Q For Computer Wizards And Geeks

[Mitch Cronin]

• Would the following be considered a "decent machine" nowadays, or closer to "leading edge great"?? I'm happy with paying for the former, but learned long ago to avoid the latter...

3.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz

32GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4X8GB

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5

Thanks in advance for any tips....

Cheers,

Mitch

[Kip Powick]

Mitch.....

That sounds like a pretty good setup for a mac but there are two things you have to realize...and I am sure you are aware of both...

1) no matter what you buy, by the time you have it setup, it will be out of date

2) you will get a ton of opinions, both pro and con on your setup, and those opinions are based on the respondents own experience with their own computer type and the magical internal components.

My son is an IT expert, my son-in-law is the head IT guru at Brock University and when I had my present computer built, both asked the same questions........."What do you want to use it for?"..."How much are you willing to pay?"

I am not a "gamer"...so I wanted a computer that was fast, but not a million dollar graphics card and I wanted two HDs and a lot of RAM.. OS WIn7Premium......got it and very happy with it. (Yes, it has DVD/CD burner and a lot of USB ports and is not an imac)

Good luck

[moeman]

Kip's "What do you want to use it for" comment is perfect. Not knowing, this is what I'd say.

I'd say it's overkill/leading edge technology...today. It will probably be an extremely fast machine for years. What you're describing is every teenaged gamer's dream machine. That's the second fastest (and extremely expensive), graphics card you can get in a laptop. Not necessary unless you are a hard core gamer. The i7 is at the top of the heap too, an i5 would be plenty for most people. Heck, I had an i3 laptop last year with a much slower graphics card and it ran every game I threw at it flawlessly. Lots of ram, but more than most people would need. 16 would suffice, again depending on what you'll be using it for.

1) For basic surfing, emailing, etc., this is WAY too much machine.

2) Any "gamer" would kill for it.

3) Video editors would probably make good use of it.

So if you're more like #1, don't play anything more resource intensive than euchre or Sudoku, and aren't editing videos all day long, take it back a notch or two as you'd be paying a lot of money for things you'll never use/appreciate. Spend your money on a "slower" machine with a really nice display, a SSD, and lots of storage. That said, you won't be sorry with the performance no matter what you do with it for several years if you're even a little bit like #2 or 3 because you'd be hard pressed to find a more powerful machine today.

[Mitch Cronin]

Thanks, both of you.... I'm looking to give my current, 3 yr old iMac to my wife, and get this new one as an upgrade for myself... it'll be (like this one) the 27 inch iMac. My aim is to have a reasonably versatile machine; not super fast, but not bogged by anything either; that won't be too obsolete for a few years... (I did well with this one for 3 years which is at least as good as I've ever done with the windoze machines - and better, in fact, since this one will still seem like dynamite to my lovely wife!).

I'll have to have some serious arguments with myself now to make some decisions I guess, and I appreciate the insight... that was exactly the sort of answer I was looking for. Thanks again.

[Mitch Cronin]

Hell, it does everything! It's a beaut! Mac makes a really good machine.... trouble is, my wife is struggling with a seriously dopey little notepad thing of some kind, that she plugs into a better monitor at home, and has oodles of little issues with it. (supplied by her employer)...

... besides, I've found when I get about 163 iterations into the Mandlebrot set, this old dear slows down a hair or two...

[Mitch Cronin]

Please allow me to make a somewhat ridiculous suggestion..... Buy your wife a new machine.

I'm guessing you'd be suggesting buying her something less expensive than what I'm considering?.... Yessir, that's one of the arguments.... I have a lot of difficulty with arguing with myself.... Sometimes the best/swiftest/least painful answer is just to make any decision, close my eyes/ears/mind and live with the result, never knowing whether or not it was a good decision. (such are the ways of the mind gone ...intermittently unreliable)

[moeman]

What are the specs of your current iMac? I suspect that an upgrade isn't "necessary" and that a lower spec'd new model might suffice for years to come. Or just get your wife a shiny new 27" all-in-one PC and keep yours ;-) . Asus makes some nice machines these days.

