Buying a Mac..........?

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
OK, we are going to buy a Mac :thumb:

This one is for home use, I want to be able to edit video, and just plain use the darn thing. The Windoze computer we have at home is getting long in the tooth, it is a Pentium Four 1.6GHz unit, not that fast, and the video card is failing, plus other issues, it will be fine to use for the kids for some stuff, but I really do want a new computer, and except for the Liquor shop, which requires a Windoze computer (the software to run the shop's cash register etc is ONLY Windoze) we really do not want another Windoze product, we want to go Mac, but which Mac?

I really do not know which one to choose.

I'm fairly certain we will be going with a desktop unit, not a laptop.

What do the Mac guys recommend? :huh: :dunno:

PS please don't turn this into a Ford vs Chevy thing, we have made up our minds, we want a Mac. :wave:
 
Stu,

I recently discovered macrumors.com/ for mac related news. In particular they have an apple "buyers guide" section where they discuss which apple products are or are not a good buy based on various factors. This mostly is good to decide which time of year is a good time to buy, since they monitor how often Apple "refresh" their products and therefore can tell you if it is likely that a product is about to be superseded.

For instance, right now they recommend that it is not a good idea to buy a mac mini, since it has been a LONG time since the current version was released.

I plan to buy an Apple iMac for myself for my next system. It's not crucial for me, so I'm going to time the market a bit and wait to see if any deals or upgrades happen in the next 6 months.

For your needs, I think the iMac will be fine. The all-in-one design is very nice on the desk, and it should have enough oomph for what you want. I do strongly recommend getting a minimum 2GB of RAM in the system -- the base 1GB is okay for email/word-processing/web-surfing. But once your iPhoto library gets large (it is a pig on RAM) you'll be unhappy, and for video editting and big Sketchup files ;) you'll be happier with more.
Also with 2 girls using/sharing the machine I bet you'll do a lot of user-switching and more ram is better. With the iMac you CAN replace/upgrade the RAM yourself, it isn't that hard. So you could buy the base 1GB model, and then just buy some inexpensive 3rd party ram yourself.

Now, if you have a fair chunk of money in a good monitor, then you might consider a Mac Mini, but be aware that it maxes out at 2GB of RAM -- the iMac will let you go up to 4GB of RAM.

Do you have an external USB drive? If you do, then it'll go great with the Mac -- the Time Machine software will happily manage it as your automated backup device.

...art
 
I recently purchased a Mac Pro for a client who needed one more mac for his apparel design department. This one came with an Intel Xeon Quad core processor and 2GB of RAM. The client primarily runs Adobe Illustrator software on it. We soon found out that 2GB of RAM was not enough for this application and had to upgrade it to 4GB.

You will need a lot of RAM for video editing.

Tip: RAM purchased from Apple is very expensive. You can buy the same type of RAM from an outside source for a lot cheaper.
 
As a "PC" I'm resisting the temptation to get a mac....

But I am looking forward to the next version of Ubuntu and maybe, just maybe, ditching windows on my home pc. I just cant quite commit to that.

I do have a small linux box that runs my weather station.

I'm thinking that using a Mac is just too easy for me. I need a real challenge...

It's url is http://www.palominovalleyweather.com

pvw_sticker.jpg


This whole site was hand coded in perl from scratch...
 
Stu,

I would go for either an iMac or a mac mini, if they are upgraded, which looks like it might happen soon. I had a mini before (sold it to get my Jet mini) and would buy another without hesitation. I have a friend that does quite a bit of video and photo editing with his older mini, and he is very pleased with it.

I currently have a 17” iMac and have been very pleased with it. (it’s what I use most of the time I post here. I also have a dual processor MacPro that I really love, but it uses the older G5 chips…still a race horse of a computer, though.

http://www.apple.com/imac/specs/

They are scheduled to be upgraded, possibly as soon as next month… It would be worth the wait, IMO, for a new screen and especially a new Nvidia graphics chip/card. I think the iMac will be great for your needs.
You will get iLife software with it which contains iPhoto for your still pics and iMovie for your video. iMovie should be fine for your basic movie making/editing, and you can always later upgrade to Final Cut Express later, if you need.

One thing to consider…does your video camera use a firewire or USB cable? Apple dropped the firewire connector on the MacBook “consumer” notebook, but kept it on the MacBook Pro. There is concern that Apple might drop it on other “consumer” models, but there is no word yet on what they are planning on the upgraded mini or iMac. Hopefully you camera uses USB.

With the Macs using Intel CPU chips, you can run Windows software on Macs using either Parallels http://www.parallels.com/ or VMWare http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/. I have used Parallels with Win XP on my iMac, and it works very well. You can easily switch back and forth between Mac OS X and Windows using either of these programs. (Apples Bootstrap allows you to run Windows, but you have to re-boot to switch…PIT”R”).

Crucial is the place to get your memory... Apple prices are outrageous!

http://www.crucial.com/

MacRumors and MacCentral are both good sites for Mac info. I follow “Rumors” regularly.

Bottom line is get as much info as you can, think of your needs/uses and then wait a bit more...

Dinner time, so more later.
 
Thanks much for the info and the links guys, lots to research.

We are not going to buy this soon, but most likely by the end of the year, unless I learn that there are big savings to be had by waiting until early January :dunno:

Greg, the video camera does use a USB cable, so that is good.

I have never liked the all in one units, as I've seen other windows bases systems have trouble and then you are a out a computer and a monitor.

The monitor we have now is a 15" flat screen, that is rather small, I think it will stay with the old computer, and I'll look at getting a new monitor, so maybe the iMac would be a good choice?

More RAM is ALWAYS a good idea :thumb:

Cheers!
 
Looking at the iMac 24" 3.06GHz basic set up.

