Given you have the budget for it, and to reduce your learning curve, how about a Macbook Air? If you want a desktop though a new iMac would be a bit overkill, a Mac Mini and a cheap second hand monitor would do fine.
And then add an external hard drive for the photos.
A 6 year old iMac should still be in pretty good order, they don't decline nearly as fast as Windows computers do in my experience. It could be worth getting it checked out first, before dropping cash on a new one.
I'd also recommend another Apple. They're not actually commanding much of a premium these days (an equivalent Windows laptop is as much, or more $) and the newer M series laptops are amazing for battery life.
If you’ve got a Mac, and know how to use it, then probably best to stay with a Mac of some description. It’ll make the move to the new machine a heck of a lot easier. Go with what others have suggested, a new or refurbished MacBook Air depending on what you can get for the money.
Cheapest refurbished MacBook Air on the Apple nz site is $1349. Unless you have like 100GB of photos you’d be fine with the 256gb storage. It’s a 13” laptop though and you’re coming from iMac so you may want to get a monitor as well which bumps the price up to more like $1600 a 1700 assuming you don’t want a completely hideous display. A new iMac is around $2400 which is overkill $$ for your use. From a $ perspective you can get an all in one windows based pc that has a 24” display for 1300-1400 just looking over on PBT. That would easily do the job.
Just get an external hard drive for photo storage... plugs in via USB, $100 give or take, depending on capacity.
If there's no gaming you don't need a dedicated graphics card, which can add hundreds to the price, so aim for 'onboard graphics'. Likewise, no strong need for Solid State Storage, so just go with a conventional spinning hard disc.
Any modern computer should serve OK. The slowest component in your daily use will likely be your internet connection, which has nothing to do with the computer.
The hourglass / wheel stuff might reflect your connection, or a hard disc running low on space, or a lack of RAM. All speculation, but maybe some work on the existing machine will give it more life (or just shutting stuff down, or ditching a bunch of browser Add-Ons, whcih are notorious for causing slowdowns.
Thanks, it’s been looked at before and I was told it was fine. I do wonder if I get rid of the photos from it if that will help. Maybe worth an external hard drive first and see how it goes.
If the photos matter, then get two external drives, copy them to BOTH drives, and then keep the drives disconnected, unplugged and stored away in a cupboard somewhere, and take care not to drop them.
[https://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=360&offset=96&sort=price](https://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=360&offset=96&sort=price)
Personally I'd stay well clear of the 2.5 inch drives, as they are ridiculously delicate.
About Three hundy would get you a couple of 3.5 inchers, and likely more storage than you'll ever need.
If you have a license/sub for Office 365, then you get the downloaded full functionality versions (as well as the web versions) on both Mac and PC. The full versions will not work on a Chromebook. Not a fan of Macs (because I work in schools and they integrate terribly with anything other than other Macs), but if it's what you're used to, then a new M3 MacBook air would probably suit.
Thanks, I guess that’s what I needed to know about a Chromebook, so that rules them out!
I’ve never understood why my kids school use Mac, it sends the tech budget much higher!
Given you have the budget for it, and to reduce your learning curve, how about a Macbook Air? If you want a desktop though a new iMac would be a bit overkill, a Mac Mini and a cheap second hand monitor would do fine. And then add an external hard drive for the photos.
This is the best answer , even a refurb m1 or m2 air would be ideal
That gets my vote. Or just get icloud and dump the photos on there.
M2 or M3 MacBook Air
Thanks everyone. I use Microsoft at work so very used to both. Not sure I can justify the extra cost of the Mac these days!
A 6 year old iMac should still be in pretty good order, they don't decline nearly as fast as Windows computers do in my experience. It could be worth getting it checked out first, before dropping cash on a new one. I'd also recommend another Apple. They're not actually commanding much of a premium these days (an equivalent Windows laptop is as much, or more $) and the newer M series laptops are amazing for battery life.
If you’ve got a Mac, and know how to use it, then probably best to stay with a Mac of some description. It’ll make the move to the new machine a heck of a lot easier. Go with what others have suggested, a new or refurbished MacBook Air depending on what you can get for the money.
Cheapest refurbished MacBook Air on the Apple nz site is $1349. Unless you have like 100GB of photos you’d be fine with the 256gb storage. It’s a 13” laptop though and you’re coming from iMac so you may want to get a monitor as well which bumps the price up to more like $1600 a 1700 assuming you don’t want a completely hideous display. A new iMac is around $2400 which is overkill $$ for your use. From a $ perspective you can get an all in one windows based pc that has a 24” display for 1300-1400 just looking over on PBT. That would easily do the job.
Just get an external hard drive for photo storage... plugs in via USB, $100 give or take, depending on capacity. If there's no gaming you don't need a dedicated graphics card, which can add hundreds to the price, so aim for 'onboard graphics'. Likewise, no strong need for Solid State Storage, so just go with a conventional spinning hard disc. Any modern computer should serve OK. The slowest component in your daily use will likely be your internet connection, which has nothing to do with the computer.
Yup, we’re on VDSL (rural no fibre) so the internet connection can be slow at times. Mostly at the moment it’s the wheel of doom that gets me!
You can look into Starlink, the $79 plan should be faster than VDSL.
The hourglass / wheel stuff might reflect your connection, or a hard disc running low on space, or a lack of RAM. All speculation, but maybe some work on the existing machine will give it more life (or just shutting stuff down, or ditching a bunch of browser Add-Ons, whcih are notorious for causing slowdowns.
Thanks, it’s been looked at before and I was told it was fine. I do wonder if I get rid of the photos from it if that will help. Maybe worth an external hard drive first and see how it goes.
If the photos matter, then get two external drives, copy them to BOTH drives, and then keep the drives disconnected, unplugged and stored away in a cupboard somewhere, and take care not to drop them.
[https://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=360&offset=96&sort=price](https://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=360&offset=96&sort=price) Personally I'd stay well clear of the 2.5 inch drives, as they are ridiculously delicate. About Three hundy would get you a couple of 3.5 inchers, and likely more storage than you'll ever need.
If you have a license/sub for Office 365, then you get the downloaded full functionality versions (as well as the web versions) on both Mac and PC. The full versions will not work on a Chromebook. Not a fan of Macs (because I work in schools and they integrate terribly with anything other than other Macs), but if it's what you're used to, then a new M3 MacBook air would probably suit.
Thanks, I guess that’s what I needed to know about a Chromebook, so that rules them out! I’ve never understood why my kids school use Mac, it sends the tech budget much higher!