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Cost of comparable PC to i5 iMac

D

DarrenC

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 19, 2008
37
0
Greensboro, NC
Anybody ever run the numbers? I have A LOT of friends at work riding me b/c I bought the iMac. They can't deter me, I love that thing. Does so much I can't begin to preach to them.

Anyway, their main argument is that I overspent saying I could get a comparable PC for much cheaper. I don't believe it but need some numbers. I saw Dell's 27" LED display today for $1100 and that's a good start... By the time you add WiFi, Bluetooth (receiver/keyboard/mouse), equivalent software,.... How much?

I'm not much of a build-it-yourself guy so I need your help!!!
 
You won't win the argument and neither will they. You bought it, you like it, so what. You don't need to validate your purchase to them. You'll rest easier this way trust me.
 
Apple, just like any other company, probably mass buys their hardware and gets epic discounts in doing so-- leaving them the room to gouge up their retail prices even more and make more monaaah.

I really don't know why people always bring up price in an argument though; you go out and buy something you like. If you like the form factor of the new iMacs with their unibody aluminum design, then go out and buy one.

I guess the custom PC guys like to think they're not wasting any money, but reality is the makers of each of those individual parts gouges their retail prices up as well, otherwise they wouldn't make money :S
 
iMacs are priced well if you ask me.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883117041

Check out this Sony and compare what you got versus what you could have got for $1,500. You did good!

I'm all for calling out Apple when their prices are ridiculous, but the new iMacs really are a good deal, even compared to PC's. And don't let them compare your iMac to a tower PC. 2 different categories all together.
 
09iMac=Fail said:
iMacs are priced well if you ask me.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883117041

Check out this Sony and compare what you got versus what you could have got for $1,500. You did good!

I'm all for calling out Apple when their prices are ridiculous, but the new iMacs really are a good deal, even compared to PC's. And don't let them compare your iMac to a tower PC. 2 different categories all together.
Click to expand...

Yes. Although, even compared to a tower, the 27" iMac is a relatively well-priced machine. Probably one of the best "deals" Apple has ever had.
 
Also, PC people will always make comparisons when it's convenient for them, they will shut up when it's not convenient. Of course, they will compare the iMac to a desktop mini tower. But will they compare the iMac to another AIO? NO. Why? Because the iMac trumps every other AIO, price for price and feature for feature and it's should only be compared to AIO's. If you're friends can't make a fair comparison, tell them shut up. :)
 
In my opinion, you have to compare Apple to a luxury car maker. Apple is often compared to a BMW. There's always a markup (sometimes 15-20% markup in prices). People still buy BWM's regardless of prices. BMW's retain their value. I kinda of treated the car as a lease. Same thing goes to Apple. They are considered more of a luxury computer/electronic maker. You pay a premium for their products.

So a comparable PC with an i5 and similar 27 inch monitor (yeah I know Apple uses IPS technology) but that type of PC will run you around $1500-1800 and you have to deal with a PC tower as opposed to an all in one.

That's what you gotta love about the free market. If people keep on buying Apple products at their set prices, they will keep propping up their prices. I like the support I get at the local BMW dealership. I like the support I get at Apple. I can always setup an appointment at the local Apple store if needed.
 
Don't forget the styling too. It looks great !

I bought the 27 inch imac 50% for its performance and 50% for the beautifull styling of the product as its in a prominent place in my house.

Combined, there's nothing out there that beats it IMHO
 
Apparently the Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" screen uses the same 2560 x 1440 panel as the 27" iMac and goes for $1,099.

I think the iMac is quite well priced, considering it is an all-in-one machine.

But it's funny how the "Macs are more expensive than Windows-based computers" never get old...
 
DarrenC said:
Anybody ever run the numbers? I have A LOT of friends at work riding me b/c I bought the iMac. They can't deter me, I love that thing. Does so much I can't begin to preach to them.

Anyway, their main argument is that I overspent saying I could get a comparable PC for much cheaper. I don't believe it but need some numbers. I saw Dell's 27" LED display today for $1100 and that's a good start... By the time you add WiFi, Bluetooth (receiver/keyboard/mouse), equivalent software,.... How much?

I'm not much of a build-it-yourself guy so I need your help!!!
Click to expand...

  1. You can't get a "comparable PC" at any price. There are a few all-in-one PCs, but I don't think any of them yet use the i5 / i7 chips nor have a 27" screen.
  2. By the time you price a PC with ALL the exact same specs as the iMac, you'll find the price difference really is not that much, and in some cases Apple comes out cheaper.
  3. Good luck to any fool silly enough to try and build their own same specced all-in-one computer ... it would look like a hopeless mess, take a thousand times longer than going into an AppleStore, and would cost more, especially if you include your own time.
If you're comparing an iMac to any old desktop PC (minitower, etc.), then you're comparing Apples with lemons. Yes, you can buy a cheapo PC with lesser specs from a no-name brand that is best avoided ... but if you pay peanuts to an elephant, then it's no surprise you'll get dung.

