What should I buy for 3000 dollars?

bioflavonoidbioflavonoid
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Ok, now I was thinking about something like this:

Summary ---

? Power Mac G4 Dual 867MHz w/133MHz system bus

? 512MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM - 1 DIMM

? 120GB Ultra ATA drive

? Optical 1 - Apple SuperDrive

? Optical 2 - None

? ATI Radeon 9000 Pro dual-display w/64MB DDR

? Apple Studio Display (15" flat panel)

? 56K internal modem

? AirPort Card

? Apple Pro Keyboard - U.S. English

? Mac OS - U.S. English

Subtotal $2,997.00

This is my dream set-up for the price. Would you suggest something else? I really want a portable, but the powerbooks are too expensive and the ibooks dont meet my speed hunger. Any suggestions?...



[ 10-05-2002: Message edited by: Bioflavonoid ]</p>
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 27
    spiffsterspiffster Posts: 327member
    [quote]Originally posted by Bioflavonoid:

    <strong>

    ? 56K internal modem

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    If you've got the airport card, think about running your internet connection off that. Take out the 56k modem and save some $$$.
  • Reply 2 of 27
    chychchych Posts: 860member
    Eh, I just ordered a:



    Dual 1.25

    512MB ram

    120GB HD

    Radeon 9000

    No modem

    Combo drive



    For $2886, $3088 taxed (edu discount)



    I already have a monitor though (will eventually use two 17" lcds with it)



    The dvd writer, I figure, will get to some ludicrous write speed in a few years when DVD media is $0.20 each, then I'll get one of those (just recently my friend created two $5 coasters...)



    As for you, I don't suggest getting apple ram and hard drive, too expensive, go bare bones on that.



    As for 15" flat panel, I dunno, 1024x768 is just too small for me...
  • Reply 3 of 27
    bioflavonoidbioflavonoid Posts: 723member
    What kind of monitor should I get? I really have my heart set on a 15 inch apple, but are there any really good cheap ones?
  • Reply 4 of 27
    bioflavonoidbioflavonoid Posts: 723member
    Also, if I got the bare bones on the memory, I would have a useless 256 chip b/c it takes up a dimm...but...I guess I wount be upgrading to 2 gigs for a while so that's ok. As for the HD, do you think that if I got a stock 60 gigger, I would be able to put in a 180 gig HD so that it would even out to be 240 allowing me to, in the future, put in the full 480?&lt;---In other words: could I put a 180 gig HD in the PM and would it work?



    [ 10-05-2002: Message edited by: Bioflavonoid ]</p>
  • Reply 5 of 27
    chychchych Posts: 860member
    Yeah the Apple screen is nice, but 15" for $600 is pricey for only 1024x768. I'd go for a 17" LCD from another brand; I use a samsung 17" myself (syncmaster 170T, DVI and VGA inputs) and I find it wonderful, though it is ~$750. If you use something like pricewatch.com or pricescan.com, you can find 17" screens for under $600, which go to 1280x1024 resolution (though you may have to sacrifice DVI/ADC for analog VGA).



    The more screenspace is worth it though, imo.



    As for the memory, yeah it'll be a while before you use 2GB. Hard drive, they're getting bigger and bigger, just get them as you need them (do a RAID stripe with another 60GB for more performance )
  • Reply 6 of 27
    cosmocosmo Posts: 662member
    [quote]could I put a 180 gig HD in the PM and would it work?<hr></blockquote>



    yes, but you might have to partition it. I can't remember what the max size of HDD that the OS can detect. Either way you will be able to boot from it eventially (it just might need to be partitioned as i said).
  • Reply 7 of 27
    altivec_2.0altivec_2.0 Posts: 995member
    Mac OS X can support up to 200GB. I have a 200GB WD and it can see it perfectly.



    [ 10-05-2002: Message edited by: Altivec_2.0 ]</p>
  • Reply 8 of 27
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Purchasing advice belongs in General Discussion.



  • Reply 9 of 27
    multimediamultimedia Posts: 1,035member
    Apple Legal watches buying advice? How bizar.



    I need to know where you live to tell you what to do. Are you in Portland, LA or San Jose Bay Area where Fry's is? If so I can tell you how to get a dual 1.25 GHz MDD for way less than $3000 like $2400 (not educational).