[boestar]

I recently built an ASUS motherboard based machine. 8 Core AMD Processor running 3.9 Ghz 32 G Ram and a Good (not top of the line but good) Radeon Card. Smoking fast but when transcoding video between formats it gets a little hot. I can over clock the sucker as well but that generates alot of heat. I will be installing a Water cooling system on it since I do alot with Video. All for around $700. I could get a Mac to do what I need but the cost shoots up to $1700.

[Seeker]

Mitch, I just had a look at the Apple site and see that your considering a $3000 iMac - nice! I have gone through the same process, pricing and purchasing iMacs several times over the years. Have you considered biting the bullet and stepping up to a Mac Pro with stand alone monitor? It's definitely more expensive up front but might save you some money in the long run - and think of the bragging rights! I think I would have saved money if I had gone that route a few years ago.

[boestar]

And the new one looks cool to boot....

[Mitch Cronin]

You're right Moeman... it's not necessary for me at all... but for my wife... She needs something better that the garbage she struggles with now... and there's not a chance in hades that I'll ever spend money on a "PC" anymore. Since I've experienced the difference there is just no going back.

Seeker, I'm quite sure my local war dept. would veto such a budget overrun, but I sure like the idea! ... I do believe a poor man cannot afford to buy cheap.

[dagger]

Go for it Mitch, it's the difference between flying Rouge or Executive First. You've earned the latter.

[J.O.]

Mitch are you looking at the new Mac Pro or just the high end iMac? The reason I ask is that for essentially the same money as the iMac, you can get the Pro with all of the same features and that cool new case that looks like a turbofan turned on its end!

[Mitch Cronin]

I'm still looking, thinking, arguing and wondering... Thanks all, for your input.

Mitch

[dagger]

Go for it Mitch, it's the difference between flying Rouge or Executive First. You've earned the latter.

BTW, comparison was for PC vs iMac 27". I'd also consider the Mac Pro. it's like the Mercedes S-Class of computers, but you'd never regret the 27" iMac. I did a similar upgrade for my wife last year. She has my three and a half year iMac now, and I have the newest. All are happy.

[dagger]

Part of Apple's appeal right now is that they are far and away the best total package. Best hardware, best operating system, most advanced peripherals, but for me, it's the stunningly simple way it integrates new Mac peripherals and the quality of customer support. I added an Apple Express to my Apple Extreme this week to extend my LAN to hard to reach corners of the house. It was delivered to my door, and took literally 60 seconds to get online with my network. The OS does it all. It's idiot-proof.

And in two cases where I have needed tech support, I put in a service request online, and a live person in Toronto calls me back within minutes, then stays with it until the issue is resolved or logged for hardware service. I had a software issue when I installed Mavericks, caused by a Google Drive Preference file, and it took a supervisor working with me by phone over 45 minutes to resolve. The next day, Google issues a simple fix, but I thought it was amazing Apple hung with me working on a problem which at that time was not yet recognized.

I have never had better customer service experiences. Other companies (Rogers?) would do well to note this.

[Seeker]

Mitch, as if you didn't have enough to consider: the Mac mini with external monitor is perfectly acceptable as a home browsing/light use computer and it would cost 1/4 to 1/3 of the price of the top-of-the-line iMac, or, you might want to consider is getting a Macbook Air and running it in clamshell mode with external monitor. Having two desktop machines in the house might not be the best global family solution - this gives you "portable" as an option.

[conehead]

Guys; Mitch is an AME, so he can afford the high end Apple... money is not an issue.

[Mitch Cronin]

Guys; Mitch is an AME, so he can afford the high end Apple... money is not an issue.

....Riiiight.

[Seeker]

Here's a saying I like:

You can have anything you want but you can't have everything you want.

No doubt Mitch could afford the high end Mac but then maybe he doesn't get the high-end guitar or the high-end sound system or a new set of Hakkapeliitta 7s. It's a matter of priority - very few can afford the best of everything. I run my life according to the 20/80 principle; I'd rather have a car (or computer, or frying pan, etc) that's too small 20% of the time than one that's too big 80% of the time. If your car is too big 100% of the time or your computer is too powerful for 100% of the things you do you have wasted your money. The trick, of course, is to be able to accurately predict your future needs.

