iMac 21.5 Desk Top

[w6pea]

I am looking at getting a new computer. My Windows XP Sp-3 is giving me a lot of trouble. :rant: To get it fixed would be about $300 to $450 bucks. Or I can buy a bare bones HP computer @ Wally World for about $567 bucks. I can have a new Computer built for about $1000 bucks. I can buy a New iMac for $1299.99 @ Amazon and or Best Buy and or the Apple Store but not available for 3 to 6 weeks from last night. I can get the same computer only a refurbished unit for $979 bucks free shipping delivery buy the 11th. Same warranty as a brand new one.

Any one use one of these, iMac 21.5-inch 2.5GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 ? I am getting tired of all of the Windows Security updates seems almost daily.
Thanks for an input.

 

[Sean Mota]

If you buy an iMac try to add not 8GB ram and buy parallels and you can run windows as well. Macs have their own problems as well.

Posted Using The New SatelliteGuys App (Beta)

 

[rglore]

I have that exact model which I also bought referb about a year ago. It's been a great computer. I added another 8GB for almost nothing, next upgrade will be a SSD.

 

[w6pea]

I have that exact model which I also bought referb about a year ago. It's been a great computer. I added another 8GB for almost nothing, next upgrade will be a SSD.

Explain this to me like I am a 3 year old....What is a SSD, and yes I will buy 8gb of ram before I get it.

 

[mike123abc]

Explain this to me like I am a 3 year old....What is a SSD, and yes I will buy 8gb of ram before I get it.

SSD is a solid state disk, uses flash memory to store data instead of spinning platters. It is a lot faster.

 

[mperdue]

I bought a 27" 3.1 Ghz iMac about a year ago. I upgraded the ram to 16GB but that's the only change I've made. I'm very happy with the machine. I've still got the original 4GB of memory laying around here somewhere...

 

[jrp]

I bought a 27" 3.1 Ghz iMac about a year ago. I upgraded the ram to 16GB but that's the only change I've made. I'm very happy with the machine. I've still got the original 4GB of memory laying around here somewhere...

I've got this machine, all stock. Never had a negative issue.

 

[lparsons21]

For info, there is no downside to buying an Apple refurb from the Apple store. Same one year warranty, qualifies for Applecare extended warranty if you want it and after buying a few items from there as refurbs, I've yet to get anything that didn't look exactly like a brand new one.

The only difference is the box it comes in. Refurbs come in a pretty plain box without some of the 'pretty' Apple does with the new boxes.

 

[Neutron]

Do you have to have an iMac? You can buy a brand new Mac Mini for $599 or even cheaper refurbished from Apple. You will just need your own monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

I second the mention of upgrading to 8GB. You can do this yourself quite easily on either the iMac or the Mini.

 

[lparsons21]

Careful there. The newest 21.5" iMac isn't easy at all to add RAM to. Literally takes a complete disassembly.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/macintosh/21422/no-ram-upgrades-new-imacs-apple-crazy

 

[Neutron]

Oh crap. I was thinking about the previous model on the iMac.

 

[harshness]

I am looking at getting a new computer. My Windows XP Sp-3 is giving me a lot of trouble. :rant: To get it fixed would be about $300 to $450 bucks. Or I can buy a bare bones HP computer @ Wally World for about $567 bucks. I can have a new Computer built for about $1000 bucks. I can buy a New iMac for $1299.99 @ Amazon and or Best Buy and or the Apple Store but not available for 3 to 6 weeks from last night.

You can get a really nice computer with 21" monitor from Costco for $600 less than the iMac. HP offers the all-in-one Envy starting at $799. With a Mac, you pay extra for a DVD drive (external, Apple's Superdrive is $79 retail) to play movies or install software.

As for the "daily" updates, Windows updates usually come just once a month. It is the Java and Acrobat Reader updates that happen in between and one would hope that you would get those on the Mac as soon and as often as they come out for Windows. If there is a Mac update, it comes when it comes and they won't tell you until after it comes that there was ever a problem. Microsoft tries to do that, but there are many, many watchdogs.

 

[Neutron]

The updates for the Mac OS usually are once a month at the most and once every couple of months normally. The app updates are about the same.

I would steer clear of any HP product seeing as to how often they have failed for us in our department and what I've seen in the past with previous employers who ran their businesses with HPs. I know you will get varying opinion on this.

You don't have to get the Apple branded Superdrive in order for DVDs to work. You can get any USB external DVD drive and it will work on the Mac.

The cost is why I mentioned the Mac Mini. You can get a Mac Mini and a nice 21" or larger monitor for less than an iMac.

 

[harshness]

The updates for the Mac OS usually are once a month at the most and once every couple of months normally. The app updates are about the same.

Probably not the big win that the OP was hoping for.

