 |
Dell Inspiron 580
by DavidNaughton92
This is my current computer and the first desktop computer I have owned in years. After getting very used to using laptops for video editing I didn't think the move to a desktop computer would do much good but I was really wrong. There really is no comparing a laptops performance to a desktop computer, desktop wins every time. Now the ... Dell Inspiron 580 was a really good choice, I honestly hadn't done much research, I saw the price, looked at the RAM and then purchased. This is an incredibly quick computer for its price, I'll go through the Pros and Cons :
PROS
- Very quick processor - great if you're the type of person who likes to have many tabs or programs open at the same time, this computer will not choke under pressure.
- Can handle high end video editing software and video games - Video editing is very specific to me but many of you will be playing video games, I've tested a few old PC games along with a few new ones and they have all performed very well, no lagging.
- DVD burner is great - I've encountered no problems with burning DVD's, works a charm.
- Large Hard Drive - Good for those who like to keep a lot of films and music at the ready.
CONS
- Needed repairs after 6 months, it was a minor problem with the plug connection at the back. Not a massive Con, but still worth noting.
- No in-built wireless internet adapter - I had to buy an external wireless adapter myself, not expensive £15-30.
Apart from the fact that it needed repairs after such a short period of time I'm very happy with this computer, the price is very fair for what you're getting. If high performance(gaming etc.) is not what you're looking for then I'm sure you could find cheaper computers that would fully suit your needs. But for those who like to play games and have a lot of programs running at the same time, this computer is for you.
Read the complete review |
 |
Apple iMac MC309B/A
by MamaC
The All In One Apple iMac, was my first Apple purchase as recommended to me buy a musician friend about 3 years ago who assured me that Apple was the way forward. It wasn't too long after this that I became a complete Apple fan, so much so that I later upgraded to a Mac Pro 2 years later. This iMac was primary used for music ... programming, photo editing, word processing, Internet etc and has now moved from my studio to my office for mainly word processing, watching freeview. And it gets a lot of family use too.
SPEC:
The high res display is 1920x1080p which is full HD and simply stunning, and great for when I have to do my photo editing. Comes with 4 GB of RAM which I upgraded to 6 GB. The graphics card is a Radeon HD 6750M. Widescreen is 21.5 inches. Has a Quad COre processor, slot for CD's and DVDs to the right side of the machine. It has 4 USBs on the back (would have liked 6), 1 Firewire port and a Thunderbolt port which provides lightening fast data transer with compatible sources - and it really says what is on the tin. The hard drive is only 500 GB- I could do with at least 2 TB now. Wireless networking is carreid out with Apple Extreme 802.11n, and Bluetooth 2.1. Comes with keyboard, mouse and remote.
SOFTWARE:
It comes with all the software applications that you need to get you started(as with all Mac products) such as Garageband, Time Machine, iPhoto, iMovie, iCal, Address Book, Mail etc. . Safari is a great webrowser but I prefer to use FireFox. This lot saves you a bundle.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT:
It looks amazing, the display is wonderful. Well packaged in a massive box. It's quick to boot and powerful enough to cope with all of the new and demaning apps that are coming onto the market. Backing up your data is very easy with Time Machine. I love the little remote that comes with it, it's so sleek and handy if you want to show a slide show or play some music. It comes with a mouse and keyboard with are beautiful and a joy to use. Needless to say I love the software and the fact that setting up the wireless was a dream, only took me 10 minutes, it was a little trickier to find my way around the email setup though. It's also guanteed for 2 years.
WHAT I'M NOT SO KEEN ON:
I really could do with a few more USB ports at the back. Instead I have to use an adapter. Setting up my wireless printer was a real pain and I still haven't got it to work after 2 years now. But I think it's more of a printer problem than an iMac issue. Slightly overpriced, but didn't really mind too much.
I will never buy a PC again.
Purchased from Absolute Music for £1250 (with 2 GB RAM upgrade)
Read the complete review |
|
|
Apple iMac MC309B/A
by Pilotgavw
After being a self-proclaimed "fan" of the iPhone and iPad, and when my windows based laptop finally gave up on me, having been so impressed with my previous apple products, I chose my next computer to be the new 21.5" Apple iMac.
****Design****
The iMac is a truly beautiful machine to look at, a ... single unit with only one cable, the power cord, cased in an all aluminium shell with a gloss black border surround of the screen. It comes with the bluetooth connected wireless keyboard and magic mouse, however, I bought the apple trackpad to replace the mouse as it offers more flexibility when using the operating system by making the most of the multi-touch gestures available.
****Specification****
The specifications offered were not as good as some of the desktop machines available on the market, but this is by no means a slouch. The 2.5 GHz intel i5 quad core processor is a powerful beast, I still am yet to find a piece of software that prevents me from running it at maximum resolution setting, this is of course helped by the 4 GB of ram as standard which is upgradable to 16 GB if you so wish. The Hard-drive is offered as 500GB or 1TB versions for the 21.5" model when bought 'out-of-the-box' from an apple store or other retailer, however, further changes to these specifications can be made if purchased from apples on-line retail store (at a price of course). The system comes with a built in 'FaceTime' camera for video calling, etc. and has bluetooth and wifi capability. As well as the standard re-writtable DVD slot, this new model also has the new thunderbolt socket as well as 4xUSB, a firewire and ethernet attachments. Thunderbolt is apples new connection designed for very high speed data transfer, at the moment limited to plugging in an external display but could be used for external hard-drives, etc in the future.
****Software****
The built-in software run on the operating system Mac OS X Lion, which is apples new and shiny platform. Having previously only used Windows machines I was a little apprehensive about making the move to Mac OS, worrying about finding the transition fairly difficult, and I must admit, it did take me a certain amount of time...about 1 day. The user interface is unbelievably simple to use and I know everyone seems to say this about Macs, but they really do "just work", theres never any messing around and fiddling to try and get applications to work properly, which I seemed to spend half my life doing on Windows. For example, I bought a new HP printer towards the end of my previous Windows laptops life and after re-installing drivers, several attempts of "switching it off and back on" it never really worked properly, always dropping off-line. After buying my iMac, I switched it on, and bobs your uncle, worked straight away, no drivers, no fiddling, in fact I didn't quite believe it could be that easy, but it was...everything is just that easy.
Other software that comes with the mac are the iLife suite, including iPhoto, iMovie, and Garage-band. It also has a native calendar and mail app, and a few more. The iMac now has its own app store, allowing you to access thousands of other software titles and download directly to you iMac in a few clicks. One really great feature that I love about mac OS X Lion is the multiple desktop feature, using a three-finger swipe on the multi-touch trackpad, you can switch between a full-screen view of your calendar, emails, PDF documents, anything you want. A very useful tool for me.
****Price****
The price is probably one of the big negatives about this device, it is expensive, but this also ensures that you get a quality product and you do "get what you pay for". This is certainly true in this case. The base model is £999 and the higher spec being £1249. There are even 27" display options available for a higher price.
****Recommendation****
The iMac is pricey, but in my opinion, worth it. As a family computer it is ideal, it offers very user-friendly interfaces and with very few viruses on the mac, a safe computer experience. If you are a hard-core gamer, this isn't the machine for you, but for a casual user or someone working from home, this is ideal. Believe me, once you go Mac, you'll never go back!
Read the complete review |
