What do you have and what do you want?

1.) My machine is a PowerBook G3/500. I have a 12 GB HD and 256 MB RAM. I have an Airport card installed. The machine is fully supported under Mac OS X, and I have Mac OS X 10.1.2 installed, as well as Mac OS 9.2.2.

2.) I don't need a new machine. My PowerBook can still run anything you throw at it. As a result, I'm not looking into buying a new machine on January 7, and don't have a 'dream machine'.

3.) Sorry, not giving out any job info.

1) home machine=G4 450 DVD /512
ram/60gigs HD/ ex. CD-R w/ 17" CRT SD

1a) mobile machine is 500mhz DVD USB iBook

2a) Dual G4 1.2ghz -1gig ram-60+gig HD-superdrive-cinema display

2b) Top of the line G5 with everything maxed (except memory as Apple jacks you)-cinema display

3) Web Designer/Illustrator mainly PhotoShop and DreamWeaver with some minor in LiveMotion (flash) and rare use of Illustator and inDesign

Have: Pimo 400 320 (soon 768) 6 X

Want: More things like iTunes, better X, faster and larger iDisk. Really everything that makes my computer more worth to me.

Do: Uni Student so basically Word processing, Mail, Internet and SPSS.

Hardware is something I will worry about in a couple of years.

Of course if Apple dropped something like Newt II in my lap I would consider it but no traditionally computer product.

1) a crappy ass beige G3 300 MHz tower w/64 MB RAM (yes! 64!) that is broken

2) a low end G5 (REAL G5) 1 GHz or higher

3) basically I just fart around on my computer Well I'm going to college next fall so I'll be using that computer at college plus I want to do some audio and graphics work.

Oh, and did I mention APCD?

1) An 8500/150 upgraded to a 350 MHz G3 using the XLR8 carrier card, and 2 add-on IDE hard disks controlled by a TurboMax card. A prototype ATI Rage128 video card. The interior plastic of the case was custom modified (read: Dremel) to allow a hard disk to replace the floppy. Needless to say this machine is looking a little worn and isn't MacOS X friendly.

2) G5 @ 1.4 GHz (minimum) w/ lots of RAM and a GeForce4. I'll wait for it, the current machine still runs after all. <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />

3) At work I'm a programmer (no kidding, right? not on the Mac anymore though <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> ). At home I have a variety of rather odd projects, at least one of which would really like to be on a 64-bit version of MacOS X and do funky things with OpenGL & nVidia.

interesting thread. I like it.

1.) Main machine: PowerMac G4/400 loaded
main portable: Powerbook G4/667 stock
notable mentions: PowerMac 9500 180/MP, Performa 6360, 2 eMates.

2.) ideal system I am looking to buy:
imac if it comes out with these specs
867 Mhz G4
256 MB RAM
60 GB HD
15.1 inch LCD
nVidia Geforce 2 mx
Combo drive
$1299
$1499 with superdrive
(not likely probably)
Powermac if there is something along these lines
G5 in a dual config of at least 1 Ghz.
with Geforce 3 and a superdrive for less than $2400
(not likely)

in other words, I probably won't be getting a mac that is released at MWSF.

3.) student in HS

1) My main machine is a Quicksilver DP 800, 1.5GB PC133, GeForce 3, Adaptec 39160, 2x Atlas 10k II 73.4GB, 3x Deskstar 75GB, 1x Deskstar 40GB, and 2x WD 120GB. (I like my storage.) It's running 10.1.2 and 9.2.2.

My mobile is a PB G3/500, 256MB, 18GB, 6x DVD-ROM. It's also running 10.1.2 and 9.2.2.

My webserver is a 6500/300, 24x CD-ROM, and 100MB Zip with 128MB of RAM. It's running YDL 2.1 and Mac OS 9.1

2) I'm completely satisfied with my current systems.

I'd like to see Apple release the G5 at MWNY at configurations of at least 1GHz, 1.2GHz, and 1.4GHz. With the cpu it would sport superdrives across the board, 400MHz FSB, DDR-RAM, 1394b (Gigawire?) with two 800Mbps ports and one 1600Mbps fiber port, USB 2.0, and andextra 5.25" bay.

The iMacs should be bumped to 133MHz bus across the line, 15.2" TFT, 256MB minimum ram configuration, G4 CPUs at speeds up to 1GHz, with superdrive on the top model, and a GeForce 2.

I also think the low end iBook model should be dropped.

I doubt half of that will happen. Luckily I'll be there in person to express my discontent. I'll put on a monkey suit while saying developers developers developers developers!!!

3) I'm a EE students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I also plan to pickup CS as a second major.

