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As the title says, I've been a PC guy for 25 years. I've probably built 30 systems, for myself, and others in that time. Now, just as I was about to start a new build due that was long delayed due to some financial setbacks, (i5 2500k, with, eventually, two 6950's) in I now suddenly have a dilemma and could use your expertise, and thoughts on the matter.
I have a new job that I started about six months back, which offers a great, creative environment, and a promising opportunity for the future. We just had new management brought in to take the company to the next level and these guys have sme great ideas and plans. And that's where the dilemma appears. The new team is converting us completely to a Mac environment. There are a number of reasons, but one of the biggest is that we will be using several proprietary software apps that were designed solely for Macs. They are offering the employees a one time opportunity wherein they will pay $1000.00 towards our purchase of an iMac. They think that the benefits of having us more comfortable and actually using the Mac platform will help the transition and as well as benefit a number of other things. Also, as an additional bonus, those of us who purchase iMacs under this plan, will also have the opportunity to work from home one day a week, and possibly an additional day in the future. All of which is pretty compelling stuff.
However, as I noted earlier, I've been a PC guy my whole adult life. There are a couple other things in play here though. I've been having a great time working with Garage Band on the iPad my fiance bought me for my birthday. I'm getting to the point where I really, really want to be able to utilize the full blown version but, of course, it's only available for Macs. And, trust me, I've talked to half a dozen musician friends/acquaintenances, and several music stores,and there is absolutely nothing for the pc that is remotely an equivalent. Having my own iMac would solve that too, but clearly that's just not enough reason on it's own, of course, to buy one. But when you add in the offer being made by the company, well, it makes you think at least a bit.
Lastly, I am a gamer to a degree. The only thing I currently am involved with is World of Warcraft and I'm eagerly awaiting Diablo III. I'm also looking forward to Skyrim this fall. And that's really about all that interests me as far as games. No FPS, etc. Insofar as I know, Mac's have never been able to do gaming decently. Has that changed with the newest versions of the iMac's? They have Intel i5 and i7 processors, and offer Radeon 6970 (2gb) video cards. I'm guessing this setup would have to allow me to play WOW and Diablo III with the bells and whistles, but likely not Skyrim.
In the end, I'm still finding it hard to seriously consider anything other than a pc, it is, of course, what I have always known, but the $1000.00 they are offering is virtually half the price of a loaded iMac (we get a corporate discount also). Right now, having had some significant financial setbacks in the past year, as I mentioned, having someone pay for half of my new computer is a hard thing to turn down though. Especially as my new build was going to run me $2k, so that's literally a thousand dollars back in my pocket. Not to mention one less day of having to drive to work, with gas at $4.00 a gallon, no commute time, saving wear and tear on the car, on my brain, etc. etc.
I could, of course, have posted this in a Mac forum, but there is so much anti-pc/Mac is God, bias there that I expect I would have had no replies except those telling me why I would be insane to do anything except buy the Mac. On the other hand, this forum has always seemed to me to be balanced, less biased, and populated with a great number of people who honestly consider someones situation and provide fair, and technically sound advice.
If I cannot game, given my parameters, thats almost definitely going to be a deal breaker. If it is workable though, my other intended uses of a computer are a lot of net surfing, some music production stuff, some digital photography manipulation and synching to my iPad/iPod. All of which, excepting the gaming piece, a Mac could do as well, if not possibly a bit better in some areas.
And so now you have my dilemma. I would appreciate your thoughts, opinions and advice. This is entirely new ground for me. Thanks for any help with this.
Oh, and just to preclude any thoughts in that direction, because I've already checked. None of the Mac hack applications for the pc are viable. The Firewall and Security team will not allow them on the network, and two of the three critical proprietary programs will not play well, or at all, with them.
I have a new job that I started about six months back, which offers a great, creative environment, and a promising opportunity for the future. We just had new management brought in to take the company to the next level and these guys have sme great ideas and plans. And that's where the dilemma appears. The new team is converting us completely to a Mac environment. There are a number of reasons, but one of the biggest is that we will be using several proprietary software apps that were designed solely for Macs. They are offering the employees a one time opportunity wherein they will pay $1000.00 towards our purchase of an iMac. They think that the benefits of having us more comfortable and actually using the Mac platform will help the transition and as well as benefit a number of other things. Also, as an additional bonus, those of us who purchase iMacs under this plan, will also have the opportunity to work from home one day a week, and possibly an additional day in the future. All of which is pretty compelling stuff.
However, as I noted earlier, I've been a PC guy my whole adult life. There are a couple other things in play here though. I've been having a great time working with Garage Band on the iPad my fiance bought me for my birthday. I'm getting to the point where I really, really want to be able to utilize the full blown version but, of course, it's only available for Macs. And, trust me, I've talked to half a dozen musician friends/acquaintenances, and several music stores,and there is absolutely nothing for the pc that is remotely an equivalent. Having my own iMac would solve that too, but clearly that's just not enough reason on it's own, of course, to buy one. But when you add in the offer being made by the company, well, it makes you think at least a bit.
Lastly, I am a gamer to a degree. The only thing I currently am involved with is World of Warcraft and I'm eagerly awaiting Diablo III. I'm also looking forward to Skyrim this fall. And that's really about all that interests me as far as games. No FPS, etc. Insofar as I know, Mac's have never been able to do gaming decently. Has that changed with the newest versions of the iMac's? They have Intel i5 and i7 processors, and offer Radeon 6970 (2gb) video cards. I'm guessing this setup would have to allow me to play WOW and Diablo III with the bells and whistles, but likely not Skyrim.
In the end, I'm still finding it hard to seriously consider anything other than a pc, it is, of course, what I have always known, but the $1000.00 they are offering is virtually half the price of a loaded iMac (we get a corporate discount also). Right now, having had some significant financial setbacks in the past year, as I mentioned, having someone pay for half of my new computer is a hard thing to turn down though. Especially as my new build was going to run me $2k, so that's literally a thousand dollars back in my pocket. Not to mention one less day of having to drive to work, with gas at $4.00 a gallon, no commute time, saving wear and tear on the car, on my brain, etc. etc.
I could, of course, have posted this in a Mac forum, but there is so much anti-pc/Mac is God, bias there that I expect I would have had no replies except those telling me why I would be insane to do anything except buy the Mac. On the other hand, this forum has always seemed to me to be balanced, less biased, and populated with a great number of people who honestly consider someones situation and provide fair, and technically sound advice.
If I cannot game, given my parameters, thats almost definitely going to be a deal breaker. If it is workable though, my other intended uses of a computer are a lot of net surfing, some music production stuff, some digital photography manipulation and synching to my iPad/iPod. All of which, excepting the gaming piece, a Mac could do as well, if not possibly a bit better in some areas.
And so now you have my dilemma. I would appreciate your thoughts, opinions and advice. This is entirely new ground for me. Thanks for any help with this.
Oh, and just to preclude any thoughts in that direction, because I've already checked. None of the Mac hack applications for the pc are viable. The Firewall and Security team will not allow them on the network, and two of the three critical proprietary programs will not play well, or at all, with them.
