Mac / IMAC

[ecampbell]

I need to replace my 1998 PC and the IMAC has my attention.
Guy, I know you like them.
I do video and lots of pictures but my questions in general are what to expect when leaving the familiar, and frequently frustrating PC world. How is their built in software for photo and video? The salesman at Bestbuy told me their 2MB ram is superior to the same in a PC, but I don't buy that yet. Will I have a problem with peripherials such as scanners and cameras. There are some configuraation decisions to be made as to ram, hard drive, video card, etc.

Any discussion would be interesting and helpful.

Thanks, Ed

 

[Teegate]

I need to replace my 1998 PC and the IMAC has my attention.
Guy, I know you like them.
I do video and lots of pictures but my questions in general are what to expect when leaving the familiar, and frequently frustrating PC world. How is their built in software for photo and video? The salesman at Bestbuy told me their 2MB ram is superior to the same in a PC, but I don't buy that yet. Will I have a problem with peripherials such as scanners and cameras. There are some configuraation decisions to be made as to ram, hard drive, video card, etc.

Any discussion would be interesting and helpful.

Thanks, Ed

Ed,

As I have mentioned I would never buy anything except a Mac; however, they have their flaws and I will admit to them.

First, your Mac will come with all the software you need for everyday use such as photo’s, music, video, etc, etc. No need to buy them. It supports all the popular printers but I can’t say for scanners. I have 1.5 Gigs of ram in mine and I suspect I could use more and here is the reason. The Mac still supports the PowerPC even though they are Intel. So when you have older programs installed they really use up the memory and virtual memory. My email program is an older version of Entourage, and just to have Entourage open requires 100MB of real ram and over 1Gig of virtual memory. That is just my email!

Notice it circled in blue below. So with basic programs just open and writing this I am using over half my ram which you can see circled in red.

So buy as much ram as you can since you will need it. You may not eventually have older PowerPC programs like me, but if you want to use the map program for Mac that I use, you will be running PowerPC. Speaking of that, there is no longer support for that map program. So if you use USAPhotoMaps in Windows, the Mac program I use is not complete and won’t be. It is open source so maybe one day someone may complete it.

Buy as big a drive as you can. With the Mac you can also run Windows by partitioning the drive using Boot Camp which is free from Mac and easy to do. You just need to have a full version of Windows that you have purchased. You can easily switch between the systems by restarting and holding down the Option key. However, when using Windows you must have virus protection as always. When I first partitioned my drive I though 5 Gigs was enough for my Windows partition, and soon learned that it was way too small after the system and virus programs were installed. So you have to keep in mind that when you choose a drive you may be running two operating systems and all the software that goes with two computers.


Ed, I have mine set up to run both operating systems, and as far as I know you will not see that in the Apple store. So if you want to see exactly how that works let me know and I can easily carry my computer to your house and show you.

Guy

 

[Spung-Man]

I've had positive experiences with Mac

Ed,

I have been with Mac since 1984. That original purchase was a 128K with a blazing-fast 8 MHz Motorola microprocessor, 9-inch black-and-white monitor, and 128 KB DRAM. The set still works! On the plus side, Macs are well built, stable, virus-resistant, have wonderful tech support, and are user friendly. Several years ago my G5 PowerMac had a rare breakdown, its motherboard failed. The Apple store fixed it and another issue that escapes my mind – without fee – a year after the warranty expired.

On negative aspects, you will pay dearly for their products, and for parts and service Apples stores, though excellent, are widely scattered in far-flung corners of retail malls. In a pinch, I must travel an hour each way to find a proprietary part such as a FireWire adapter, or patiently wait for an Internet supplier’s shipment. Software for some peripherals like printers or scanners can be slow to keep up with Mac updates, causing maddening conflicts.

Spung-Man

 

[Teegate]

Software for some peripherals like printers or scanners can be slow to keep up with Mac updates, causing maddening conflicts.

Spung-Man

To be fair, that is not Apple's fault, that is the peripheral company concentrating on the Windows updates first. That brings up the Mac's most serious flaw, finding the software you want. There are a few programs I use for my stone searching that are not on the Mac platform. Without Windows, I would be seriously hampered. That bothers me saying that


Guy

 

[Ben Ruset]

I switched from PC to Mac last year. I find the only program that I really ever need to use Windows for is USAPhotoMaps. And even then, NJPB Live Maps has more or less supplanted my need for that.

I have 4GB of RAM in my MacBook Pro. Cost less than $100 to get that RAM. Memory is cheap.

 

[ecampbell]

I switched from PC to Mac last year. I find the only program that I really ever need to use Windows for is USAPhotoMaps. And even then, NJPB Live Maps has more or less supplanted my need for that.

I have 4GB of RAM in my MacBook Pro. Cost less than $100 to get that RAM. Memory is cheap.

Apple wants $1000 to go from 4gb to 8gb.

8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB [Add $1,000.00]

http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MB418LL/A?mco=NDE4Mzg4NA

Looking out over a 5 to 10 year life span, I think 8gb is short.

 

[Teegate]

Ed,

The ram goes in the bottom of the monitor with two screws. You can buy it yourself and do it for one quarter the cost. The only problem is you have to take ram out. If you do go that route, I would be willing to buy your old ram, or at least what I can use. That is if I take the same ram. I will have to check.



I just realized they now do not come with the remote. My model is the one model that the Option Key does not work to boot into Windows, and I have to use the remote. It came with mine but it is now an option.