1) what you are using right now
Tangerine 400MHz iMac DV (first generation slot-loading model)
- 10GB hard drive
- 384MB RAM
- OS 10 (10.1.2) and OS 9.2.2

I'm still using the little round orange hockey puck, believe it or not! Actually, I don't mind them at all, really. Even use a graphite hockey puck at work.

2) what your ideal future system is after Jan 7 (like what would make you upgrade / what are you really hoping for?)
This is easy...got it down like the back of my hand:

- new iMac
- 15" LCD @ 1024x768
- 800MHz-plus
- DVD/CD-R combo drive
- cool iBook-esque glossy white body

If it meets those above requirements (the "glossy white" part is negotiable, I guess...but the others are firm), then I'm buying in mid/late January or thereabout. Birthday is January 26, I've got $1450 saved away, earmarked for a new Mac, so...



The above requirements/specs are a minimum. I don't even mind a G3 for what I do. However, a G4-based flat panel iMac would certainly be a nice surprise and sweet icing on the cake. But it's not a "deal killer" if it isn't.

3) What you do for a living / what you use your mac for most of the time
Graphic artist/illustrator. At work I have a G4 and use it. At home, I'm mostly in IE, Mail and Adobe Illustrator 10...and iTunes.

[ 12-30-2001: Message edited by: pscates ]</p>

1. Main machine = PBG4 500/512/20

2. Not really looking for a new machine. I want this thing to last until at least 2 summers from now. Unless AI starts paying me (read: not bloody likely) or I get off my ass and get a real job (even less likely)

3. college student.

Original G4733 1.5GB 2 ea. 80gb IDE-HD, G4PB 1.0GB, 40gpHD
want at least Dual1.2Ghz G4 DDR . Work mainly with large TIFF files in Geological mapping. Some UNIX programs. Like 64 bit system and G5 so I can get more memory for 1 to 2 GB tiff files but would be happy with DDR and dual 1.2

Current Systems:

Quicksilver DP 800, 1.5GB, 80GB, GF3.
iBook 500 384

What I want:

If it is a G4, a dual 1.4 that sports much faster busses. If I had my dream? A dual G5 of any flavor.

1) At home a Athlon 700/256mb/16gb (holidays/weekends), but most of the time a G4 450/384mb/20gb and sometimes when the air is clear a G4 733/384mb/40gb. Oh, I used to work on a 9400 (i think) and it was ok for a 1997 (!) machine.

2) Ideal for me would be a G4 &gt;1ghz/&gt;640mb/40gb with a geforce3 for less than $ 2000. A G5 would be even better, though not likely. Else I'll (have to) spend my 2000 on a PC.

3) As of january 2002 a freelance gfx artist, look at <a href="http://xype.com" target="_blank">http://xype.com</a> and <a href="http://www.bitouka.com" target="_blank">http://www.bitouka.com</a> for examples of what I do. Redoing my company's website right now. And when I go freelance I want to get a system that will make me happy for 2 years.

Current System: G3 BW 400. 9gb scsi, 30GB ide, zip drive, 512mb ram, iPod

Dream Machine:
G5 at or above 1.4GHz, 1GB pc2700 ddr ram, 80GB serial ata hard drive, superdrive, firewire2

iMac at or above 1GHz G4, 1GB pc2700 ddr ram, 60GB serial ata hard drive, superdrive, firewire2, either with a no display option(that would be a cube then ) or 15.2" lcd

Work i do: Desktop publishing, working in Quark, illustrator and photoshop to correct and edit customer supplied files. If i had a new mac i would start doing DV editing and hopefully learn FCP3 and use that superdrive.

1. At home: DIY Athlon 700 MHz , 128 MB, 20 GB HD, nothing special (oh and, yes, a 1986 Mac 512k with an external 20 MB HD and the original keyboard/mouse and a MacSE w/ 4MB RAM and a replacement 270 MB HD, both running MacOS7.1 - occasionally), at work Celeronn 466 MHz, 128 MB, 8GB HD, even less special

2. An LCD iMac with a removable/tablet display to sit on the sofa with and surf, write, maybe even wath TV on (don't snort, it's a DREAM system, OK?)

