Office computer. iMac

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
I second the 27" iMac. Once you've sat in front of a screen of that size and clarity anything else feel cheap. The extra screen space also makes working on 2 open documents at once easy and relaxing.

It feels like a lot of money to spend but after 7 years with ours I'll but another without hesitation.
Only just read your previous post and see that you too have bought from Deecies.
I didn't even consider another desktop computer. I've had Windows desktop computers before and had several years using large screen high performance laptops, but much prefer the combination of iMac/iPad Pro and iPhone. The iPad gives great functionality but when sat down to do serious work or to view Netflix or Amazon Prime video, the iMac is fabulous.
If you count the price of 27"+ ultra high definition stand-alone screens, the 27" iMac price doesn't actually seem too bad.

The only slight regret I have from my iMac 27" choice is that I didn't order it with the optional extended numeric Magic Keyboard, which has delete-forward and other useful extra keys as well as a calculator style pad.
The batteries in the latest wireless keyboard and mouse last an amazingly long time compared to the old ones, which used rechargeable AA batteries.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
I was thinking of buying a Mac mini and an aftermarket massive screen off amazon.
I thought of that also. However a high spec Mac Mini soon gets up into the £2000 to £2500 price band plus at least £500 for a quality 27" monitor, plus speakers on top.
More expensive than a similar spec iMac.

If that is what you prefer, choosing your own monitor, then the Mini is the one for you, but it doesn't seem to save any money with a like for like specification.
 

BBC

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
Again another very happy Mac user and have been for years. Went over to the dark side and had a Windows PC for a bit but hated it and it always had niggles so couldnt said to go back to a MacBook.
yes, they are more expensive, but very reliable, never had any virus problems and last far longer than PCs so don’t need replacing so often and the ability to synch with iPad and iPhone is great.
 

Stuarts

New Member
I have nearly 100,000 photos, videos and scans on my iMac, well nearly 1TB on a 2TB external drive actually, not on the main drive because my old 21" iMac only has a 500GB hard drive for storage. This is backed up to a second external drive using the standard 'TimeMachine' and photos backed up further to Google Photos in the Cloud and all other files to Apple iCloud apart from Office and Adobe Acrobat, which are backed up to their own dedicated clouds. About two thirds of photos and videos on the superb Apple Photos app onto which I have several further editing plug-ins. The rest in a separate 'pictures' folder, which mostly comprise of scans of old family prints.

MS Office works exactly as it does for Windows as far as I can see, including Microsoft365 [formerly Office365].
Filing is also very similar and I have no issues with either Windows or Apple filing systems. Must say that I have yet to work with Windows 10 as of yet on my new machine.
When I first had my iMac, in 2011, I don't recall any issue with using it compared to using Windows7 but far less bother with virus scanning and constant security updates and so on. Far fewer crashes and reboots also. Plus a whole lot of software comes as standard.
You obviously spend a lot of time at your computer. Far more than me anyway. Thanks for all the knowledge in your posts. Do you run sage for yo books? You are far more into this than me. I just want to make it easier for myself by not moving from one system that I’m using all the time ( iphone and iPad ) and windows Which I’m not using as much so it hopefully frees up time spent in the office if you see what I mean.
 

Ukjay

Member
Location
Wales!
You obviously spend a lot of time at your computer. Far more than me anyway. Thanks for all the knowledge in your posts. Do you run sage for yo books? You are far more into this than me. I just want to make it easier for myself by not moving from one system that I’m using all the time ( iphone and iPad ) and windows Which I’m not using as much so it hopefully frees up time spent in the office if you see what I mean.

This is what I will be using when the office is finally set out, has good reviews and takes up less desk space, gives you the option for independent monitor, wireless keyboard etc, but still able to take the MacBook with you.

 

PSQ

Member
Arable Farmer
iMac 2010 I5 27" connected to my old hifi for sound, good bit of kit but getting a little slower. It was the thick end of £2k back then, but I'd have chewed through 2 if not 3 PC's over the same timescale. This one did have a mid life refit a few years ago to upgrade to a 2Tb internal SSD, and maxing out the RAM spec is never a bad option.

I'd 2nd all the comments above but add that Apple never announce a new Mac until it hits the shops, so I bought mine 2 weeks before the newer uprated model came out which was annoying. Currently waiting for a new 2020 model to come out so I can replace this one. It's a fully tax deductible business cost, which makes it a little less painful.

