Anyone gone from a PC to iMac then back to a PC?
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Soldato
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Multiples of both rather than switching back and forth ... in fact within 4 ft of me at the moment there is a Mac Mini, Win7 Laptop and a Win8 HTPC (plus a Win7 work Laptop)
Soldato
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I have both, Mac for doing work on, and PC for games
When you say from PC to Mac to PC do you mean a physical computer or do you mean OSX and Windows?
If the latter then just install windows on your iMac and have fun. I have had a macbook for about 2 years now and still don't find OSX as intuitive and simple as windows, however the hardware itself it great. I'd say the same with an iMac as well, although AIOs have the issue of having to replace the screen when you replace the rest of the hardware, which you don't have to do with a small ITX machine and a seperate monitor.
If the latter then just install windows on your iMac and have fun. I have had a macbook for about 2 years now and still don't find OSX as intuitive and simple as windows, however the hardware itself it great. I'd say the same with an iMac as well, although AIOs have the issue of having to replace the screen when you replace the rest of the hardware, which you don't have to do with a small ITX machine and a seperate monitor.
Went from Mac (grew up with them) to PC in 2007 or so, back to Mac (2012 iMac 27" with i7, GTX 680MX, 1TB "Fusion" Drive...what a silly name). Virtualise into W7 if I need to, reboot to W7 for gaming (people can make whatever excuses they want, Mac OS is still a poor choice for gaming).
Dislike MS with a passion, not really that I'm a Mac fanboy - as soon as Apple starts making crap machines and software I'll switch.
As for moving back to Windows, financially it's a bit of a jumble - the iMac will have a far higher resell value than the PC in the years to come (and will sell well now), yet the custom built PC will be cheaper now. So you have to be the judge when it comes to the usual factors: which platform you prefer, whether you'd miss one if you dropped it, which offers the most benefits etc.
Just to offer another perspective in addition to Amp34's, I simply find using Windows a hugely frustrating experience. To me, it feels like they've gone out of their way to make things more difficult. Why is it like that for me? Because I'm not used to it, and because I just don't like it as much. It's a case of personal preference.
Dislike MS with a passion, not really that I'm a Mac fanboy - as soon as Apple starts making crap machines and software I'll switch.
As for moving back to Windows, financially it's a bit of a jumble - the iMac will have a far higher resell value than the PC in the years to come (and will sell well now), yet the custom built PC will be cheaper now. So you have to be the judge when it comes to the usual factors: which platform you prefer, whether you'd miss one if you dropped it, which offers the most benefits etc.
Just to offer another perspective in addition to Amp34's, I simply find using Windows a hugely frustrating experience. To me, it feels like they've gone out of their way to make things more difficult. Why is it like that for me? Because I'm not used to it, and because I just don't like it as much. It's a case of personal preference.
That one hasn't been the case for a long time, I've been right clicking (well, two finger tapping if I'm using the trackpad) for many years now
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Soldato
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I bought my first Mac in 2007.
Six years later still buy Macs and still build my own PCs
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Six years later still buy Macs and still build my own PCs
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Caporegime
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Was sick of all the updates, drivers, crashes, formatting, defrag after 10 years of windows (was on Windows 7 at the time) so moved to Mac.
4 years on and I am on my second iMac (with a MBP). Not upgraded core of the first one at all, mostly because you cant, just added RAM but everything else is still the same as day 1. Never been reformatted. Granted, it has crashed a couple of times but I can count the number of times on 1 hand. It hardly ever needed a reboot either. The MBP is now 3 years old but I've added 8G Ram, 512G SSD, if you use it for general stuff you would think it is a brand new machine. Not bad for something that is 3 years old.
The new machine is fast enough to be a gaming machine if I want to (3.4Ghz i7, GT680MX, 32G RAM) but I only game on my X-Box now, even though I do miss the mouse/keyboard combo for FPS.
I know windows can be just as stable but my experiences tells me otherwise. I am happy where i am with what I've got. It costs a little more for the same spec windows machine but it is a piece of mind worth paying for.