3. PhD student in molecular biology/immunology, use computers to do sequence alignments/verification/database search (mostly at NCBI) and to write my thesis (doing the illustrations/GIF/JPEG export on the Celeron is sooooo slow!), trying not to be too worried about MS Word dying on me and taking everything I wrote with it. That's actually why I want a Mac as my next computer; a friend of mine wrote his thesis on a Mac and the stability of Word on this old 5300 Powerbook totally convinced me. Otherwise I kind of administrate the two only Macs we have at work and although I don't have much knowledge of Macs it's been fun and easy to do.
Another friend of mine, the one who found those old Macs I have now at the fleamarktet, used to work at MIT for 2 years in the late '80s networking a whole department and they got Macs after comparing the *prices* of the doing the whole setup with using PCs... . I never understood his love for Macs until I started my little Mac administrator job (I also do some Windows machine admin for my group - it sucks BIG TIME).

1) PowerBook G4 550mhz G4 / 512mb of ram / 20gb HD / 80gb external firewire / OS X 10.1.2

2) Desktop:
G4 or G5 (although I highly doubt the release of the G5) at 1.5ghz or higher.
1gb of ram
120gb HD
AirPort pre-installed
GeForce 3

Laptop: 1ghz or higher G4 or G5
1gb of ram
48gb HD
AirPort pre-installed

3) Student and freelance graphic artist. So I use Office, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, iTunes. A few heavy-hitting programs and a few light ones.

[quote]<strong>1) what you are using right now (in terms of macs, not drugs or anything else like that, though if you do that kind of thing, it's okay)</strong><hr></blockquote>
"My" machine is a PowerBook G4 500 with 1GB of memory and a 30GB hard disk, though we have a selection of iMacs and Power Macs in the office.
[quote]<strong>2) what your ideal future system is after Jan 7 (like what would make you upgrade / what are you really hoping for?)</strong><hr></blockquote>
I don't expect it to appear on January 7, and probably not until summer at the earliest, but I'm waiting for the next PowerBook update before upgrading. I'm hoping it'll iron out the few niggly issues with the current design, have a brighter, higher resolution display, as fast a G4 as they can squeeze in under the heat limits, and dreaming that they can find some way to get a DVD-RW/DVD+RW or whichever drive Apple goes with in there. Oh, and some way to connect Apple's own displays!

Part of the reason I'm waiting (I was so tempted by the new combo drive models!) is the available software. Until Final Cut Pro 3 appeared, I was spending more time in OS 9 than OS X. Even now, I have to use Final Cut Pro in OS 9 from time to time to use certain plug-ins. And I'm still patiently waiting for a clutch of other apps to appear, particularly those from Macromedia.

Hopefully by summer we'll have those apps, the next OS X update, OmniWeb 5, and at that point I can get a new PowerBook to switch completely to OS X. For the time being, my current 'Book copes well enough.
[quote]<strong>3) What you do for a living / what you use your mac for most of the time (when you're not responding to posts on AI - if there is in fact any time left...)</strong><hr></blockquote>
I work as a consultant for what was at one time the worlds mightiest computer company. All my work, research, notes, and a bunch of apps I wrote to monitor set-ups live on my PowerBooks hard disk.

I also run a small film production company in partnership with an old friend. All my work from that lives on my PowerBook too, and we have a number of Macs in the office.

Still way too much paperwork and filing boxes needed for both jobs, though!

If there are substantial upgrades to the Power Mac line on January 7, we'll probably upgrade the editing machines and put OS X and Final Cut Pro 3 on them. The appearance of DVD Studio Pro for OS X would also make that upgrade more likely.

I've got a G4 400 MHz Powermac w/ Radeon and 576 MB RAM

This computer is fine for everything I use it for. Before buying new hardware, I'd get native OS X versions of all the apps I use.

I won't buy new hardware until something comes along that is considerably faster than my sawtooth. The current Quicksilvers are not all that much faster. When the bus speed hits 266 MHz or more, and I can buy at least a 1.5 GHz G4 or G5, then it will be time to upgrade. Until them, my Sawtooth runs just fine.

1) A B&W G3 350 MHz.

2) A PM G4/G5 above 1 Ghz with new motherboard.

1. A PowerMac DP 450 w/ 512 ram
A powerbook pismo 500 w/ 640 ram

2. Would upgrade if the Powerbook Ti used more scree resoulution and if the grapics were better and if you could mirror DVD on a bigger monitor. i once tried it and the licence won't permit it. Also i would upgrade if a 1.6 GHZ G5 with ddr memory and two bay doors for a cdrw.

3. i use my pismo for school, and my powermac to do some ocassional projects and to surf the net.

1) a rev. a b/w g3 300 (tuned up to 350 ) with 448 mb ram and 6 + 10 gb hard drives and a ibook 500 dvd with 384 mb ram.

2) i'll buy a new mac as soon as the g5's are available. if we're lucky, this means january 2002 and if it's going to be summer 2002 it's ok for me. the g3 still works (maybe a little more disk space would be nice).