Besides which, being able to avoid Windoze and all the stupid malware that goes with it is almost worth paying ANY price.
 
just ran the numbers and it's about even. Dell/HP win on the fact you can get a much better graphics card. iMac wins due to the quality of the screen and support. on a Dell/HP once you factor in the cost of the screen and support the price is the same or more.

big difference is that Dell/HP will charge you $300 or more for a 3 year warranty. Apple will charge you $169 or $119 in my case for an education discount.
 
alent1234 said:
just ran the numbers and it's about even. Dell/HP win on the fact you can get a much better graphics card. iMac wins due to the quality of the screen and support. on a Dell/HP once you factor in the cost of the screen and support the price is the same or more.

big difference is that Dell/HP will charge you $300 or more for a 3 year warranty. Apple will charge you $169 or $119 in my case for an education discount.
Click to expand...

Um, you wanna show us which Dell and HP that you found that evens out with the iMac?? The GPU isn't a big enough comparison. Show us the rest.
 
aneftp said:
In my opinion, you have to compare Apple to a luxury car maker. Apple is often compared to a BMW. There's always a markup (sometimes 15-20% markup in prices). People still buy BWM's regardless of prices. BMW's retain their value. I kinda of treated the car as a lease. Same thing goes to Apple. They are considered more of a luxury computer/electronic maker. You pay a premium for their products.

So a comparable PC with an i5 and similar 27 inch monitor (yeah I know Apple uses IPS technology) but that type of PC will run you around $1500-1800 and you have to deal with a PC tower as opposed to an all in one.

That's what you gotta love about the free market. If people keep on buying Apple products at their set prices, they will keep propping up their prices. I like the support I get at the local BMW dealership. I like the support I get at Apple. I can always setup an appointment at the local Apple store if needed.
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what I was thinking. As Lexas to Toyota, Or Infiniti to Nissan.
 
except that a Lexus/Acura will have a faster engine than a comparable Toyota/Honda


as of today Mac's have slower engines than a comparable PC
 
alent1234 said:
except that a Lexus/Acura will have a faster engine than a comparable Toyota/Honda


as of today Mac's have slower engines than a comparable PC
Click to expand...


Depends. Are you equating the CPU to the engine? Or the Operating System?
 
don't forget that screen is worth at least $600 if you had to buy it alone. If you don't care about the screen, I built myself a comparable i5 desktop for $400. Of course it looked like ass.

Throw in the cost of OSX and the awesome design and I think the 27" iMac is still a good deal if you can afford it.
 
alent1234 said:
except that a Lexus/Acura will have a faster engine than a comparable Toyota/Honda


as of today Mac's have slower engines than a comparable PC
Click to expand...

I didn't know engines were fast or slow. I thought they were either powerful or underpowered depending on the chassis they are put into. So, taking that analogy, which OS takes fewer resources to run, Windows or Mac OS? Then look at the "engine" power and determine its power (CPU) to weight (OS) ratio. Hm....when you look at it that way, meaning two seconds of thought.....
 
i've used every version of Windows since 95 and use OS X at home as well. resource wise they are about the same. installing XP, Vista or 7 on my laptop they use the same amount of RAM. i only see a slowdown after installing the applications i need. i've always installed Windows myself from scratch so if you buy a Dell/HP than the crapware will eat up a lot of resources. even on my work HP laptop i got rid of the HP diagnostic/security tools. Apple is not innocent since the latest versions of itunes on windows install a lot of tasks that run in the background and start up when you start your PC.

OS X the biggest slowdown I see is using flash. on windows 7 running flash compared to HTML5 versions of youtube is the same amount of resources. with flash 10.1 for Windows adobe added hardware decoding of h.264 content if you have a supported graphics card.

with Vista MS added an indexer to index your files since people loved Google desktop so much. that was the biggest performance hit with Vista since it would run all the time. with Windows 7 they turned it off by default.

i've looked at RAM usage while internet browsing and firefox/Chrome/IE are all about the same. Firefox has had memory leaks in previous versions which probably ticked off a lot of people. browsing any javascript site is almost always a RAM hog and will spike your resource use no matter what browser you use. i've clocked Google Chrome using 600MB of RAM while on Google Wave.
 
alent1234 said:
except that a Lexus/Acura will have a faster engine than a comparable Toyota/Honda


as of today Mac's have slower engines than a comparable PC
Click to expand...

Sorry but if they are comparable it means they are basically the same.

Are you trying to say that a Windows-based PC bought with the same budget as the 27" iMac is going to be faster?
 
Pressure said:
Sorry but if they are comparable it means they are basically the same.

Are you trying to say that a Windows-based PC bought with the same budget as the 27" iMac is going to be faster?
Click to expand...


depends

the i5 config is the best value now and with apple you are paying for the best monitor you can buy. since dell/hp allow more customization you can configure a PC with a faster CPU/GPU but lower quality monitor. once you add in the same quality monitor it's about the same $$$.

i spent an hour playing with configurations yesterday and if you compare the iMac 27" i5 to a PC the iMac wins on cost. if you compare the lower priced iMac than the PC wins since you can get a cheaper Dell/HP with a core 2 duo or i5
 
alent1234 said:
depends

the i5 config is the best value now and with apple you are paying for the best monitor you can buy. since dell/hp allow more customization you can configure a PC with a faster CPU/GPU but lower quality monitor. once you add in the same quality monitor it's about the same $$$.
Click to expand...


Yeah. I agree. with the display, graphics card and other things in turns into about the same. and Generally-(i say that with caution) when apple takes computers and peices them together, all of the hardware usually works together better than PCs GENERALLY.
 
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