Do all iMac use laptop components?

I heard that high end iMac uses desktop components.

 

Yep. Even the high-end one uses a mobile Intel quad-core, mobile GeForce GPU, etc.

In fact, pretty much all All-In-One desktops use laptop internals. You have to, given the very limited physical space and thermal conditions of such a design. If you're looking for desktop parts, look into getting a proper desktop computer.

 

I've heard that iMac is a good deal because it comes with the best external monitor. I suppose even though it uses laptop components, it should be powerful enough to do just about anything?

What would be an example of a monitor that is similar to it but is not terribly expensive?

 

The monitor on the iMac is okay-ish at best. Really the only thing going for it is that it's a semi-decnet IPS panel, but there are far better panels out there, depending on your needs (HP's Dreamcolor blows this out of the water in terms of quality, for example).

Even though the iMac uses laptop parts, it's still considered a desktop and I don't think NBR would be the best place to ask about desktop buying, outside of the Desktop thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/off-topic/639238-desktop-computer-discussion-lounge.html. Also, you originally posted this thread under the Windows section; I'm just curious, but how come you did that?

 

thats not entirely true.

the imacs can and do use T branded cpus, which are desktop

the GPUs on the other hand are mobile.

and the monitor is indeed decent, not the best, but it is above the rest however when compared to the greatest it falls short

 

Which Dreamcolor monitor is that?
Me posting this in the Windows section was a mistake.

Where would be the best place to ask for desktop buying?

 

Overclock.net

 

So what difference does it make in performance if their GPU is mobile and CPU is desktop?

 

DreamColor professional displays | HP® Official Site

I'd second overclock.net if you're buying a desktop (as opposed to building one).

The mobile version of the GPU is weaker than the desktop version of the GPU. There's no desktop GTX 775, though iirc the GTX 775M is somewhere near the GTX 760 (desktop).

 

Depends on the gpu however the power is usually diminished by 30 on the 880m

 

What does 30 on the 880 m mean?

 

What if you want to build one?

 

I think that by 30, I think he means 30%.

Anyway, what do you mean by building one? Building your own desktop computer instead of buying one? If that's the case, you can still buy an external monitor like that Dreamcolor and hook it up to the desktop.

 

I mean what would be the best forum for building a desktop? I heard that windows desktop can be an energy hog compared to iMac. Is that true?

 

Such a generalization has to be false. If you're building a monster gaming rig with multiple GPUs, lots of hard drives, very powerful CPU, etc, then yeah, that can be an energy hog. However, if you pick more conservative desktop parts than you can make the desktop very energy efficient. Also note that modern computer hardware such as the CPU (and GPU?) can lower their power usage if you're not demanding a lot of performance from them (say, if all you're doing is browsing the Internet).

I have a Kill-A-Watt plug that sits between my outlet and *all* of my bedroom's computer hardware (desktop, monitor, power-hungry speaker system, laser printer, HDD dock, ..........) and I average around 100W-120W whenever I'm doing light tasks on the desktop, and this is with a fairly powerful gaming rig (FX-6300 CPU, R9 280x GPU). I imagine that my desktop's actually using half of that power, so ~50W-60W total during light use.

For reference, here's the numbers for the iMac's power usage (2009 to 2014 models): http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3559

 

How many hours a day is that light use? How much does that turn out to be in terms of electric bill?

 

For my setup, described above, it's 25-30 kW/hr (the desktop is only part of this, remember). So you can use that to let you make a rough calculation of what your electric bill will be for your area's electricity costs, assuming that you buy/use a similar hardware setup as I do.

I'm usually only using my bedroom's setup for a few hours a day, maybe 6-8 hours max. Most of the time I'm either at work, at school, or using my laptop or tablet. Electricity is included with my apartment's rent, up to some cap that I usually never reach, so I don't really pay attention to the electric bill unless it goes over thanks to HVAC, and even then it's usually only by a few dollars.

 

So if your state charges 20 cents per kilowatt hour, how much would that be per hour?

 

depends on your power draw of your device. you will actually find devices using parasite power eat up your bill in a hurry since they draw some power on standby

1KWH = 1000 continuous watts for an hour.

your average microwave is around 1KW, my large render server is about 3KW, my HTPC is about 0.2KW.

 

Unless you have a monster desktop rig that's running folding or Bitcoin mining 24/7, electricity usage isn't going to amount to more than a few dollars a month, and that's a worst-case scenario.

 

It´s the same deal with televisions. I can´t comprehend how people can spend hundreds, thousands of dollars and then worry about if that thing they bought are costing them $2 a month, or $3.50..