Home › Forums › Chat Forum › £1000 budget for new computer. Should I get a new iMac ?
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£1000 budget for new computer. Should I get a new iMac ?
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JamieFree MemberPosted 14 years agoSony laptop running Vista
There is your problem right there…..even MS admit Vista was a shower of shite. I am a Mac owner, but recently set up a laptop for my mum using Windows 7 and its very nice to use and alot quicker than Vista.
sputnikFree MemberPosted 14 years agoThank you guys, some very usefull replies so far.
@ llama : Agree that that a £500 PC will be capable of web design. I would however also start to dabble with graphic design, hence the interest in a Mac. I have no idea where all this will lead, but I have a lot of spare time and want to make better use of it.
Won't be buying any bike parts molgrips, as I have a budget of £1000 for getting my @rse in gear and making myself more productive 😉
JamieFree MemberPosted 14 years agoJust for the record, if you are planning to 'get into design' is your £1000 budget going to include software? As photoshop ain't cheap.
grummFree MemberPosted 14 years agoDespite people always claiming otherwise there are *demo* versions of things like Photoshop available for Mac – so I'm lead to believe.
joemarshallFree MemberPosted 14 years ago@ llama : Agree that that a £500 PC will be capable of web design. I would however also start to dabble with graphic design, hence the interest in a Mac. I have no idea where all this will lead, but I have a lot of spare time and want to make better use of it.
There's no advantage of the Mac over the PC for either web design or graphic design. Pretty much all the standard software is Adobe stuff, which runs pretty much the same on either. It is worth buying a mac because you want a shinier looking operating system, or like the way Macs work generally, but it'll make bugger all difference to how well Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign etc. run. They all run great on Windows too.
Depending on what kind of graphic design you want to do (i.e. if you want to do things with print resolution photos) the processor spec could potentially make a big difference.
Also, my top web design tip, is that web design isn't really about writing web pages any more – nowadays anyone doing anything vaguely professional is using a content management system, so the only time they write much HTML is when programming templates for the CMS (which also often involves a fair bit of PHP or javascript programming). If you're writing a website that is ever going to be updated, you want it in a CMS. If you find yourself using Dreamweaver etc. to create core content for a website, you're probably about to build a rubbish hard to update website.
A side effect of that is that you really don't need to worry about what operating system you're using, as long as it has a web browser and general photo editing etc. tools.
having seen comments about setting up php, apache etc on Windows, it is a breeze on a mac. Everything is included out of the box. Not saying you should host a website on your mac but would allow you the chance to learn some of the server scripting should that be your thing.
The mac comes with a slightly dodgy setup of various web stuff installed, which probably isn't exactly what you'd want in the end. Changing it is a complete pain. Setting similar stuff up on a PC is really awfully hard, you have to go to wampserver.com[/url], click 'download', run the installer, and then you have a pretty well thought out setup of all the web server stuff you'd need, which updates itself nicely, and even lets you install multiple older versions of things if you want to test against them. It is a million times easier than pissing around with the config files on the default setup you'd get on a Mac or Linux.
Joe
molgripsFree MemberPosted 14 years agoMore to the point, there are cut-down versions ie Photoshop Elements available for a very reasonable £60 or so instead of £800. And it's pretty good too, layers and all.
sputnikFree MemberPosted 14 years agoJoe, thank you for insightfull reply. I must admit that the Mac does appeal to me because of it's ergonomic design, also, having been using PC's untill now, rather keen to try something different. I have always believed that Macs are more suited to the creative side of computing (music and graphics) and Pc's more suited for spreadsheets and 'office' use. Can't really say what my believe was based on, but that was just how I thought. I hope you don't mind if I ask more newbie questions about web design related stuff once I get going.
Jamie, £1000 just for hardware, will worry about software once I have exhausted all the free web tuorials etc and know a bit more as to what I want to do.
PeeteeFree MemberPosted 14 years agoGet a Mac… you will not regret it… I've convinced quite a few devout Wintel fans to convert and none of them would consider going back now. Plus if there is something you really need Windoze for you can always Bootcamp or use Fusion.
grummFree MemberPosted 14 years agoJoe, thank you for insightfull reply. I must admit that the Mac does appeal to me because of it's ergonomic design, also, having been using PC's untill now, rather keen to try something different. I have always believed that Macs are more suited to the creative side of computing (music and graphics) and Pc's more suited for spreadsheets and 'office' use. Can't really say what my believe was based on, but that was just how I thought. I hope you don't mind if I ask more newbie questions about web design related stuff once I get going.
Jamie, £1000 just for hardware, will worry about software once I have exhausted all the free web tuorials etc and know a bit more as to what I want to do.You can use GIMP anyway which is free and apparently pretty powerful.
I have to say I do think the Mac is much better generally for creative/design stuff – the built in software it comes with is generally great and it all nicely integrates together and with the OS. Don't know if you are into music but Garageband is an awesome piece of software.
Yeah if you are using all the pro stuff will work just as well on either – though you do get a lot less funny device/hardware conflicts on Mac than a PC.
