In the world of desktop computers, Apple is generally all about the self-contained, all-in-one (AIO) units. But on the Windows or GNU/Linux side, as our site showcases, there is a massive amount of choice when it comes to either building your own PC or selecting one of the numerous Windows-bearing pre-built options.
We want to be fair to all parties, so we'll first be comparing the Mac options in this section against prebuilt computers with similar design priorities (as well as prices). But just leaving it at that would ignore the fact that some people have different design desires than what Apple is providing, and the fact that some people may simply want to see a comparison between the best of macOS desktops and the best of Windows or Linux desktops (regardless of design). So after those two sections, we've also got a section that presents a couple of example self-built Windows/Linux systems, and compares them to the Mac options.
So, to be totally clear, the three parts in this section will be as follows:
A) Midrange All-In-One Prebuilt Computers: iMac vs. midrange Windows AIO system
B) High-Performance All-In-One Prebuilt Computers: iMac Pro vs. high-performance Windows AIO system
C) Self-Built Computers: (iMac or iMac Pro vs.) midrange or high-end self-built Windows/Linux systems
We're not going to include the Mac Mini here, as it's overpriced for its specifications, although it's a nice small machine. Plus we're not going to include the Mac Pro, as it is due for a refresh and/or re-design soon; but more importantly, the iMac Pro can have higher configurations.
So with the general plan in mind, let's get go!
A) Midrange All-In-One Prebuilt Computers
The realm of the good all-around machines, handily built into the screen for discrete design.
As mentioned above, in this section we will be looking at the new iMac and seeing what is available to compete against it from the Windows-running market.
We're going with Apple's most popular model, which is also the good middle ground of the 21" iMac range. Namely the 3GHz i5 model, which comes in currently at about $1200. Let's take a look at the specifications:
Specifications
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CPU: Intel 4-core i5 (3.0GHz base clock, 3.5GHz boost clock)
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GPU: Radeon Pro 560X
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RAM: 8GB (DDR4, 2666MHz)
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Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD
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Screen: 22-inch Retina (4096x2304 resolution)
The screen of this model is a really key element in Apple's favor. Not only is this a high-resolution screen, but crucially it has DCI-P3 color support, making it a dream for video creators who need that guaranteed color space for production.
As far as the rest of the specifications go, they're more or less what you'd expect. A decent-clocked quad-core, a reasonable amount of RAM, and a dedicated GPU to match. The only real disappointment is the 5400RPM HDD. Can we not at least have 7200RPM drives, Apple? I know that they love to upsell folks onto the Fusion drive so they need more separation between the speeds in their various models, but this will end up hurting them in the cross-company comparisons, as you will see in a moment.
At this level, you can get a lot of different things for your money, yet it goes to show how different manufacturers focus on different things. This particular HP model comes in at about $1100.
This HP technically has a larger screen, but it is a lower resolution (1920x1080) and also a smaller color space. However, it does have some component bonuses to compensate. Let's take a look:
Specifications
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CPU: Intel i7-7700T (2.8GHz base clock, 3.8GHz boost clock, 8MB L3 cache)
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GPU: AMD Radeon 530
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RAM: 12GB (DDR4, 2400MHz)
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Storage: 1TB SSD
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Screen: 24-inch LED (IPS, 1920x1080 resolution, 60Hz)
Like I said above, this is where you can go back and forth with different models. The i7 here has a slightly lower base clock but can boost higher than the iMac. It has more RAM too, at 12GB, making it better for multi-tasking. However, with the lower-tier GPU and screen, it makes it significantly less useful for power users and creative professionals.
No real surprise here. Although it has slightly lower specifications overall, the hugely impressive screen alone more than makes up for this. Between that and the better GPU, the iMac is the superior midrange AIO option.
The biggest negative of the iMac is the slower HDD and less RAM. However, it is worth noting that it is possible to choose the very fast Fusion drive and faster 3.4GHz i5 (with the same 3.8GHz boost) for another $200; and, in a rarity for Apple, you can actually upgrade your RAM too. However, the main thing then is you're going to be competing with other, higher-specification Windows AIO models at the new price point.
Although the SSD and the slightly-higher-specification i7 are nice on the HP, the poorer screen performance, smaller GPU, and general design when compared to the Apple really does pale in comparison.
