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iMac 24" or Dell XPS 420

S

SneakerFreak

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 19, 2007
49
8
I'm in a real quandry. I love OSX and my MBP is superb however my main PC is about to bite the dust and I would really like to replace it with a shiny new 24" iMac 2.4ghz.

Problem is that I looked on the Dell website and for the same £1149 I can get the following spec machine:

2.66ghz CPU
24" Monitor
4gb RAM (only 1gb on iMac)
1 TB hard drive (2 x 500gb RAID)
8800GT GPU
TV Tuner
Blu-ray Drive !!!

Can someone give me some other good reasons why I should go for the iMac - slower, less HD space, less RAM, slower GPU, no TV and no Blu-ray

I know the iMac will look nicer but there has to come a point where you can no longer ignore the power advantage of a PC
 
SneakerFreak said:
I'm in a real quandry. I love OSX and my MBP is superb however my main PC is about to bite the dust and I would really like to replace it with a shiny new 24" iMac 2.4ghz.

Problem is that I looked on the Dell website and for the same £1149 I can get the following spec machine:

2.66ghz CPU
24" Monitor
4gb RAM (only 1gb on iMac)
1 TB hard drive (2 x 500gb RAID)
8800GT GPU
TV Tuner
Blu-ray Drive !!!

Can someone give me some other good reasons why I should go for the iMac - slower, less HD space, less RAM, slower GPU, no TV and no Blu-ray

I know the iMac will look nicer but there has to come a point where you can no longer ignore the power advantage of a PC
Click to expand...

the dell is going to be louder.
 
SneakerFreak said:
I'm in a real quandry. I love OSX and my MBP is superb however my main PC is about to bite the dust and I would really like to replace it with a shiny new 24" iMac 2.4ghz.

Problem is that I looked on the Dell website and for the same £1149 I can get the following spec machine:

2.66ghz CPU
24" Monitor
4gb RAM (only 1gb on iMac)
1 TB hard drive (2 x 500gb RAID)
8800GT GPU
TV Tuner
Blu-ray Drive !!!

Can someone give me some other good reasons why I should go for the iMac - slower, less HD space, less RAM, slower GPU, no TV and no Blu-ray

I know the iMac will look nicer but there has to come a point where you can no longer ignore the power advantage of a PC
Click to expand...

Good for you! Why do you even ask this kind of question in Mac Forum? You already made your mind and no one here is stopping you to buy it. It's your money and you should do what ever you like to spend on it.

People like me, I don't really need that kind of powerful machine. I got my IMac because I wanted to put it in the living room and do some stuffs there. And it has to look good for other stuffs that I have in the living room. Yes, I do have better ugly black box in my study room and that's where no one else will enter, and I am really happy with that.
 
You can get all those Dell Extras as addons to the iMac.
I think Roxio Toast has blu-ray support, but not 100%.

The Dell will be a huge machine by comparison, and MUCH louder. And it doesnt come with OS X.
 
It seems to me that it is impossible to say without knowing your intended use for the machine. If it is for applications that require the absolute best/fastest hardware for the dollar, get he Dell. If you are a consumer with functions that will rarely push that hardware, you will sorely miss OS X and all the Apple goodness if you get the Dell. (trading something you use and love everyday for something you rarely use).

So you tell us. ;)
 
I was in the same predicament. I needed to replace my aging G3 iMac with a new desktop. It was between a 20" iMac and a used Commodore 64. The C64 had an external floppy AND a tape drive. The iMac? Nada.
 
ClassicBean said:
I was in the same predicament. I needed to replace my aging G3 iMac with a new desktop. It was between a 20" iMac and a used Commodore 64. The C64 had an external floppy AND a tape drive. The iMac? Nada.
Click to expand...

c64 everytime!! nothing like a bit of nostalgia running up your fingertips.
 
