Need Advice: Which Mac to buy?

[dotcomlarry]

I have a Dual 1Ghz G4 at work, and a 600 mhz Athlon at home w/WinXP Pro, and I love the Mac better than the PC. It's not because of speed increase (altho, it is nice) but rather the functionality and experience. I often come home, dreading that I have to use a PC :)

I do video editing and web site maintenence on the Mac. But because I'm also a PC user, I have Virtual PC installed with Win2k, thus getting the best of both worlds. I've found that I get most of my work done faster on the Mac than I used to when I had a PC to work on. As such, I now sometimes sit in my office doing practically nothing (shhhhh don't tell the boss! :) ) because I get stuff done faster.

If you're going to do a lot of heavy video editing and such, go for a dual processer system. Final Cut Pro takes advantage of dual processors and you'll get stuff done quicker and easier.

Also, wait until after MacWorld NY. The systems are supposed to be updated, so you may be able to get a deal on an 'out-of-date' system.

Hope that helps.

[EmuBite]

Here is the G4 I'm thinking about buying from Small Dog Electronics. I think it looks like a pretty good deal as I already have a 19" Dell P991 (Trinitron based) monitor.

I'm ready for a change. I feel I've gone as far as I can with Windows, and I'm really yearning for something new to play with. I've run a Win2k/RH dual boot for quite sometime now, and I'm starting to get bored with it.

I used to be a "PC ALL THE WAY" kind of guy (never militant, though), but I now think (at the wise age of 26) that the computer you use is relatively unimportant -- only what you get done with it. Just about anything that can be done in Windows can be done in OS X, and vice-versa.

As for expense, I've found that decked-out Apples are about the same price as decked-out PCs. You're gonna pay around $3,000 for top of the line. (Of course, I'm at an advantage because I already have a monitor....)

Anyway, that's my two cents. Hope nobody is offended, but it would be nice if the PC and Apple people could (in the words of Rodney King) "all just get along...." :)

Cheers,

RW

PS. When is MacWorld NY? I know it's in July sometime, and rumor is a faster CPU and possibly DDR RAM. Do you think the system that Small Dog is offering (refurb) is a good deal? I've heard that official Apple refurbs are as good as new -- new packaging and everything!

[dotcomlarry]

MWNY is July 15-19.

Apple and Dell. What a combination. :p

That SmallDog offer looks pretty good. If you're statisfied with it, then go ahead and buy it! But, if you're willing to wait a few months til after MWNY, you can probably get a better deal on a better system. But hey, it's your money, and you know your needs better than I do.

Happy buying.

[Dazzla Veteran]

Apple refurbs are very good, most places you buy them from are going to be pretty good. As for time of purchase, I would definately say hold on until MMNY there might be new systems released. This could mean you get a better bargain on a regular/old tower or you might be able to stretch to a new tower ;)

[butterific]

Thanks for all the great information guys. It's always so much better to see what actual people think about a system, especially when its something as expensive as a computer, reviews are nice, but they just don't tell the real story sometimes. Much appreciated. Kudos to you all.

The world will be just grand when the pc nazi's grow up too.

[EmuBite]

Dazzla & Other Mac Users,

I posted this thread over at Ars Technica regarding whether I should buy a PowerMac now or wait until after MWNY.

After reading the above post, what do you think? Should I wait or go ahead and byte the bullet and buy a G4 933Mhz...?

I really value your opinion.

Cheers,

RW

[dotcomlarry]

I don't think what we were saying was to buy the latest and greatest system released at MWNY, but rather to get and even better price on the system you were looking at now (or a better, yet 'older,' system at the price of the 933 you're looking at, ie dual ghz).

But since you're going to be moving and such, I suppose now would be a good time to go ahead and order the system.

[Silvorgold]

i'm planning on working this summer (atleast for most of july n some of august) n i'm planning on getting a mac (either a lamp imac, regular imac, or the cheapest ibook), n i need to stay away from pcs for a while, pcs just bore me right now :( (sorry guys) but i'm on the macs at school in the library for atleast 2 hrs a day n they run pretty well although they are os 8.6,

i'm planning on getting a pc next year for my grad prezzie (custom built) so i need a primary computer (since my sister is on this way too much now)..i was just wondering...if i get a airport card for the mac, could i get on the net without using the phone line (i have dial up) so i could go on the net at the same time my sis is on?

thanx :)

NOTE: PLZZZZZZZZZZZZZ no flaming, if your gonna say something thats mean (aka flaming), dont bother saying it

[lost_n_mad]

Hey, Silver, read above a bit.

