Low End Display PC LG IPS226V-PN 16:9, LED, IPS 21.

5 1920 x 1080 SilverStone SG05BB-450

$ USD

179.99 119.99

iMac MC814LL/A Built-in by Apple 16:9, LED, IPS 21.5 1920 x 1080 Exclusive (with aluminum and glass) AMD HD 6750M 512MB (GDDR5) Passmark points: 1123 Apple Facetime HD Cam 720P 0.9MP built-in mono mic WD or Seagate 500GB 7200RPM Proprietary I/Os: 1x Thunderbolt, 1x mini DisplayPort, 4x USB 2.0, 1x FireWire 800, 1x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x P2 analog audio out, 1x P2 analog line in, 1x mini-Toslink optical audio out (inlaid with analog audio), 1x SDXC card slot, 1x IR receiver Extra: integrated 802.11n wireless lan, bluetooth 2.1 + HDR. Core i5 2.5GHz (2400S) Passmark points: 5011 2x2GB SO-DIMM DDR3 1333MHz 8x DL DVD burner Apple Wireless (no right numeric keys) Apple Magic Mouse 2.0 20W proprietary iLife 11 Snow Leopard

Enclosure Graphics Camera/Mic Hard Drive

XFX HD 6670 1GB (GDDR5) 83.99 Passmark points: 1327 Logitech C615 HD 1080P/8MP with built-in mono mic 79.99

WD Caviar Blue 500GB 39.99 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s Gigabyte Motherboard GA-H67N-USB3-B3 I/Os: 4x USB 2.0, 2x USB3.0, 1x eSata 3Gb/s, 2x S/PDIF (Coaxial, Toslink), 4x P2 Analog Audio Out, 2x P2 analog audio in (mic, line in), 1x Gigabit Ethernet, 2x HDMI 186.96 out, 1x VGA + TRENDnet Micro Bluetooth 2.1 + HDR USB adapter + TRENDnet Micro USB 802.11n + Verbatim CameraMate 96504 USB 2.0 Pocket Reader Core i5 2.5GHz (2400S) Processor 200.99 Passmark points: 5011 Corsair XMS3 Memory 2x2GB SDRAM DDR3 42.99 1333MHz Sony Optiarc Optical Drive 35.99 8X DL DVD Burner Logitech Wave Wireless Keyboard 49.99 w/ numpad & mac layout Logitech Mouse 77.99 Performance MX Logitech Z313 25W 2.1 Speakers 39.99 iLife 11 Retail 45 Software Snow Leopard Retail 29 OS

Price

1212.85

1199

Low End PC Pros

$ USD PC General better performance (but not too much), better peripheral devices (ergonomic keyboard and mouse, better audio and webcam), you can choose which extra functionality you want to pay (maybe you dont need optical drive, nor bluetooth, nor wi-fi), have USB 3.0 which is the next standard (BUT iMac has Thunderbolt which can not only be converted to USB 3.0 as well as SATA 6Gb/s and other formats).

iMac MC814LL/A

PC Cons

its illegal (even you pay for a retail disc of OS X youre not allowed to install it in not-Apple-made devices), no warranty of the machine itself, possibly incompatible with optical out (passing through Dolby Digital and DTS), future OS X upgrades might require tweaks in order to make system compatible with everything, takes more space, the whole set isnt pretty, lose time (and maybe too much of it) in order to assemble/install/tune, many USB ports are going to be used to add some functionalities that are built-in iMac.

High End Display PC SAMSUNG S27A350H 27, LED, (not IPS, TN) 1920 x 1080 SilverStone SG05BB-450
$ USD

iMac MC309LL/A 16:9, LED, IPS 27 2560 x 1440

349.99 119.99 Exclusive (with aluminum and glass) AMD HD 6970M 1GB (GDDR5) Passmark points: 2655 720P 0.9MP/Mono mic WD or Seagate 1TB 7200RPM Proprietary I/Os: 2x Thunderbolt, 1x mini DisplayPort, 4x USB 2.0, 1x FireWire 800, 1x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x P2 analog audio out, 1x P2 analog line in, 1x mini-Toslink optical audio out (inlaid with analog audio), 1x SDXC card slot, 1x IR receiver Extra: integrated 802.11n wireless lan, bluetooth 2.1 + HDR.

Enclosure Graphics Camera/Mic Hard Drive Motherboard

XFX HD 6850 1GB (GDDR5) 164.99 Passmark points: 2843 Logitech C615 HD 1080P/ 8MP 79.99 with built-in mono mic WD Caviar Blue 1TB 59.99 7200RPM Sata 6Gb/s Gigabyte GA-H67N-USB3-B3 I/Os: 4x USB 2.0, 2x USB3.0, 1x eSata 3Gb/s, 2x S/PDIF (Coaxial, Toslink), 4x P2 Analog Audio Out, 2x P2 analog audio in (mic, line in), 1x Gigabit Ethernet, 2x HDMI 114.99 out, 1x VGA

Core i5 3.1GHz (2400) Passmark points: 6049 Corsair XMS3 Memory 2x2GB SDRAM DDR3 1333MHz Sony Optiarc Optical Drive 8X DL DVD Burner Logitech Wave Wireless Keyboard w/ numpad & mac layout Logitech Mouse Performance MX Logitech Z313 25W 2.1 Speakers iLife 11 Software Snow Leopard OS Processor

189.99 42.99 35.99 49.99 77.99 39.99 45 29

Core i5 3.1GHz (2400) Passmark points: 6049 2x2GB SO-DIMM DDR3 1333MHz 8x DL DVD burner Apple Wireless (no right numeric keys) Magic Mouse 2x 20W proprietary iLife 11 Snow Leopard

Price

1400.88

1999

High End PC Pros

$ USD PC General better performance (but not too much), better peripheral devices (ergonomic keyboard and mouse, better audio and webcam), you can choose which extra functionality you want to pay (maybe you dont need optical drive, nor bluetooth, nor wi-fi), have USB 3.0 which is the next standard (BUT iMac has Thunderbolt which can not only be converted to USB 3.0 as well as SATA 6Gb/s and other formats), there no IPS LED 27 monitor on the market and therefore the screen quality will be wrost than the iMac, much cheaper. its illegal (even you pay for a retail disc of OS X youre not allowed to install it in not-Apple-made devices), no warranty of the machine itself, possibly incompatible with optical out (passing through Dolby Digital and DTS), future OS X upgrades might require tweaks in order to make system compatible with everything, takes more space, the whole set isnt pretty, lose time (and maybe too much of it) in order to assemble/install/tune, many USB ports are going to be used to add some functionalities that are built-in iMac.

iMac MC309LL/A

PC Cons