I would steer clear of any HP product seeing as to how often they have failed for us in our department and what I've seen in the past with previous employers who ran their businesses with HPs. I know you will get varying opinion on this.

I was simply trying to establish a price point with something that everyone can look at and compare.

You don't have to get the Apple branded Superdrive in order for DVDs to work. You can get any USB external DVD drive and it will work on the Mac.

My point was more to the fact that a critical element of the computer is missing and you have to hang it off of the machine as opposed to being able to install it internally. Kind of defeats the purpose of an all-in-one to have card readers, hubs and external drives of varying form and function strung together with wires (whether USB, Firewire or Thunderbolt).

The cost is why I mentioned the Mac Mini. You can get a Mac Mini and a nice 21" or larger monitor for less than an iMac.

The cost difference isn't that spectacular given that you have to buy extra RAM, a keyboard, mouse and display to effectively use the Mac Mini. Starting at $699 for a model capable of running Parallels and adding Parallels ($79) and Windows (~$150) then the optical drive, keyboard, mouse and display and you're entering into stupid expensive territory to have any hope of running software that the machine wasn't designed for.

 

[coinmaster32]

$1000 to have a pc built? Talk about a scam. I built my 8-core AMD 2TB 16GB with a really fancy video and sound card, for like $750. Also, to have it fixed for over $300 is robbery as well. I would go to dell.com, dells are not bad for the price.

 

[Neutron]

$1000 to have a pc built? Talk about a scam. I built my 8-core AMD 2TB 16GB with a really fancy video and sound card, for like $750. Also, to have it fixed for over $300 is robbery as well. I would go to dell.com, dells are not bad for the price.

If you're going to stick with a Windows machine I do recommend the Dell; and you can get a refurbished Dell desktop for under $400.

 

[lparsons21]

It is always funny when we get into these Mac vs Windows things. The Windows guys always want to point at some low end model from the majors that just isn't the same box as anything put out by Apple, or they want to talk about the box they built. And yes, you can buy a cheaper Windows box than a Mac, but you can't buy a cheaper Windows box that is built to anywhere near the same standards for very much cheaper.

On the Mac side, we fully understand that there is a premium to pay for a premium box. We know that Apple doesn't play in the low priced/low profit end of the scale.

But here's a nice tidbit that helps when picking. A 3 year old (or less or more) Apple will recover a significantly higher percentage of its new cost when you go to sell it. That's just a fact borne out of watching Ebay and Craigslist and also the few Apple computers I have sold over the years. That reduces the real cost of acquisition significantly.

Here's an example. My current Mac is a 27" iMac from 2009, I paid $1600 for it new. I could sell it today for $500-$600 thus reducing the total cost to $1100 or thereabouts.

If I had decided to go with a Windows box instead, my cost would have been maybe $200-$300 less because I won't buy at the bottom of the pile. Since that would have probably been a tower design, I would have needed a 27" monitor to go with which would have been not cheap 'cause I want one as good as the one on my iMac. Now if I were to sell that after 4 years, the selling price would be very low compared to the iMac.

Apple builds a better box from the bottom of their line to the top. Better engineering, fewer problems over their lifetime and with an OS designed to fit the machine just right.

 

[w6pea]

Do you have to have an iMac? You can buy a brand new Mac Mini for $599 or even cheaper refurbished from Apple. You will just need your own monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

I second the mention of upgrading to 8GB. You can do this yourself quite easily on either the iMac or the Mini.

The computer has the wireless Keyboard and Wireless Mouse included and the 21.5 in Monitor.

 

[w6pea]

The updates for the Mac OS usually are once a month at the most and once every couple of months normally. The app updates are about the same.

I would steer clear of any HP product seeing as to how often they have failed for us in our department and what I've seen in the past with previous employers who ran their businesses with HPs. I know you will get varying opinion on this.

You don't have to get the Apple branded Superdrive in order for DVDs to work. You can get any USB external DVD drive and it will work on the Mac.

The cost is why I mentioned the Mac Mini. You can get a Mac Mini and a nice 21" or larger monitor for less than an iMac.

I have a HP laptop....with windows 7 home premier.....I had a Dell laptop with XP it took a dump wish I would have never got this HP Laptop. My desk top is a no name custom build with XP Pro sp3 it's taking a dump, I got it working again at 0300hrs this morning for how long I do not know.

 

[Neutron]

The computer has the wireless Keyboard and Wireless Mouse included and the 21.5 in Monitor.

Just to keep your options open you can get a Mac Mini, a 21"+ monitor, and you can still get the wireless Apple keyboard and mouse for it. You would probably come out $200 ahead or so by doing this, depending on how expensive of a monitor you get, compared to an iMac.

You have to pick whatever is best for your situation and budget but I just wanted to throw that option out there. The Mini is VERY easy to upgrade.