$1,200.00 to spend, what desktop to get?

[hollowpoint]

I'm looking for a new desktop and have $1,200.00 to spend. My old desktop (7 year old dell) is not cutting it anymore. My wife and I both have newer laptops but it's the desktop that needs an upgrade.

I'm really just looking for something to surf the net, edit photo's and video and upload music.

I have been considering the 21.5'' iMac but I have never owned a mac before so not sure how I will like it.

Should I lean towards the iMac or just buy an upgraded Dell or HP?

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[Treb5]

I've had nothing but Dell's and have had good success with them. I have had my existing Dell desktop for over ten years and it's still going strong. When it's time to replace it will be another Dell..

[Mister BLASTEE]

Mac=No Virus Do it

[Biff...]

Go for the iMac, I upgraded last year from an old Dell and have been very happy since.

[camss69]

I would get the iMac, I bought one last year after being a PC only guy and I love it!

[Warguy]

depends, if you stay with a PC then build your own, there are great deals to be had if u know what to look for.....if u go with a mac that 1200 will get u a low end mac.... but still nice.

[meaty-btz]

LOL Mac, No Virus? HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA

*ehem*

Nothing wrong with macs, really. A solid platform, tell us, what do you do on your PC, because Macs are also PCs... so what do you do?

[InFamous20]

Build your own PC and have more than 400 dollars leftover. Of course, if its not your thing you can always buy a factory built one.

[UNDFTD]

Mac = if you only care about looks and don't mind overpaying for an under-performing machine. You're paying a LOT of money for the white acrylic/brushed aluminum.

PC = Even buying a premade is better than buying a Mac. But I'd definately suggest building your own PC. When I first started building my own PCs I really realized how much money I had been wasting. Spending easily 300-400 extra on a PC because some guy/machine in China spent a few minutes putting it together.

[hollowpoint]

Appreciate the input from all.

Not interested in building a PC since I have no experience with doing so and I would not know what to look for.

If all I am looking for is a solid platform to surf the web, upload music and video, edit photo and video and upload music would the base iMac ($1,195.00) 21.5'' model be enough? Someone mentioned that with my price range I would be looking at a low end Imac. For $200.00 more I get a 1tb hard drive compared to a 500gb & the Processor jumps from a 2.5 to a 2.7, don't think I would need the upgrade, right?

[hollowpoint]

Mac = if you only care about looks and don't mind overpaying for an under-performing machine. You're paying a LOT of money for the white acrylic/brushed aluminum.

PC = Even buying a premade is better than buying a Mac. But I'd definately suggest building your own PC. When I first started building my own PCs I really realized how much money I had been wasting. Spending easily 300-400 extra on a PC because some guy/machine in China spent a few minutes putting it together.

Something for me to think about, thank you.

[UNDFTD]

Something for me to think about, thank you.

I literally spent 20 seconds and found this setup thats [litterally] 5x more powerful for a bit less than $1200. (premade)

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/LAN_Warrior_II-67

$1158 = incredibly powerful PC + 27 inch monitor.

27 inch iMac starting at $1700. And that model still can't compete with the above PC.

[Eirerogue]

+1 on the iMac,. Very pleased!

[orchard]

Get a HP or Dell with 8Gb of ram, and a godd graphics card. Spend the left over money on gun stuff :-)

[resident-shooter]

Do u just need a new rig or monitor too?

For surfing the web and editing pics, you really don't need more than a modern dual core processor with 3.4+ GHz, 6 gigs of ram, and a 60gb SSD for programs +2 TB hard drive for storage. Video card is optional... More than that would be kind of a waste. All and all the rig alone should not cost more than $600-700 if u build one yourself.