Hello everyone

I am new to this message board I have a few questions for all you kind people. I have been a long time windows user and a build your own pc kind of guy, but lately I have come to the point that I am just sick of dealing with windows!!! I am sick of the glitches, hangups, lockups, etc.

So to make a long story short I am ready and eager to test the waters of a Mac. I saw the news about the new mac mini and I became curious, so I watched the MacWorld Keynote presentation by Steve Jobs and I was just blown away. iLife and iwork look exquisite and a joy to work with. So I am considering to choices and I would be pleased to hear some experienced Mac users and Mac/PC users opinions. I am considering either a mac mini juiced up a bit or an imac and money is some what of an issue (given I am an in debt graduate student ), but I want to get something I will be happy with. My current system is an Abit 87N8X amd 2600+ with 1 gb ddr 2700 and a radeon 9800 pro 128 mb video card.

Which will be my better choice and how will it compare to my current system (I know you can't compare apples to oranges , but in general). Gaming is not a big issue for the mac, but i will be doing photo editing, creating home DVDs using idvd (picture slideshows of weddings, children, events ect), internet, itunes with my iPod, and typical school work. Any help from you guys would be great. Sorry if this post is too long or ridiculous for some, but I need a litlle advice. Forgive my ignorance and thanks

The mac mini would be fine for the work youre doing. Though if you do have the extra cash, I would pick up the iMac.

Thanks for the quick reply GT. The only concern I have with the mini is the graphics demand that Tiger will supposedly place on it. I know Tiger is not complete and that maybe it will run perfectly fine on the mini, but that thought is still in the back of my mind.

I'm not worried about it. The video card specs are no longer on the Apple.com website (don't flame me, I couldn't find them and I could be wrong) and Core Image will scale to your system. It's really not as big of a deal as everyone makes it. Seriously..it will run Tiger and Core Image just fine. Forget the hype and get it!

I've got an iBook with similar specs, and no regrets..

Hi there,
If you have the choice I would go for the imac, however if you have all teh ancillarys required for the apple mini, it is not bad for a beginner, this is all it is aimed at.

Imac's, would be better suited for tiger, though tiger will run on 32mb vram.

Thanks rstroud for the reassurance

I do have a monitor , mouse and keyboard, but I want to go for the full Mac experienceand get their keyboard and mouse. I am kinda anal about having things match, plus I want the bluetooth wireless mouse and keyboard so I can have a clean work space. If I don't like the dreaded one button mouse I can always switch later. Thanks apple_power.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I did exactly what you have just said, go for it properly. I didn't know what to think of a one-button mouse, but I really love it now - simple, easy and a pleasure to use.

Enjoy!

Thanks Photo Monkey.

I know money may be an issue but if you could shell out $200 more you could get a Powermac G5. Then you could use your ATIL 9800 and really have a killer system. That is, unless you'll continue using windows along with Mac OS.

Now that you mention it...
1.8 G5, 512mb ddr 400 mem, airport extreme, and bluetooth mouse & kb = $1,576
vs.
1.42 G4 mac mini, 512 mb ddr 333 mem, airport extreme + bluetooth, bluetooth mouse & kb, iWork, and superdrive = $1,000

hmmm. decisions...decisions

Will my 9800 pro be compatible with the Mac??? The box doesn't list it as being compatible. If not I could spend $45 and get a 9600xt. What do you guys think, I really need some experienced mac/pc dual users advice. Also can I upgrade memory on my own and is the mac picky about the brand name of ram that you use???

Thanks Adamb10

http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html <--They have drivers

Mac is not picky but don't get a no name brand of memory as it tends to be lower quality. http://crucial.com can help you.

I am still not sure about the compatibility of using my 9800 pro in the powermac. Why does ati make a mac edition??? This makes me think that it will not work. Can anyone else shed any light on this???

I also found this:
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...=powermac+1.8g5

I wish I was rich, then I would just buy a dual 2.5 g5 powermac and that would solve everythimg.

