Why do you still buy an iMac?

[Daisy81]

I didn't say that you'd get a 27" retina 5k screen with that. But the question is more along the lines of will the computer do the same functions at about the same speed. Yes, the 5K screen is great. But what good is having a beautiful screen if your wireless keyboard that ships with your iMac just won't stay connected as there are drivers issues with bluetooth and the OS that Apple pretty much forces you to upgrade to. Or your mouse is temperamental and takes 30 seconds to simply wake up.

How about your UPS that has a usb plug so it can auto shut down your computer if the power goes off, but suddenly is not compatible when you upgrade your OS to try and keep the AppleCare support you paid for. (Oh yea, they have the option not to support you if you refuse any software upgrade).

Or ...

I bought a computer to use it. if I have to spend days on end with Apple on the phone as they can't seem to get their own hardware to work with their software and they feel the fault is yours because it seems to work with everyone else and why are you just complaining.

I can get quite a nice i5 3.5ghz windows computer with 8gb of ram for $800. Yes it might not look as nice but it likely have less issues that what I got.

That $800 PC has a horrible monitor if any. It is also going to have the cheapest (not inexpensive, cheap) PSU, motherboard, RAM, ect that the builder can find. In other words it will never last as long, the specs are only enough for today, and you'll be upgrading again in a year or two. The build quality of the case is going to be poor and it will be all plastic and cheap PC steel frames. One word to describe it, junk.

You can use whatever mouse and keyboard you want on any Mac. If you don't like the included wireless mice BTO the machine and get the USB mouse and keyboard. Alternativly trade in or sell the new wireless mouse and keyboard and buy what ever ones you want to use. It's not like Dell, HP and the rest of them provide quality peripherals with their machines and it is a silly reason to argue against a machine.

Personally in the last 8 years I have never had an issue with Apple's bluetooth devices. I think you are now making a straw man argument.

In terms of value for the iMac this is my iMac.

The machine itself was $3749 USD.

The Dell 5K monitor is $2200. The Core i7 processor is $400. The trackpad is $129 and the keyboard is $99. Assuming that the cost of the Apple monitor includes the same quality construction as the iMac of it's time consider the cost of the design and materials built into the cost of the monitor.

$3749 - $2200 - $400 - $129 - $99 = $921.

For $921 Apple sold me:

• 1TB PCIe SSD
• 16GB DDR3 1867MHz
• AMD Radeon R9 M395X 4096MB
• The logic board with wireless AC, 4xUSB3, 2xThunderbolt2, gigabit ethernet, bluetooth 4.0, FaceTime HD camera, 2 microphones
• Ability to use OS X
• other various things inside the machine that makes the machine work

When I look at the cost in this light and considering that in many things this machine is better then a 4 core Mac Pro or at least on par it was a no brainer.

 

[roadkill401]

What exactly are you having a problem with? If it is the keyboard and mouse that is easily remedied. The new magic keyboard will function with the lightning cable attached (and not require bluetooth) and there are plenty of third party options.

As for the UPS, you expect Apple to support a device that they didn't make? They upgrade the OS and it is up to the third party peripheral makers to ensure that their devices work with the new OS, not Apple.

I'm not saying that Apple is perfect but an $800 PC may not have these particular issues but come on, you have to admit that saying you are less likely to have issues than with what you have is not true at all.

So what you are saying is that the iMac that I bought and paid over $3k for, I now have to go out and buy a replacement keyboard and mouse as Apple who made the whole thing can't get their own hardware to work reliably with their own OS. So I need to buy a new keyboard that I can hook up a wire between the iMac and the Keyboard and I guess buy a wired mouse (and now have 2 less available USB ports).

As for the UPS. I guess you have had your head stuck in the sand for the past decade. There is a communication standard for how UPS's talk to a computer via both a serial cable (now defunct) and a USB cable. It's been a part of the Linux (unix) world for many years now and has an actual embedded demon to talk with the UPS to get the batter status. It sort of works, and if you boot your iMac and plug in the USB cable, then the iMac will tallk to the UPS and get the battery status (but I lost the run time with this update). The issue is that for some dumb reason, if you plug the USB cable into the back of the iMac, it hangs on bootup. The only work around I have found is to use an old usb2 hub. Now it works fine on my Mac Mini with Mavericks. It worked fine on my iMac with Yosemite. But El Capitan broke it.

