My old PC was over 4 years old and just not keeping up any more. I didn't consider getting a Mac until I'd kicked around the idea of learning iOS programming which requires OSX. After looking at the prices of these computers I balked, I could build a bleeding edge "Hackintosh" for what they were asking and still have money left over! A little research into installing OSX onto a non-Apple machine nipped that in the bud, it seems more headache than it's worth. So I sucked it up and bought an iMac and wow am I glad I did. The specs may not be top of the line, but everything else about this computer is!
First, the hardware. The screen is the most obviously amazing thing here, it makes the very nice Viewsonic monitors on my Windows box look washed out and blurry in comparison. Colors are vibrant, text is crisp, pixels are nearly invisible. If you're deciding between this and the larger iMacs, the 21" looks huge on my desk and I can't imagine how monstrous the 27" would be! Processing power is also stellar, it's been able to take everything I've thrown at it so far whether it's games or video stuff or anything else. The Magic Mouse is an unexpected surprise, I never thought I'd be impressed by a mouse but this little thing is extremely cool gestures and scrolling without wheels and buttons hasn't gotten old yet.
The software is excellent as well. I've been a Windows guy as long as I've been a computer user and I took to OSX immediately, as though I'd been an old pro. It's a cliche with Apple stuff but really It Just Works. It is rock solid too, despite my blind Mac-newbie messing around I've only gotten it to crash once and it was totally my fault. 3rd party software is plentiful and many Windows apps and games are available for OSX as well, don't look only in the Mac App Store though, better prices can often be found in other app stores (Steam, for example) or from a developer's own web site. Upgrading to Lion was dead easy but give it a couple hours after Lion's done installing, it reindexes all your files and the computer runs kind of slow while this is going on.
I've only had this computer a week so I know I've barely scratched the surface, but already this iMac has transformed a life long devout Windows guy into one of those insufferable Mac people. It's every bit as easy to set up and use and just as well designed as Macs are reputed to be. If you're thinking about switching, go ahead and do it, you'll be glad you did!
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