Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 832

Need a new computer - Educate me

I would like to get a new desktop, minimal investment if possible. I've always had PC's, except for the Commodore's I had before they went south. I've played with the Mac's at the store, they seem pretty chubby, what are the advantages of this OS over Win98? I also have several USB devices I would like to carry over (CD burner, scanner, printer, camera or two, CF card reader, MP3 players, etc), would these work on a Mac as well, does the visor even work on Mac? Thanks,
Sterling

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

Provided your peripherals are name brand, they all should work on the Mac, as most competant vendors with USB devices know enough to write drivers for both platforms.

As for whether you should get a Mac or not, well, that's really just a personal preference.

OS 9, the last 'old' mac OS is a lot like Windows 98. There are a lot of minor differences, but they are really personal preferences. OSX, on the other hand, is much different, and, arguably, bettern in many ways than a lot of the Windows OSes.

One thing to consider, however, is your investement in PC software. If you've purchased a lot, then you may want to stick with Windows.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 832

quote:

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Originally posted by homer
Provided your peripherals are name brand, they all should work on the Mac, as most competant vendors with USB devices know enough to write drivers for both platforms.

As for whether you should get a Mac or not, well, that's really just a personal preference.

OS 9, the last 'old' mac OS is a lot like Windows 98. There are a lot of minor differences, but they are really personal preferences. OSX, on the other hand, is much different, and, arguably, bettern in many ways than a lot of the Windows OSes.

One thing to consider, however, is your investement in PC software. If you've purchased a lot, then you may want to stick with Windows.

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

Though macs are more expensive up front, they (statistically) cost less in the long run. They supposedly run longer, and people are supposedly more productive on them. On average, they supposedly require less power and are more "optimized" than a comparible Intel chip. I believe it, to a greater or lesser degree. It's the advantage when your writing your own software for your own hardware.

iMacs are nice for two reasons:
� Fairly price competitive
� A good collection of included software

However, depending on how tight money is, I'd suggest going with the low end PowerMac as it is easier than any other computer I've ever seen to upgrade.

OS X is amazing. Were I not a dirt cheap bastard I might go for it.

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

If you have no preference regarding the OS, then choose another criteria...price, looks, whatever...

quote:

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What would I do about syncing Quickoffice with a Mac?

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 832

quote:

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Originally posted by dick-richardson


However, depending on how tight money is, I'd suggest going with the low end PowerMac as it is easier than any other computer I've ever seen to upgrade.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 832

quote:

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Originally posted by homer


If you are asking us which is better, PCs or Macs, well, we can't tell you unless you have specific criteria. Anything else is just subjective opinions.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 832

Never mind the question about the PowerMac, I found it - too far out of my price range. On the upgrade note, however, I see there is a $200 price difference between a 64MB and a 128MB Imac on apple's website, is it that hard to upgrade or is the memory that expensive?
SDP

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

quote:

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Originally posted by dampeoples
Never mind the question about the PowerMac, I found it - too far out of my price range. On the upgrade note, however, I see there is a $200 price difference between a 64MB and a 128MB Imac on apple's website, is it that hard to upgrade or is the memory that expensive?
SDP

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

Most computer vendors over-charge for RAM for two reasons:

1) The RAM market can fluctuate greatly...so they need to protect themselves from that.

2) It's an easy place to increase profit margins.

You can get REALLY cheap ram now. I think I picked up 256mb last for about $25.

As for putting it into the imac, it is a bit of a pain, since it is an all-in-one unit. You also can't really upgrade an iMac to the same extent a PowerMac or a good PC.

As for the Mac being faster than Win98, that's really more an issue of the processor and computer architecture than anything. That said, Win98 is 3 years old, so you are not really comparing apples to apples (get it...apples! hehe)

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

homer, you haven't ever put RAM into an iMac before, have you?

You can do it with a penny. Try that with your wintel machine.

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 284

I was in a similar situation to you. I ran PC's for close to 12 years before I finally bought a Mac last January when the Cube prices started plummeting. Best move I ever made. Why? Because, if I had continued with PC's, I'd have reconfigured the box at least a dozen times by now to try and get something that I wanted to play with working (the last PC fiasco for me was DVD playback), and usually it would never work quite right. Setting it up to dual boot W2k and Linux was a PITA way to get access to the Unix tools I wanted, and I always hated trying to configure X and a window manager to get it to try and work the way I wanted (I always seemed to have to hack the config files manually to get it to even remotely do what I wanted, reguardless of which window manager I used.)