Cloud based software has been a godsend for Macs, as previously it was a 'ball ache' to have to deal with Mac specific software issues with the likes of Sage. Haven't looked back since moving to Xero on the cloud.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
You obviously spend a lot of time at your computer. Far more than me anyway. Thanks for all the knowledge in your posts. Do you run sage for yo books? You are far more into this than me. I just want to make it easier for myself by not moving from one system that I’m using all the time ( iphone and iPad ) and windows Which I’m not using as much so it hopefully frees up time spent in the office if you see what I mean.
No I don’t use Sage and you need to ask Google or Sage whether it has an OSX version. If not, then you can have MS Windows on your Mac and run Sage in that.
The iMac is not only my office computer, it is my complete entertainment system, for pictures, music, media including radio and until lately, TV.
The other Apple devices can be considered to be mobile terminals for the iMac.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
Don’t bother with a parallel windows virtual machine, I have one as Mac doesn’t always run certain software and it is hopelessly slow now.
It very much depends on you Mac’s spec. Get a middle to high end processor, SSD hard drive and 32gb RAM and it should fly.
What is the age and spec of your machine? The amount of ram is critical and if it has 4GB or less, it just isn’t enough even to have a couple of browsers with several tabs each active, let alone more demanding apps.
 

B'o'B

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Rutland
Don’t bother with a parallel windows virtual machine, I have one as Mac doesn’t always run certain software and it is hopelessly slow now.
You need a decent specced Mac with plenty of RAM, but apart from the all the Windows updates Paralles runs well on mine. (I've never had any software that I couldn't get to work, but that doesn't mean there isn't any out there that won't)
 

twizzel

Member
I’ve had my iMac for 10 or 11 years now, I run a lot of photo editing software on it and use it for accounting software (cloud based) and day to day internet. We’ve got a dell laptop for cattle and crop software but it is literally only used for those 2 applications, everything else is done on the Mac. You get a lot more value for money with a desktop spec wise. Pages (the apple equivalent of word) is much better than MS word... I go to work and use word and struggle :banghead:
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
This is what I will be using when the office is finally set out, has good reviews and takes up less desk space, gives you the option for independent monitor, wireless keyboard etc, but still able to take the MacBook with you.

If portability of a laptop is required and a supplementary iPad will not do, that’s a snazzy desktop setup. At a cost that spec for spec is probably higher than an equivalent iMac and iPad Pro combined. That’s not to say it is the wrong choice, because it is probably very much the right choice for you. Everyone has different needs and circumstances which can be catered for from a basic Windows laptop to the kind of sophisticated yet simple high end set ups discussed here and much more.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
i use mac and windows daily

pre windows 10 i would have said the mac was light years ahead but now there is honestly no difference

if your used to windows you will hate mac OS to start !

my macbook pro has beeen very good and lasted well but it should as it cost a lot of money vs a windows laptop !
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
I have nearly 100,000 photos, videos and scans on my iMac, well nearly 1TB on a 2TB external drive actually, not on the main drive because my old 21" iMac only has a 500GB hard drive for storage. This is backed up to a second external drive using the standard 'TimeMachine' and photos backed up further to Google Photos in the Cloud and all other files to Apple iCloud apart from Office and Adobe Acrobat, which are backed up to their own dedicated clouds. About two thirds of photos and videos on the superb Apple Photos app onto which I have several further editing plug-ins. The rest in a separate 'pictures' folder, which mostly comprise of scans of old family prints.

MS Office works exactly as it does for Windows as far as I can see, including Microsoft365 [formerly Office365].
Filing is also very similar and I have no issues with either Windows or Apple filing systems. Must say that I have yet to work with Windows 10 as of yet on my new machine.
When I first had my iMac, in 2011, I don't recall any issue with using it compared to using Windows7 but far less bother with virus scanning and constant security updates and so on. Far fewer crashes and reboots also. Plus a whole lot of software comes as standard.
What photo programme do you run. When I first went across they had a good built in programme but now it seems you have to rent an editing programme and it is not cheap.
i am also finding with 20,000 photos sorting them is not as easy as it was and I appear to have lost a large chunk. They are, I am sure there somewhere Just hiding.
i am also having issues with email filing but that may be BT
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
What photo programme do you run. When I first went across they had a good built in programme but now it seems you have to rent an editing programme and it is not cheap.
i am also finding with 20,000 photos sorting them is not as easy as it was and I appear to have lost a large chunk. They are, I am sure there somewhere Just hiding.
i am also having issues with email filing but that may be BT
Email first. I had lots of trouble with Mail on my iMac until another 8gb ram was added on top of the existing 4. Problem sorted. Not something I expected but it is sorted 100%

