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But are your DIY builds all-in-ones with the footprint and power envelope of the imac? For the same money, if I had no space constraints, I would pick a DIY build over the imac but if you are going to make comparisons between this and something you built from the ground up, you may as well find fault with every Lenovo, HP, Dell and Acer desktop out there.

If your build for half the price works for you then that is great but that is not what the imac is and it doesn't try to be. It competes with the all-in-ones by Dell, HP and Sony and where comparisons can be drawn it always does well. There is no all-in-one desktop that has the price/performance ratio as a regular desktop so what is new to complain about here?

I am not fan of buying computers just because they look nice but the iMac is a niche product that has mainstream appeal and some people don't like that it is not it's fault.

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Graham
Flickr

People still have power/space constraints...?

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

I wasn't making a reference to power constraints but if you're the kind of person who cares about how much energy you use, I suppose there is. I do have a space constraint, my student apartment doesn't have space for a desktop larger than a micro-ATX system so the Corsair 800d I wanted is not possible.

I don't think this is too unique a situation. Also, people go for smaller things all the time so if the price/performance issue is not a priority, why not with a computer?

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Graham
Flickr

I respect that PC users feel they get a good deal; actually value for their money. Not exactly where I wanted this to go but here goes... even from the software side it is not about the OS. Free with the purchase of the computer are some monster apps: iPhoto, Garageband, iCal, iMovie, iTunes (I realize it's a free download for PC's but it brings in money elsewhere); all are stellar programs that you do not see equivalents for a similar price on a PC (please don't list a bunch of crappy shareware, freeware,or inexpensive prgrams that are junky bloatware and integrate poorly). Throw in the integration real integration of address book, mail, etc. and it is about the experience rather than a bunch of crappy trial software and disjointed software. Sony and other makers make attempts but come up short. Microsoft for the size of the company does even worse.

The fact that you state:
[quoteI would never install an upgrade of an OS ontop of the current version. ever. [/quote] shows part of the Mac vs. PC experience; not a problem from 6.0.3 to 9.x or 10.1 to 10.6.1 (10.0 was the only one I didn't use along the way). Other than 10.0 which admitttedly by Apple was an experimental and transistional OS you do not see Mac users en masse ignore new OS's the way Me, 2000, Vista, etc. have been avoided not just not upgraded to. In terms of a PC, early indicators are that it looks like Seven might be the best Windows OS since NT. That is some gap between decent OS's, decent not stellar.

I also will never understand Microsoft's insistence on making different levels of the OS and offering certain security levels as options. Security should be one of the common aspect of all the OS's. If they worried about bloatware and software and coded properly they could offer all features to all at a reasonable price and guess what? They would make more money because more people would upgrade. Don't even start about the lack of the OS maker being able to effectively deal with viruses, etc.

Having said all of this our son is likely to get a PC netbook for Christmas this year. A cheap (not inexpensive but cheap in price and features) netbook is all it will be used for (web surfing etc.), and therefore is all that is needed. I'll use the extra money to purchase a new 27" iMac, right tool for the right job.

Unless you spend a year on each platform it is tough to be able to judge them side by side. I have been using Mac's since OS 6.0.3 through to 10.6.1 and Windows since 3.1.1 right through to Vista (about 18 or 19 years)... No comparison in my opinion. Every OS makes the PC slower and less useful, not the same for a Mac that is less that five years old. My white 24" iMac zips after installing 10.6.1 on top of 10.5.x, and takes up much less hard drive space.

Lastly what is the customization you need to be able to use your PC differently? Never really understood why the OS and software can't let you be happy without the customization. Must be nice to have an OS where you finally don't go to the Start button to shut it off . Really intuitive.

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E-620 14-42/3.5-4.6 & 40-150/4.0-5.6 each with Hoya UV filters, Hoya polarizing filter, 4 gig 300X Lexar CF card, 2X 2 gig Olympus M+ xD.