Well the ATI thing is quite suprising. I know Nvidia there is no mac edition. Cards for Windows work with Macs.

I wish I had money to get any kind of Mac. I think OS X 10.2-3 is a beautiful OS.

Well now I can't decide if I am going to get a 1.8 g5 iMac or a 1.8 g5 powermac. I am leaning more towards the powermac. I can get the rig I want slightly cheaper with 128 mb ati 9600xt vs the imac with a 64 mb geforce. Opinions???

If money doesn't really matter go for the better machine.

don't forget the emac

You're a build-your-own kinda guy? Me too.
Shouldn't you build your own a perfect system that has no glitches/hangups/lockups? I dont know about you.. but every component I buy has to be compatible. In fact my PCs are so stable that I've never had a fault. My friend's mac has had more trouble than my PCs. That's why I can't see why some people hate windows. Works like a charm for me.

Plus I can maximize windows/browsers/applications in windows! Grr.. it's so frustrating to maximize things in OSX. haha

go for the powermac so u can use ur own monitor

go troll somewhere else, yes pc can be really stable (i know mine is) but macs are the same, they can be really stable too

Powermacs are expandable. a iMac, you can only upgrade the Ram. PowerMacs, you could add a hard drive, ram, video card, pci cards, and all sorts.

Ovenmitt, Black Label Society Rocks...Zakk is the greatest. not sure if the emac is cut out for me. Thanks though.



Izolate, yes I have built me many of systems and I have enjoyed each one of them, but I think it is time for something different. Xp has grown stale to me. In my experience there is never a perfect system with windows something always happens. You think you have a perfectly running system one day and the next day you are scratching your head trying to figure out why your system is hanging up. For example I just bought an ATI tv wonder card. It ran great for a week or so, then my system starts locking up just whenever it feels like. Nothing particular sets it off. It is just that kind of stuff that is starting to frustrate me. Plus the iDVD software is awesome, in my opinion nothing on pc compares. I am not saying that I am leaving the pc world all together, rather just taking a vacation. I am going to use my current system as my internet server/media center in my living room hooked up to the tv. Toshiba notebook and mac to connect to it wirelessly (if that is a word). Thanks though.

Thanks Rudy & Adamb10, i think the powermac is gonna be my best bet....that is of course if I don't change my mind again. Thanks again.

Whatever you do, don't forget to take a look at this page for some advice. Hope you enjoy your first Mac.

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

Thanks for the info Fuzzy,

I just got back from Dallas, I went to the Apple store (I live in Louisiana) so I drove 400 miles round trip to go play with a Mac. Man, was I impressed. The store, the employees, the macs....awesome. I can't wait to order my Power mac. Even my wife is excited. Once again thanks everyone.

For a introductorie machine, the Mac Mini is the perfect solution...

Really...you won't miss PC....in about a month...You won't even know what the word means....I work with both PC and Macs both and Home and in School...and I tell you...difference is amazing...the Macs are a lot easier to work with...get one...you won't regred it....

It'll run Tiger fine, but I doubt it will run Core Image at all. Why? Because the whole point of Core Image is to offload the graphic effects to the GPU. This can only be done with Pixel Shaders (which are really just general purpose CPUs on the graphic card). If you don't have these, you can't really offload any meaningful work to it.

I expect that Core Image will be subtly dropped in the run up to Tiger, or remarketed as something else (a Pro feature for example).

Do you think core image would have a problem running on a single 1.8 g5 power mac with a 128mb ati 9600xt??? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I have little to no experience with macs and I am not sure about the performance of these systems.

Thanks

With that video card, it will run core image with ease.

The Mac mini won't run some of the more advanced Core Image effects that require Pixel Shader v2.0, but it will run Core Image. Aldo, I doubt Core Image will be a dropped feature of Tiger. It's one of the greatest advancements in Tiger. It already is marketed as a Pro tool though, for developers.

Thanks for clearing that up jagged edge.