[conehead]

Here's a saying I like:

You can have anything you want but you can't have everything you want.

No doubt Mitch could afford the high end Mac but then maybe he doesn't get the high-end guitar or the high-end sound system or a new set of Hakkapeliitta 7s. It's a matter of priority - very few can afford the best of everything. I run my life according to the 20/80 principle; I'd rather have a car (or computer, or frying pan, etc) that's too small 20% of the time than one that's too big 80% of the time. If your car is too big 100% of the time or your computer is too powerful for 100% of the things you do you have wasted your money. The trick, of course, is to be able to accurately predict your future needs.

I think that's an excellent philosophy. Example; at this moment I'm using an old, original Ipad 1. Yeah, it's a little slow, and I'm finding many apps won't run on IOS 5.1, which is the latest operating system this old dawg can run... and I wouldn't mind getting a new tablet. But... this one does meet my needs 80% of the time, and there are other things I can spend my hard earned money on. So, I'll hang onto this "old" Ipad for awhile yet...

[deicer]

Conehead

Apple doesn't need your money either! Compared to the big banks and oil companies, who we complain about all the time, take a look at Apples profits on a quarterly basis. Apple makes oil companies and banks look like amateurs.

[conehead]

I used to complain about banks and oil companies, but then I realized it was useless, so now I just buy shares in them, and now I enjoy their profits. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

[Moon The Loon]

All is not right in Paradise:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/tech-news/apple-rushes-to-fix-glaring-security-flaw-as-bad-as-you-could-imagine/article17062369/

Apple rushes to fix glaring security flaw: 'As bad as you could imagine' Add to ...

Joseph Menn

San Francisco — Reuters

Published Monday, Feb. 24 2014

Apple Inc. has pushed an update for iOS mobile devices to close a gaping hole in its security software, which gave spies and hackers the ability of to grab e-mail, financial information and other sensitive data. An update for its Mac computers is reportedly coming “very soon.”

Confirming researchers’ findings late Friday that a major security flaw in iPhones and iPads also appears in notebook and desktop machines running Mac OS X, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told Reuters: “We are aware of this issue and already have a software fix that will be released very soon.”

[Innuendo]

Mitch,

I agree with those who suggest that the specs in your OP may well be surplus to requirements and top specs may not make the machine any more future proof than a lower spec. As an example, (I believe I have a similar setup to you) what I miss at the moment are the Thunderbolt and USB 3 connections. I have USB 2 and FW 800 to transfer data. I also have a couple of FW800 external drives and of course FW is pretty well a dead technology and with ever growing photo file and album sizes the speed of the newer connections would be welcome.

My CPU and graphics speeds are still capable but I also would like the benefits of the speed of a Fusion or Solid State drive. I guess what I am trying to say is that the difference between the fastest model and mine at the time I got it, does not extend the life of my machine when it comes to those other factors.

As far as RAM goes, unless you are doing seriously large file stuff in the likes of Photoshop/CS6, 32GB is likely to be surplus to needs. I have 16GB and going by the activity monitor I really don't use it all.

Having a lot of Ram can speed things up when the system leaves previously loaded stuff there but the new Fusion drives with 128GB of SSD sort of makes huge amounts of Ram not as critical.

In any event, if you want more RAM than Apple's standard install, buy it from third party vendors, (OWC Macsales, Crucial e.g.), they sell kits at a far better price than Apple and it works fine. Just make sure you keep the original to re-install if you need warranty work done as Apple don't want the other RAM in the machine.

I think a Mac Pro is horsepower you will rarely ever use for what you seem to be doing with your machine.

Good luck with your decision and I wouldn’t overlook a maxed out Mini, SSD and 16GB RAM from OWC will be a very snappy machine, external storage is fast if you have a lot of photos/music/videos etc. The Mini name does not do it justice and you get to choose the monitor you want. It is cheaper to replace when developments come along, holds its value quite well and makes a great media center if you replace it.

PS, forgot to add that I believe the iMac 27", Pro and Mini are the only models where you can install Ram yourself, the others are soldered in RAM. Also, the rumour mill is churning away about the Mini being upgraded, whether it is just wishful thinking or plausible, probably only Apple know for sure but it is overdue.