A Mac seems to work faster for a given spec than a PC too ime – perhaps partly due to not having to run bloated virus/spyware software etc
glenpFree MemberPosted 14 years agoIf you're spending all day on it then things like it being a nice place to "be", it being near silent, the screen being really nice – all those things make a big big difference.
molgripsFree MemberPosted 14 years agoYou can use GIMP anyway which is free and apparently pretty powerful.
Last time I tried the user interface was an impenetrable nightmare, but that was a while ago.
I have always believed that Macs are more suited to the creative side of computing (music and graphics) and Pc's more suited for spreadsheets and 'office' use. Can't really say what my believe was based on
The Apple advertising campaign 🙂
Oh and for those struggling with bloated antivirus – don't use McAfee or Norton – they are both awful. Use Eset instead.
If you're spending all day on it then things like it being a nice place to "be", it being near silent, the screen being really nice – all those things make a big big difference.
Yep.. which is another reason for speccing your own. If you ask someone to spec it, you can ask for a silent PC and you'll get one.
joemarshallFree MemberPosted 14 years agoLast time I tried the user interface was an impenetrable nightmare, but that was a while ago.
It is a bit better nowadays, although not perfect by a long shot. It is great for web graphics and other stuff that will be primarily digital, although I understand it is lacking in colour handling features that some people doing stuff for professional printers require.
Joe
glenpFree MemberPosted 14 years agoAdd also: all in one "box", really small footprint, minimal wires and power leads, its an Apple…
WozzaFree MemberPosted 14 years agoAdd also: all in one "box", really small footprint, minimal wires and power leads, its an Apple…
😆
rsFree MemberPosted 14 years agomy nearly 4 year old iMac is still rocking along just fine, webcam still works too 😛
CountZeroFull MemberPosted 14 years agoSo if the webcam goes on the fritz on an iMac you'd send it back? No, you'd buy a cheap USB cam and just carry on. That's if you actually gave a toss, never had a webcam, never had a need for one, can't actually foresee a need for one. That's only over the last fifteen years of using a Mac, so who knows. Also, use the above pic, then remove the tower from the PC pic. That's what you'll be left with if there's a serious hardware problem with the PC. The iMac is no different to using a laptop for your main computer if there's an issue, or any other integrated computer design, of which there are a number styled after the iMac.
Go for the Mac, put VMWare on it then you can install any number of alternative OS on it, so you could have Linux, Windows 95/2000/Vista/7/Mac OS9, and have them open and copy-and-paste between them.
retro83Free MemberPosted 14 years agoSo if the webcam goes on the fritz on an iMac you'd send it back? No, you'd buy a cheap USB cam and just carry o
…or you pop to an Apple store who fix it for free within a couple of hours an let you pick it up later on the same day.
Good luck getting that kind of service from dell or *shudders* ebuyer when you have to send something back.
delusionalFree MemberPosted 14 years agoA decently secure OS? Mac? Hardly. The Mac OS is not the most secure OS around and is arguably less secure than Windows. The main reason it seems to be more secure is the fact that the Mac OS has not really been the target of hackers as the installed base is not really that big, or hasn't been. It is getting bigger now so don't be surprised if there is a rise in the incidents of Macs being hacked or the target of malware.
I never meant to say MacOS was the most secure operating system around, we have OpenBSD for that! What I did say is that it is 'decently secure', as in not completely and utterly rubbish. Which it is. Not just because of a narrow install base, but because the core of the system is derived from Nextstep, which was derived from BSD, which means it's got some proper kernel scheduling and core stability in there.
Admittedly adding "ease of use" stuff on top reduces security (I don't think MacOS encourages a separate root user for instance) and admittedly I've not dug down properly into the MacOS kernel, but I guess from your response neither have you 😉
lister-hoodedFree MemberPosted 14 years agoI had the same question just after Xmas,
went with the MAC …
FANTASTIC decision ( so far)
Boots way quicker,
Looks great
Any software I want / need is there
and
It's not loaded with Bloatware 🙂wish I'd made the change ages ago
DirtynapFree MemberPosted 14 years agoAt the end of the day the fact is, you get more for your money in terms of outright performance if you spend £1000 on a PC than you do if you buy an Apple; drop dead, stone cold, fact of life.
I have Apple's and PC's and to honest I only uses PC's for gaming, i perfer to use the Apples for everyday stuff, there just less hassle.
scottyjohnFree MemberPosted 14 years agoI use a newly bought MB Pro and its the best thing Ive ever bought
sputnikFree MemberPosted 14 years agoJust back from the Apple store in Kingston. Had a demo on the iMac, and wow, it is fantastic. The photo and video editing software just works so nice. I will definately be getting one. Just waiting for a cheque to clear 🙂
Thank you to everyone for the replies.
pjbartonFree MemberPosted 14 years agoA decently secure OS? Mac? Hardly. The Mac OS is not the most secure OS around and is arguably less secure than Windows. The main reason it seems to be more secure is the fact that the Mac OS has not really been the target of hackers as the installed base is not really that big, or hasn't been
This is such BS – MacOS is probably the biggest target as it's so publicised as being secure and mac users are so smug about it – and still nothing has touched it.
I'd go mac by the way – but if you need to actually buy CS, that's another grand. If you could, y know, borrow it – go for that one
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