And YES, in the total time I have owned this iMac, I have had more issues with things not working. Like about 3 weeks after I bought this iMac, the FaceTime and iMessage service stopped working for about 7 weeks. It turned out to be some problem on Apple's end that after a week to trouble shooting and multiple hours of effort on my end re-loading and testing things, the ticket finally went to Engineering who fixed their issue. Was that my problem? Weill Apple sure turned it into mine as they denied my access to functionality that I bought this iMac for. So just because you are an Apple Fanboy who thinks Apple can do no wrong, doesn't mean the rest of the world buys into that lark.
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Personally in the last 8 years I have never had an issue with Apple's bluetooth devices. I think you are now making a straw man argument.

If anyone is using a Straw Man argument, look in a mirror.

Your comments are like saying to someone who buys a $150,000 Mercedes AMG and gets a car that the breaks simply don't work. If they took it into the dealer and who simply say I-dunno, the same breaks work fine on all our other cars. I guess that is your problem.

Your solution would be to go out any buy new third party break calibers and disks and just replace what obviously doesn't work, but heaven forbid your out of line to complain about buying a defective car that the OEM feels that they don't need to fix.

 

[Daisy81]

So what you are saying is that the iMac that I bought and paid over $3k for, I now have to go out and buy a replacement keyboard and mouse as Apple who made the whole thing can't get their own hardware to work reliably with their own OS. So I need to buy a new keyboard that I can hook up a wire between the iMac and the Keyboard and I guess buy a wired mouse (and now have 2 less available USB ports).

As for the UPS. I guess you have had your head stuck in the sand for the past decade. There is a communication standard for how UPS's talk to a computer via both a serial cable (now defunct) and a USB cable. It's been a part of the Linux (unix) world for many years now and has an actual embedded demon to talk with the UPS to get the batter status. It sort of works, and if you boot your iMac and plug in the USB cable, then the iMac will tallk to the UPS and get the battery status (but I lost the run time with this update). The issue is that for some dumb reason, if you plug the USB cable into the back of the iMac, it hangs on bootup. The only work around I have found is to use an old usb2 hub. Now it works fine on my Mac Mini with Mavericks. It worked fine on my iMac with Yosemite. But El Capitan broke it.

And YES, in the total time I have owned this iMac, I have had more issues with things not working. Like about 3 weeks after I bought this iMac, the FaceTime and iMessage service stopped working for about 7 weeks. It turned out to be some problem on Apple's end that after a week to trouble shooting and multiple hours of effort on my end re-loading and testing things, the ticket finally went to Engineering who fixed their issue. Was that my problem? Weill Apple sure turned it into mine as they denied my access to functionality that I bought this iMac for. So just because you are an Apple Fanboy who thinks Apple can do no wrong, doesn't mean the rest of the world buys into that lark.

He isn't saying you need to buy a mouse and keyboard.

Are you seriously faulting Apple for dropping the com port on their machines? A port that measures speed in bytes.

How old is your UPS?

You sound like a Apple hater making things up. I know Apple isn't perfect but you are all over the place hating on the machine for software issues which most likely where from user error.

If you really do have that iMac why don't you sell it and move on if you hate it so much?
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If anyone is using a Straw Man argument, look in a mirror.

Your comments are like saying to someone who buys a $150,000 Mercedes AMG and gets a car that the breaks simply don't work. If they took it into the dealer and who simply say I-dunno, the same breaks work fine on all our other cars. I guess that is your problem.

Your solution would be to go out any buy new third party break calibers and disks and just replace what obviously doesn't work, but heaven forbid your out of line to complain about buying a defective car that the OEM feels that they don't need to fix.

Ok so the topic here is on the value of the iMac. I show you that the machine itself is an outstanding value but lets all make sure that you feel that the iMac is junk because you say the Bluetooth isn't working right.

