What computer should I buy in 2017? (1 Viewer)

[JohnRice]

I would pay even more not to own a Windows machine.

Wish I'd thought of that!

 

[Edwin-S]

Hmmm. I have actually created a remarkable amount using something that's virtually useless. Not to mention running a business on it. But I don't use it to play games.

Yes, I shouldn't have gone so far as to say it was useless.

I would pay even more not to own a Windows machine.

Why?

 

[Alf S]

My windows laptops, Windows desktops "just work". Not sure why so much hate for one of the worlds largest user based computers.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Edwin,

Please don't make me sit here and write paragraphs about why Windows sucks compares to Mac.

I have spent the first 10 years of my PC life (if not more) on Windows machines and ever since going to OS X I have never wanted to touch a Windows machine again. Even my friends who always run into windows related problems, and ask for my help, get my refusal.

I hate Microsoft. I hate Windows. Nothing but a virus-ridden platform.

 

[Alf S]

Ron,

I'll send the time machine back to the early 90's to pick you up and bring you back to the year 2017 where your claims are pretty much moot now.

 

[JohnRice]

Oh good, a topic that's never been discussed before.

 

[Edwin-S]

Edwin,

Please don't make me sit here and write paragraphs about why Windows sucks compares to Mac.

I have spent the first 10 years of my PC life (if not more) on Windows machines and ever since going to OS X I have never wanted to touch a Windows machine again. Even my friends who always run into windows related problems, and ask for my help, get my refusal.

I hate Microsoft. I hate Windows. Nothing but a virus-ridden platform.

No. That's fine. I get the gist. I'm not sure that your position is any more defensible than mine regarding spending big dinero on a niche brand, but it's cool. To each their own.

To be honest, I stepped in a big pile of poo with my first post.

I I should know better than to question fan love for anything, whether it is a computer brand, game console or movie.

 

[JohnRice]

I'd like to point out that the fundamental purpose of this entire forum is basically about spending lots of money on electronic gadgets that a lot of regular people consider to be a little silly.

And Edwin, just admit your initial post was nothing but a thread crap. What other point is there to coming into an area dedicated to a certain product, only to dump on that same product?

 

[Edwin-S]

I've already said I stepped in it with that first post. If that is not good enough for you.....

I did later state that I would probably go for the Ipad pro if I was looking at an Apple product or Windows if it was a PC.

 

[Cranston37+]

And Edwin, just admit your initial post was nothing but a thread crap.

He already did...

 

[DaveF]

Ordered:

27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display

• 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
• 8GB 2400MHz DDR4
• 512GB SSD
• Radeon Pro 570 with 4GB video memory
• Magic Trackpad 2
• Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad - US English
• Accessory Kit

Due June 23. Because of my schedule and my house facing a busy-ish road, I'm doing pickup at the area Apple Store to be safe. I fear that the new iMac will sit in its box for a week before I'll have time to unpack and set it up because of my crazy June.

Deleting the Parallels VM, I'm at 313GB usage, giving me almost 200GB free space on the 512GB SSD. Should be good for a few years...and super duper speedy!!!

 

[JohnRice]

Dave, if you really look at what's on your boot drive, I suspect you can find more stuff to move elsewhere. I did that step a few years back when I moved to an SSD boot, and they were a lot more expensive. Mine is at 95GB. I ended up kind of liking the idea of keeping the boot drive clean, and now it's become second nature. It's actually a good thing to do. It's sort of like cleaning out the refrigerator. It's amazing what garbage you find.

BTW, if you've never booted from an SSD, prepare to be amazed.

 

[Edwin-S]

The Imac Pro, slated for December, looks like a beast. 5000 grand base price, but Apple claims it would cost 7000 to build a comparable Windows box if they can be believed.

Of course 5G in US money is hack your right arm off in what passes for Canadian dosh right now.

Edit: i should add ....Enjoy your new purchase.

 

[JohnRice]

I've already said I stepped in it with that first post. If that is not good enough for you.....

He already did...

Look at the time stamps. The posts were nine minutes apart. I came to the page, started reading down the latest responses, composed mine, and after I clicked "Post Reply", the post you are assuming I ignored had been posted while I was reading the thread. I never even noticed a subsequent post had been made.

 

[Sam Posten]

Dave I guess I missed that the base 27" came with an i5... I think it'll be fine for you but I'd recommend the i7 as it's only a $200 difference. You likely won't even notice it, but if I was spending $2k on a computer (and I am!) I'd want the i7 in it.