ClassicBean said:
I was in the same predicament. I needed to replace my aging G3 iMac with a new desktop. It was between a 20" iMac and a used Commodore 64. The C64 had an external floppy AND a tape drive. The iMac? Nada.
Click to expand...

Dear sir, I think you had ROFL waffles for breakfast. :D

To the OP, I think you've made up your mind. Buy the PC; no one will kill you. Your computer will look as good as the computers of 90% of the world.
 
If you are really content with getting another Windows machine, by all means go for it. A year ago I switched back from an eMac G4 to a Dell Dimension E521, and it was a really good machine. Dell support was excellent, and when a failed BIOS updated fried my Motherboard they came out to the house and replaced it for me, and the guy gave me an XP Pro disk since I was so unsatisfied with Vista Basic. However, I never loved my Dell like I did my eMac and current iMac C2D. OS X alone is worth the extra price, along with all the "Ooohs" and "Aaahs" I get. :p
 
Yes, by all means get the DELL, it's a superior machine in all aspects, BTW All of us here actually only own PC's because windows RULES!
Nothing like it. WE LIVE FOR TECHING THEM EVERY WEEKEND!!!
WHOOO......
PS My sig is fake.
I actually drool over my P4 Vista machine. Buy the dell or you will be shunned & un-cool.

Whew, that was hard, did anyone believe me?
OSCAR performance ?:D

STOP POSTING ON MAC SITES ABOUT YOUR DESIRE FOR A WINDOZE POS>
WE DO NOT, I REPEAT WE DO NOT CARE!!!
Go Buy it, & join a Dell lovers rumor site, oh that's right there are none.:)
 
LOL, everyone's playing into the OP's troll thread. :D He just wants to ruffle feathers, ignore the idiot.
 
threads like this are always around, and its always fun to shoot down someone else's desire to buy a PC. Its like going hunting, sounds really horrible and nasty, but really good fun when you do it!
 
mperkins37 said:
Yes, by all means get the DELL, it's a superior machine in all aspects, BTW All of us here actually only own PC's because windows RULES!
Nothing like it. WE LIVE FOR TECHING THEM EVERY WEEKEND!!!
WHOOO......
PS My sig is fake.
I actually drool over my P4 Vista machine. Buy the dell or you will be shunned & un-cool.

Whew, that was hard, did anyone believe me?
OSCAR performance ?:D

STOP POSTING ON MAC SITES ABOUT YOUR DESIRE FOR A WINDOZE POS>
WE DO NOT, I REPEAT WE DO NOT CARE!!!
Go Buy it, & join a Dell lovers rumor site, oh that's right there are none.:)
Click to expand...

Stop posting! We do not, I repeat, we do not care!

Go rip the power cable out of your computer and keep it out.

This is a constructive discussion.
 
SneakerFreak said:
Can someone give me some other good reasons why I should go for the iMac - slower, less HD space, less RAM, slower GPU, no TV and no Blu-ray

I know the iMac will look nicer but there has to come a point where you can no longer ignore the power advantage of a PC
Click to expand...

When I first read the OP I thought the spec was a standard configuration, especially the way the RAM is identified as 4GB (iMac only 1 GB). When I selected all the specs on the Dell us site, the total came out to $1979. Considering the 24" imac is currently $1799 or $1499 on the refurb page, we are looking at a 200-almost $500 premium. You have to consider the Mac refurb because the Dell price is a limited time promo of some sort.

I guess when I look at the stability of my mac for what I do (video editing), I'm not willing to spend all my free time reconfiguring, hunting malware, ensuring my virus scanner is up to date etc etc. I know this because my wife has to use a PC for work and she often hooks me in to help her with her XP laptop. I couldn't imagine having to do that kind of support for our three other machines.

Are you asking because you want to be swayed, or have you made your mind up and forgotten how much work maintenance can be on a PC?

PS - the question is not meant to be sarcastic. I know those kind of questions get thrown around a lot on forums. You must know that there is a certain level of satisfaction among Mac users that, glitches aside, their mac will be ready to do the job.
 