I find that interesting as I sit in front of my iMac using the new bluetooth keyboard and trackpad and they are working flawlessly. I have not had a single dropped connection. They go to sleep and wake up quickly to conserve power without any loss to quality of service when I need them. They are built very well. I can see their battery status in the status bar bluetooth section. I can even use them both as USB devices with the lighting cables plugged in.

Here we go with the car metaphores .... I'm not going there with another straw man argument.

Take a picture of your iMac on your desk right now. Hold up a piece of paper in front of it with your screen name on it. I would love to see your iMac you claim to have. You understand, to verify that you actually have a iMac while making these claims. Make sure you have about this iMac open on the overview tab too. Otherwise I think you are making up issues.

Edit: Here is my iMac so you can see it is mine and know I'm not just running my mouth.

After over half an hour I think it is safe to say you don't have the iMac you claim to have if you even have an older iMac at all. Personally I suspect that you are badmouthing the bluetooth because you think wired devices are better and you dislike Apple. I also suspect you have never had an actual Apple computer and the $800 machine you where mentioning is probably the machine you actually have.

Now granted if it fits your needs and works then it is serving it's purpose. One thing it does have is some upgradeability. You might be able to upgrade the CPU if the motherboard in it has support for higher model processors in the i5's generation. With Windows you won't even have to reinstall the OS but it would be a good idea to do so anyways. You can ugrade the RAM and if it has a PCIe slot add in a graphics card. The constraint is the power supply in it. Being basic you are most likely limited to a graphics card that doesn't need more power then what the PCIe slot provides. The machine could probably be upgraded to be pretty decent but lets not pretend that $800 is the total cost of the machine in it's lietime.

 

[jeffbarclay]

Looking down the iMac forums, I am still surprised at the amount of people who don't buy a laptop and dock them into large displays; then you have the benefit of portability and screen real-estate at the same time.

I am genuinely interested as to why you choose the desktop option to the notebook/dock option? What clear advantages does it bring? Does it not constrict you in terms of where you work, or moving your current system state with you on the go?

Ps. I am not trying to start an argument. As a MacBook user, I am my self eyeing up an iMac. I just want other people's opinions on here.

 

[cerberusss]

So what you are saying is that the iMac that I bought and paid over $3k for, I now have to go out and buy a replacement keyboard and mouse

As for the UPS.(...) El Capitan broke it.

FaceTime and iMessage service stopped working for about 7 weeks

Wow, seems you have (had?) a streak of bad luck. Couple of observations here;

I've had luck with Bluetooth so far. But I've worked at a client's office close to an airport. There was something going on there with radar signals or what have you, because me and my coworkers had a lot of trouble with our Apple bluetooth-based input devices. Most started working with the old USB-based keyboards and mice. I really love my trackpad and it worked but had to reboot (!) each morning to get it to connect. So Bluetooth is definitely not a silver bullet.

As for the UPS/El Capitan combo: yes, El Capitan killed a number of 3rd party drivers. This goes for nVidia's own drivers, there's a couple of Edimax wifi adapters and there's 3G modems that stopped working. I had an ethernet adapter (via USB) that also ceased working. Apple tightened security and the vendors have responded slowly or not at all. Perhaps they don't want to jump through hoops, I don't know. I'm pretty sure Apple didn't reach out to them and helped any suppliers here. Although they do put out betas very regularly.

And the FaceTime/iMessage thing; for lots of people it works. Then there are lots of people for whom Apple's cloud services are messy and buggy. Personally, I feel they simply can't deliver the same quality as they do in hardware. Marco Arment wrote about this last year: https://marco.org/2015/01/04/apple-lost-functional-high-ground
And more recently, Walt Mossberg also wrote about it: http://recode.net/2016/02/03/mossberg-apples-own-apps-need-work/

 

[Serban]

he probably never owned an imac and thats the why is a hater

 

[cyclingplatypus]

I was simply saying that you had options to combat your particular problems, as you have pointed out a few times you spent more than $3k on the iMac - a hundred bucks more on a wired keyboard shouldn't really be a problem. The Apple wired keyboard actually has two USB ports built in so you would actually be gaining a USB port instead of losing two on the back of the iMac.