Now, with the Cube and OSX 10.1, I no longer have those problems. Everything works without hassle, I have access to all the tools I need (perl, C, C++, Java, tcsh,...., the list is just about endless), and I can just do what I want to do with the computer now. I never realized computers could be this much fun!

Oops, think I may have just stepped over that religion line again.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

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Originally posted by dick-richardson
homer, you haven't ever put RAM into an iMac before, have you?

You can do it with a penny. Try that with your wintel machine.

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I don't need any tools (or even coins) to add more RAM to my machine (well that would be if I could add more RAM since I'm already at maximum). Of course, I don't have a wintel. I've got a WinLinAMD.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

quote:

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Originally posted by Toby
I don't need any tools (or even coins) to add more RAM to my machine (well that would be if I could add more RAM since I'm already at maximum). Of course, I don't have a wintel. I've got a WinLinAMD.

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The only tool I needed for upgrading my PowerBook's RAM was my fingernail. The keyboard lifts out to reveal the RAM. Easiest RAM upgrade I've ever done.

Now installing the airport card was a different story.

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James Hromadka
Old Friend

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

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Originally posted by JHromadka
The only tool I needed for upgrading my PowerBook's RAM was my fingernail. [...]

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Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

quote:

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homer, you haven't ever put RAM into an iMac before, have you?

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: I'm not sure, but I see lots of lights everywhere.
Posts: 1287

Lots of excellent points made by Homer and Dick. My opinion: try a Mac before you buy. Familiarize yourself with the differences in the UI. In the end, you should go with what feels more comfortable. As Homer said, it's really a matter of personal preference. I've played around with Mac OS X several times, and I love it! It's far more elegant and sexy than any OS I have ever encountered. The graphical rendering engine (Quartz) is simply amazing...far more advanced than Windows or Linux.

Whether you should choose a Mac over a PC depends on what you do with your computer. If you use your machine for e-mail, web browsing, music, and photo editing...the Mac is one hell of a great system. On the other hand, if you enjoy playing PC games (first person shooters particularly), work with Flash, or play around with 3d graphics applications, then I would recommend a PC. There are just some things that PCs are better at than Macs, and vice versa. Windows enjoys a much larger pool of available software, but from investigations, you can find a Mac equivalent that will suit your needs.

Another nice aspect to owning a Mac is that they don't lose their resale value as quickly as a PC. My 3.5 year old Pentium II box is worth about as much as a common boat anchor...and just as useful. But even old iMacs are fetching a pretty penny on eBay. Go check them out, you will be surprised at the prices.

PC and Mac users tend to value their platforms differently. A PC user sees their machine as an appliance, it works well, but its just a tool. But a Mac user sees his/her machine almost as a personal companion...in very much the same way we here cherish our PDAs. So that is why many Mac users, and the artsy fartsy types like myself tend to behold Mac hardware as if it were modern art. I may not be a Mac user, but I still love then none the less, and I used to be a hardcore pc geek/Mac basher. Now I really don't give a damn for PCs, but continue to use them out of necessity. I don't think I will ever completely "switch" to a Mac, but I am definitely getting one in the future.

There's just something about Macs that can't be explained. You either get it, or you don't. It took me a few years, but I am finally "getting it".

Good luck.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 284

quote:

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Originally posted by foo fighter

Whether you should choose a Mac over a PC depends on what you do with your computer. If you use your machine for e-mail, web browsing, music, and photo editing...the Mac is one hell of a great system. On the other hand, if you enjoy playing PC games (first person shooters particularly), work with Flash, or play around with 3d graphics applications, then I would recommend a PC.

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Pullman, WA
Posts: 130

For those that have a good deal of experience with both systems; if you had them sitting side by side in your home, would you default to one and hardly ever use the other, or would they get similar use? Why?

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IYYAYAS

AMMO - Providing the enemy the opportunity to die for his country.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: I'm not sure, but I see lots of lights everywhere.
Posts: 1287

quote:

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Originally posted by sowens
Ok, Flash I get, but 3D? I would think a G4 (for the Altivec extensions) and OSX (for OpenGL) would be just about an ideal platform for 3D work. Is it just a lack of apps?

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