Photos is far more sophisticated than it looks. There are lots of useful tutorials on YouTube that helps organise and use Photos. Try this channel for a start. He has many videos you will find useful
Missing photos are probably in your Pictures folder. Have a root around in Finder to find the Pictures folder and open it in thumbnail view, or just use its search facility.

For editing, I use Photos itself most of the time for minor adjustments and have various Affinity plug-ins and the ability to edit in Affinity itself by pressing the … [in a circle] top right of the toolbar in Photos. Also Luminar and Tonality are in there as choices. There is an 'open in' choice in the same drop down menu and I have Nix collection available in there, installed when it was free plus DXO filmpak etc.
 
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The range of photo editing software out there is pretty confusing. They are very powerful and some are not cheap. You need to investigate carefully before purchasing anything. Some of them are on subscription now, too so it's an on going expense.

Used a Mac desktop at college a bit, couldn't see what the fuss was.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
The range of photo editing software out there is pretty confusing. They are very powerful and some are not cheap. You need to investigate carefully before purchasing anything. Some of them are on subscription now, too so it's an on going expense.

Used a Mac desktop at college a bit, couldn't see what the fuss was.
I have not paid more than £35 for any of mine except perhaps Affinity, which I can't remember the price of, but it wasn't much or I would.
Photos itself if far more powerful than people give it credit for but Luminar is a great one that caters for the complete novice to the very sophisticated. DXO have some superb apps, like the Nix collection for not too much money for the latest version but it doesn't plug in to Photos quite as seamlessly as others.

Honestly, for most people, exploring the possibilities within Photos itself is more than enough and I don't think some people know a tenth of its abilities, partly because its interface is deceptively simple and that they do not bother to learn more.
 

slackjawedyokel

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northumberland
I got a top-end MacBook Pro a couple of years ago, after getting utterly fed up with Windows. No complaints-everything works really well (as it should).

I use Farmworks by Shearwell for cattle management. This is a Windows only program so I run W10 on Parallels and that works really well - open Windows when I need it, then shut it down again when I’m finished and continue enjoying the MacOS environment!
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Email first. I had lots of trouble with Mail on my iMac until another 8gb ram was added on top of the existing 4. Problem sorted. Not something I expected but it is sorted 100%

Photos is far more sophisticated than it looks. There are lots of useful tutorials on YouTube that helps organise and use Photos. Try this channel for a start. He has many videos you will find useful
Missing photos are probably in your Pictures folder. Have a root around in Finder to find the Pictures folder and open it in thumbnail view, or just use its search facility.

For editing, I use Photos itself most of the time for minor adjustments and have various Affinity plug-ins and the ability to edit in Affinity itself by pressing the … [in a circle] top right of the toolbar in Photos. Also Luminar and Tonality are in there as choices. There is an 'open in' choice in the same drop down menu and I have Nix collection available in there, installed when it was free plus DXO filmpak etc.
Thanks for the advice, I think I have 24G of ram so should be OK there.
Is there an easy way to delete photos? I have reams and it can take hours to sort through press delete then again individually.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
I got a top-end MacBook Pro a couple of years ago, after getting utterly fed up with Windows. No complaints-everything works really well (as it should).

I use Farmworks by Shearwell for cattle management. This is a Windows only program so I run W10 on Parallels and that works really well - open Windows when I need it, then shut it down again when I’m finished and continue enjoying the MacOS environment!

Just for those that aren't aware, Parallels is the so-called 'virtual machine' that allows Windows to run as a program inside Mac OSX. No need to re-start [boot] the computer into a separate Windows section [partition] of the hard drive. Someone mentioned that using Parallels slowed their computer down drastically but this post shows that this is not the case on a well specified computer.
It also highlights the fact that there is no problem with running Windows-only apps on a Mac.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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