Midrange All-In-One Desktop Alternatives
B) High-performance All-In-One Prebuilt Computers
To me, this is the most interesting section to look at, mainly because this is the realm where you're saying, "If I have the money to buy the best all-in-one PC available, what should I get?" And you may be surprised at our conclusions!
This tier of PC is where the monstrous iMac Pro line-up comes in. We're going to give Apple a good solid "middleground choice" from their range... a $5000 model. The range starts at $5000 (the one we'll be using for comparison), and higher-specification models come in at an eye-watering $7000+. Plus, remember: that's not even the highest version! There's a higher-specification "standard" model too.
Apple have created their own biggest problem here: that sort of price tag leaves the field open to an insane amount of competition.
So, what can we get for our money? Let's find out:
Like I said above, it's not as if you're not going to get a monster for this sort of price tag. That 8-core Xeon is just the tip of the iceberg, as this is literally fit-to-bursting with performance. So let's take a look at what a $5000 iMac Pro offers!
Specifications
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CPU: Intel 8-core Xeon W (3.2GHz base clock, 4.2GHz boost clock, 19MB L3 cache)
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GPU: AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56
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RAM: 32GB (DDR4, 2666MHz)
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Storage: 1TB SSD
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Screen: 27-inch Retina (5120x2880 resolution)
I mean, what a machine! Like the other Apple products before it, we're going to be throwing it up against other machines at its current price; in this case, that means ~$4600, so it has come down a touch from its RRP.
As if the screen wasn't impressive enough in the standard iMac, Apple goes all out on the Pro, giving a 5K P3 color monitor.
You can guess the market Apple is going for here; everything screams high-end productivity performance. From the 8-core Xeon to the 32GB EEC RAM (yay for error correcting RAM to limit rendering issues) to the beefy Vega 56 GPU to the 1TB SSD.
If there is a problem with this product, it is the obvious one: it costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $4500-5000.
That being said, with the screen being so high-performing and the hardware being almost equally impressive, the competition has to be pretty special.
I... just look at it, it's so beautiful!
Coming in at $4300 through Newegg comes the phenomenal Surface Studio 2. As it is so cheap compared to its competitor above, we could even throw in the Surface Dial for $80 while leaving a noticeable gap below the price of the iMac Pro.
There are other specialist all-in-one machines out there around the right price (looking at you Origin Omni) but as they seem impossible to acquire, we're going for a current model, even though the Surface Studio 2 is over $300 cheaper than the iMac Pro.
Now, all hyperbole aside, if there ever was a system that looked like it was designed to directly compete with Apple, it's this. So let's take a look at the specifications!
Specifications
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CPU: Intel i7-7820HQ (2.9GHz base clock, 3.9GHz boost clock, 8MB L3 cache)
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GPU: GTX 1070
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RAM: 32GB (DDR4)
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Storage: 1TB SSD
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Screen: 28-inch PixelSense (4500x3000 resolution)
So, there's a few things to consider here. First, it's clear what you're paying more for, on the iMac Pro: more cores, EEC RAM, a marginally better GPU, and a slightly higher-resolution screen. The argument could be made that, if you need the extra performance, then you can pay for it—although it's worth pointing out that the performance difference is relatively small, especially when compared to a price difference of anywhere from $300-700 depending on the retailer.
Second, with the Surface Studio 2, the physical workspace flexibility it provides you due to how the display stand folds down with what Microsoft calls a 'zero gravity hinge' does open up the system to far more uses. By comparison, the hinge on the iMac Pro seems a bit... old-school. Coupled with unique interface ideas like the Surface Dial, and you have to say that Microsoft has a really solid system here.
This is just from a pure price-to-performance standpoint. As I mentioned above, if you absolutely must have the bit of extra performance, then pay the ~$300-700 extra and get the iMac Pro. Otherwise, the Studio 2 wins out.
Honestly, I think they're both great models: they both have great performance and versatility; they're both beastly all-in-one touchscreen devices; and they both have large, high-resolution screens which are P3 colour compliant, so the creatives who need that color accuracy can't really complain.
High-performance All-In-One Desktop Alternatives
C) Self-built Computers
After all, self-built PCs are the Logical Increments way! If you're not sure what it means to "build your own computer," take a look at our quick four-minute primer video on the process. After that, you may also want to check out our new user guide and our build recommendation chart for any budget (the 'main attraction' of our site).