3) i'm a multimedia arts student and freelance illustrator/web designer.

1) DIY 300Mhz PII <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> 128mb/100 sdram,Diamond Monster 2 3d accel, 8Mb Millenium 2D card &lt;yes, yes... keep laughing &gt;

2) 1Ghz G4 iMac with LCD, Superdrive with the ability to have 1Gig+ Memory in terms of expansion

IF THIS IS NOT MADE

1.6+G G5 Equiped PM and maybe splurge on a 20+ inch LCD display &lt; I really hope the first one comes to fruition, otherwise I'm going to be broke &gt;

3) At the moment NADA that I'm doing with my PC at work, although i would hope to get into creating my own movies and copying them to DVD

1. iMac SE 400Mhz/640MB/80GB/Airport/iSub OSX 10.1.2 & Sony DVMC2, Sony Firewire CD-RW
Beige G3 MT upgraded to 400Mhz G3/512MB/60GB OS 10.1.2
6100 upgraded to 240Mhz G3/72MB/1GB
7200 120Mhz/144MB/6GB
7500 upgraded to 300Mhz G3/256MB/6GB OSX 10.1.2
PowerBook 140 - not operational <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />

2. Middle model PowerMac with SuperDrive. Hoping for a G5, but will settle for whatever. If there is a SuperDrive II in the top model, will probably get that (sure hope my wife doesn't see this post :cool: ).

3. Program embedded realtime systems using TI DSPs (soon to start using PowerPC G4's ). Use PCs as X-Windows client. I keep telling my colleagues that it's great having a 1Ghz PC - it re-boots so fast after a crash! At home, we use our Macs for web pages, surfing, and home video editing.

BTW - for those who make negative comments about iMacs - have you ever used one? Mine just PLAIN WORKS. The display is sharp at 1024x768 and EVERY version of OS X (PB, test releases, etc) has worked well. (Now only if iTunes 2.0 had not erased by hard drives...)

1) I'm using a PowerBook G4/400/20GB/384MB RAM/OS X 10.1.2. Although I'm on a PC right now because I'm having the cracking around the hinges of my PowerBook examined after the screen started flickering (I don't know if it's related or not).

Since I'm using my PowerBook as my only Mac system at the moment, and I'm using the thing to do Final Cut Pro, I'm seeing the need for a desktop. My ideal system after Jan. 7th, conservatively, I'll take the PowerMac system at 933MHz/DDR RAM, SuperDrive, etc. Oh, and one of those nice flat panel screens. However, from the reliable news reports I've read, I think we're likely to see a PowerMac at over a GHz, G4 or G5. The G5 is a 50/50 shot at this point. Whatever debuts I'm all over it.

3) I work at a school with tons of iMacs and iBooks. <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />

My current machine is a 500MHz DVD iBook with 384MB RAM, 10GB HD, 60GB external HD, 24x CD-RW drive, Pro Keyboard, Logitech Wireless Optical Mouse, Epson 777i running OS X 10.1.2.

My ideal Mac after MWSF would be a G5 tower but I wouldn't be able to afford it (unless my parents chipped in a lot). In that case a nice G4, 15" LCD iMac would be fine for me.

Student. For the most part I use my Mac for homework, projects and reports, and surfing.

[ 12-30-2001: Message edited by: EmAn ]</p>

1) A B+W G3 350 overclocked to 450/256MB running mainly 9.2. I also have a 7100/64MB running 8.6 and a Dell Pentium II 450/320MB machine running NT 4.0. I work at home.

2) 1.4GHz G5 with DDR memory(Oh for a dual!), I don't especially care about graphics. I would like a case which does not allow mastiff slobber to stick, and with a recessed power switch.

3) Retired (early because of illness) university lecturer in electronics. Microwave and optoelectronic monolithic circuit designer/analyser/fabricator. I now write scientific software. Currently working on a non-linear microwave circuit simulator.

Michael

1) iMac DVSE 400 Mhz, 256 MB, 10.1.2

2) iMac 15" LCD 1 Ghz G3 or above or perhaps a G4 iMac if they use it.

3) Naturalist (environmental educator) in my local county park system. It's a fun job and I enjoy working with kids. / I use my computer for web surfing, DV editing, WP, web design and basic graphic design.

[quote]Originally posted by imacSE:
<strong>1) iMac DVSE 400 Mhz, 256 MB, 10.1.2

2) iMac 15" LCD 1 Ghz G3 or above or perhaps a G4 iMac if they use it.

