I've been looking for a new desktop for a while and thought I knew what I was going to get, until I started working with a NE Builder who wants to down tools and make video training courses for other builders. As I'd helped him set up his existing network and systems, he asked me to help him set up a green screen recording studio, which I did.
He already had some pretty powerful Dell Precision PCs but the Adobe Premier video editing suite he'd invested in had him climbing the walls! He'd heard that Final Cut was much easier to use and so invested in an intel based 26" iMac. did I mention he's a very rich builder? I had mixed feelings as I'd never really had much experience with Macs, although using an iPhone for a year had eased me in a little and within a couple of days I'd set the Mac up in his PC environment and all seemed well, apart from a few printer/NAS drivers that didn't like Lion. Anyhoo, when I wasnt working for him, I began missing the iMac and realised I'd been hooked! I started having internal debates, pros and cons etc and had to slap myself out of these Apple daydreams. I'd been a Windows user since 1985, having only had a brief affair with a university UNIX system in the naughties. As a dyed in the wool Microsoft user, all my skills were through those 4 coloured windows. However, the iMac was turning my head. It got to be too much when my builder needed one of his old PC packages to be easily accessible and didnt want two computers in his office, so we invested in a wonderful programme called Parallels! THIS was the deciding factor why I'll be buying an iMac for my next desktop. You can run Windows, inside a window, inside the Mac. What's more, since the iMac had 32gb memory and we allocated 8 of it to the instance of Windows 7, it was running faster than on the Dells! It's a fabulous bit of software and means you can really have the best of both worlds. Going full screen on parallels means that Windows 7, and/or any other Windows OS is just a swipe away and you can even share your desktop et al between the operating systems. This is a fantastic way to ease the transition and get to master the iMac while still keeping the stabilisers on with Windows, all in a beautiful iMac package. As a non-techie I dont get too exited about hardware, but the iMac plus parallels has me. Hook, line and sinker.