As for your UPS, how old is the unit?

If the bluetooth issue was serious there would be lots of discussion about it, we Mac fans are nothing if not vocal about our problems. There are plenty of external sources that could explain why you are having a problem - one of them was talked about above.

 

[roadkill401]

The question of this topic was "Why do you still buy an iMac?".

My comment back was that I don't think that I will buy another as for the cost of this unit which to me was a bit of a premium price, I felt that the quality of what I got was not worth the price I paid.

When I purchased this iMac, I bought and extra wireless apple trackpad. it too is bluetooth, and works flawlessly. From 10.11.0 through I was plagued with issues of dropping connection with just my Keyboard and Mouse. it would work for a bit, then suddenly drop the connection. There was absolutely no issues with Yosemite 10.10.x so don't point the finger as it's my environment. Apple Care live in a silo and don't talk to Engineering it seems, or bothers to read up on what issues are outstanding to get fixed. In their diagnosis I had to spend multiple hours trying everything for creating new clients to re-installing the OS to wipeing everything and re-installing. They even had me required to drive the 64 miles to the nearest apple store for them to check out the iMac.

But it actually was a known issue for Apple, and in the 10.11.2 update, low and behold a bug fix for specific bluetooth keyboard/mouse dropping issues. So had AppleCare bothered to know that it was a known issue identified by Engineering, then my time would not have been waisted.

Daisy81 - I guess your reading skills are not up to scratch. cyclingplatypus said that if it was my keyboard and mouse that was causing a problem then I could just get one with a cord. That is saying that my expectation of the keyboard and mouse supplied by Apple in the package they shipped to work with the OSx is too much, and if it doesn't work then just buy something else. That is like saying boo-hoo to all the people with an iPhone that have battery problems with the current IOS. just go out and buy yourself a portable battery pack rather than complain. Or the people who had issues with their wireless network on their Mac, just plug it in with an ethernet cable. Just because the hardware you bought doesn't work as advertised, stop complaining and put up with it as Apple should not care.

I am not saying that EVERY iMac has a problem with bluetooth. I am saying that MY iMac does and APPLE CARE didn't do anything but waste my time and energy doing useless things that did nothing to fix the issue.

Also Daisy81- Read the whole sentence about UPS's. There is a standard for communication that does not require any 3rd party drivers. It has been around for a very long time. And for some reason, Apple managed to mess it up with El Capitan so that with a UPS communication cord plugged into the USB port on the back of my iMac, the iMac will not boot. There are no issues with DRIVERS as NON HAVE BEEN LOADED. Turns out Apple is aware of the issue but OOPS release the OS with this bug.

To say I am a Mac hater is a bit of a lark. I just don't feel that Apple is worth the premium price they are asking and doubt that I would buy another one when this one becomes obsolete. If apple offered to take this away and give me back my full purchase price, I would take them up on the offer. I feel that I can get as good a computer for my needs from alternate vendors. That is not saying that everyone else should, as some here seem to think, or that my criticisms are of importance to anyone else. Nor does it mean that nobody else can make their own choice.

 

[Daisy81]

The question of this topic was "Why do you still buy an iMac?".

My comment back was that I don't think that I will buy another as for the cost of this unit which to me was a bit of a premium price, I felt that the quality of what I got was not worth the price I paid.

When I purchased this iMac, I bought and extra wireless apple trackpad. it too is bluetooth, and works flawlessly. From 10.11.0 through I was plagued with issues of dropping connection with just my Keyboard and Mouse. it would work for a bit, then suddenly drop the connection. There was absolutely no issues with Yosemite 10.10.x so don't point the finger as it's my environment. Apple Care live in a silo and don't talk to Engineering it seems, or bothers to read up on what issues are outstanding to get fixed. In their diagnosis I had to spend multiple hours trying everything for creating new clients to re-installing the OS to wipeing everything and re-installing. They even had me required to drive the 64 miles to the nearest apple store for them to check out the iMac.

