iMac vs PC

By all means get an imac

Its a solid product with excellent after sales service

It is generally disliked by gamers because of the overpriced components and lack of games supported in its ecosystem

Mac os and windows cant be compared with a gamers perspective because

Both are geared towards their respective consumers

I have always preferred mac. there's an excellent article about the advantages of a mac here (http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/mac/10-reasons-why-macs-are-better-pcs-3471928/)

That's not an easy question to answer.

For everyday activities I much prefer Mac. I find the operating system to be more reliable and user friendly. I also like the photo and video editing software on it tad more than most PC programs. The downside is with Mac you have a VERY limited set of options for which programs you can run. For everyday use my vote is always Mac, for specific purposes (such as unique programs and specialty programs) you may have some trouble with the Mac compared to PC. A fairly simple workaround for programs that require Windows is to use parallels (run Windows inside a window, no pun intended) or Bootcamp (duel boot your IMac to either OSX or Windows depending on your need at that moment). Parallels is purchased separately, Bootcamp is preloaded into your IMac. Unless you have a copy of Windows laying around you will have to dish out a bit of cash for that too.

Going the PC route is generally cheaper, depending on your decisions. You can get much more power from a custom built desktop PC for less money(an IMac is built from laptop parts to fit everything inside such a small container). You will also need to factor in which kind of monitor you want. IMac monitors are some of the best on the market with extremely accurate color reproduction and usually 1440P (depending on the year IMac you purchase). Are you looking at the 27" IMac or 24" IMac? to purchase a 27" monitor to match the IMac in quality will cost between $450 and $800, unless you want to go profression at which is just increases from there. Then again, if you don't need accurate color representation at a high level and are OK with 1080p resolution you can pick up some monitors for $250-$350 or buy secondhand for $100 if you look around a little bit.

I have more I could get into, but I think I hit on the key notes...

If I were to only have one computer I would be going with a PC due to general universal compatibility at a lower cost. Luckily I have a powerhouse desktop that I use for gaming and editing and a small Macbook pro for internet browsing, mobile Netflixing, music, and general mobile around the house Media entertainment.

And here's where I differ from the crowd.

Depending on what you do with your PC, there's no reason to spend $3,000 which would be the entry fee for purchasing a 5k iMac. You're basically blowing a huge sum of money for something that's nothing more than a fancy display with a sub par laptop. You can praise Mac OS X all you want but the price of admission for me just isn't worth it. I would personally build a small mATX PC based on the AMD 860K or Pentium G3258 and put the rest of the money in the bank. It's not that Macs are bad computers , for the price they offer though, you could build a system based around a i7-580K AND a GTX 980 AND a 4K monitor, and you'd still come out about $600 ahead in the game.

You can certainly run Windows 7 and 8.1 on an iMac with Bootcamp but why? You're just running emulation software that will slow anything you do down to a crawl.

Mac/PC rivalry aside they're both really good and you're probably better off sticking to what you like, they've pretty much both gotten to the point where you can't go wrong with either. Personally I find Macs boring and limited but that's just me. You'll probably pay more for a Mac but you'll get a solid machine with great after sales support. Make sure you get Windows 8 on there and use Start8 to get rid of the new Start menu. Or just install Windows 10 as it's ace but Windows 10 will be free for Windows 8 owners in the first year. Some people prefer Windows 7 but I think with Start8 the speed increases in 8 are well worth it.

tl;dr
If you like Macs then get a Mac and buy Windows 8 + Start8.

Which OS ecosystem do you prefer? Quality hardware can be had with either.