MMP -

Microsoft aren't allowed to include the applications, the Live series of applications that aren't included to stop them dominating the market, I personally think they should be included with the OS and more tightly integrated, but the courts disagree. Oh and they are free.

Regardless of the experience, I would never do this.

I end up making things messy myself, never mind the OS doing this, so I'd do a clean re-install anyway just to help my mind more than anything else. I wiped Tiger a good few times from my Macbook because it guffed up.

NT4 ... I'd say XP was the most stable and perfected OS, mainly because of the time its been about, but it just works and supports almost every piece of hardware on the planet.

Different levels of the OS are for people who don't need features. Sure give everyone all the features, that'd be fab, I don't fancy paying that price for them. I'd love if the OS was £80 and had everything. Pricing however isn't THAT bad when you compare the OEM prices, Apple don't offer OS X in "OEM" because they don't have any system builders, so they just offer it at a lower price from the get go.

Well some people need to change security settings, rather than just having On and Off. Certain internal networks may require this. MS does offer their own AntiVirus/Spyware application, and its free, and works on XP, Vista, and 7.

Netbooks are all horrible just now. Once cheap SSD's increase in speed, we get the next series of ultra mobile cpu's and gpu's ill maybe bite. Until then Core i5/i7 ULV with Mobile NVIDIA GT300 gpu's will be what I'm looking for.

And I had a Macbook for over a year, when they first came out with Intel Processors. Photoshop was to slow, just generally everything was to slow, and that was with 2GB of ram.

Vista to 7 should make it a lot more zippy, similar to the 10.5-10.6 argument...

I've never had to go to the start menu to switch mine off. Mainly because I don't switch it off, it runs 24/7 and doesn't get restarted unless its got updates it needs to restart for, which the Mac has to do too.

So yeah... Think that covers it. Point is, Mac's just don't offer a High End Tower that doesn't cost a down payment on a house. The Mac Pro is crazy money kitted out and has silly restrictions!

Graham - What there isn't space anywhere for a Full Tower Case? ANYWHERE? ... is the room smaller than the size of the case haha.

People don't understand the price/performance issue IS a priority, they just don't realise. They don't know what they're missing performance wise because they've never had it.

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

Last line said it best, some people care about getting the biggest bang for their buck. Those people build their own PCs.

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It should be ALL people not some people.

Since the computer is such an important part of most peoples lives, especially digital photographers, that its purchase should be considered just as carefully as the camera was.

A computer should be viewed as an investment, it allows you to do work that will make the computers purchase worthwhile; its not simply something for entertainment, heck I don't even play games on mine now!

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

I agree. I do play games on mine though, which is all the more reason to get the most power per dollar.

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Lol, I would want to keep my computer on the desk, on the carpet too much dust gets sucked in and I don't want to have to deal with that. I am not the only potential user of such desktops though, there is a market for these types of computers and that is their appeal.

Previously, my only option for a desktop would be to build a micro ATX desktop because the iMacs were way too underpowered but even if not ideal, the price/performance ratio has improved drastically. I will just have to give up casual gaming with that rubbish 4850.

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Graham
Flickr

So funny, the non-mac users seem to spend far more time contributing to this thread than the mac users (maybe they have more time on their hands after their gazillion cores machines have finished processing their photos in 2 microseconds). I use both, but prefer my macs for sure as they just look prettier!:D I still like windows machines too though and am just about to upgrade mine to windows seven.

The only really important thing is that you use what you like. Why waste your energy trying to convince the world plus dog yours is the best solution. Go edit some photos instead on whichever machine you use:)

I am tempted by the new 4 core mac, though I would have preferred a blu-ray option, as I have an ugly LG drive on my desk under my current mac that I use to backup my photos... Which I should say is the only thing I am having issues with since the OS upgrade.

Did any of you hear about a 30'' inch iMAC...
The big reason that I'm getting an iMAC is a question of time,

About the magic mouse did any of you get it?

refresh...
I got my iMAC quadcore 27 inch with the magic mouse... I'm really happy to be in the mac world, no regrets at all.