Hey Dude

I was in the same position as you

- I love my macbook, OS X is sooo elegant and fluid to use
- every thing is so much more organized, and the hardware "LOOKS" good

However, my older desktop pc at home was getting old (bought in 1998ish! - a dell, which i must say is still working well enough today with winXP, but i really needed to replace with something faster)

So I had the option to choose from the iMAC 20/24 inch or get another pc
- firstly, the imac uses laptop components, so not that much powerfull
- they havnt updated to penryn processors yet
- all is one design is good, but i dont mind having a tower...
- OS X>>>>>>>Vista; HOWEVER there is ubuntu!
look how similar it functions to os x: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKEcz_OTTBk

So I looked at the XPS deal from last week, and 420 looks like a appealing tower, with piano glossy black tower, with external screen (though useless) looks good

So the hardware i was look at was:
- E8500 (Penryn 45nm) - 3.16 C2D - 1333MHz FSB
- 750 GB - 7200RPM drive
- E248 - 24" HD display!
- 4gb ram - 667 MHz (****though the 32bit vista that come with this dell, DOES not recogonize the entire 4GB, only ~3.2-3.5GB maybe - o well still more than 1 or 2GB)
- built in tv tuner
- nVidia 8800GT card with 512mb vram
- 16X DVDRW
- Vista Home P. :(
(no bluray, but i dont really care about that for now...probably will get ps3 in future)

so guess how much it was: 1680 $ (canadian) ~~=£838


So i decided for hardware power over operating system, consdering i would install linux if vista gets on my nerves, however, i have been using windows 98 and xp and 2000 ever since i was 10yr old, so i am sure it wont be too bad to live with vista, plus i can do some amazing gaming with that 8800gt card!

well, also since i already have a pretty new macbook, i am not missing out on this great os x experience!

so those are my 2 cents, hopefully it helped?
 
SneakerFreak said:
I'm in a real quandry. I love OSX and my MBP is superb however my main PC is about to bite the dust and I would really like to replace it with a shiny new 24" iMac 2.4ghz.

Problem is that I looked on the Dell website and for the same £1149 I can get the following spec machine:

2.66ghz CPU
24" Monitor
4gb RAM (only 1gb on iMac)
1 TB hard drive (2 x 500gb RAID)
8800GT GPU
TV Tuner
Blu-ray Drive !!!

Can someone give me some other good reasons why I should go for the iMac - slower, less HD space, less RAM, slower GPU, no TV and no Blu-ray

I know the iMac will look nicer but there has to come a point where you can no longer ignore the power advantage of a PC
Click to expand...

I can give you one reason...Dell Tech support.
I bought the XPS 420, problems right out of the box. Ok..it happens, so I called customer service, get tech support...and have never been treated so rudely by tech support. I had paid more to get premium tech support. It was just awful.
I want got into detail (make the post too long) but I got the run around, trying to make a return, finally got the return setup on Monday. I'd received the computer on the previous Thursday. Tech had determined it was a hardware issue. I could have done an exchange, but Tech support was simply the worst, I've ever encountered. I never want another Dell.
So I bought a 24 iMac, and couldn't be happier. Granted, your needs may be different, as the iMac will be the family computer. I use a PM G5 for my personal computing.
The iMac worked out of the box, everything set up flawlessly..easily, whereas setting up new PCs has always been a pain to me. (drivers.etc)
I probably would have exchanged the 420, had it not been for the terrible tech support. One guy said, I'd dialed the wrong dept (CS transferred me there)..another, after several insulting remarks, told me.."its a mystery to me, I don't know how I can help you." This is what I paid EXTRA for?

So if you want a Dell, go for it. Very nice case, much better built than the desktops a few years ago. Just hope and pray you don't need tech support, because it has to be among the absolute worst in the business.
 
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