But it actually was a known issue for Apple, and in the 10.11.2 update, low and behold a bug fix for specific bluetooth keyboard/mouse dropping issues. So had AppleCare bothered to know that it was a known issue identified by Engineering, then my time would not have been waisted.

Daisy81 - I guess your reading skills are not up to scratch. cyclingplatypus said that if it was my keyboard and mouse that was causing a problem then I could just get one with a cord. That is saying that my expectation of the keyboard and mouse supplied by Apple in the package they shipped to work with the OSx is too much, and if it doesn't work then just buy something else. That is like saying boo-hoo to all the people with an iPhone that have battery problems with the current IOS. just go out and buy yourself a portable battery pack rather than complain. Or the people who had issues with their wireless network on their Mac, just plug it in with an ethernet cable. Just because the hardware you bought doesn't work as advertised, stop complaining and put up with it as Apple should not care.

I am not saying that EVERY iMac has a problem with bluetooth. I am saying that MY iMac does and APPLE CARE didn't do anything but waste my time and energy doing useless things that did nothing to fix the issue.

Also Daisy81- Read the whole sentence about UPS's. There is a standard for communication that does not require any 3rd party drivers. It has been around for a very long time. And for some reason, Apple managed to mess it up with El Capitan so that with a UPS communication cord plugged into the USB port on the back of my iMac, the iMac will not boot. There are no issues with DRIVERS as NON HAVE BEEN LOADED. Turns out Apple is aware of the issue but OOPS release the OS with this bug.

To say I am a Mac hater is a bit of a lark. I just don't feel that Apple is worth the premium price they are asking and doubt that I would buy another one when this one becomes obsolete. If apple offered to take this away and give me back my full purchase price, I would take them up on the offer. I feel that I can get as good a computer for my needs from alternate vendors. That is not saying that everyone else should, as some here seem to think, or that my criticisms are of importance to anyone else. Nor does it mean that nobody else can make their own choice.

What makes you think a driver for a specific device is a standard? I work in the AV industry and can tell you that communications on a com port has anything but a industry standard. If Apple dropped the com port on 10.11 I'm only surprised that 10.10 supports it.

USB is a standard port type but in this case I'm willing to bet the UPS is using the USB port as a serial to USB adapter and that is software on top of software so it is no surprise that OSX is having trouble with it.

I still don't think you have one. This topic is about the choice between MacBooks and iMacs. It isn't a OS X vs Windows topic.

 

[nightcap965]

I didn't say that you'd get a 27" retina 5k screen with that. But the question is more along the lines of will the computer do the same functions at about the same speed. Yes, the 5K screen is great. But what good is having a beautiful screen if your wireless keyboard that ships with your iMac just won't stay connected as there are drivers issues with bluetooth and the OS that Apple pretty much forces you to upgrade to. Or your mouse is temperamental and takes 30 seconds to simply wake up.

How about your UPS that has a usb plug so it can auto shut down your computer if the power goes off, but suddenly is not compatible when you upgrade your OS to try and keep the AppleCare support you paid for. (Oh yea, they have the option not to support you if you refuse any software upgrade).

Or ...

I bought a computer to use it. if I have to spend days on end with Apple on the phone as they can't seem to get their own hardware to work with their software and they feel the fault is yours because it seems to work with everyone else and why are you just complaining.

I can get quite a nice i5 3.5ghz windows computer with 8gb of ram for $800. Yes it might not look as nice but it likely have less issues that what I got.

I've used Macs for a very long time, and I've never experienced the terrible aggravations you cite, but perhaps I'm just lucky. I always spent money on the best screen I can buy, because I'm going to be looking at it for hours a day, but doubtless your eyes are younger and more forgiving than mine. I personally believe that MacOS X is the best and least obtrusive OS I've ever used (and I've used them all). If you think Windows is an equivalent OS, more power to you, save yourself some money, buy a nice consumer PeeCee, and enjoy yourself.

