Apple's New 21.5-inch iMac is $200 Cheaper

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dstarr3

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Well, Macs are generally well-built, and it can be argued that the price premium is a result of the software suite that comes with Mac.

Still wouldn't touch one with a ten-foot pole, though.
 

hitman40

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Upgrading from a 500GB to a 1TB HDD costs just as much as buying an extra 1TB HDD...
Welcome to the world of pre-built computers online that people who aren't tech smart call "building their own computer"
 

mrmez

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Welcome to the world of pre-built computers online that people who aren't tech smart call "building their own computer"

I'm tech smart, but i'd rather be doing wheelies than making sure my components are compatible and then building the system.
 

amk-aka-Phantom

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I don't understand why they would chose a ULV i5 to use instead of the much cheaper, but still faster Intel i3 desktop cpu.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/76640,75030

The ULV i5 costs more and they are charging less for it lol.

TDP. 65W vs 15W? Cooling the latter is WAY easier.

I'm tech smart, but i'd rather be doing wheelies than making sure my components are compatible and then building the system.

*Sigh* You aren't "tech-smart" then. Component compatibility is very easy to figure out nowadays. When in doubt, ask Tom's Hardware forums to verify. Takes a few minutes.
 

tryingmybest

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For that price i can get a macbook Air ,plus a 200$ monitor and will end up having same desktop hardware plus a notebook. And with pcie ssd too.

Apple got the pricing wrong this time.
 

tryingmybest

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It is not about compatibility as you understand it, it is about everything works perfectly if you find mac logo on it. I have many hardware that stopped working on windows 8 , old hardware but useful and i dont want to buy new ones.

Guess what, the ones that have mac logo on them still work on mac.

Things like this. Plus , if you are busy at business, trust me , you will never waste hours learning about which hardware to get. Those hours are worth thousands of dollars. Thats why you need ready to work sure to work solutuions.
 

Blazer1985

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I mean, R U CRAZY??? With that solution you will have a fugly wire going to the macbook air to the monitor!!! Good compoothas don't need wires!!!1! /sarcasm
 

Blazer1985

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Tryingmybest, if your time is worth thousand of euros just pay an engineer, depending on your job a quad titan can save you hours of waiting every day and you'll never find something similar on a mac (at least up until today)
 

amk-aka-Phantom

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Tryingmybest, if your time is worth thousand of euros just pay an engineer, depending on your job a quad titan can save you hours of waiting every day and you'll never find something similar on a mac (at least up until today)

Titan is a wrong card for an engineer. They need workstation graphics - which Apple offers, but only in Mac Pro's and at ridiculous prices and only AMD FirePro, IIRC.

It is not about compatibility as you understand it, it is about everything works perfectly if you find mac logo on it. I have many hardware that stopped working on windows 8 , old hardware but useful and i dont want to buy new ones.

Guess what, the ones that have mac logo on them still work on mac.

Things like this. Plus , if you are busy at business, trust me , you will never waste hours learning about which hardware to get. Those hours are worth thousands of dollars. Thats why you need ready to work sure to work solutuions.

Spare me the nonsense. If you are busy at business, you have an IT department to take care of this. I'm a sysadmin and the only solutions that are sure to work are custom built PCs with high quality parts, proper 3-5 year warranties (default, not ridiculously costly "extentions" that Apple offers) etc. If you are busy at business, you know better than to dump $1100 at a system that "saves space" but offers specs of an Intel NUC. Seriously! http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-kit-d54250wykh.html will get you ULV Core i5 with HD 5000, you can spec it with up to 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM, it's got USB 3.0 and gigabit Ethernet, you can insert any 2.5 inch SATA drive into it, you have HDMI and DisplayPort - attach it to any screen you want. Oh, and it will run whatever OS you want. $360 for this, add another $200 for RAM and storage, you got $440 for a screen or two.

It's your own problem if you upgraded to Windows 8. Go back to your business and leave hardware choice for people who know what they're doing. Macs are nice, but they're not anywhere close to cost efficient or easy to administer. Besides, again, this particular iMac offers very basic specs. It's nice for Apple fans who just want a machine that works and don't want to select any hardware themselves, but if you run your business that way, chances are your users will be fine with just about anything - you obviously have too much cash and they obviously don't care what to work on. My clients would flip their $h!t at an idea of dumping $1100 on a machine that's only good for basic office work and browsing. xD
 

Blazer1985

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Hi amk, you got me wrong here :-D
I meant that if your time is worth thousands of euros (and involves heavy gpgpu tasks) you better hire an engineer just to build your pc and doing the maintenance :)
For engineers (or realtime visualization in general) of course quadros or firepros are better suited while the titan offers unparalled price/performance ratio for gpgpu :)
 

amk-aka-Phantom

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Hi amk, you got me wrong here :-D
I meant that if your time is worth thousands of euros (and involves heavy gpgpu tasks) you better hire an engineer just to build your pc and doing the maintenance :)
For engineers (or realtime visualization in general) of course quadros or firepros are better suited while the titan offers unparalled price/performance ratio for gpgpu :)

My apologies, hard to stay calm when there's a newly Mac-converted friend buzzing at my ear over Skype about how great their stuff is despite a massive premium and then reading this article and comments... Sure, I agree with you, though in the end you can't take money to your grave - if PC building is something you like, you'd do it no matter how much your time costs, 'cause you want your baby to be PERFECT! :D If you don't know anything about it, then sure, better hire someone xD
 

applegetsmelaid

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Tom's Apple related articles are my favorite! Keep 'em coming!

