A month to decide.

realityreality
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Hey all. It's me again. Hey, I'm getting my first Mac in a month, so that's all the time I have decide which one is best for me. I thought I would consult with the mac guys and see which one to get. Here's what I'm going to use it for.



1.Internet

2.Movies-Music

3.Photoshop
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 31
    shawnpatrickjoyceshawnpatrickjoyce Posts: 2,417member
    That's great news, Reality. I think the first question you should ask yourself is whether or not you want a desktop or a portable, considering 2002 is the "year of the laptop."
  • Reply 2 of 31
    realityreality Posts: 63member
    Thank you! Yes, good question. Though Labtops are always sweet I think a Desktop would be more practical in my house hold. Also not to mention less expensive leaving extra money for a printer and scanner.
  • Reply 3 of 31
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    What sort of photoshop will you be doing? If you need to do some intense stuff, perhaps work-related and you need to meet deadlines, then a PowerMac is what you need. If it's just casual stuff you do in your spare time, I'd say to get an iMac. However, don't get an iMac until they're updated, because they have gone a REALLY long time without an update. I bet they'll be updated in less than a month. As a third option, you could look into a used PowerMac G4. They tend to hold up well over the years. A multiprocessor unit would be faster for Photoshop and in OS X in general, but anything above 500 MHz should do well. The 533s (single and dual) have always been pretty good, and they can be had for as little as $800 or so today (for the single processor model).



    If you want to get a laptop, an iBook might do it, but a PowerBook would be much better if you'll be running Photoshop.
  • Reply 4 of 31
    realityreality Posts: 63member
    What do you guys think about the eMac?
  • Reply 5 of 31
    hobbeshobbes Posts: 1,252member
    The eMac is a nice machine. Good for the dollar, too.



    I personally love my laptop, but if you don't need the portability and flexibility of one, an eMac or iMac (the 17" has a wonderful screen!) is the way to go.



    If you can hold out, the iMacs are rumored to updated in the next month or two, so do. Not sure about the eMac situation.
  • Reply 6 of 31
    idudeidude Posts: 352member
    Congratulations and enjoy.



    If I were you, I would buy either an iMac or an eMac. The differences in them are minute, and really the only thing you need to ask yourself is how much money you have to spend. Obviously the high end eMac is much better than the low end iMac and costs about the same, in which case I'd get the eMac.



    Unless you are doing SERIOUS photoshopping, either of these should be fine. I have an iMac, and while it may not be near as fast as my friends 1ghz Powerbook, it also costed $1500 less. I don't do this for a living, so i don't mind any speed defecits. If you are at need for speed, buy a Powermac.



    If you decide to buy an eMac or iMac, don't do so now!!! As you may know, both are overdue for an update (badly) and are scheduled for them in late Jan. or early Feb. If you can hold out, you should.



    Again, congratulations and welcome to the mac community.
  • Reply 7 of 31
    cubedudecubedude Posts: 1,556member
    [quote]Originally posted by ShawnPatrickJoyce:

    <strong>That's great news, Reality. I think the first question you should ask yourself is whether or not you want a desktop or a portable, considering 2002 is the "year of the laptop."</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Don't you mean 2003?





    On that note, I would say get a PowerBook. Unless you need a screen larger than 17"(is that the right symbol?), the PowerBook should work for you.
  • Reply 8 of 31
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Wait and order your iMac on the 27th.



  • Reply 9 of 31
    thegeldingthegelding Posts: 3,230member
    always listen to murbot....he is forced to hide in the backwoods of Canada or else SJ would track him and down and make him reveal his sources....g
  • Reply 10 of 31
    evoevo Posts: 198member
    I have an eMac 700MHz with a Combo drive, OS 10.2.3, and 256MB RAM. It's a decent little machine. It isn't meant for anything more than surfing, email, and iApp stuff, and it shows. The GeForce 2MX is very limiting, as is the 700MHz G4 w/ no L3 cache and 100MHz bus. I definitely wouldn't want to use this for much Photoshop use.



    The DVD works well as does the CD burner. I'm also very happy with the crisp flat CRT of the eMac, although you should be warned... many people have been having problems with this so-called raster shift. I haven't (yet), but it's so bad that some retailers have stopped selling eMacs.



    I would recommend this computer for anyone that's a beginner to Macs and isn't going to do a whole lot of intensive stuff on it. Games run slow. Quartz is still not snappy enough for high end 2d stuff. Unless they upgrade these things drastically (and soon), you'd be better off getting something better, if it fits your budget.
  • Reply 11 of 31
    realityreality Posts: 63member
    First off I want to say thanks for the warm welcome and great advise. So this rumored update for the iMacs. What kind of Updates are we talking about here?
  • Reply 12 of 31
    idudeidude Posts: 352member
    We never know for sure what Apple is going to anounce. But we can make inferences from what has been happening to other product lines.