So, what are we going to be doing in this section? Well, if you look back over our previous categories, we had two rough price points: $1000-1500 (midrange) and $4000-5000 (very high-end). Me being me, I see those price ranges and I smell some Logical example builds coming along! However, unlike a lot of our builds on the site, where we leave things like Monitors and the cost of the OS up to you, we're going to include specific choices this time.
Our hope is to provide a fair, accurate picture of what sort of performance you can get for your money if you go this route, for comparison to the options above. As these systems can run Windows or GNU/Linux, the primary point of comparison will be between these systems and the Apple machines discussed in this section thus far (although the Windows prebuilts will be mentioned where relevant).
The primary tradeoff of the systems in this section is that, while they provide more freely upgradable/customizable options over the all-in-one systems, that control and flexibility comes at the cost of having an additional tower instead of the entire system being built into the screen.
The $1100 iMac Killer PC Build
So, if this was just component hardware costs alone, you can see from our main build chart that this sort of budget would sit right in the 'Superb' tier and it would utterly blow the pants off the winner of section A, the iMac 3.0GHz.
Yet as I mentioned above, we need to consider OS and screen:
Operating System
Looking at the OS first, we could go for a GNU/Linux build which would be great, as our OS would then be completely free! My personal Linux distro recommendation, if you're used to either an Apple or Microsoft system, would be Mint. From both sides there is familiarity, so you'll get up and running pretty quick. Other popular choices are Ubuntu, Debian, and Manjaro.
Or, for feature set and compatibility, you can buy a Windows 10 key.
Assuming you're buying Windows 10 for $120, that takes our parts budget down to $980.
Monitor
One of the bigger considerations here, as Apple have one of the best, if not the best screen at this price point on the market.
In the end, we have to take a small hit here, and we can't beat the resolution without blowing the budget. Instead, we're going with the physically larger BenQ 23.8” BL2420PT for about $230. We get a 2560x1440 resolution monitor, with 100% sRGB and Rec. 709 color space as well as a CAD/CAM and Animation Mode. Essentially, this allows us to cover all our design bases.
However, with this cost, our available components budget goes down to $750.
Components
When picking these parts, I left a little bit of wiggle room in the budget for delivery costs, just to be smug. Seriously, though, let's break it down for the performance improvements:
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CPU: AMD R5 2600 (3.4GHz base clock, 3.9GHz boost clock, 19MB L3 cache)
The Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core/12-thread overclockable CPU. It comes complete with the AMD Wraith Cooler, which AMD specifically designed to allow overclocking of the CPU. The additional cores and threads make this a bargain multitasking CPU and far higher-performing than the 3.0GHz 4-core i5 in the iMac.
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GPU: RX 580
As the iMac was relying on just the integrated GPU of its CPU, the other big jump in performance here is with the dedicated GPU. The RX 580 8GB is seriously powerful for the money. If you're into gaming, the 580 would allow you to play any game at max settings at 1080p, and still has reasonable firepower for some 1440p gaming if you want to use your screen resolution to its fullest.
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RAM: 16GB (DDR4, 3000MHz)
We're doubling up and getting faster RAM with this 16GB kit, which further supports the CPU in multitasking.
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Storage 1: 256GB NVMe M.2 SSD
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Storage 2: 2TB 7200RPM HDD
I did say that slower HDD would come back to haunt the iMac, didn't I? Not only do we have a 2TB 7200RPM traditional HDD, but we also take advantage of the M.2 slot on the motherboard to get a blistering fast 256GB NVMe SSD as well!
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Motherboard: ASUS Prime B450M-A/CSM
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Power Supply: Corsair CX450
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Case: Corsair 88R
Summary
On performance, the self-built machine wins hands down despite costing over $100 less, and does go to show what sort of additional power you can get when you go out and pick through the multitude of parts that are available on the market today.
That being said, the biggest advantage the iMac has is that it is all self-contained in the screen, so if you're after a compact and prebuilt model, then it is still a great choice.
Ah, but I hear you cry about a keyboard and mouse?! Well, there are plenty wired and wireless combo options available to keep things still within the budget, as everything listed above actually comes in around $50 under the $1100 target. However, this might be a good time to make you aware that we actually have guides for keyboards and mice, too.
The $4500 iMac Pro Killer PC Build
What happens when you give a builder a $4.5K budget? Well, if you go to our main page for a hint, the only tiers that can possibly hit that price (depending on part choices) are the two absolute highest ones—the Extremist and Monstrous tiers.