 

[BobO'Link]

Dave, you've made your decision and your reasons are sound. Here's my take for you other guys.

I'm a network administrator, primarily responsible for the server and virtual farms as well as Windows deployment/management, for one of the largest schools in our state. I also do general tech support for a couple of hours daily for one of the Elementary campuses before going to my office for the "heavy" stuff. I was hired ~19 years ago because I'd managed Windows Server 3.1 (they were mostly Novell at the time with only a couple of Windows servers) and had actually touched a Mac, although I admittedly didn't use one much. I started my life there as the "Mac Guy" doing 100% of the Mac support along with managing the Windows servers and Windows (95!) desktop support. I didn't much care for Macs then and dislike them even more today. BUT I also disliked Windows then, just not to the same degree as Macs. We managed to get rid of them a few years later but they've crept back in. Thankfully, I'm no longer the "Mac Guy" (when the question came up in a meeting I sat on my hands so one wouldn't accidentally go up) although I still support them.

We currently have ~60% Mac (mostly Mac Airs for the student population), 30% Windows (teachers, administrators, and servers), and 10% Chromebooks (also for student use).

I don't like any vendors' all-in-one PCs whether it be Apple or Windows. They are far more difficult to work on, lack expandability, and usually fail faster than traditional desktops due to the increased heat inside. Most are essentially laptops on steroids. For proof, open one up and look at the RAM and HD setups, especially SSD. It's almost all laptop technology. In all fairness, I've never been a fan of "all-in-one" type products of any type, audio/video/computer. With "separates" it's easy to replace one part should it fail. With most all-in-one products it's typically replace the entire thing when one part fails or expect a hefty repair bill.

My reasons for disliking the Mac platform is multi-fold. They are overpriced. Always have been, from the Apple I on. You can purchase comparable hardware for 1/3 to 1/2 less (more if you really shop around). BUT they are engineered very well and are as much about design esthetics as what's inside the box. In spite of my admiration for their design they want you to enter their "walled garden" and live the experience. Everything they do is designed to suck you in and make it difficult to leave. That's possibly my largest complaint about Apple products. The OS is somewhat elegant and they do a few things Microsoft would do well to copy - after all, Windows is pretty much copied from other OSes and ideas, as is OSX if you are totally honest. Still there are many things I find totally illogical in respect as to how the OS operates. Lots of "change to be different from Windows" type stuff. I find it a very frustrating experience. I also find them a bit more difficult to manage. I have an Air for out of office work but run a Windows VM on it 99% of the time.

In spite of that the Mac Air (13") has been a good choice for our older student body. They are fairly sturdy and are easy to wipe/image if problems arise (which they do on a daily basis - after all, the users are under 21 - the group responsible for most computer issues, not that teachers are perfect as they are not). The majority of what they do is online based so there's little need for "local" programs with most of those being online testing applications. A couple of our techs have been trained to repair them on site, which has saved lots of money, as Apple's warranty is a joke (1 year standard and they'll sell you a 3 year but don't understand why anyone wants is as "our products don't fail." They've obviously not dealt much with kids using computers) and their out-of-warranty repair prices are stupidly expensive. It's pretty much a full time job for one of those techs. Our failure rate on the Macs pretty much matches that of Windows machines. We don't even try to problem solve OS/application issues on the Macs. If there's a problem, and there are on a daily basis, we simply wipe/reimage the system. It takes about 25 minutes for us to image, update, and return it to the user.

Even though it's the OS I've used for over 20 years, I've never been overly fond of Windows. For years I considered it nothing more than a fancy menu system running on top of DOS, because that's essentially what it was in those early years. It's grown beyond that but is still lacking in many areas. There are things I can do in DOS that Windows, or OSX for that matter, still can't do as easily or as intuitively. I run Windows 10 on my work desktop because I need the tools in that version to properly manage the server farm and Windows systems.

Windows 7 is a far better looking and organized OS than 10 but doesn't have the necessary management tools for our environment. The GUI on Windows 10 is something of a train wreck and Microsoft doesn't seem to want to "fix" it. That's sad as underneath it's possibly the most stable OS they've ever released. Still, I prefer it to OSX, as much as anything because, in spite of the horrendous GUI, I can customize things to how I want them to run/look far more easily than with OSX. They are fairly easy to manage but still have issues in that respect. We'll troubleshoot WIndows, up to 45 minutes or so, mainly because most are teacher/administrator systems and they tend to have lots of local data they don't want to lose (yes, we encourage them to use the servers or online storage - we're a G-Suite school and have unlimited storage with Drive - but most would rather keep it local). Even with that it only takes a couple of hours to backup data, image, update, restore data, and return the system, less if you're not distracted during the process.

