I'm probably getting an imac for Christmas, duo gift for me and the wife. She wants something easier to use and I want something that works. I guess PC doesn't qualify for either of those. Our home computer finally blew and it's going to cost to much to fix.
It's actually cheaper now to get an imac than a high end PC. Sure you can get cheap PC clones with the basics, but they will barely run the Longshot er Vista program.
I recently got a Dell laptop at work with those supposedly amazing Duo core technologies inside. What a severe disappointment it was. So basically I'm ready to try the other side of things.
Just wanted to check out anyones views on the imac system and it's capabilities.
Hey lets turn it into a poll. Since I've never done one.

__________________
Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

I have two, one at work and one at home.

If your wife is super familiar with PCs, she may find it a little weird at first, but trust me, once she gets used to it, she'll love it and never want to go back.

The capabilities depend on the model you get, but there are some bonuses to getting a mac. Usability is simple and straightforward. It doesn't come with hidden software that you have to hunt down and figure out how to erase when you get it; the programs it does come with are easily erased. You won't have RAM issues in the same way you do with a PC. For instance the more files you keep on the desktop of your PC, the slower your computer runs. You don't have that problem with a Mac. Also Macs are great for multitasking.

The downside to a Mac are that there still isn't an extraordinary amount of software made for it. It's been getting better lately, but games and many types of office programs are generally made only for Microsoft. Ironically, Microsoft Office makes a Mac version. What can I say?

Personally, I highly recommend a Mac. Most other people seem to disagree.

(Oh and if the one button mouse throws you off, they do make a two button mouse. And holding down the command button when you click will give you all the same options as the second key.)

__________________
"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

what Typh said. I'm also a die hard mac fan. I have a G5 tower at work and at home with 24" cinema displays. I guess it depends on what your wife wants to do with the mac. Games? Office stuff? Graphic design or photo manipulation? Internet and email? I would say gaming is the least supported. Internet and email is so easy. And like Typhanie said, Office for mac works just dandy.

If you or her or anyone you know has a student discount, you can get great deals on computers and software. I picked up the entire Adobe Creative Suite 3 for $425 through my brother who is a full time student. Retails for $1800 or something crazy like that.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Most of its use will be for Internet, email as well as photo and video editing. Not into computer gaming too much.

__________________
Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

i'm not sure about video editing, since I don't do that myself, but its great for photos. I know it comes with a very very basic program call imovie that lets you do basic slice and dice stuff. I'm sure there are more elaborate programs out there.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Video editing is great, actually. For the VERY simple stuff you can stick with iMovie, but I recommend buying Adobe Premiere if you want to do anything more with it. Premiere Elements retails for around $100 and is going to be pretty good for the basic home user. You may have to upgrade for something more professional, but if you're going to go for an expensive video editing, I'd definitely suggest Macromedia Director. (Macromedia is now part of Adobe, but it's easier to search for information on it under that name.)

The thing people will tell you is that video editing is better on a PC. I agree. However, they are talking about extremely expensive, high-end PCs. If you are going to take an iMac and a comparably priced PC and try to edit video, the Mac does a much better job.

(I work in the field. Graphic design - web - illustration - video editing. I'm just giving you info based on my experience.)

__________________
"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

Eventually I'd get a program for it. I recently bought Pinnacle studio 11 HD for my PC. So I'll have to edit at work. Don't want to go out and buy another version so soon.

__________________
Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

I would have preferred a mac when I got my last notebook, but the people at the mac store were so horribly rude and stupid that I gave up and got a Toshiba. I had a lot of questions, and was in there for over an hour and no one would talk to me about the computers I was looking at, Every guy I grabbed said oh, well so and so knows more about that one. Whoever was supposed to "know more" never showed up. It didn't stop them all from standing together in a group and talking to each other. My foster son tells me I wouldn't want one anyway. He says it's like cars, a mac can go fast in a straight line, but for the curves and corners a pc is better. I still say I liked my old mac better. until it died it was the best little computer.

__________________
Kat

wrong.

A mac is like a mercedes, a pc is like a cavalier.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

I got my I Mac last week. So far I am pretty impressed. Even the materials they use to build them are far superior. No cheap plastic on this thiing. Takes a bit to get used to so I can't really compare the performance yet.
I have a hopped up Dell laptop at work and it's the reason I went to Apple. Severely disappointed in it's performance. I mainly use Excel at work and it lags quite a bit and freezes up. You know PC's usual issues. If you ask me the Dual-core thing is a crock.

__________________
Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa