i might be getting enough money to buy a mac and....

[ignus]

i need advice on what to get. my annual review was today, and my boss is gonna give me a ginormous bonus next month, possibly $2000 or better. i want a mac. they go hand in hand right? ;)

i plan to use it for graphic and web design, as well as audio applications. do i need/want a powermac? would an imac suffice? do i need the dual processors? how much ram would i need to run photoshop and the like? i dont plan on buying an apple display as of yet, ill just use my monitors from this pc and stick this on my old 17" (or both of them if i dont get a mac supporting dualies).

id like to have dualies if they are extended desktop, not mirror images, and a decent video card so i can play games on it if i find some. i'd also like an iPod, but we'll have to see exactly what the bonus weighs in at.

so any advice for a mac noob? (the highest the bonus will be is prolly 3000, its a percentage of net profit - my salary for the year)

EDIT: also, is there an emu prog that would allow me to play ET on the mac? if so, then i dont know what ill use my pc for anymore ^^

[batmanuel]

You lose a lot of computing power when you run emulation, so I'm not sure you'd ever be able to play PC games on a mac to satisfy your need for speed. I could be wrong, it's been a long time since I've used Virtual PC.

You're going to want at least half a gig of RAM and you'll be ok, better yet go 3/4+ if you can squeek out a few extra bucks the next paycheck. I recommend getting the min on the system from Apple and buying third party, it is drastically overpriced from them.

Now, dual processor. I think you would be okay with one, especially as a first mac (:D). Personally, I will go dual from now on. This is mainly for longevity of the system--my old dual is still working great under the woman's desk (with a new power supply), and I'm a Mac Addict Freak with a superiority complex who neglects my gaming machine as a result. So i don't necessarily say you should follow my lead.

I don't know much about the new imacs so I won't comment.

Is there an Apple store anywhere near you, that you can go to and check 'em out and talk to them, play with the macs... ?

also, are you taking any college classes now (i.e., student discount), or your sis or someone that can "buy it for you" to get that (it's a pretty good discount). That could make the difference between single/dual, or extra ram... or if there's a big company around near your Apple store they may have a discount (my company has one with our local store), so you may know someone there... it could be like 10-15%.

[Vygramul]

Playing Civ3 on virtual PC on my Dual processor 800MHz G4 was painfully slow. I haven't tried on the latest and greatest, but I expect to try by middle '05 on a DP G5 2.5GHz.

But BSD Unix is pretty darn good.

"Linux is for people who hate windows, BSD is for people who love Unix." - From a HOT Unix chick who uses the Mac.

I'd get a DP G5 tower. I have the latest 20" 1.8 G5, and the speed is fine compared to PC's, but the DP G5's are sweetness.

[What-the..]

Ig,

Excuse me for going against the "GEEK talk" grain, but $2000 would equal a good Vegas trip, Down payment on a Mototrcycle, or any other none PC/MAC expenses.

Kev.

[ignus]

:lol: kev, i was thinking about something along those lines too :D

anyways, the first Apple store in IA is opening this weekend i think, at our new super-mall out west of town. my sis is in college, maybe at the time i can get her to visit and then swing by the apple store if i buy her a shirt or something out at the mall :D

[SauerKraut]

Ig,

Excuse me for going against the "GEEK talk" grain, but $2000 would equal a good Vegas trip, Down payment on a Motorcycle, or any other none PC/MAC expenses.

Kev.




WOOHOO Now you're talking, Kev! Long-term, lasting goodness that will be a life-altering change. It was for me. It'll last longer than any computer, any trip to Vegas...etc.


What do you REALLY nead a Mac for that you cannot already to with a PC...be honest to yourself.

Do you know what it feels like to ride alone on the road with a loud, rumbling, powerful engine between your legs (don't be a smart-ass Chaly), causing stares at stop lights and kids asking you to do burnouts and throttle roars? It's better than drugs. I would know.


For $2000 (shoot, $1500 even) you can put a down payment on these and finance the rest for only around $120 a month (gas = avg. $4 a week for me and I ride the crap outta my bike, insurance is a lowly $30 a month):

You like the colour black, i bet, and you should, because it's the fastest colour. hehe





Like the looks of an Indian, but the dependability, affordability and ease of modification of a Metric Cruiser (Japanese bike)?

Look no further than the Kawasaki Drifter. Japan's copy of the Indian Chief, only it'll last about 30 years without problems and you can mod the hell out of it if you wish...
http://www.bikez.com/bike/20458/index.jpg



What about a Harley? Can't afford it? Don't want to shill out mucho dinero for parts every month? Fine, how about MY bike, Honda Shadow American Classic Edition?
http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/95/95255/folders/121870/1006537ACE2.jpg
http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/95/95255/folders/121870/1006454ACE.jpg



Or are you a crotch rocket person?

http://www.mototuning.com/galerie/honda/cbr900_black/img01_s.jpg

http://www.statesmanclassifieds.com/autos/autoshow/images/reviews/kawasaki_ninja_zx-10r01.jpg






heheheheh


Kev's a ******* for making me want to go out and ride....which I think I'll do just that. Be back in an hour....

[ignus]

you forget that i live in Iowa. we get like 2 great months for riding, a couple more semi-decent, and then terrible cold :( and snow :(

[SauerKraut]

you forget that i live in Iowa. we get like 2 great months for riding, a couple more semi-decent, and then terrible cold :( and snow :(


Only snow and ice will matter to you once you feel that first ride. Rain is nothing if you have a full helmet. I ride all the seasons, have all my life. And Bulgariya and northern Greece are SO much colder than Iowa. Oklahoma could get really, really bad too. Wind chill factors of the -20F+ all the time.


That's why they sell electric heated leather garments.

[ignus]

you forget that i live in Iowa. we get like 2 great months for riding, a couple more semi-decent, and then terrible cold :( and snow :(


Only snow and ice will matter to you once you feel that first ride. Rain is nothing if you have a full helmet. I ride all the seasons, have all my life. And Bulgariya and northern Greece are SO much colder than Iowa. Oklahoma could get really, really bad too. Wind chill factors of the -20F+ all the time.


That's why they sell electric heated leather garments.

i forgot to mention i dont have a garage either... we have a small 1-car that my roommates car (he owns the place) totally fills up...

[SauerKraut]

OMG I totally hijacked a Mac thread.



awesome!



and in reply to your 'no-garage' comment....excuses excuses.

I have no garage either.

[ignus]

OMG I totally hijacked a Mac thread.



awesome!



and in reply to your 'no-garage' comment....excuses excuses.

I have no garage either.

nice hijack! :lol:

you dont get snow in GA, thats your excuse. :|

[TedHershey]

Do you have a laptop? I had to choose between a powerbook and a new G5 and I'm very happy I went with the PowerBook. Of course, it suited my needs better. You can get the 15 inch PB with combo drive for just over two grand if you have the student discount. I tried running ET in VPC 5 but it was a no go. Didn't even get the video to work...

The new iMacs look cool, but like all new macs, I would give them a couple months to sort themselves out.

Been thinking about buying an old Vespa. Would be ideal for puttering around here.

[SauerKraut]

OMG I totally hijacked a Mac thread.



awesome!



and in reply to your 'no-garage' comment....excuses excuses.

I have no garage either.

nice hijack! :lol:

you dont get snow in GA, thats your excuse. :|


This is indeed true. Not going to lie about that. However, I've never had a garage before.

The places where I've lived that my bike was out in the open AND underwent extreme cold temperatures include:

Norman, OK, USA.
Stamford, CT, USA.
Varna, Varna, Bulgariya.
Sofiya, Sofiya, Bulgariya.
Gabrovnitsa, Montana, Bulgariya.
Thessaloniki, Makedonia, Hellenic Republic.
Nevski District, Russian Federation.