 

[Clix Pix]

So this question was "Why do you still buy an iMac?" Well, this last time around I didn't. I had planned on doing so, though. I had been waiting and waiting for Apple to bring out the 21.5" iMac with a retina screen, and finally they did. I looked at the specs and was very disappointed. Sure, the screen is gorgeous, but the other specs weren't all that much different from the 2012 21.5" iMac that was sitting on my computer desk already. I realized it would cost me significantly extra $$$ to get a BTO with the specs that I wanted and so I started weighing the pros and cons. For various reasons I did not want a 27" iMac, so that was not even under consideration.

I began evaluating and considering the 15" rMBP and realized that it already comes right off the shelf at the Apple store with the specs I had in mind (512 GB SSD, 16 GB RAM, discrete graphics). It also offered flexibility in that it is more portable than an iMac, and if I wanted and needed a larger screen I could simply purchase an external monitor. I could use the machine as a laptop and tote it around or I could use the machine as pretty much of a desktop replacement, especially if supported on a stand and supplemented with external peripherals. I already had the new Magic Mouse 2, the new Magic Trackpad and the new Magic keyboard that I had purchased soon after they were released. As it happened, I also already had a 13" rMBP so spent some time experimenting with it as a desktop replacement so that I could see how well this might actually work out before I made any purchases. In another thread here right about the time I was mulling things over there was an active discussion about iMac vs MBP and I participated in that, using it as a way to sort out my thoughts and come to a decision.

Back in December I walked into the Apple store and bought my 15" rMBP, which I'm typing on right now. I'm more than pleased with it and this machine is serving its purpose very nicely. I haven't been doing much in the way of photo editing lately so haven't yet seriously considered purchasing a large monitor for that purpose. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised when I did work on a few images in this machine -- I had thought that being accustomed to a large screen that I would have difficulty with the smaller one but that has not proven to be the case so far.

In weighing the decision about which capacity of SSD to go with, I looked at my iMac to see how much of the 1 TB spinner HD's space I was using. I realized that by using an external drive as a supplemental drive for the rMBP that this would provide space for some documents, images and so on that I don't require access to every minute but that I still need at hand from time to time. I purchased a Samsung T-1 external SSD (1 TB) for that purpose and so there is plenty of space on the rMBP's internal SSD while still providing access as needed to other files and folders. I use other external drives for backup purposes, too, of course. So far this arrangement is working out well.

If Apple had brought out the 21.5" iMac with retina screen with the kind of specs at the price point I had been expecting and wanting, I more than likely would have bought one. Because they didn't do that, instead of rushing to the store and buying one immediately I took the time to assess what was on offer vs my particular needs and wants and considered the advantages and disadvantages of choosing one type of machine over the other. For me at this point in time this was the right decision. Who knows, maybe next time around I'll want to get another iMac again.....

 

[Daisy81]

It's great when the version in the store works out. I've found that the MacBooks are usually pretty well setup in the store models.

 

[cincygolfgrrl]

Well, my first Mac was an 11" MBA, which I still use, but now it's my travel machine (as in travel from the office to the living room, or the bedroom, or another city, or just to the coffee shop). I've had it a little over four years and I still love it.

But much of my computer use is playing with RAW photos. The MBA did a fine job, but I wanted something significantly more powerful, with more RAM, and a bigger SSD. The 27" iMac fills the bill quite nicely, thank you.

 

[taedouni]

I recently purchased my first iMac. I got the highest 27" 5K model. I was contemplating about upgrading to the i7 4.0 GHz but I wanted to keep my student discount with best buy (plus points) and felt that maybe adding the extra $200-250 wasn't worth it for my needs. I'm getting a masters in computer science so everything that I would need to do would be just fine on this iMac.

The Dell 5k monitor right now cost $1600 on Amazon, that's just for a display. For an extra $700 I get a Mac that has an i5 3.3 GHz Skylake processes that can turbo boost to 3.9 GHz when needed, 8GB of RAM (I ordered 2 4GB OWC sticks that have the same frequency for $50), 2 TB Fusion drive (128 GB SSD on top of that 2 TB so more like 2.1TB), the M395, logic board (aka motherboard), a rechargeable bluetooth keyboard, a rechargeable bluetooth mouse,and official OS X.

