For some reason I was given an iMac. It was broken, they said. Unneeded, for sure. Model 18,3. Quad-core I7. 16 GB RAM. 3 TB 7200 rpm HDD. 5K 27 inch Retina display. Mac OS Ventura. I did a disk first aid, erased the HDD, did an internet recovery of the OS, and here I am, smiling as I interact with the apps and the internet. Jazz music sounds better, coming from this unit. Pages load quickly. the unifying aspect of the iMac simplifies my desk surface. No more cables running everywhere. I picked up a new Magic Keyboard and mouse to celebrate.

My images look a lot sharper for some reason. Maybe my camera got better? Of course I'm joking. The 5K Retina is just amazing.

I was just about to purchase a new Mac mini. Today. No need now, even though this machine is six years old. My MacBook Air can now stay in my backpack, a svelte traveling companion as designed. It was shacked to my desk as a main computer, until today.

I think I'll toast my blessing with a small tumbler of tequila, while I struggle to prepare a hello fresh dinner.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 4MUL8R,

Same here. iMac, iPad, MacBook Pro and iPhone. Never looking back. Quick to boot, no malware, I could go on.

That's really cool! I get how fast the new stuff from Apple is, but people underestimate how well the intel units used to run just for day-to-day stuff.

Does it take notebook memory? Can you access it? I can ship you a couple of 16G sodimms if you want to bump up the ram at all. Shoot me an email if you want to see if we can dump some in there.

Get an SSD in that thing - it's night&day difference.

quote:

Originally posted by creslin:
Get an SSD in that thing - it's night&day difference.

One of my late 2012 Mac mini hdd’s just died so an SSD upgrade is coming. I was trying to use Apple Pay on Crucial’s site, but since it was giving me problems, I’m holding off until I get to my desktop.

Awesome good fortune! Hope you enjoy it!

quote:

Originally posted by creslin:
Get an SSD in that thing - it's night&day difference.

Very true, based on my 2012 MacBook Pro experience.

Doesn’t sound like a shabby set up to me.

After living with PCs up until a few years ago, I bought a MacBook Pro followed by a 27” Mac. Then I threw my PC in the garbage. Now the Mrs and I each have an iPad, iphone, AirPods, Apple Watch, Air tags, an Apple TV and Apple CarPlay in each of our cars. That’s about $7-8,000 worth of stuff. That’s why I own the stock.

I'll look into the RAM access. There is a port on the back that appears to be about the size of memory arrays. ETA: The port is easily opened, and four memory slots exist. RAM should be 2400MHz DDR4-19200. Seems like a no brainer to upgrade. Can go up to 64 GB!

For whatever reason, the 3TB HDD is speedy enough. I've changed HDD to SSD a number of times, but on the iMac it requires far too much expertise on removing a case from the 5K Retina display.

Congratulation! I am a very long time Mac user. While I am a huge proponent of Windows for the workplace (a few exceptions for some fields, I know), personally, for home, I very much enjoy many elements of the mac hardware and unification to iPhone (like iMessages).

The Magic keyboard is tolerated by me. I don't write novels. It works for me,.. but ergonomic, it is not. That said, before you get carpel tunnel using the tiny Apple mouse for hundreds of hours of surfing, consider a meaty Logitech MX Master. Tiny is not the way to go for a mouse (my opinion).

The ensigmatic household will eventually be using Apple desktops. Probably Mac Mini's.

We've Apple everything else. The integration will be nice, I think.

I switched to Macs, and Mac laptops a couple decades ago. Never once have I had to purchase virus or malware protection. Nor have I ever had my computer stop running due to any of that stuff. It’s a better computer for most people, not all but most, but people hate change and it is a change. It will take you some time learning the new way. I can’t imagine willingly going back to anything PC for home use.

I am a decades old Apple user. No Windows machines at all. Started playing on an Apple IIe (?) in the 80s. Currently have two MacBook Pros, one MacBook Air, one Mac mini, four iPads, two iPhones, etc.

I am taking my Google Drive contents over to the Apple iCloud Drive today.

Having several Logitech keyboard and mice, at work, I'll stick with the Apple hardware at home. The new Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse are even better than my old ones, with Lightning power connectors for recharging. Key feel is much improved.

