Millions of MAC questions - your inputs are appriciated
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Ok my teaching carreer ends in a month or so.. and that means I won't get my Apple teachers discount - so now it might be a nice time to get that mac..
I have been thinking about keeping that windows machine i got now, but i am daily irritated - i even installed Vista 64bit and the new Office 2007 package, but went back to XP and Office 2003 - due to the two new systems did not really run that well.
So now I am 99% sure I will get that Mac!!!
I have debated getting the 24" iMac or a MacPro. Money and all in one package deal was pushing me to the iMac, but if I know myself right I will grow out of it within a year or so.. So the choice is now a MacPro
But due to money I need to cut it down to a minimum and upgrade later on. I have a few questions to my purchase:
iWork ’06 065-6203
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI) 065-6363
Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme 065-6725
Apple Keyboard & Mighty Mouse - Danish (wireless) 065-6280
Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 065-6352
Mac OS X (Danish) 065-6245
Country kit 065-6244
1GB (2 x 512MB) 065-7165
One 16x SuperDrive 065-6251
250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s 065-6409
The above is what I am thinking about - will probably upgrade ram as the first thing.
My 24" Dell monitor will work with this - right?
I should be able to plug a normal network cable into the mac for my internet connection - right?
The .mac account is that something worth the money or should I skip that?
The extra protection care deal is that worth it, or should I skip it?
I have some fairly new Samsung sata disks in my PC, could those be plugged into a Mac?
I have two new Creative MP3 players a 30gb and a 4gb will they work, or should I get rid of em and get an ipod instead - i mean i would lose some fun without an ipod - right?
Hhmm... just some questions really
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This should be moved to the Water Cooler - sorrrwwwy
Cheers for moving! - Last Edit: 17 years 6 months ago by .
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- Kevin DuCommun
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 1583
- Thanks: 4
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Heya Thomas,
Just my 2 cents, but I think your configuration looks pretty good, you'll definitely want extra RAM...but buy that separate, never buy the RAM from Apple as it soooo expensive. I personally have a 24" IMac and have been exceedingly happy with the performance. I don't do much gaming on it though, so if you plan to do some heavy gaming here and there, or if you plan to do some heavy video or audio work, you will appreciate the extra power of the MacPro.
Your 24" dell monitor should work just fine with the MacPro
The normal network cables are compatible with the mac as well, there is no difference there.
The .mac account is kind of useless in my opinion, its really designed more for people with limited web experience and no access to web hosting services. I doubt you would get much use out of it, being a web developer, i could be wrong.
The extra protection really is a personal choice, it never hurts to have the extra warranty options, so it's really more or less a gamble as to if you feel its worth the extra expense. My experience with apple products have been very good, they produce high quality products and there is often an apple store nearby many locations depending on where you live that can provide you with some face to face help.
I would imagine your SATA disks would work just fine in your MacPro, shouldnt be any compatibility problems
I have an iPod, though i dont use it much anymore, and really like it. Very easy to use and simplified, and does everything i need it to do. Basically, you will want to evaluate all the things you would like to do with it, and compare the features and functionality of the different choices. the iPod will provide you the most "unified" solution in conjunction with your Mac, and iTunes.
Just my thoughts
- Last Edit: 17 years 6 months ago by Kevin DuCommun.
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Cheers Kevin...
Well most of my work will be Photoshop, Painter, FireWorks, Flash and Illustrator - so an Imac would perhaps be just fine? If thats the case I would not mind taking that instead - my inner girl likes it more
I'll skip that .mac account - i did look at it a little more and it does look like someting mostly for families and people without a web host...
Hhhmm that leaves me with some money... not bad - thanks forthe inputs. Extra HD's will not be that big a problem I have 3 externals that should be mac ready..
Will go config a little then
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There is 3 memory slots in the imac - right?
The best idea would be to get the default 2x512mb modules with the purchase, take em out and buy 3 single 1gb modules?
So what is available when it doesnt have to be 2 in a package ram?
Can i buy good single modules somewhere - what should i look for?
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- Kevin DuCommun
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 1583
- Thanks: 4
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Yeah, with the work you plan on doing, the iMac would probably be plenty. I use my iMac for all of my main production and it gives me plenty of performance. The iMac has 2 memory slots, though, so in this case it really is better to go with the Apple memory as they ship 2 512's in the 1mb configuration which would be wasted if you are going to upgrade to 2gb or 3gb. You might compare the prices of the 1gb and 2gb dimms, vs upgrading through apple. When all things are considered, it ends up being about the same prices or cheaper to upgrade to 2gb imac configuration (2 1gb's) vs buying the 2 512mb config, throwing them out, and then buying 2 1gb dimms. If that makes any sense..anyway
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- I found a few sparse tests on the cpu difference 2.16 vs 2.33 ghz.. In my opinion it wasnt that big a difference compared to the money saved on the low specced cpu - mostly it was between 0 - 10 % in various tasks and that would benefit in huge batch jobs and so on, but for normal work and a little ripping and such - it's no biggie.. or?
- Last Edit: 17 years 6 months ago by .
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- Kevin DuCommun
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 1583
- Thanks: 4
- Yeah, for this type of work, i doubt you would notice anything signifant in the small bump in ghz; not really worth the money in my opinion unless you are in a profession where every second counts in video rendering, or what not. My iMac is the 24 inch 2.16 ghz model with 2gb of ram, geforce 7300gt card, 250gb hard drive. It's worked really well for me, Fireworks, Photoshop, and Illustrator performance is top notch (CS3 that is, as earlier versions are not universal binary and will run slower on the newer Intel based macs). 2gb of ram has been plenty for me for all of my tasks, if you do a lot of print work and high resolution development, an extra gb would be much appreciated.
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Well my illustrations due tend to be rather large from time to time, so yes 3gb ram might be the best choice..
Need to sleep on that one.
Thanks again Kevin
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- Kevin DuCommun
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 1583
- Thanks: 4
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I should probably also mention, the iMac is currently at the point in its product cycle where Apple upgrades the line. Industry insiders are already expecting them to announce a new "sleek, industrial imac design that will wow people" as well as upgraded specs as early as June (right around the time of the big Apple Worldwide Developer Conference). So it's very possible that they will be releasing spanking new iMac offerings next month...just something to think about
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