    It's a given that they will get faster processors. Apple has been shipping 1ghz for a year and the imac is due. They also might get bigger HD and more ram. Hopefully they will get better video cards and faster superdrives. Some people think they will add a 19" display (though I doubt it) and ditch the 15". They will definitely have Airport extreme built in, since the powerbooks do. They probably will add Firewire 2 also, and hopefully bluetooth.



    They also will lower prices. If none of this excites you, you can always wait til the new ones come out and buy an old one greatly discounted.
  • Reply 13 of 31
    realityreality Posts: 63member
    Sound like what I'll do is wait then. Since though it would only be a hardware upgrade let's talk about Software. What's you guy's opinion of Safari? I was going to try Netscape but this look even better.
  • Reply 14 of 31
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    There are a lot of browsers out for the Mac right now. Here's your choices:



    -Chimera

    -iCab

    -Internet Explorer

    -Mozilla

    -Netscape

    -OmniWeb

    -Opera

    -Safari



    Most people on these boards use either Chimera, OmniWeb, Internet Explorer, or Safari. The others might work for you, but those are the main ones. I'd say just use 'em all and see what you like, as everyone has different preferences.
  • Reply 15 of 31
    realityreality Posts: 63member
    Hm? Sounds like good advise to me. Thank you. I have one more question that has been bugging me ever since I started to want a mac. I save movies, music ect one my PC. Must if not all the time they are in Quick Time. How I save them though is right click and save link as. How would I do this though on a Mac?
  • Reply 16 of 31
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    If i understand you properly, the same method will work on a Mac.



    As for Safari, it's quite good. I don't use it too much yet because I'm too used to tabbed browsing, but if you normally used IE on the PC, then Safari will definitely be the browser you want to use.
  • Reply 17 of 31
    jmoneyjmoney Posts: 133member
    [quote]Originally posted by murbot:

    <strong>Wait and order your iMac on the 27th.



    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    I swear, I come to these boards every day and I read the same crap over and over again.. wait till "X/X/XXXX" and Steve Jobs will release Gold.. Hell if I had a dollar for every time I heard to wait for a new product, I'd be ordering a Lapzilla for myself. Get whatever you want, and get it now! Tis only money, there's always going to be something newer and better coming out.. but rather than just wait, get a cool mac now and enjoy it now! No offense to murbot, you're a top notch guy.. but i mean c'mon don't wait.. IMPULSE BUY!!
  • Reply 18 of 31
    idudeidude Posts: 352member
    [quote]Originally posted by JMoney:

    <strong>



    I swear, I come to these boards every day and I read the same crap over and over again.. wait till "X/X/XXXX" and Steve Jobs will release Gold.. Hell if I had a dollar for every time I heard to wait for a new product, I'd be ordering a Lapzilla for myself. Get whatever you want, and get it now! Tis only money, there's always going to be something newer and better coming out.. but rather than just wait, get a cool mac now and enjoy it now! No offense to murbot, you're a top notch guy.. but i mean c'mon don't wait.. IMPULSE BUY!! </strong><hr></blockquote>





    I never thought I'd hear someone saying to impules buy!!! It come up quite often that you should buy what you want, when you want it, and not wait because there will always be something bigger and better. But that doesn't deny the fact that a computer is a big investment, especially if switching platforms. People want to make an informed choice and get the most life out of a product as they can. History would tell you that if you are looking to buy an iMac right now, you should wait, as they are extremely overdue for an upgrade. An uninformed consumer might not know this, but any educated buyer who has this knowledge and isn't in dire need of a computer will wait the week or two for the chance to buy a beefed up computer and save a few bugs in doing. While I share in your opinions regarding "Just doing it," the circumstances here are special (the iMac hasn't been updated in 12 months!), and as such would disagree in this instance.
  • Reply 19 of 31
    pestobreathpestobreath Posts: 69member
    [quote]Originally posted by Reality:

    <strong> I save them though is right click and save link as. How would I do this though on a Mac.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    [quote]Originally posted by MCQ:

    <strong>If i understand you properly, the same method will work on a Mac.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Well, you might have trouble right-clicking with most Mac mice



    Hold down the CTRL key while you click, and select "Save as...." Or buy a two-button USB mouse, which OS X supports (but Apple does not provide).



    [ 01-20-2003: Message edited by: PestoBreath ]



    [ 01-20-2003: Message edited by: PestoBreath ]</p>
  • Reply 20 of 31
    realityreality Posts: 63member
    [quote]Originally posted by PestoBreath:

    <strong>



    Well, you might have trouble right-clicking with most Mac mice



    Hold down the CTRL key while you click, and select "Save as...." Or buy a two-button USB mouse, which OS X supports (but Apple does not provide).



    [ 01-20-2003: Message edited by: PestoBreath ]



    [ 01-20-2003: Message edited by: PestoBreath ]</strong><hr></blockquote>





    Ah! That's how you do it! Thank you PestoBreath. One last question, As I stated I have Quick Time but when I right click save it moves it over to Window Media. When I save new files on my Mac will I be able to have all my files saved under Quick Time?
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