We're also going with this budget because it sits in between the prices of the iMac Pro and the Surface Studio 2 from the section above. So, in theory, we should be able to get something around the same ballpark to compete with those high-end all-in-one options.
So let's start breaking this down!
Operating System
As with the midrange build above, there are many wonderful free GNU/Linux OS choices available... but we'll be assuming that you want to use Windows 10, for the sake of the comparison.
This brings our component budget down to $4380.
Monitor
So, this is not going to be the easiest thing to pick in the world. You simply cannot get a truly-high-performing monitor on the cheap; that just doesn't happen.
As much as it eats into the budget, we've gone for the BenQ 27-inch 4K PhotoVue Photographer Monitor for about $1100. Yes, this is a monitor which on its own costs more than the entirety of the previous build, OS, and monitor. We're into the big mad world now, folks. As its name suggests, this is a 3840x2160 LED IPS monitor, boasting 99% Adobe RGB, 100% sRGB, Rec.709, and DCI-P3 support.
Realistically, it's about as close as we're going to get to the screens of the competition, even if it takes our budget for parts down to $3280.
Components
This time there's about $100 to spare in the budget after picking the parts below. Once again, some of this could be put toward a simple wired or wireless mouse/keyboard combo and the rest put toward the various minor delivery costs; or you could take that ~$100 and browse for something snazzier to match the build, in our mouse guide and keyboard guide.
Now let's look at a breakdown of the major components, so you can properly compare this build to the high-performance all-in-one PCs in section B:
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CPU: AMD TR 2920X (3.5GHz base clock, 4.3GHz boost clock, 32MB L3 cache)
With this budget for parts, it was pretty obvious that we could go really big with this build's central processor. The Ryzen Threadripper 2920X is a 12-Core/24-Thread behemoth of a CPU. It beats the heck out of a lot of server-grade CPUs, let alone what Apple and Microsoft have gone for in their AIO systems.
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CPU Cooler: Cooler Master ML360
One of the big negatives for all-in-one systems in general is that the cooling setup on them is often very tight, resulting in limits on base and boost clocks (or worse: throttling of performance in resource-intensive tasks). The Cooler Master ML360 is a large-radiator liquid cooler made for the TR socket, allowing us to enjoy optimal cooling.
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GPU: RTX 2080 Ti
Now, most users may not really need an RTX 2080 Ti here (unless your work is in rendering, or you do a lot of gaming), so some professional users—especially those lacking infinite hardware needs—may consider saving some money by throwing something like a QUADRO RTX 4000 in there to still get 8GB of GDDR6 compute goodness (down from 11GB of GDDR6 VRAM in the 2080 Ti). Either way, this is a seriously solid addition, which beats what the likes of the Vega cards and the GTX 1070 can offer.
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RAM: 32GB (DDR4, 3200MHz)
So, still 32GB here, but—as we aren't going with EEC RAM—we've gone instead for super-fast 3200MHz RAM from G.SKILL in quad channel to really squeeze the performance from the Threadripper.
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Power Supply: Rosewill Photon 1200
Honestly, in the abstract 1200 Watts is a little overkill, but it allows for overhead if you're overclocking (you're going to want to overclock to maximize performance in a system like this), with enough left over for if you're ever going to add a second GPU in there.
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Storage 1: 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD
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Storage 2: 2TB 7200RPM HDD
The 1TB M.2 SSD is mainly to cover what is in the AIO systems, as they're likely using Samsung parts; yet we're using one of their best, plus a 2TB standard HDD too.
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Motherboard: ASRock X399 Taichi
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Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe
Summary
I mean, are you going to look at those specifications and say you wouldn't acquire this if you had the chance?
Yes, you are going to end up with a tower here (not just a beefy, PC-laden monitor). And yes, you are going to have a slightly lower-resolution screen (this is the only time I have ever referred to a 4K screen as "lower-resolution"). But every single other aspect of this build either outright beats or matches its corresponding aspect in both the iMac Pro and the Surface Studio 2.
Winner: Windows or GNU/Linux (self-built PC)
Whether you're looking at the midrange or the (very) high-end, you can't beat a custom PC. Those of you with some background knowledge about PC hardware will not be the least bit shocked by this outcome. The fact that building your own PC can provide you with the best possible build balance, component quality, price-to-performance ratio, customization options, maintenance options, and more—is basically the whole reason that Logical Increments exists!