    I will wait for you to tell me where you are before I go on.
  • Reply 10 of 27
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Why wait, for some people it may be cheaper to fly part way around the world and buy their macs, given the way the Bank of Apple does conversion rates.
  • Reply 11 of 27
    bioflavonoidbioflavonoid Posts: 723member
    [quote]Originally posted by Multimedia:

    <strong>Apple Legal watches buying advice? How bizar.



    I need to know where you live to tell you what to do. Are you in Portland, LA or San Jose Bay Area where Fry's is? If so I can tell you how to get a dual 1.25 GHz MDD for way less than $3000 like $2400 (not educational).



    I will wait for you to tell me where you are before I go on.</strong><hr></blockquote>

    I live in Colorado (I'm not sure what exaclt you are asking). I would be intrigued to get a dual 1.25 for 2500 though...
  • Reply 12 of 27
    multimediamultimedia Posts: 1,035member
    If you know a software reseller who accepts merchandise for store credit without a receipt right after Christmas, like Fry's does here in California and Oregon (perhaps CompUSA?), then you can use the FREE InDesign 2 that you get for buying a PowerMac until December 31st to get a store credit that you can use to buy other stuff for your PowerMac like a flat panel screen. That's going to be a $700 + sales tax credit you can consider saved on the MDD PM. BTO the dual 1.25 minus the obsolete A04 SuperDrive and it only costs $3100 mail order w/o sales tax plus shipping and a free 512MB RAM module (MacConnection doesn't charge install fee). You CAN BTO with resellers besides Apple.



    Then use part of your store credit to buy the new A05 Quad Speed SuperDrive to add to your combo drive in the MDD and the rest for RAM and a CRT monitor. That's what I'd do right now if I wasn't going to wait for the next refresh ? which is what I'm doing.



    [ 10-07-2002: Message edited by: Multimedia ]</p>
  • Reply 13 of 27
    chychchych Posts: 860member
    Do the A05s even fit in the MDD powermacs? As I understood, the form factor for it's drives are smaller than regular ones...
  • Reply 14 of 27
    multimediamultimedia Posts: 1,035member
    The A05 is a standard 5.25" drive just like the A04. Of course it will fit.
  • Reply 15 of 27
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    EH, $3000 buys a girlfriend. Maybe you can find a nice one.
  • Reply 16 of 27
    catalystcatalyst Posts: 226member
    [quote]Originally posted by Multimedia:

    <strong>The A05 is a standard 5.25" drive just like the A04. Of course it will fit.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I read some time ago that Apple was using modified form factor for their A04, and that the A05 was too long to fit in.
  • Reply 17 of 27
    addisonaddison Posts: 1,185member
    [quote]Originally posted by Splinemodel:

    <strong>EH, $3000 buys a girlfriend. Maybe you can find a nice one.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    You took the words right out of my mouth.
  • Reply 18 of 27
    multimediamultimedia Posts: 1,035member
    [quote]Originally posted by catalyst:

    <strong>



    I read some time ago that Apple was using modified form factor for their A04, and that the A05 was too long to fit in.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    That report must have been erronious. The Apple bays are made for stock 5.25" IDE optical drives. The A05 will fit.
  • Reply 19 of 27
    the toolboithe toolboi Posts: 557member
    Lucky bastards with your new macs...

    Then again $3000 could buy quite a PC



    Are you buying your ram from Apple? I remember them being expensive in the past.

    The super drive is probably excessive, when would you burn a DVD?

    With the Radeon 9000 there is an implication that you want to play (some) games. As much as I love the Apple LCDs I would sugest an actual CRT monitor.



    With whatever money you save UPGRADE THAT PROCESSER!
  • Reply 20 of 27
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    don't buy ram from apple...its way more pricey than some other places I've seen ram.

    the apple lcd is nice but 599...no thanks...I'm also in the market for a dual 867

    I'm not getting a monitor from apple, and I'm getting hte stock geforcemx which I plan to upgrade in a few months from buying the computer(to get a radeon 9700 or something good like that)



    dual 867 should be plenty fast for anyone, you don't need to get a dual ghz...although the faster bus speed might add for a bit more performance...I don't know...my brother got a dual ghz and he says its the fastest computer he's ever used...he also got a geforce 4ti and 512 megs of ram



    dvd burners are cool....especially if your into movie piracy

    I'm against movie piracy....but I have seen people make good use of their t1s and superdrives

    its nice to be able to watch any movie footage on your computer in a standard dvd player....but they are a bit excessive otherwise.
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