It?s time for me to buy a new Mac. Which one should I buy?
My last Mac was a G3 iMac and it?s time for me to upgrade. I think I?ve decided on a desktop since I don?t travel that much and I want more for my money.
Basically, I need it for internet, e-mailing, iLife (music, pictures, movies), MS Office, Dreamweaver, and the occasional game (The Sims, Call of Duty).
I have been wrestling with which Mac to get. I think I?m leaning towards the iMac G5. I would buy it in an instant but I have two problems with it: an only ok graphics card and 4X Superdrive. If I get a Powermac with an 8X Superdrive and Radeon 9600 or 9800, that would put the price up about $400 and that?s without a monitor, which would be about another $500.
My question is: is a 4X Superdrive and 5200 graphics card enough for my needs? Will the 5200 play games like Call of Duty and UT2004 well?
Also, whatever Mac I get, how much RAM and hard drive space do you guys suggest for it for my needs? 512 MB or is 1 GB much faster? 80 or is a 160 GB drive safer?
And what about Bluetooth and Airport Express? We are trying to set up a wireless network at home, so would it be easier to get an Airport Express card instead of an external Ethernet receiver by Linksys or D-Link?
What about Apple certified refurbished products? Apple is selling a Dual 1.8 GHz Powermac for $1799, but I?m kind of wary about refurbished products.
Finally, my goal is to spend hopefully no more than $2000. Thanks!
Basically, I need it for internet, e-mailing, iLife (music, pictures, movies), MS Office, Dreamweaver, and the occasional game (The Sims, Call of Duty).
I have been wrestling with which Mac to get. I think I?m leaning towards the iMac G5. I would buy it in an instant but I have two problems with it: an only ok graphics card and 4X Superdrive. If I get a Powermac with an 8X Superdrive and Radeon 9600 or 9800, that would put the price up about $400 and that?s without a monitor, which would be about another $500.
My question is: is a 4X Superdrive and 5200 graphics card enough for my needs? Will the 5200 play games like Call of Duty and UT2004 well?
Also, whatever Mac I get, how much RAM and hard drive space do you guys suggest for it for my needs? 512 MB or is 1 GB much faster? 80 or is a 160 GB drive safer?
And what about Bluetooth and Airport Express? We are trying to set up a wireless network at home, so would it be easier to get an Airport Express card instead of an external Ethernet receiver by Linksys or D-Link?
What about Apple certified refurbished products? Apple is selling a Dual 1.8 GHz Powermac for $1799, but I?m kind of wary about refurbished products.
Finally, my goal is to spend hopefully no more than $2000. Thanks!
Comments
get as much ram as your budget allows. really, osx loves ram. don't buy at apple though. 80gb hd should be sufficient. at least it would be for me. you can always pick up an external firewire drive later on.
since you won't move you desktop around that much i'd go with a regular ethernet network. once you've tried swapping (big) files via a wireless network you'll be glad to have 100mbit+ again.
Originally posted by r3dx0r
i don't think the new imacs graphics card is powerful enough to run cod at more than 1024x768. so if gaming is important to you i'd go with a refurbished powermac g5 since new ones are kind of expensive (imho).
get as much ram as your budget allows. really, osx loves ram. don't buy at apple though. 80gb hd should be sufficient. at least it would be for me. you can always pick up an external firewire drive later on.
since you won't move you desktop around that much i'd go with a regular ethernet network. once you've tried swapping (big) files via a wireless network you'll be glad to have 100mbit+ again.
A wired network won't work in our house, so I need wireless.
About gaming, when I do play, I mainly play video games so computer games are not that important. I was just wondering about playing the occasional game if any and how much the 5200 could handle.
About the refurbished Powermac, have you had experiences with refurbished products? I'm just the kind of person who worries about what the computer went through before I get it.
while i don't have any personal experience with refurbished products a friend of mine bought a refurbished powerbook and it's as good as new.
since apples one year warranty applies to all of their products you should be pretty safe if it doesnt turn out well. there's a page with more info here.
Originally posted by Aurora
I hate to ring in here but this was my problem also,the fx5200 kills off the new Imac from being a gaming machine though apple would like you to think different. A powermac is the answer or you could do like me and get a Alienware with your choice of everything. I am running Doom3 at high,everything on and at 1280 x960 and it purrs like a kitten.
But I'm different than you. I will use my new Mac for internet, music, pictures, movies, e-mail, and MS Office for 95% of the time.
I don't want to pay for an all-out gaming machine b/c I don't have the money and if I do play games, I play Xbox, PS2, and GC. I was just wondering if the 5200 was good enough for basic PC games like Starcraft, The Sims, UT, ect.
I'm sure it can't play Doom 3 or Call of Duty with all effects turned on.
Originally posted by BRussell
I don't know what you folks are doing to your games, but I play CoD on a PowerBook 800 with a 32 MB graphics card. Maybe my standards just aren't that high, but it seems to me to play just fine. I simply can't believe that the vast majority of current games wouldn't play just fine on an iMac. You may need to turn stuff off and decrease the resolution, but they'll play fine.
That's exactly what I'm wondering. I know the 5200 isn't the top or even near it, but you would think it should play most games fine. I think it just can't play something like Doom 3 or Half-Life 2 with the best graphics possible, but I'm perfectly content with Xbox or PS2-level graphics.