imac 24 and high defintion

tedustedus
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Hey guys, i have a 24 imac on order (first mac ever! !)



However im starting to get worried about this HD thing that everyone is talking about.



Question: in a year or two (or three...?) am i NOT going to be able to put in my mac the standard format of movie disk?



If not will it be possible to still watch (i.e. download or detachable drive) on my imac in the HD format. i.e. Does the screen and video card etc support all the good stuff?



Thanks for your help.



[sorry if this has been disussed i tried searching forums and didnt find and answer]

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tedus


    Hey guys, i have a 24 imac on order (first mac ever! !)



    However im starting to get worried about this HD thing that everyone is talking about.



    Question: in a year or two (or three...?) am i NOT going to be able to put in my mac the standard format of movie disk?



    If not will it be possible to still watch (i.e. download or detachable drive) on my imac in the HD format. i.e. Does the screen and video card etc support all the good stuff?



    Thanks for your help.



    With the exception of the optical drive, the 24" iMac is and will remain perfectly capable for HD video, from a hardware point of view. In the future, one, two or three years from now as you say, there will be probably third party external BR or HD-DVD drives that you could use for HD movies. But there will be also the following question for such drives: will Apple support third party external drives for BR or HD-DVD playback or you will need special software for that? No one can say for sure how things will evolve.



    Oh, and congratulations for your iMac. Welcome on board!
  • Reply 2 of 7
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    Yeah, there will be external USB2 and firewire Blu-Ray and HD-DVD devices that will let you watch HD. I use an external DVD drive for burning because it takes standard IDE drives, which are always the cheapest drive to get. So now when a Blu-Ray drive comes in at a reasonable price, I can just whip out the DVD IDE drive and pop in new one.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    baygbmbaygbm Posts: 147member
    I have nice Macbook, but my old G4 from 1999 is feeling very dated. I’m looking for a new desktop and like this iMac but I think it’s way too expensive.



    A new iMac with 2gigs of Ram, 500HD, a fast processor is $2600. A similarly configured Mac Pro is $2900. For that you get lots of room to expand, upgrade, and stave off obsolescence for that much longer.



    I’ve used my G4 for 7 years now. I don’t know that I’ll keep my next desktop for that long, but somehow I don’t think I’d be happy with this new iMac down the road--particularly at this price point.



    Unless you’re a brand new computer buyer, you already have a monitor of some sort so an all in one unit is not the lure it would otherwise be. I’m trying to justify the 24 iMac in my mind and I can’t do it. Any thoughts?



    I’m not buying till the next OS comes out so I have a few months to mull it over.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    dotcomctodotcomcto Posts: 130member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by baygbm


    I have nice Macbook, but my old G4 from 1999 is feeling very dated. I?m looking for a new desktop and like this iMac but I think it?s way too expensive.



    A new iMac with 2gigs of Ram, 500HD, a fast processor is $2600. A similarly configured Mac Pro is $2900. For that you get lots of room to expand, upgrade, and stave off obsolescence for that much longer.



    I?ve used my G4 for 7 years now. I don?t know that I?ll keep my next desktop for that long, but somehow I don?t think I?d be happy with this new iMac down the road--particularly at this price point.



    Unless you?re a brand new computer buyer, you already have a monitor of some sort so an all in one unit is the lure it would otherwise be. I?m trying to justify the 24 iMac in my mind and I can?t do it. Any thoughts?



    I?m not buying till the next OS comes out so I have a few months to mull it over.



    I guess it's all in assessing what your needs are. I have several nice monitors at home, but the 24" iMac monitor is stunning - and much larger than the 18" square and 20" wide LCD monitors that I already have. I considered the Mac Pro, but with a 20" ACD and the configuration I wanted, I was going to spend close to $4K. That's a lot of cash to plunk down. For that money, I could buy a 24" iMac now, and buy another one in a few years when some super-duper improvement comes out. Frankly, most machines are technically obsolete within a few months of release. Again, it's all in figuring out what you need right now.



    For me, the 24" iMac is a killer machine and I'm extremely satisified...even if I can't expand it with tons of additional options.



    8)



    --DotComCTO
  • Reply 5 of 7
    mehdimehdi Posts: 42member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by baygbm


    I?m looking for a new desktop and like this iMac but I think it?s way too expensive.



    A new iMac with 2gigs of Ram, 500HD, a fast processor is $2600. A similarly configured Mac Pro is $2900.



    As mentioned, you'll have to decide which machine is right for you. But to be fair, you need to take the iMac's 24" display into account for any comparison. Adding a similar display to the MacPro will raise the cost by $1K. IMHO, iMac 24" is very reasonably priced.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    baygbmbaygbm Posts: 147member
    May I ask how long you've been using your current Mac?
  • Reply 7 of 7
    mehdimehdi Posts: 42member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by baygbm


    May I ask how long you've been using your current Mac?



    Are you asking me? If so, here we go... My newest is a MacPro which is just under a week old. I still have two 20" iMac G5's (1.8 GHz and 2.0 GHz models with no iSight). One is about two years old, and the other is just over a year old.
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