Why an iMac?

[Jimi75]

Folks, I thank you very much for so much effort and input! It's great!

Here are some more points after reading the posts.

What do I want to do:
1. Recording music
2. Video & Photo Editing
3. I never play games on the computer. Am not a gamer.
4. Surfing the internet

Budget = enough to get a 27" iMac

Important thing to be clarified:
What about my hardware like for e.g. my Midi keyboard and my Line6 Toneport. I only have a MS driver cd. Will a Mac acknowledge these machines without problems? I know I am going to lose my NI Bandstand software, but this I could stand.

[Jipes***]

Folks, I thank you very much for so much effort and input! It's great!

Here are some more points after reading the posts.

What do I want to do:
1. Recording music
2. Video & Photo Editing
3. I never play games on the computer. Am not a gamer.
4. Surfing the internet

Budget = enough to get a 27" iMac

Important thing to be clarified:
What about my hardware like for e.g. my Midi keyboard and my Line6 Toneport. I only have a MS driver cd. Will a Mac acknowledge these machines without problems? I know I am going to lose my NI Bandstand software, but this I could stand.

For the first two points I would recommend you a Mac (I've been working with them since my PHD writings).

Garage Band is easy to use and contains an intuitive interface and is free. Your Tone port will surely be recognized by GB I use a Pro Tools mBox without worries (Mac have a Core Audio compatible)

For photo edition free program is iPhoto which has been greatly improved, if you need more power go for Aperture.

As for video editing I did prepared videos since more than 10yeras with the iMovie program and it's easy to cut and paste as wel as adding titles and fancy transitions. It is now also easy to export to the conventional Youtube or Daily motion platforms.

To be honest I also never play games on the computer

[Ch0jin]

I recently went through a similar thought process when my last laptop died. I thought about building a desktop PC Vs a 27"imac The iMac just looks so damn sexy compared to my current display (2x17" LCD's).

However when I broke it down to "bang for buck" I kept my 17" screens and built a new PC.

It's all been covered in previous posts and it's really a matter of personal taste these days. Mac have the design aesthetic down better than anyone I can think of. They make hardware and software you just -want- to interact with. PC's are (generally speaking) less sexy, and a lot less intuitive, but offer a far superior price/performance ratio.

I do a fair bit of photo editing using PS CS4, and CPU power, HDD access times and RAM speed/quantity all seem to help improve PS performance so I decided, after some wrangling, that I'd be better off maximizing performance for my budget rather than the compromise I perceive an iMac to be in this regard.

FWIW i'm now packing an i5 760 (quad 2.8GHz), 4GB DDR3, 1TB WDC Black with a GTS450 and Win7 x64. By no means a high end spec, but everything just screams now compared to my old laptop, and it's quieter than my laptop!!!

[sunvalleylaw]

Folks, I thank you very much for so much effort and input! It's great!

Here are some more points after reading the posts.

What do I want to do:
1. Recording music
2. Video & Photo Editing
3. I never play games on the computer. Am not a gamer.
4. Surfing the internet

Budget = enough to get a 27" iMac

Important thing to be clarified:
What about my hardware like for e.g. my Midi keyboard and my Line6 Toneport. I only have a MS driver cd. Will a Mac acknowledge these machines without problems? I know I am going to lose my NI Bandstand software, but this I could stand.

You might have the budget for a 27 inch iMac, but I personally think the 21.5 is plenty big, and you could use the difference at least in part maximizing the RAM and have money left over as compared to getting the extra large screen. Your needs sound perfect for an iMac. I use the Toneport UX2 with no problems. Line6 has drivers on their site. http://line6.com/community/docs/DOC-1886

Your Midi keyboard can be connected by a USB to Midi Adapter and should not be a problem. You may need to download a new driver. Should not be a problem. What kind of keyboard is it?

[Jimi75]

Is it too much if I say I love you guys....

@SVL:
That's some real good information.
Actually I was about to check the 21,5", because 27" is huge and I do not think I'd need that huge screen. I use a Midistart-3 Pro Keys Midi keyboard, connected via USB. Shouldn't be a prob though...

It's cool that I could keep Bandstand and that Line6 offer the Mac driver.

I will let you guys know about my impressions. Hopefully the guy at the store gives me enough time to check.

Thanks again!