[Purchase Consulting] Dude, i'm getting a Mac

[Joseph Zollo]

I finally got up the nerve to buy myself an iMac G5 system! I think it is finally time to learn OS X, Linux and Windows are getting a tad boring ;)

Here are the specs...

17-inch widescreen LCD

1.6GHz PowerPC G5

512K L2 cache

533MHz frontside bus

512MB DDR400 SDRAM (Upped From 256)

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra

64MB DDR video memory

80GB Serial ATA hard drive

Slot-load Combo Drive

Bluetooth Module + Wireless Mouse/Keyboard Combo (Added)

Total Price: $1355 ($1436 with Tax)

I have a few questions for you guys...

- Can I add in Airport Extreme Later?

- Should I wait until after MacWorld to order?

- How much RAM is generally needed for great performance in Panther?

- Is there anything else I should add to my order?

Thanks in advance! As you can see i've already added the mac into my profile, can you tell i'm excited!?

[titan0111]

I finally got up the nerve to buy myself an iMac G5 system! I think it is finally time to learn OS X, Linux and Windows are getting a tad boring ;)

Here are the specs...

17-inch widescreen LCD

1.6GHz PowerPC G5

512K L2 cache

533MHz frontside bus

512MB DDR400 SDRAM (Upped From 256)

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra

64MB DDR video memory

80GB Serial ATA hard drive

Slot-load Combo Drive

Bluetooth Module + Wireless Mouse/Keyboard Combo (Added)

Total Price: $1355 ($1436 with Tax)

I have a few questions for you guys...

- Can I add in Airport Extreme Later?

- Should I wait until after MacWorld to order?

- How much RAM is generally needed for great performance in Panther?

- Is there anything else I should add to my order?

Thanks in advance! As you can see i've already added the mac into my profile, can you tell i'm excited!?

585229191[/snapback]

- Can I add in Airport Extreme Later?

* Yes you can but it's cheaper to get the Airport Extreme with the system. This is up to you.

- Should I wait until after MacWorld to order?

* Definitely you should wait. There may be a price drop and newer upgrades.

- How much RAM is generally needed for great performance in Panther?

* Get 256MB and get at least 512MB (total of 768MB) from internet. You can save few bucks that way.

- Is there anything else I should add to my order?

* It's kinda hard to tell what you wanna do with the system.

[NinjaMonkey82]

I really suggest getting the Superdrive. Getting a DVD burner these days is almost a necessary especially for backing up your drive.

Other than that visit Crucial.com and add some RAM, don't get the extra 256 from Apple, they are expensive. You'll get this same suggestion from every Mac user. RAM makes a huge difference. 512 is the minimum you should have but the more the better.

[Premgenius]

SuperDrive = Yes

1GB RAM = Yes, always get more RAM.

Airport Extreme = Yes, not later

CPU = As much as you can afford.

hope that helps and also a update on your site would be nice

[thetechroom]

- Can I add in Airport Extreme Later?

Yes of course but as the others say it will be cheaper if you get it with one in.

- Should I wait until after MacWorld to order?

Most definately. Its like clothes, buying them before the January sales is stupidity because they are most likely to be cheaper in the sales.

- How much RAM is generally needed for great performance in Panther?

256MB Ram is standard with these systems, but to get the best performance out of these is to get another 256 or 512MB stick (Not from Apple, Crucial is a good site.)

- Is there anything else I should add to my order?

How about an Airport Express? Superdrive? External Hard drive?

[thekore]

As already stated, you can add AE post-purchase but it is cheaper for you to buy it with the system.

i would have to agree with everyone to hold off until after Jan. 11th, you never know what could happen with the line ups / prices.

OSX will run just fine on 256MB of RAM. It uses the FreeBSD paging system which is very advanced and not like that of windows or linux, so in reality for most things you can manage with the standard 256MB, however purchase anymore ram from a third party dealer such as Crucial, you will save money.

I would suggest looking at the superdrive, dvdrw are very good to have in todays computers for many reasons, backing up your system quickly being the main one.