a look at the Mac. I’m glad I did. I went with the 2.66ghz iMac with 24″ monitor and 640gig HD.

First Impressions: Coming from a Dell, the iMac was pretty damn impressive right out of the box. The single box was smaller than I expected, and Amazon packed it pretty good (important because Amazon has dropped the ball on this before on other items). The 24″ screen is HUGE and looks great. Setup is a breeze - it took much longer to disconnect my PC than to set this up. Just plug it in, connect to router, connect keyboard and you are ready. No, I don’t miss the gigantic bundle of wires that used to be next to my desk. I was connected and playing around with this within 5 minutes of opening the box.

Pros: Beautiful screen, fast, easy to get set up and start using. The display is impressive compared to a windows PC. No dealing with virus software nagging for updates. The Time Machine feature makes it extremely easy to back up. Great overall design w/ few wires and nice touches like 2 USB inputs on the keyboard, camera built into monitor etc.

Cons: No Bluray player option (why not?). No numeric pad on keyboard (but I can’t knock them for this since it is an option if you order from Apple’s website). Built in speakers in monitor are pretty weak for music (I’ll upgrade). I do think the “it’s so intuitive to use” hype of Macs is a bit overhyped today - I think the user interface on a windows machine is just as intuitive, albeit much less visually impressive.

Where to buy: I purchased this from Amazon and I’m glad I did, as I saved about $150 vs. the Apple store. The downside to ordering on Amazon is the apple store gives you a few choices (like a numeric pad on the keyboard and wireless mouse) that Amazon does not. I initially started to purchase this from the Apple website because I wanted the numeric keypad, but as I was checking out I noticed they slapped me with sales tax of about $100 - you normally don’t pay sales tax when you buy on the internet and the vendor is out of state. When I saw that I immediately cancelled my order and purchased from Amazon (plus Amazon was a bit cheaper to begin with in addition to no sales tax). Amazon also shipped it to me faster (though I have Amazon Prime), and did a good job packaging it. If you go w/ the apple store online, pay attention to sales tax your results may vary depending on your state.

Bottom line: I’m glad I got this. It’s a great alternative for a home computer which I mostly use for internet and media purposes (I won’t be installing excel on this machine!). It is a bit pricey compared to a PC, but it’s worth it if you appreciate the impressive design, nice asthetics, great monitor, and less headache vs. a PC.

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