Apple or Not?

[ajh1979]

Hi Guys,

Im planning on buying a new system on Friday and I cant decide whether to get a Apple or not and would very much appreciate peoples advice and comments to help me reach my decision I have listed the full specification of each system below.

I know Apple’s certainly look nice and the guy in the local store told me they run much faster and smoother than other systems ? (im not sure on this)

The system will be used for the below tasks and nothing more – its probably worth noting that any games will only be RTS and MMORPG’s as I have a xbox which I prefer to play titles such as call of duty and first person shooter / action games.

The system will be used for the following:

Gaming (WoW Cata / Dawn of War 2 Series / Starcraft 2) I want to play these games on the maximum graphics setting on a 24” monitor (minimum) – I may also try the new Star Wars MMORPG when its released

Watching movies using a form of connection on my 50” plasma TV
Downloading Movies & Music (I do a lot of this)
Burning DVD’s & CD’s (a lot)
Web Browsing
iTunes
Microsoft Office Pro 2010
Social Networking

Here are the specs for each system:

Pre Build System:

Case:
Cooler Master Elite 430 Case or Xigmatek Asgard
Processor:
Intel Core i5 2500K Processor Overclocked to up to 4.5GHz
CPU Cooler:
Corsair A70 Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
Additional Cooling:
2 x Blue LED Case Fans
Thermal Paste:
Generic thermal paste
Motherboard:
Asus P8Z68-V LE Motherboard
Memory:
8GB Corsair PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR3 Memory (2 x 4GB sticks)
Graphics Card:
AMD Radeon HD 6970 2048MB Graphics Card (ASUS Direct CU II or Palit Factory Overclocked)
1st Hard Drive:
40GB Corsair Force Solid State Drive
2nd Hard Drive:
1000GB 7200RPM Hard Disk
SSD Caching Configuration - Choose one Hard drive and one SSD
1st Optical Drive:
Samsung Blu-Ray ROM / DVD-RW Combi Drive
2nd Optical Drive:
Sony 24x DVD-RW Drive
Power Supply:
Corsair TX 750W PSU
Sound Card:
Onboard High Definition Audio
Operating System:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Primary Monitor:
24" Asus VS247H Widescreen LED Monitor
Keyboard and Mouse:
Generic Wired Keyboard and Mouse

Apple System:
Processor Intel® Core™ i7 processor
- 3.4 GHz
- 8 MB Smart Cache
- Quad Core
Operating System Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
RAM - 4 GB installed DDR3 RAM (1333 MHz)
- 16 GB maximum RAM capacity
Graphics card AMD Radeon HD 6970M graphics processor with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
Screen type Widescreen LCD
Screen resolution - 2560 x 1440 pixels
Screen size 27"
Screen features - IPS technology
- LED-backlit glossy
- 16:9 aspect ratio
Hard drive 1 TB SATA 7200 rpm
Optical disk drive Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive with 4x double-layer burning (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Memory card reader SDXC card slot
USB 4 x USB 2.0 ports
FireWire 1 x FireWire 800 port
Modem/Ethernet Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)
WiFi Built-in 802.11n wireless networking
IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible
Bluetooth Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
Video interface Two Thunderbolt ports, each of which can act as a Mini DisplayPort
Mini DisplayPort output supports DVI, dual-link DVI, and VGA video (requires adapters, sold separately)
Audio interface Optical digital audio output
Headphone out
Optical digital audio input
Audio line in
TV output No
Expansion card slot No
Sound Built-in stereo speakers
Two internal 17-watt high-efficiency amplifiers
Built-in microphone
Webcam Built-in FaceTime HD camera
Keyboard & Mouse Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Mouse
Accessories included Apple Wireless Keyboard, Apple Magic Mouse, power lead, install/restore DVDs, printed and electronic documentation
Software included Includes iTunes, Time Machine, Quick Look, Spaces, Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Photo Booth, Front Row, Xcode Developer Tools and more.
Includes iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand and iWeb)
Size 650 x 517 x 207 mm (W x H x D)
Weight 13.8 kg

Please could you give me your views comments and opinions to help me to decide?

Thank You

 

[saint19]

This topic has been moved from the section Computer Brands to section Systems by Saint19

 

[AdrianPerry]

Personally id take the non-apple build. The first PC spec you listed has more than enough performance to run all the applications you require it to and can be easily upgraded in the future if required.

What are the price differences between the two builds?

Build #1 costs?
Build #2 costs?

If you would like your PC to "look" like an Apple-PC then check out this case: FRACTAL Design R3 Arctic White: http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=2&prod=53

 

[ajh1979]

Hi Thanks for your reply

Build 1 (Pre Built System) Cost £1111

Build 2 (Apple iMac) Cost £1899

Big difference I know!!!

 

[AdrianPerry]

Hi Thanks for your reply

Build 1 (Pre Built System) Cost £1111

Build 2 (Apple iMac) Cost £1899

Big difference I know!!!

Other than a larger monitor with the Apple build, i really cant see anything there that would give better performance. The i5-2500k PC build would certainly be my choice at those prices.

I'm guessing the system you listed was a custom/pre-built? Is there any chance of you building yourself? You tend to get much better value for money that way and the spec you've listed, if you bought components and built yourself, could be done for about £900-1000 roughly.

 

[ChiefTexas_82]

I feel that when you buy apple, you pay too much just for the Apple name. It's gonna be more expensive than building your own (or probably anything with the same specs). You will probably be more satisfied if you build your own system from parts, rather than having one sent to you. It should feel more personal, plus you will know what needs done when/if you upgrade. However, if you REALLY like Snow Leopord OS, ordering a whole assembled computer from Apple would be easier. The cost is just so much higher.

 

[cutebeans]

1st build hands down.