I leave the IT support to the people who are paid to do that, Apple themselves, comes with 3 years Apple Care, hardware and software support should I need it.
Will I go back to windows? Probably not. I find it strange how they constantly changing its look and interface almost every generation, where as OSX has stayed pretty consistent through out, in fact it is hard to tell what is new. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing but from someone who just want a working computer for photo work mostly, it suits me fine.
4 years on and I am on my second iMac (with a MBP). Not upgraded core of the first one at all, mostly because you cant, just added RAM but everything else is still the same as day 1. Never been reformatted. Granted, it has crashed a couple of times but I can count the number of times on 1 hand. It hardly ever needed a reboot either. The MBP is now 3 years old but I've added 8G Ram, 512G SSD, if you use it for general stuff you would think it is a brand new machine. Not bad for something that is 3 years old.
The new machine is fast enough to be a gaming machine if I want to (3.4Ghz i7, GT680MX, 32G RAM) but I only game on my X-Box now, even though I do miss the mouse/keyboard combo for FPS.
I know windows can be just as stable but my experiences tells me otherwise. I am happy where i am with what I've got. It costs a little more for the same spec windows machine but it is a piece of mind worth paying for.
I leave the IT support to the people who are paid to do that, Apple themselves, comes with 3 years Apple Care, hardware and software support should I need it.
Will I go back to windows? Probably not. I find it strange how they constantly changing its look and interface almost every generation, where as OSX has stayed pretty consistent through out, in fact it is hard to tell what is new. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing but from someone who just want a working computer for photo work mostly, it suits me fine.
Yeah but I went back to mac again 
I missed the track pad and skyrim was only 70 hours long which didn't really qualify for suffering with the pc when I like OSX a lot more.
Now my mac mini is super quiet/cool and does everything I want it to (mostly because it has 2 M4 256gig's shoehorned into it)
I missed the track pad and skyrim was only 70 hours long which didn't really qualify for suffering with the pc when I like OSX a lot more.
Now my mac mini is super quiet/cool and does everything I want it to (mostly because it has 2 M4 256gig's shoehorned into it)
It's amazing the pull that trackpad has, I hate using any laptop that isn't a Macbook as a result of them. It's the best pointing device for anything non-gaming I've used, so much so I had to have one on the Mini and wouldn't use anything else.
Pinch, swipe, multi-finger gestures etc > Mouse.
Pinch, swipe, multi-finger gestures etc > Mouse.
Umm?
Windows has looked pretty much identical in terms of functional design since Windows 95. Heck, they've even brought back a version of the 'Start' menu as of the 8.1 patch for Windows 8 because enough people whined about it. Changing from grey to blue/green and transparency is about as big of a change as Aqua's in OS X.
Caporegime
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When I say look, I mean they look different. Looking at Windows 95 and Windows Vista, they look different. Windows 7 looks different to Windows 8. Whereas I couldn't tell on the visual difference between Snow leopard, Lion and mountain lion. As in when I look at it, I can't tell you which OS it is.
Although interface I was referring to Windows 8 more.
Well you did say 'constantly changing the look and interface almost every generation,' which is completely untrue, so you can understand my confusion.
Besides, do you remember OS X when it was an orgy of mish-mash brushed steel?? They've come a heck of a long way over the last 13 years.
Remember that Mac OS X on average has seen far more frequent updates, and started out as a more modern looking OS than the comparable Windows version at the time (XP). Since Vista, Windows has grown up very quickly, and it's clear that MS are now more sure with which direction they are taking, in both the design of their software and the way we use it (whether everybody agrees with them is another matter). The design changes with Windows were bigger, but certainly for the better, and to cater for new features (eg. the taskbar in Windows 7).
Soldato
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I did, but this was back in the true Hipster days of the multi-coloured iMacs and iBooks. I had both and apart from the aesthetics and the iMac's utterly fantastic keyboard, I wasn't that impressed. MAC OS in particular (8.6 or 9, or something) felt primitive and very prone to locking up, even compared to Windows 98, but was still lauded to the heavens. 