I've had a motorcycle with me all my life since I was 14. Never did I have a garage. But then, I'm a big, burly man and you must be a little wee man. hehehe

[Canadian Hick]

OMG I totally hijacked a Mac thread.



awesome!



and in reply to your 'no-garage' comment....excuses excuses.

I have no garage either.

nice hijack! :lol:

you dont get snow in GA, thats your excuse. :|
Half my family members own a Harley. I live in rural Canada. Some of them, my crazy uncle, ride in snow. 8O

[ignus]

Hick - do they have garages or carports though?

SK - compared to you, anyone is a wee little man :P

Ted - my only laptop is a Pentium 66! woot woot! i think id rather have a powerbook than a powermac, but the extra cost may be too much.

[Canadian Hick]

We have plenty of carholes.

[RuperT]

OMG I totally hijacked a Mac thread.



awesome!



and in reply to your 'no-garage' comment....excuses excuses.

I have no garage either.

nice hijack! :lol:

you dont get snow in GA, thats your excuse. :|
Half my family members own a Harley. I live in rural Canada. Some of them, my crazy uncle, ride in snow. 8O
Cool! How long until it's paid for? :P

[batmanuel]

Carefully consider a laptop... you would have an advantage in that if you're off doing music with the band you can bring the notebook along... however, if you want to do serious video (and maybe even image) work you may want the horsepower of a desktop that you can jack up with RAM...

That said, I want an iBook or a Titanium pretty bad :D

[SauerKraut]

HEY! None of this getting back on topic bollocks!! We were talking about important things...like tricking Ignus into buying a motorcycle...i mean, showing him that riding a bike is soooo much more fun and the chicks dig guys on bikes.


The last part of the sentence (the fun and chicks part, not the tricking) is true.

[LilPuppy]

Half my family members own a Harley. I live in rural Canada. Some of them, my crazy uncle, ride in snow. 8O
Cool! How long until it's paid for? :P[/quote]

:lol: :lol: :lol: ....you're on a roll RuperT

[TedHershey]

The iBooks are definitely cool as well, but you can't get one built with the 5400 rpm drive, and you can only max out at a gig or so of ram. You're also locked into a 1024 x 768 max res whether you get the 12 or 14 inch model.

I have three external firewire drives all running at 7200 rpm with the Oxford 911 bridge. I've not had any transfer problems with the PowerBook yet with Final Cut or After Effects, which are the two video apps I use all the time.

I'm also probably going to be getting rid of my pci Digi 001 in favor of the mBox. I only really ever used the multitrack capabilities of the Digi 001 for drums, and even then I preferred to use my Fostex reel to reel and then dump in to get that good analog tape compression. But living where I live now, I can't record live drums anymore, and mostly just bring sequenced drums in off of my Kurzweil. Pretty much the same with guitars, recently I've been recording exclusively with a Pod. In fact I sold off all but my vocal mikes a couple months ago. Anyway, the mBox has amazing Focusrite pre-amps. I have a friend who takes his iBook and mBox to shows and records some of the better board mixes I've heard. The only down side to the mBox is no MIDI, but the MIDI support on the Digi 001 was never overwhelming, I went out and got a Midiman interface (now M-Audio).

Anyway, I know you're into recording, so I thought I'd push the laptop/mBox combo. :D

[ignus]

ya the laptop is becoming more promising to me, especially since i am strapped for monitor space on my desk anyways ^^

my friend just bought a new iBook, the cheapest one i think. its pretty cool, seems to get the job done.

[SauerKraut]

Damn, who brought this thread back on topic? That's not right. We were thiiiiiiiiis close to breaking him!


*******s.

[ignus]

lol dont bet on it.

a friend and I went to the brand new Apple store in town that opened today, and its wicked sweet. all sorts of stuff i want to blow loads on (loads of cash that is, sickies).

i think a 14" iBook is in store for me in the near future ^^ also a 20gb iPod too. i may wait on the iPod though, cuz if the Photo ones take off, then the price on the old ones should decrease i would think