For about the same money as one of the newer systems (the iLamp, iMac, or iBook) you can get either a refurbished or "older" (if it ain't a year old, don't know how it could be older) system with better expandability. Personally I would suggest going to PowerMax.com and getting their cube deal right now. A G4 Cube with monitor for $1300 or a Power Mac with a monitor from them for about $1400 (the 21" CRT is pretty inexpensive). They should have a similar deal about the time your wanting to buy, and probably for a little less than that.

I am on my second Mac now, after just a year of use (needed a second one because my gf wouldn't get off the other one hehehe) and I can definetely say Apple's have a good life span. We have a iBook 366 SE (from release it's about 2 1/2 years old) and we are just now running into some games that won't run on (Giants and Castle Wolfenstien are both just out of reach). The other Mac is an iBook 500 Combo (just over a year old by production release). Both run very well, both are refurbished systems, and both cost us under $900. My only complaint is the G3 is a little slow on OS X, and the video card in the iBook is ok, but not as powerful as I would like it to be. And with laptops if something like the Video Card isn't powerful enough for you, your screwed. With the Power Mac it's easy to replace and it just adds even more to the life span (plus it's easy to upgrade processors for the Power Mac adding even more years to it's life). But my gf and I need portables, and the iBooks was the only one in the right price/performance.

Since you were asking about advice between the iMac's, definetly go with the newer one. In the long run, it will last you till graduation, and you can get your your custom built PC then (have you checked out Alienware's pro series computer's, their terriblly sweet, and sure to get sweeter as time goes by).

The reasson I talk about lifespan of the Mac's is, you probably will want to keep it, along with you grad gift, and with a longer living PowerMac you'll have a great fileserver/webserver at you fingertips when the time comes. :) .

[Silvorgold]

thanx mad :), i could look on the net for refurbished macs, but my parents arent into credit card crap over the internet so thats basically a no no for me till less than a year from now, i'm just gonna work, and when i get enough money, i'll wait till the next mac expo or whatever its called happens n see if they make any price drops/new nicer items, n theres less than a dozen computer stores in this province that sell macintosh computers (that sell quite a bit of macs), so i'm going to have to go to a computer store 3 hrs away thats the most popular choice in this province for ppl buying macs n check out their prices around july first

btw one last ?, i was thinking bout getting an airport card, does it just connect to the net via phone line (if i use dialup) or is it like a cell phone by sending it by air waves?

[Daniel F. Administrators]

moved to mac forum ;) voodoo

[macster]

I dont really understand exactly wat u mean Silvorgold.

But from wat i interpret, my answer is that you cannot use the airport card to dial up but you can share your internet connection if the computers in your house have wireless LAN cards.

Maybe you can tell us exactly how the computers in your house are setup

Hope this helps.

[BroChaos Veteran]

omg, some people, i swear. he's asking WHICH MAC. NOT MAC OR PC? #@!$#@$@$%@ :right: :devious: :devious:

you are in violation of the community rules.

[Bling3k12]

I have also been pondering which Mac to get...

I am 15... been using Windows since I was 6 (when I got my first PC)

For you, that 933 MHz system sounds excellent! We have a Video Productions Company downtown which uses 450 MHz G4 PowerMacs and they work BEAUTIFULLY! They run so fast and fluently. Real-time editing and effects and everything.

I also do DV editing, so I've researched this alot... you have a perfect system... get that if you can...

definitely put as much RAM as you can in it...

BUT... IF YOU WANT TO WAIT... definitely wait until after MWNY to see what they put in the towers... DDR RAM is supposedly the next addition... and OS 10.2 (preview it at www.apple.com/macosx/newversion/ ) will be a great thing...

[lost_n_mad]

One more thing. And I'm sorry I forgot to mention this. The nice thing with resellers is they will take either money orders or wire transfers, no credit card needed. so for our younger want own a mac folks, you can get the system ou want from them, it's just going to take about 5 days instead of three.

[Silvorgold]

everyone thinking bout getting a mac: wait till july when macworld cuz they'll be releasing new macs then (n probably cheaper 2) n theres even rumors that they'll release Jaguar at macworld (although its expected to be out in the fall)