3) Naturalist (environmental educator) in my local county park system. It's a fun job and I enjoy working with kids. / I use my computer for web surfing, DV editing, WP, web design and basic graphic design.</strong><hr></blockquote>

You sound very close to me in the "what I have and what I'd be happy with..." category.



Nice to see not everyone is lunging for a quad-G5 with 2GB of RAM.

I'm going to be worried about those people come next Monday.

You and I, however, are probably going to be completely happy with what comes out of the keynote.

[quote]Originally posted by pscates:
<strong>I'm going to be worried about those people come next Monday.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Don't worry about us, I for one have my ticket to cupertino booked and I know where Steve Jobs lives. :cool:

1) At the moment I have a rev.a iMac that is cranky, and getting oh so unreliable I'm gonna get a replacement in the new year (In time for college).

2) My dream machine would be a PowerMac 2.4ghz G5 with a couple gigs of RAM, with a nice 17" or maybe 19" (if they release one to fill the gap) Apple LCD. Oh, not forgetting a GeForce 3 Ti500, and the PM's system bus would have to be DDR 333.

3) The "In time for college" bit I mentioned should give you an almighty hint

Home machine -
B&W G3 400mhz
620 RAM
2x 7,200 rpm 30 gig IBM hard drives
ex CD-RW
2x 17" Natural Flat View Sonic CRT's (A75f's)

I use it in my home recording studio that i run my business off of - <a href="http://go.to/revolution.com" target="_blank">http://go.to/revolution.com</a>

I've saved up quite alot of money for a new computer and i believe my next purchase will be a G5 (seeing as protools supports niether MP or altivec so my G3 hasn't been completely obliterated in this arena)

So regardless of insainly fast G4's after MWSF, i believe i will wait until i can get this machine:

Power Mac G5 1.4 ghz +
1G Ram
1 7,200 rpm 30 gig hard drive
1x 10,000 rpm 60 gig Hard drive
Superdrive
32x CD-R ex. Firewire(2?) <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
Dual Flat screen 17" displays (not cinema unless apple drops the prices)
If i can get all of this for a cough, *reasonable* price, then this will be my future digital music workstation.
<img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />

My Mac: PBG4 500/512/30/Airport

What I want come Jan 7th: G4/5 PowerMac running at around 1 GHz (dual would be nice, but i can live with one), superdrive, geforce3 (for the upcoming warcraft game), lots of hard disc (80 gig ir so would be cool) .. oh .. and some new displays. I'm dying to get rid of my very old 21" mitsubiishi monitor, its from the early 90s, weighs like 130 lbs, and has a huge chase. I'm hoping for some kinda wide aspect LCD in the 1000-1500 range. If there is a iPod proce cut or promo I'd like to throw one in my shoping basket as well.

What I do: Student (Digital Media)/ Part time web contractor (current looking for work :cool: ). I'm anxious to make some DVDs and do my FCP editing w/o being cramped for space.

Mike

Have: Sawtooth G4/450 (single), PBG4/667 (DVD-ROM)

Want: Top-of-the-line MWSF tower, preferably with 2GHz+ total. I'm expecting dual 1GHz+ G4s, but G5s would be even nicer, provided there are dualies available.

Alex

1. Have G4 400 896MB RAM, 2 monitors

2. The equivalent of Dual 800 in the low end or maybe 1ghz G5 in low end GF3 and DDR

I would consider a mid range machine tha had dual 1.2 GHZ G4 or 1.2 GHZ G5 Geforce3 DDR

3. Main Applications are Cinema4d XL7, Photoshop, Cubase VST

Looking for faster rendering (min 4x), and more VST performance/instruments for Cubase

1.6 GHz G5+? <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />

No offense, but what are you guys thinking?

1) tower: g4 533/40/gf2mx/384/cd-rw
portable: iBook 600/30/384/airport/dvd
others: iMac DV SE 400, 6200, 6400, IIci

2) Broke

3) Student in HS

- Rev A. iMac

-What I would like?

G4, 933+
GeForce 3
SuperDrive
Maybe DVD RW
17" Apple LCD
512 RAM
Anything else does not matter.

-Student

iHave:
300mhz Blueberry iBook, 320MB, 6GB

iWant:
933Mhz G4 Cube
256MB
60GB
Combo Drive


that isn't so much to ask for, now is it?

[quote]Originally posted by Fran441:
<strong>1.6 GHz G5+? <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />

No offense, but what are you guys thinking?</strong><hr></blockquote>

Read the topic's first post.

These answers are for "Ideal Future Systems" that's what we are thinking

The first post seems to assume a sense of reality, however. My point is that the people who are posting that a 1.6 GHz+ G5 is going to be what it takes to make them upgrade is unfortunate.