US price $2,100 (207,000 yen)
JP price $2,598 (244,600 yen)

:doh:

Also the extras, the extra 2GB of ram;

US $150 (14,110 yen)
JP $183 (17,220 yen)

HDD 750GB
US $150 (9,390 yen)
JP $118 (11,130 yen)


HDD 1TB
US $250 (24,475 yen)
JP $297 (27,930 yen)

AppleCare Protection Plan

US $169 (15,893 yen)
JP $234 (22,050 yen)

If I bought the 24" 3.06GB iMac in the same spec;

RAM 4GB
HDD 1TB
Appe Care

US $2669
JP $3426

That is a difference of $757 :(

Taking it in the teeth again for living in Japan :doh:

I guess it would only make sense to buy local, if I needed it fixed, I would have problems if I bought the computer in the US, I would think.

:dunno:
 
True Art, but the 20" only comes with the 2.66GHz processor, and the less capable "ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO" graphics card :dunno:

I kind of figure if I'm going to go full bore, might as well get the best I can, maybe it will last a few years (unlike my Windoze machines:doh:)

Cheers!
 
I would wait for the new models, but basic thinking is I would go with the 2.8GHz CPU, 500Gb HDD (might even stay with the 320GB), 4Gb RAM, 8800 GPU Upgrade and get an external 500GB HDD for backup (maybe a G-Tech).

Bang for buck, the 2.8Ghz/4GB/8800 is the way to go, IMO.

Again, the new models will probably have different components to choose from...
 
Buy a off the shelf system and you can install windoze or linux on it then use Virtual Box to run Mac OS.

I checked the website and that is not a supported configuration.

I googled some more and confirmed my thoughts - running MacOS on another OS under vmware or some other virtualization software is not officially supported anywhere that I could find. (Running Windows on Mac is supported, but the reverse is not.)
 
I just had a thought, might even be a good one :eek:

I looked at the US Apple site, they say that the "AppleCare Protection Plan" is worldwide, so why not buy the computers in the US, and ship them to Japan:dunno:

To make this an even better idea, I thought why not buy two Mac Minis :D

The advantage to buying two Mac Minis is I can use the existing keyboards (Japanese Keyboards) mice and monitors I have. :dunno:

I buy two Mac Minis 2Ghz Super Drive computers for $1023 each that is just shy of $2050, and I'm sure that shipping the Mac Minis, and expecting them to be undamaged would be much more likely than shipping an iMac, and expecting it to make it here in one piece, I understand the Mac Minis are solid little bricks.

To buy the same two Mac Minis here would cost me $1,296 each, or $2,592.

I was thinking of buying the 20" 2.66Ghz iMac with the 4GB of RAM and the "AppleCare Protection Plan" would cost me 209,000, which is $2,240, for the same money, I could have TWO Mac Minis.......

Going to have to think about this one :D

I'm in no real hurry, but over at www.macrumors.com there seems to be talk of a new Mac Mini coming out, but they are also saying, if it is not announced soon then it would be January of 2009. I can wait, but I do not know if I can wait that long.......... :(
 
I looked at the US Apple site, they say that the "AppleCare Protection Plan" is worldwide, so why not buy the computers in the US, and ship them to Japan:dunno:
...
I can use the existing keyboards (Japanese Keyboards) mice and monitors I have. :dunno:

Note that you can purchase AppleCare ANYTIME during the first 12 months (the initial warranty period) that you own your mac.

So you could buy your macs, and wait 364 days before buying the applecare extended warranty. For one thing, if the mac DOES fail in the first year, you haven't paid for an extended warranty you don't need. For another thing, in your case, I wonder if you could then buy the applecare through the Apple Japan website and be assured that the machines are covered right there where you live.

Again like you, I dunno if this would fly with Apple. :dunno:\

The downside to this, of course, is that you're "stuck" with that 15" monitor then.
 
Stu,

I'm looking at getting a MacBook Pro before our move, then buying Apple Care in Japan later on. Makes no sense to get it when you purchase the computer, especially if you get it from the US, unless you need extended phone help...:dunno: (my opinion).

With 2 minis you could also have one set up with Japanese OS and the other with English only....:thumb: :rofl: I'd get an Apple wireless keyboard too. Small, light, easy to use....I have one, and really like it.
 
Thanks much for the info and the links guys, lots to research.

We are not going to buy this soon, but most likely by the end of the year, unless I learn that there are big savings to be had by waiting until early January :dunno:

Greg, the video camera does use a USB cable, so that is good.

I have never liked the all in one units, as I've seen other windows bases systems have trouble and then you are a out a computer and a monitor.

The monitor we have now is a 15" flat screen, that is rather small, I think it will stay with the old computer, and I'll look at getting a new monitor, so maybe the iMac would be a good choice?

More RAM is ALWAYS a good idea :thumb:

Cheers!

Stu,

If you are going to look for a new monitor, you might try watching www.edealinfo.com. They sometimes have some great deals that, even with shipping to Japan, *might* still be good deals; or you might find it's from a vendor with an overseas presence. I have seen enough really good deals pass through that site over the last couple years, that I think it's worth a little effort. Note that there are new deals on the site every day but you can view past deals too. Some are very short fused, others last a while. depending on how often you check the site, YMMV.

Just a thought. On the other hand, most of the flat screens are built on your side of the world so maybe all the best deals are already over there. :rolleyes::thumb:
 
I checked the website and that is not a supported configuration.

I googled some more and confirmed my thoughts - running MacOS on another OS under vmware or some other virtualization software is not officially supported anywhere that I could find. (Running Windows on Mac is supported, but the reverse is not.)

Hmmm I was so sure it could be done...

My bad, sorries :p
 
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