My old WinXP P4 2.66GHz 1GB RAM laptop died a couple months ago. I've been sharing my girlfriends Macbook since. I need to get a new computer... Since I don't have the need to be portable I'm going with a desktop this time.

Now I can honestly go Mac or PC. I'm OK with either.

Here's what I do on my computer (in order of frequency)
- internet/email
- music organization (iTunes --> iPod/iPhone synching, burning, ripping)
- Office (Excel usually)
- Photoshop
- DVD burning
- music recording (muti-tracking --> guitars, bass, drum loops, etc)
- I plan to eventually edit home movies (widescreen hi-def in the future)

I could accomplish all these tasks (except the Hi-def video editing) on my old laptop, but it was getting slow.

I was originally planning to get a new 20" iMac
-OSX Leopard
-Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz
-500GB HD
-256MB video card
- about $1550

It seemed in the past that if you spec'd out a Windows PC to match up with a Mac, you'd be looking at similar prices - or at least that's what I thought...

I built a Dell Inspiron 530 on Dell's website and was quite impressed with what I could get for much less money.
-Windows vista Premium
-Core 2 QUAD 2.40GHz q6600 (yup, that's quad core)
-640GB HD
-256MB video card
-22" LCD monitor
-media card reader
-bluetooth (including bluetooth keyboard and mouse)
- all for about $1100

What would you go for? I'm leaning toward the dell even though it'll be bigger and less attractive. I know there isn't much out there that can take advantage of the quad core processor, but I did read that Photoshop benefits from it. I also think the Dell will allow me some flexibility for upgrading.

Another thing I will be looking for is a good backup solution. If I got the iMac, I'd backup the HD to an external HD, maybe using Time Machine. I'd do the same with the Dell or I might eventually set it up for internal RAID (is that a good idea?).

Since I'm already leaning toward the Dell how about some Pro-Mac arguemnts? They sure are purdy...

 

Between those two, I'd still go for the Mac. But any reason you're going for the 2.66 mac instead of the 2.4? I know it has more memory by default but you can get that as an upgrade cheaper from Crucial or Newegg later on. But OS X > Vista by far.

Outside of those two... I'd just build one. The one I'm using now is one I've built and it's great and was a bit cheaper.

(I have a new Macbook sitting right next to this Vista system I'm typing on right now - so I feel qualified to give an opinion on both)

 

hands down OS X beats Vista.. but you can get dell to put xp on the desktop.. i would i prefer pcs over macs.

 

i work on macs and pc... i got pc.. i would never buy a mac...

 

OS X, hands down. I switched to Macs back in January and never looked back.

I run basically the exact setup you talk about, expect I got the 24" 2.8ghz iMac w/2 GB ram, with a 320GB external HDD specifically for Time Machine and I love it. Also, Macs have a huge advantage over Dells when it comes to software. Give that Dell a good 10 start ups, and the startup time will get longer and longer. OS X on the other hand, gets faster as it ages.

Another thing, is that Dell will be nearly obsolete 2 years down the road. So far every dedicated Mac owner I know says their Macs have been running strong and like new 5-7 years down the road.

Now, let's look at what you use a computer for
Here's what I do on my computer (in order of frequency)
- internet/email Will be the same on both machines, but with the Mac, you won't have to worry about spyware and virus's
- music organization (iTunes --> iPod/iPhone synching, burning, ripping) Mac wins. iTunes is infinitely better on OS X than it is on Windows
- Office (Excel usually) OS X has Microsoft Office available for it, so tie
- Photoshop lol, do we even really need to discuss this one?
- DVD burning Windows XP wins, lol. Toast is a good program at its best, and I had nothing but problems with burning on Vista
- music recording (muti-tracking --> guitars, bass, drum loops, etc) Again, OS X is the obvious winner.
- I plan to eventually edit home movies (widescreen hi-def in the future) Yet again, OS X is the superior operating system for this kind of stuff.

I've had 3 of my close friends switch to Macs, one of which was a hardcore PC gamer who called me a 'Mac___' when I told him I bought a Mac. He now uses a Macbook and nothing else. I don't know how to explain it, but it's just better.

 

Thanks for the replies so far. I suppose I'm leaning toward the Mac more now. That's what I really want.

ack154, the reason I'm not going for the 2.4GHz iMac is because of the video memory. You have to get the 2.66GHz iMac to get the 256MB video card. Would 128MB be enough for my (future) needs?

 

If you're going for a bit of video editing, the better graphics can't hurt at all. I edit mini-dv (not HD) video on my Macbook right now. Nothing big though. But I also have 4gb of RAM in it. If the $ isn't that big of a deal, might as well get the better card then.

 

Upgrading the memory on a Mac without using Apple's insanely overpriced memory = bye bye warranty = insanely expensive to fix if something big goes wrong.

The 2.66 is worth the extra $300, double the memory, more HDD space, better video card and a faster processor. Those specs are basically what I have in my 24" but I've got the 2.8ghz and I haven't had ANY slow down and I've had photoshop CS3, aperture, itunes, adium, ichat, ivideo, iphoto, quicktime, power tabs, and garage band all running simultaneously, each on it's own Space.