I did get my introduction to The Sims and Baldur's Gate 2 from the Mac though, so it wasn't all bad.
That said, I went back to PC's after about a year and boy, things had moved on!
My Mac's were pretty, but rather slow and jolly expensive for what they were. However, I still prefer those multi-coloured designs to the sterile white stuff now.
No doubt this will annoy the fanboy's, but this is currently in General Discussion, so I thought I'd jump in.
I did get my introduction to The Sims and Baldur's Gate 2 from the Mac though, so it wasn't all bad.That said, I went back to PC's after about a year and boy, things had moved on!
My Mac's were pretty, but rather slow and jolly expensive for what they were. However, I still prefer those multi-coloured designs to the sterile white stuff now. No doubt this will annoy the fanboy's, but this is currently in General Discussion, so I thought I'd jump in.
Soldato
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Besides, do you remember OS X when it was an orgy of mish-mash brushed steel?? They've come a heck of a long way over the last 13 years.
I liked brushed chrome Safari. Not really got a place in a modern OS but better than the skeuomorphism that's ripe in some OS X (and iOS) apps.
Always hated the bubblegum look of aqua. Thankfully that's long gone.
Sterile white stuff? There hasn't been a white Mac since the white MacBook was discontinued (side note: My wife adored her white MacBook. She called it Pismo, and that made me laugh) they're all aluminium nowadays.
As for annoying the fanboys well apart from that stupid "can't right click" line, so far this thread hasn't (quite) descended into the usual diatribe Apple thread attract in GD.
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I once went to mac, I will never go back even if it was black in the sack n hope I don't get no flack.
NO! NEVER!
NO! NEVER!
I have currently have both a Dell XPS 12 running Windows 8 and a Macbook Air as I need both platforms for work. The Mac is barely used, I only turn it on when I need to do something with XCode.
I had a couple of Mac Minis over the past few years but I always feel like I have to boot into Windows too much for certain tasks (I do a lot of mobile device based work). So it's easier for me to use a PC 99% of the time.
Main issues I have with the Mac:
- Device drivers/programs unavailable
- Things like Lync don't work very well
- Some web based tools I use only work well on IE
- I hate that bloody beach ball!
I had a couple of Mac Minis over the past few years but I always feel like I have to boot into Windows too much for certain tasks (I do a lot of mobile device based work). So it's easier for me to use a PC 99% of the time.
Main issues I have with the Mac:
- Device drivers/programs unavailable
- Things like Lync don't work very well
- Some web based tools I use only work well on IE
- I hate that bloody beach ball!
My (work) mouse and keyboard are white. Or I should say were white, like most Mac stuff I see they are now stained and dirty. Much prefer black mice and keyboards for this reason.
As to the OP, at my new job I was given a mac to work with and although I like the form factor and the nice 27" IPS screen OSX is really horrible. So much so that I run linux far more often than OSX on it. In the future I will stay well clear of any Mac, just buying a nice IPS screen.
Soldato
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Yep
Had a decent PC, decided I wanted to try a Mac.
Spent £1,800 on it without really thinking things through. Hated it, tried to like it but it wasn't anywhere near as productive as the PC. Sold it for £1,400 and bought another PC.
Didn't realise just how restrictive they are. People kept saying I needed to dual boot with windows but that defeated the point in my eyes of moving to a Mac. There wasn't a single thing I thought was better, or any reason I needed OS X over Windows.
Lesson WELL learnt!!
Had a decent PC, decided I wanted to try a Mac.
Spent £1,800 on it without really thinking things through. Hated it, tried to like it but it wasn't anywhere near as productive as the PC. Sold it for £1,400 and bought another PC.
Didn't realise just how restrictive they are. People kept saying I needed to dual boot with windows but that defeated the point in my eyes of moving to a Mac. There wasn't a single thing I thought was better, or any reason I needed OS X over Windows.
Lesson WELL learnt!!
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