I once bought an iMac for a steal because it had a bad hard drive. I replaced the HDD (which was a pain in the patoot) and got it up and running.

My wife loves it ;-)
 
Spare me the nonsense. If you are busy at business, you have an IT department to take care of this. I'm a sysadmin and the only solutions that are sure to work are custom built PCs with high quality parts, proper 3-5 year warranties (default, not ridiculously costly "extentions" that Apple offers) etc. If you are busy at business, you know better than to dump $1100 at a system that "saves space" but offers specs of an Intel NUC. Seriously! http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-kit-d54250wykh.html will get you ULV Core i5 with HD 5000, you can spec it with up to 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM, it's got USB 3.0 and gigabit Ethernet, you can insert any 2.5 inch SATA drive into it, you have HDMI and DisplayPort - attach it to any screen you want. Oh, and it will run whatever OS you want. $360 for this, add another $200 for RAM and storage, you got $440 for a screen or two.

Just because a business is doing well. Doesn't mean that it is large enough to support or need an IT department. The time of many small business people can be worth a lot. But only need a few computers.

When their computers have a problem and they don't know much about computers. They are losing money until they can get a technician out to see them. They have no need of a server, domain, &c. The limit of their server type needs can be fulfilled with a NAS, Onedrive and Outlook.com for contact and calendar syncing. Even this is advanced for many small businesses that do quite well.

They don't know nor care about tech specs per dollar. All they care about is that it works reliably and fast enough. With the Apple you aren't nearly as likely to find the computer suddenly won't boot because the OS has tanked due to an error in Windows finicky registry, or has been taken out by a virus. All you have left is hardware errors which are just as likely to occur on any computer but really quite rare.

If the Apple does have a hardware failure they can quickly and easily restore a new Mac to the exact same state as the old one. From a Time Machine backup.

Personally for my main computer I use Windows. As an on site technician for small businesses I hate it when my clients get Macs. Since it reduces my support calls from them at least 75%. As the Macs just work.
 

BulkZerker

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Spare me the nonsense. If you are busy at business, you have an IT department to take care of this. I'm a sysadmin and the only solutions that are sure to work are custom built PCs with high quality parts, proper 3-5 year warranties (default, not ridiculously costly "extentions" that Apple offers) etc. If you are busy at business, you know better than to dump $1100 at a system that "saves space" but offers specs of an Intel NUC. Seriously! http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-kit-d54250wykh.html will get you ULV Core i5 with HD 5000, you can spec it with up to 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM, it's got USB 3.0 and gigabit Ethernet, you can insert any 2.5 inch SATA drive into it, you have HDMI and DisplayPort - attach it to any screen you want. Oh, and it will run whatever OS you want. $360 for this, add another $200 for RAM and storage, you got $440 for a screen or two.

Just because a business is doing well. Doesn't mean that it is large enough to support or need an IT department. The time of many small business people can be worth a lot. But only need a few computers.

When their computers have a problem and they don't know much about computers. They are losing money until they can get a technician out to see them. They have no need of a server, domain, &c. The limit of their server type needs can be fulfilled with a NAS, Onedrive and Outlook.com for contact and calendar syncing. Even this is advanced for many small businesses that do quite well.

They don't know nor care about tech specs per dollar. All they care about is that it works reliably and fast enough. With the Apple you aren't nearly as likely to find the computer suddenly won't boot because the OS has tanked due to an error in Windows finicky registry, or has been taken out by a virus. All you have left is hardware errors which are just as likely to occur on any computer but really quite rare.

If the Apple does have a hardware failure they can quickly and easily restore a new Mac to the exact same state as the old one. From a Time Machine backup.

Personally for my main computer I use Windows. As an on site technician for small businesses I hate it when my clients get Macs. Since it reduces my support calls from them at least 75%. As the Macs just work.

Its sad when apple PR tries to disguise themselves on tech sites to do "Damage control".
 

mrmez

Splendid
Why should I have to ask Toms? The human race put a man on the moon decades before i was born, why can't a computer just work?

"Hey guys, new work rig, here's my pc part picker list. Anything I'm missing? Is this PSU any good? And If I want to get another 280x for gaming in a year will it still be good???"

Or

"My computer randomly BSODs. What could be wrong?"

Toms is FLOODED with those posts because building a PC is a jigsaw puzzle of components, bringing infinite variability. That variability causes potential issues. Switched to Apple for all our work PC's in 2009 after a particularly annoying month involving two dead PSU's on 2 store bought systems, a GFX card heatsink detaching and numerous crashes on my system that saw my mouse flying into my monitor at mach 10.

In the 5 years following on Macs, the only thing to die was a Time Machine, and even that didn't totally die, the Wifi just got extremely slow.

Being a manager of 2 small businesses I've pretty much got to do everything to an extent. I'm the general manager, production manager, marketing manager, accounts exec, IT guy and payroll bitch.
If I can spend more on a computer that works more reliably, it's better for my staff and frees me up to run and grow my businesses, not chase after broken PC's.

It's an employer vs employee mentality. My work time is my own money. I pay for it, not the company.

My own real world experience has shown me that Macs are more reliable. I'll still keep my (old) water-cooled beast at home for occasional gaming.
 
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