I do most of my work on a Mac (if I need to run Ubuntu I either use parallels or use my custom built Desktop that has Ubuntu installed on a 256GB SSD). Resolution is important for me for real estate space. I do believe that an iMac has its uses but I would never game on this iMac, I rather game on my Desktop running Windows or on my PS4. I would have liked a 1TB SSD on my iMac but Apple's surcharge is insane. I don't care for pcie flash ssd, since a regular SSD is pretty darn fast compared to a 7200RPM HDD, but I can settle with the 2TB Fusion Drive. All of the core applications and files that I would be used would probably make up less than 25-40GB, the rest is just media etc.

 

[Dubadai]

There are a lot of reasons to why I bought my Retina iMac.

• Takes up no more space than a monitor of its size would.
• One cable to plug it in, everything else is wireless.
• OSX, OSX, OSX. Nothing beats OSX. It's much easier see where OSX shine when one work with Windows computers everyday. More on this below.
• Desktop performance in a small format.
• Retina display.
• Quiet (up to a certain point of course, just like most computers).
• Fast service when needed at authorised service partners.
• Possibility for 3 year extended warranty.
• While expensive, it does outshine all other computers on the market when it comes down to quality, finish, etc. People who complain that they are too expensive have most likely not used one. The Windows computers that come close, such as the Dell XPS, cost just as much.
• As for the mobile models, battery life!

There are of course more reasons, but many of those are due to OSX being a really nice operating system. When people usually ask me why I chose Mac I usually tell them the following:

• Integration between iOS and OSX.
• iMessage
• Centralised updates
• No hassle with drivers
• Time Machine (big one), has saved me multiple times.

Sure, there are times where Windows shines, such as gaming. But if you have the money, and need a computer for all tasks but gaming, I can't really recommend anything but a Mac.

 

[bent christian]

We have an iMac mainly for the small foot print. We tend to keep our systems around in some capacity until they no longer run, so the quality parts Apple uses was also a consideration.

Apple's increased resistance to allowing even the most basic access to internal parts is problematic. It's pretty ridiculous and environmentally irresponsible to design such a well-built machine that is now considered disposable by most users after three to five years. Any gap in functionality between Windows and OSX for our uses has been closed long ago, so the operating system is a bit of an after thought. My wife and I tend to prefer Windows anyway for its flexibility, the variety of software that is available, and its more seamless integration with our lives. Being able to access the hard drive, RAM, and processor on a nine year old machine to extend its life is a huge plus. That is probably not something I will be able to do with most Apple products anymore. The new iMacs are really nice. They are very fast. I am happy we got one. But we will reevaluate in six or eight years to see where Apple has gone with product development when the time comes to purchase again.

 

[Adam552]

I love the display, and also the resale value is great.
I can buy the highest end iMac and sell it after a few years, then buy a more powerful one when I need it

 

[Trahearne]

The whole bundle of 5K iMac is quite competitive in price. Besides, I don't need blazing fast graphics for my games and works, nor an i7 with multithreading for my software projects either. Even if I pay for a PC, I would not go for highest possible specs like Fury or Titan and i7 at 4 GHz anyway. The 5K iMac is a good fit of my need.

Let alone the precious OS X. :]

 

[twilexia]

I already have a MBPro and disliked the process of docking and undocking to a large screen. The need to connect/disconnect externals is a gigantic pain in the ass. I'm a part-time music producer so I usually have a **** ton of recording devices and midi devices plugged in (midi keyboards, usb mics, mixing interfaces). Not to mention the external HDs which I inevitably use, speakers, SD cards, USB docking station, CD bay, and of course the display itself, all of that requires 10+ plug-in/outs. I'd much rather have everything on the desktop and transfer to the laptop as needed without having to redock everything when I travel.

 

[makrom]

What a weird thread. Why would anyone buy a way more powerful machine? Maybe because its way more powerful?
And ever tried running 2 5k displays on a MBP (or basically any other laptop)? Can't be done, plain and simple.
If you neither care about performance nor 5k, then yeah, a 5k iMac might not be the smartest choice.