I'm typing this on a 17,1 iMac. One of my gripes is that Apple, in order to slim the design, has made it more and more difficult to work on and enhance the iMac models with each generation. Even my ancient machine has the front glass glued to the chassis, and requires special tools and training to open up, an 18,3 is going to be even more that way so stuffing in additional RAM and/or an SSD into it is a lot more of a challenge than PC builders might think. The lesson? When specing out a Mac, be sure to go overboard on storage and RAM. Yes, it will be spendy but you'll get some of it back by extending the replacement cycle.

I've been using a Mac since about 1996.

I have to use a PC at work so I get to compare/contrast every day.

The Apple Ecosystem is just better in every way.

I got 10 years out of my mid-2012 MacBook Pro. I treated myself to a MacBook M1 Pro last year (that I'm typing on right now) and am sure I'll get 10 years out of this one.

quote:

Originally posted by KevH:
I've been using a Mac since about 1996.

I have to use a PC at work so I get to compare/contrast every day.

The Apple Ecosystem is just better in every way.

Just to be clear, "PC" does not equal "Windows," there are numerous alternative operating environments that run on standard PC hardware, most of these are available for Apple hardware as well. Much depends on what one is used to, but I have a hard time imagining a worse experience than that offered by Microsoft's design choices.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:

quote:

Originally posted by KevH:
I've been using a Mac since about 1996.

I have to use a PC at work so I get to compare/contrast every day.

The Apple Ecosystem is just better in every way.

Just to be clear, "PC" does not equal "Windows," there are numerous alternative operating environments that run on standard PC hardware, most of these are available for Apple hardware as well. Much depends on what one is used to, but I have a hard time imagining a worse experience than that offered by Microsoft's design choices.

I use Windows 11 at work right now. I've played with Linux Mint and some Linux distros as well. I messed with Elementary OS on an old MacBook that was gathering dust a few years back. For an operating system I prefer them over Microsoft, but when we start talking about ecosystems I find them lacking.

I've come to prefer the current Apple offerings. My Mac, my iPhone, my iWatch, my wife's iPad and our Apple TV all communicate seamlessly with each other. I don't need to mess with it. It's just a more pleasant experience and I find the Apple components age well. For me, it is worth the money .

In my experience it breaks down fairly easily. Architect above is a prime example of what I’m talking about.

There are two types of computer users. The first one wants to “spec” out their system. They will modify it, add memory, do “things” to make their computer perfect for them. Then the second group is guys like me. I want to open the box, set it on my desk, plug in the power and use my computer. I will never modify it it any way. I won’t add RAM I won’t change the processor I won’t do any of those things.

For that second group, nothing beats Apple. They turn on and just work. I personally have owned (in my immediate family) 2 macs, a Mac mini, and multiple laptops. The only thing that ever required work in the whole bunch between the 4 of us was one of the laptops had that wonky butterfly keyboard issue. Apple fixed it under warranty way outside the warranty period.

If you want to tinker, buy a PC. If you just want a computer to be a computer from day one, buy an Apple. I don’t give a shit if the front glass is glued to the frame using Gorilla Glue because I will never remove it. If you think you will, go PC. Lol

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
... I have a hard time imagining a worse experience than that offered by Microsoft's design choices.

That has always been my thought, ever since MS-DOS made its very first appearance.

I had a brief, very brief, fling with MS-WinNT. At first I thought "Hey, this isn't half-bad." I was actually thinking I could come to like it.

Then Reality came and slapped me upside the head when I had to actually deploy it at work and make it work in an Enterprise environment. I tried. I truly, honestly gave it my all. Finally, after about a year of nearly constant frustrations and disappointments I told my boss "Get that thing out of my computer room. If so-and-so design group insists that have to have it, let them deal with maintaining it. I'll have no more to do with it."

Out it went and I never touched another Microsoft server again.

The only reason I ever used MS-Win for anything was to support the desktops--and that only so much as I absolutely had to.

Now there's one MS-Win installation in my life: The old laptop my ex-employer gifted me when I retired. It dual-boots MS-Win7 Pro and Linux.

I never use the MS-Win boot for anything.