Guy

 

[Teegate]

It appears that ram is much more expensive. Scroll down to 8GB (4X2) and it is $400. The straight eight is almost $900. You have to click the "Show All" button.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listmodule/DDR3/~HS~/list.html


Guy

 

[Ben Ruset]

It appears that ram is much more expensive. Scroll down to 8GB (4X2) and it is $400. The straight eight is almost $900. You have to click the "Show All" button.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listmodule/DDR3/~HS~/list.html


Guy

$225.

http://www.priceguidenetwork.com/cr...pin-dimm-server-memory-ct2kit51272bb1067.html

Ed: An 8-10 year lifecycle for any modern computer is just way, way too much. With prices of PC's dropping under $500, there's just no real benefit of keeping a machine around that long.

I only see another year of life in my laptop as a primary machine, and it's only a year old. I figure $1000/yr for a computer is not a bad price, especially a top of the line Apple laptop.

 

[Teegate]

$225.

http://www.priceguidenetwork.com/cr...pin-dimm-server-memory-ct2kit51272bb1067.html

Ed: An 8-10 year lifecycle for any modern computer is just way, way too much. With prices of PC's dropping under $500, there's just no real benefit of keeping a machine around that long.

I only see another year of life in my laptop as a primary machine, and it's only a year old. I figure $1000/yr for a computer is not a bad price, especially a top of the line Apple laptop.

Ben,

Do you spend $1000 a year on computers? Mine will last me 5 years and that is way less than $1000. Then again, I use mine completely for the pines and hobby.

Guy

 

[Ben Ruset]

Ben,

Do you spend $1000 a year on computers? Mine will last me 5 years and that is way less than $1000. Then again, I use mine completely for the pines and hobby.

Guy

In one way or another, probably. There's no real compelling reason for me to upgrade the MacBook Pro I have now, although a faster hard drive would probably help me out.

 

[Boyd]

As many of you know, I have been using Macs since the very beginning and have had more than I can even count. Currently using a MacBook Pro Core2 Duo/2.4ghz with 4gb RAM. I also have Windows XP installed under BootCamp so I can boot directly into it if needed and can also run Windows simultaneously with MacOSX with the Parallels program. Parallels works fine for everyday stuff, but is noticeably slower for running high end software and I have had a few very ugly crashes.

Actually, I think they will show you how well Macs run Windows at an Apple store since this is a big selling point these days.

All that I use Windows for is map making, but that places pretty extreme demands on the system so I have recently moved all my Windows use to a separate Dell Inspiron Core2 Duo 2.8ghz machine with 6GB RAM.

I think the iMac is an excellent choice and a lot of bang for the buck. At work I purchased a 24" iMac Core2 Duo 3ghz with 4GB RAM. This machine, along with a 23" Apple Cinema Display and Matrox MXO adaptor is a dedicated video editing station which I use for High Definition Video with Final Cut Studio (Apple's professional video editing package). It really performs well for that task... would have been nice to step up to the MacPro but I couldn't have swung a system with any better performance and still remained under my $10,000 budget (including software).

Get as much RAM as you can afford - I think you should max it out personally. If you aren't comfortable tinkering with stuff, just pay a little more and get the it pre-configured with Apple RAM. That would also negate any future claims they might make about problems caused by 3rd party memory chips. Personally, I would install my own cheaper memory, but an argument can certainly be made for Apple's.

I'd agree that even a 5 year life for computers is pushing it. But if you really have modest needs, that might be OK. 8 to 10 years is way too long between upgrades. You won't find software that still works on your ancient machine of that age, and any repairs will cost more that it's worth. Think in terms of "dog years" when it comes to computers.

Guy, I didn't think those old classic PowerPC programs were supported at all under the new version of MacOSX... are they?

Spung, I don't know what kind of stuff you have to drive an hour to get for your Mac. I can find almost everything I need at Best Buy in either Hamilton or Vineland myself. Most peripherals work on both Macs and PC's now as well. Mail order is always a good option however.

Macs are not the solution if you're looking for the cheapest computer... get a netbook in that case. But they are really very competitive when it comes to feature by feature comparison with a better PC, especially if you consider the value of all the software included with the system.

I'll admit to a certain bias, since I was fortunate enough to invest in Apple when the stock was really cheap. I decided to bail out this year and sold it all, but my gains should pay for a couple years of my retirement so I'm happy.

 

[Ben Ruset]

I don't think it's worth buying more than 4GB of RAM now. RAM is getting cheaper, so you're better off upgrading in a few years when it will be cheaper.

4GB is more than enough for all but the most demanding applications on a computer. For browsing maps, surfing the internet, listening to music, and doing email it's fine. If you're going to be doing serious CAD work, rendering 3D models, etc. then you might want to get 8GB.

I haven't run into a situation with my Mac (4GB of RAM) where I've said "damn, I just wish I had a little more RAM." Even my servers, unless they're VMware servers, don't get that much RAM.

 

[Boyd]

AFAIK, the iMac maxes out at 4GB anyway. I agree that should be more than enough.

 

[Ben Ruset]

AFAIK, the iMac maxes out at 4GB anyway. I agree that should be more than enough.

Nope, they support up to 8GB.

 

[Teegate]

Nope, they support up to 8GB.

It looks that way on Apples site. I believe my 20 inch only supports 2.

Guy

 

[Boyd]

Interesting... I'm certain that the specs on my 24" iMac said a max of 4GB, which is what I put into it. But that was almost a year ago.