£1000 spec to beat iMac

Could you confirm that your idea of 'everything' is case (all internals), monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers and OS?
 
i thought i'd show you what you can get for your money as well as showing you something very cheap that could beat the imac at everything except for looks

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Dirt 3 PC Game** £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x OcUK E2250SWDA 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £85.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £71.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £70.00
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £47.99
1 x Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse and FREE Boogie Bug AimB.Pad XL Gaming Mouse Surface £42.98
1 x Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £34.98
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x Logitech S-220 2.1 Speaker System - OEM (980-000022) £21.98
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £998.83 (includes shipping: FREE).
hope i havent missed anything

*edit*
well, this is the cheapest thing that could beat that imac:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2300 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £143.99
1 x OcUK E2250SWDA 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £85.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £71.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £70.00
1 x Asus ATI Radeon HD 6670 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £61.99
1 x MSI H61M-E33 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £46.99
1 x Cooler Master GX 450W '80 Plus' Power Supply £27.98
1 x OcUK Flamingo FM-12A Midi Tower Case - Black/Blue £21.98
1 x OcUK Ultra-Slim Wirelesss Desktop Set (6311ARF) £19.99
1 x OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1333LV4GK) £14.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x Logitech S-120 2.0 Speaker System - OEM (980-000011) £7.99
1 x Speedlink Mousepad Basic - Black £2.99
Total : £591.86 (includes shipping : FREE).
 
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thanks so much reaper thats exactly what i was after,would the first spec blow the mac out of the water?

yes it would, especially for gaming. its also ready for a second graphics card in crossfire for when you want to upgrade it later.
i have literally no idea what the speakers are like, but i figured that you cant go wrong with logitech
the bottom level imac only has a 6750M graphics card, which, as you have probably gathered from my second post (which i wouldnt recommend to anyone) is worse than a 6670 because the imac's graphics card is designed for laptops

minus the fact the iMac has a high quality IPS monitor...
are you sure the bottom end imac has an ips monitor? i had a good look round and couldnt find any advertisement of the monitor being an IPS panel

if its for gaming though i really wouldnt worry about IPS panels though. the small improvement in colour representation is balanced by the slower response time
 
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any old pc could beat an iMac on performance, no need for £1k just cause you have the sheep tax on an iwhatever ;)

if you value looks over performance get the iMac simple really.
 
it baffles me that imacs dont have right click O.o

only thing that makes an apple fast is its optimized operating system not the hardware. Its with all their products.

they lack expandability too.
 
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it baffles me that imacs dont have right click O.o

only thing that makes an apple fast is its optimized operating system not the hardware. Its with all their products.

they lack expandability too.

they've had right click since about 2000?

i dont get where this no right click thing comes from nowadays that was a long long long time ago..
 
they've had right click since about 2000?

i dont get where this no right click thing comes from nowadays that was a long long long time ago..

i swear i was trying one out in a shop.. tried to right click on desktop but it only left clicked?

maybe i was doing it wrong?
 
any old pc could beat an iMac on performance, no need for £1k just cause you have the sheep tax on an iwhatever ;)

if you value looks over performance get the iMac simple really.

Well that's not really true now, is it. Seeing as they use quad core i5/i7s in even the most basic iMac configuration.

it baffles me that imacs dont have right click O.o

They do have right click.

only thing that makes an apple fast is its optimized operating system not the hardware. Its with all their products.

Again, not strictly true. They're pretty decently specced machines, running on slightly more efficient software isn't a bad thing either.

they lack expandability too.

Well yes, they do. But that could be said of any All-In-One.

Also, when you get down to it they're really very good value. For example here's a spec using decent quality but still cheaper components, it's roughly identical to a base spec iMac which only costs £50 more on HE and looks infinitely better.

Qty Price Line Total
Dell UltraSharp U2212HM 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £194.99
(£162.49)
Intel Core i5-2300 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £143.99
(£119.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £71.99
(£59.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £70.00
(£58.33)
Asus ATI Radeon HD 6670 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £61.99
(£51.66)
BeQuiet Pure Power L8 530W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £59.99
(£49.99)
MSI H61M-E33 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £46.99
(£39.16)
Thermaltake VK60001W2Z Element S Case - Black £44.99
(£37.49)
Logitech K340 Wireless Keyboard (920-001979) £32.99
(£27.49)
Logitech G400 3600DPI Gaming Mouse (910-002279) £26.99
(£22.49)
Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £17.99
(£14.99)
Logitech X-140 2.0 Speaker System (970264-0120) £15.98
(£13.32)
LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
(£12.49)
Sub Total : £669.88
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £19.10
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £137.80
Total : £826.78

There's two reasons to get a PC over a Mac, either you want to play a lot of games or you don't care about looks and just want the cheapest system possible. I fall into the former, if I didn't I'd just have an iMac 27".
 
I had an iMac 24"

I hated the damn thing I'll never buy one again

I have iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Airport Extreme, Airport Express... I like apple products.. but the iMac

never again
 
...Why? I mean, I can understand hating the mouse, or OSX but it's basically just a really high quality screen with a PC inside.
 
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