Microsoft continues to envy the "walled garden" of Apple and keeps chasing that rabbit - but they've yet to come up with anything people will tolerate. Most Windows users just have a different mindset when it comes to program delivery, installation, and updating and don't seem to want "apps" from an "App Store" but programs.

I'm not a fan of anything Google. But I still like the Chromebooks for grade 6 and under. They have very long battery life (the whole day on a charge), are easy to manage, easy to deploy, and easy for the kids to use. For the K-2nd grade, they just open it up, it starts, automatically logs in a "KIOSK" mode, and takes them to a page the teacher has setup. There's little they can change or mess up. With 99% of what they do being online it's an almost perfect device for education.

I am a fan of open source and have dabbled with Linux. Overall I like it but find it even more obtuse than OSX to get things done, in spite of it looking more like Windows. Once I retire I intend to explore Linux more fully as I don't like the direction either OSX or Windows is heading and I need more than a Chromebook for the things I do at home. I'm still a local application running type and don't trust "cloud" computing (say what you want but it's nothing more than putting your stuff/trust on/in someone else's computers). The bad part is many of the programs I run on my desktop aren't available for Linux.

When it comes right down to it, there's far more software for Windows systems than Macs and, in spite of education's somewhat embracing of Apple products, Mac PC sales are declining faster than those of Windows (or were the last time I checked). But the lack of software choices doesn't impact education as much as the private sector as we're all about productivity and couldn't care less about entertainment. Considering most of the kids do nothing but watch youtube videos for "entertainment" it really doesn't matter.

Once upon a time I'd have said if you are doing video editing, audio editing, or desktop publishing you need to be using a Mac. No longer. The same or similar tools are available for Windows platforms with some good open source projects on Linux. For that reason I tend to recommend Windows more than any other OS. But it still comes down to one simple question: What do you want to do with your computer? Based on the answer I'm just as likely to recommend any of the 3 main choices - Mac, Windows, or Chromebook.

And iPads... Giant Apple phones that can't make phone calls. Used one for work, found it incapable of doing "real" work without dozens of specialized apps, don't like 'em. Apple, just this year, finally came out with management tools that make them viable in education. Too little... too late... Outside grades 1, 2, and resource/intervention teachers just don't seem to want them. My boss, who primarily uses an iMac and iPhone, dislikes the iPad. He has a new iPad Pro for testing purposes and says it's no better than the iPad 1, just larger and clunkier

Had I been in your shoes, I'd have gone Windows and dealt with the few times data needed to move between the disparate systems. BUT I also feel your choice, and reasons for it, are valid and likely to make your life easier.

Congrats on your purchase and I hope you enjoy its use!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

And iPads... Giant Apple phones that can't make phone calls.

They can, actually, if you purchase one that is WiFi + Cellular. If you have the one that is just Wi-Fi, you can use an app to call but will be VOIP rather than a "phone" call.

 

[Cranston37+]

...and of course you can make a regular call on it if your iPhone is nearby. Handy things those iPads!

 

[Carabimero]

I just had a computer custom built. Windows 10 Pro. Liquid cooled. All solid-state drives. Fastest processor I could get. Lots of RAM. Two Pioneer BD drives. Card reader. 12 USB 3.0 ports. This thing smokes. Just tested Internet: 124 mbps.

I am pleased.

 

[DaveF]

Dave I guess I missed that the base 27" came with an i5... I think it'll be fine for you but I'd recommend the i7 as it's only a $200 difference. You likely won't even notice it, but if I was spending $2k on a computer (and I am!) I'd want the i7 in it.

i7 is an extra $450 because you have go to the middle config (+$200) and upgrade to the i7 (+$225) and pay tax on the delta (+$25). That would have put me north of $2500 and while I went over my goal of $2000, I was able to stay below $2500 on this computer.

And I don't do the things that make an i7 cost effective over an i5 (gaming, video editing, transcoding, engineering).

I estimated going pure SSD for +$100 would give more effective speed than the i7. And this way, I can add in 16GB third party ram later and not feel too bad about it.