Re:
Day job for me. I Love 'em and it would be hard to convince me to switch to the darkside. I've used Macs constantly since mid-90s and have even rebuilt my own G3 and G4 models.
Being Apple, they are stratospherically priced but they are hugely reliable and almost bombproof. I agree though regarding the newer and recent models being seemingly impenetrable for most people, meaning a trip to the dealership if there's a problem, but this the scenario for most things today – it's the inbuilt 'spirit of Steve Jobs' control freakery at work.
Got a mid-2010 21.5inch iMac with 4Gb RAM/1Tb drive and internal CD drive at home. This was a refurb direct from Apple UK (nearly £900) but was virtually like brand new out the box. It's also worth noting that models of this age can be upgraded to the latest OS too.
At work, I use a mid-2015 27inch version with 8Gb RAM/1Tb drive. The newer iMacs with bigger/wider screens are just utterly fabulous to watch things on though. I'm not too keen on the wireless keyboard and magic mouse – they are AA battery hungry, so invest in rechargeables or just plug in an old school cabled mouse and keyboard. The newest iMac keyboard and mouse are rechargeable now though.
I watch a lot of TV on mine at home and use it for ripping a lot of music and burning set lists. This is where the RAM, faster chips and graphic cards come in handy. You need to be thinking of 4GB RAM minimum with a rather useful 1Tb drive.
Visit the following link to identify any iMac going backwards. You can click each one and it will show you all the tech specs:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201634
