The time I considered buying an Apple iMac

People who know me may think that I am anti-apple. (is it true?- I might talk about this another time..)
But believe it or not, I did once consider buying an apple iMac. And it wasn't even that long ago.
Just last year!





I was looking for a new desktop to replace my old flailing one. Actually, I just needed to upgrade to play Starcraft 2. My old desktop was > 7 years old ( which is about 700 y.o by computer age ) and ran Athlon Xp 1700. ( If' you're asking how I survived, I do have a laptop with is just a bit faster).


Anyway, I stepped in Dick Smith to see what they had to offer.. they sometime have good offers. Mostly I was checking out the CPUs and the specs.
Then I saw the iMacs.. hmm.. they look nice, and they wont take up too much space( No CPU case) .
Then I though to myself.. why not? Hmm.. wonder why I didn't consider them before?
As I browsed the iMacs, I remembered why I never bought a Mac.
The ones on display had much inferior specs to what I was looking for but cost a lot more!
All I could say to Apple then was " you  %$#^&^ " 

So, that was the end of my "fling" with the iMac, it lasted about 3 minutes.

I can't remember the exact specs that I saw but I do remember the anger I felt.
Anyway, I had a look at current prices of 2 similar spec machine, I used Dell Vs iMac.
( current to 3 Jan 2012)

 The font looks a bit odd, but I cut and pasted it from the respective websites..

Package 1

 DELL XPS8300

NZ $1899.00

 

PROCESSOR	2nd Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2320 Processor (3.0GHz, 6MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM	Genuine Windows(R) 7 Home Premium SP1 64 bit (English)
WARRANTY & SERVICE	1 Year In-Home Service with Premium Phone Support
SECURITY SOFTWARE	McAfee® SecurityCenter™ (Multi-Language) - 15 Months
MONITOR	Dell ST2320L 23''W Full HD Monitor with LED
MEMORY	8GB (4X2GB) DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz Memory
HARD DRIVE	2TB (1TBx2) SATA RAID 0 (Data Striping)
OPTICAL DRIVE	Single Drive:16X DVD+/-RW with Dual Layer Write
VIDEO CARD	1GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6770
SOUND CARD	Integrated high definition 7.1 channel audio
Accessorise My Dell
SOFTWARE	Microsoft® Office Starter 2010: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook.
KEYBOARD	Dell™ Studio™ Multimedia Keyboard Black
MOUSE	Dell™ Laser Mouse

Package 2 

APPLE iMac 21.5 inch
NZ$ 3,068.99  ( what's with the 99 cents? )

 21.5 inch iMAc

2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5

8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB

2TB Serial ATA Drive

AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB GDDR5

Apple Magic Mouse

Apple Wireless Keyboard (International English) and User Guide (English)

There are some spec differences with the above 2 machines, mostly in favour of the Dell.
You can figure out yourself.
I really didn't wanna pay  >$1000 extra for something that looks nice and saves a bit of space.

The main difference is prob Mac running OSX vs Windows 7 on the Dell.
But, seriously, Windows 7 is fine!

Yes yes..  you'll saying but it's a freaking DELL vs an APPLE!!!

True.. but no one online will care what you brand is when
" Your computer is slowing the game down " shows up..


"BUT WAIT! There is an Apple Magic Mouse!!!"

... Hmm.... I'll see you on Battlenet ..



BTW, I didn't buy a Dell  but customized a desktop from a local dealer (even lower cost!)

In this case, the Apple has managed to keep the doctor away for another day..


NB: Please don't stop buying Apple products because of my post, with your continued patronage, the chinese Apple factory line worker may one day be able to afford a Dell.