Btw, if you go to the Apple store to look at it, you're going to fall in love with the 24" display. I went to buy the Mac Pro, realized it was too much money, then the customer rep told me about the 20" iMac so I was about to buy that, then I saw the 24", so I dished out the extra cash.

 

Yup. We've got 3 apple stores here that I know of. The 24" iMac is awesome but I think 20" isn't too shabby. I have a shelf I need to account for in my 'workspace' and the 20" iMac is barely going to fit. I guess my mind's pretty much made up...

 

I cant' agree with this statement. Hardware wise they both are going to use the same hardware. So stating that the Dell will be obsolete in 2 years is an empty statement, because down the road and or even a year down the road almost all computer hardware is obsolete. Now the statement about the viruses and spyware I will have to agree, as of now there is little to no viruses and spyware that affects os x but give it some time and about another year or 2 down the line there will be..

 

Check this one HP IQ506

http://review.zdnet.com/desktops/hp-...-33074466.html

It is so cool-my GF just got one-but can't find anybody that knows much. It has a lot of great reviews and in person is just way out there. Not state of the art as far as inbternals but the touch screen is new and they all say the internals are solid and well spec'd

 

if money is no object then get the sony..
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...52921665430244
HD upgrade with the internal tv tuner and qam tuner. reads and writes bluray.. etc etc

 

whatever you get, don't skimp on the video card. these days the GPU is what determines the computer, not the CPU. even the dual cores are still overkill for what most of us use our computers for.

another thing, you computer does get slower over time but the hardware is not to blame, its all the ____ that gets installed and downloaded onto your hard drive. if you've ever reformatted a HDD and reinstalled windows, you know what i'm talking about when its like having your computer back to new like the day you bought it.

if it was me i'd build my own therefore you can upgrade down the road as needed. check out newegg.com, find you budget and make a list of components.

p.s. shared graphics memory = no no! get a dedicated video card with the bare minimum of 256mb or 512mb if you can.

 

Go for mac!!
if u wanna download some free software for mac or pc. visit
www.pspdownloadswitch.net
and free softwares...like Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop etc.!!

 

Macs are awesome if you are comfortable with them. Now with bootcamp & parallels, you can run all your Windows apps too. I would suggest though if you are looking at Dell check the outlet store. It's mostly refurb/canceled order stuff, but I just ordered an Inspirion for my BIL and saved a grip.

Apple does the same thing with the refurb section of their store. Both my business partners picked up theirs that way. Deals to be had

 

If your gonna do some video editing i would concentrate more on processor and RAM. You dont really need a high end GPU (even though i have a 8800gtx, i do a lot of gaming).

I never owned a MAC though. I guess they're better for video and audio editing. I dont really like Apple i guess lol

 

or run vmware and use xp, vista and mac osx all at once like me. pretty fun stuff and works great. you can run numerous OS's with no issues if properly done.

 

Ive been running Mac for over 7 months now, and picked up my Pro today, After using that machine I dont understand how anyone can buy a windows PC.

I work at Best Buy and we've already gotten the IQ Touchsmart models and the Sony LT series, lemme tell you, you want to stay away from those machines.

We've had to display 3 of the IQ TS already because the actual touchscreen keeps on F'ing up, and the sony is more of eye candy than actual performance, not to mention they both have Laptop processors (T8100 and T5750 I believe)

Go with the Imac.

 

OS X gets faster as it ages, Windows does not. That's what I meant by the Dell would be obsolete in 2 years. So far every older Mac (OS X) I've used, has been as fast as my new iMac. Every Dell, Sony, HP, custom built...anything using Windows, showed significant slow down since it was new.
Everytime I rebuilt my PC, the very initial start up was insanely fast, I've had the Windows XP loading bar only make it halfway before it moved onto the next screen. 5 boot ups later, after installing drivers, software, etc, the startup time nearly doubled. I'm 5 months into owning my iMac, I've got Time Machine (restore thing, that actually works, unlike Windows Restore) running at the max settings, 120gb of music/movies/digital pictures, all the programs I use/need on a daily basis, and it actually boots up 2-3 seconds faster than my first boot up.

Besides, if you're THAT much into Windows you shouldn't even consider anything other than a Mac, especially since it's been a proven that Vista runs smoother while being emulated on OS X than it does running alone on a PC.

Just tested shutdown and startup time for my iMac and my Dell laptop. iMac took 43 seconds (6 seconds to shut down, 37 to start up) to completely shutdown, start up and load all startup programs. The Dell laptop (which is my work laptop, so it's literally ONLY used for Excel and Outlook, I'm the first owner of it, only 2 months old), a whopping 172 seconds to shutdown, start up, log in (stopped timer while typing in PW), load up all programs and stabilize on the desktop (no timer on mouse cursor). The Dell used to be able to boot faster than my Mac when I first got it.

 

That could be true but to each their own. If you know what you are doing then running windows on pc is not a problem. I have a machine that built and it's 4-5 years old and still running strong. boots in 29 - 33 seconds. Keep it clean and you will have no problems. Also I don't have any spyware or virus software. Just keep it clean same goes for anything.
I'm not saying that you're wrong I was just saying that being obsolete is a false statement because the hardware is the same. Build your own and make it into a htpc, then you won't even need a tivo and it will only cost you 500 dollars.