What Mac should my mom get?

[MacAztec]

Hi. My mom was mad today because she was using the G4 400 in our "study" and it was having problems. In her office she uses a G3 233MHz Imac. She told me she wants to buy a new computer NOW. She doesnt want to spend more than 1500 dollars (cheaper is better). Here is what she needs:

Speed
Word Processing, EMail, Internet, etc.
BIG Screen (NOT A WIDESCREEN)
A program like FaxSTF for OS X. Do they have that still? She wants to fax from her Mac.

I am thinking a used 867QS Tower off of eBay or something. Then we could buy an 18.1" LCD for like 450 dollars.

She looked at the 17" iMac, but she doesnt like the wide format. She likes stuff to get bigger, not stretchier.

Any help would be great! I will be writing to B2TM also....

[losfp]

ummm... the 17" widescreen won't stretch anything.. the pixels are all still square :)

[medea]

well if she just wants to spend $1500 get her the "ultimate" emac.
but yeah, widescreens do not stretch anything my friend it just gives you more screen to view.....

[yzedf]

so she wants standard 4:3 ratio screen?

and she wants it on the cheap?

www.ebay.com

look for single proc powermac's with 17" lcd's....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3410583860&category=14912

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3411015400&category=25448

[FelixDerKater]

No eMac! iMac all the way. Do you want your mom pumped full of radiation from the CRT? LCD is the only way to go. The widescreen does not stretch the desktop, but gives you more space. It is really nice on the widescreens to be able to have two full pages side-by-side.

[bousozoku]

FaxSTF X is up to a Pro version since a few weeks ago.

I would say that either the 15 inch iMac or eMac would be good for that price point.

[MacAztec]

Ok, we are pricing a PC. Yep...not for her, but for me and my dad. Here is the situation.

My dad has a G3 500MHz Pismo Powerbook that he does all his work on. He uses HIS G4 500MHz Tower w/18.1" LCD for gaming. We all know gaming on this mac sucks. So...

We have decided to give my mom the G4 500 with the monitor, and buy ourselves a nice gaming PC. I have priced one out... (pic seen)


So, is that a good PC to build? Here is a link to the case...HERE (http://store.yahoo.com/dealsonic/raid26atxmid.html)

And we will buy a new LCD, most likely an 18.1" one. I will still be using my mac in my room, but for gaming/movies/music "sharing", I will use the PC. What do you guys think...

[MacAztec]

Well, I think the PC we priced is a good deal, and the shipping is free 2 day. But, there is still tax. Does anyone know a good PC site without sales tax to CA?

Also, do you guys think I should go P4 or AMD. AMD has more AGP 8x Motherboards, cheaper, more selection of motherboards, etc.

But I have been hearing pentium is slightly faster. What do you think. If I built a similar P4, it would probly be about 100-120 dollars more. I would use a P4 2.66GHz w/533 FSB

[AlphaTech]

MacAztec, check out my store. I have (at the moment) two BTO (http://store.thetechpub.com/customer/home.php?cat=268) pc's listed. You can customize them within reason.

Since you are in CA, there wouldn't be any sales tax involved.

[Catfish_Man]

Originally posted by MacAztec
Ok, we are pricing a PC. Yep...not for her, but for me and my dad. Here is the situation.

My dad has a G3 500MHz Pismo Powerbook that he does all his work on. He uses HIS G4 500MHz Tower w/18.1" LCD for gaming. We all know gaming on this mac sucks. So...

We have decided to give my mom the G4 500 with the monitor, and buy ourselves a nice gaming PC. I have priced one out... (pic seen)


So, is that a good PC to build? Here is a link to the case...HERE (http://store.yahoo.com/dealsonic/raid26atxmid.html)

And we will buy a new LCD, most likely an 18.1" one. I will still be using my mac in my room, but for gaming/movies/music "sharing", I will use the PC. What do you guys think...

Nerf the processor a bit and use the savings to get something with Serial ATA. +/- a few hundred MHz isn't going to be very noticable, bot hot swappable, fast, non-hassle cables is (SATA's also more future proof).

Definitely go AMD though (although if you wait for Q3, you'll be able to get a really spiffy Athlon64). The nForce2 is an awesome chipset, and AMD's procs are a good deal cheaper for roughly the same performance.

[MacAztec]

Seems like a nice store, but the price is a little to high for me. Sorry :(

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by MacAztec
Seems like a nice store, but the price is a little to high for me. Sorry :(

You forgot to add the operating system to what you put together... I also just updated the prices to reflect new changes. Also, the systems include UPS ground shipping.

[MacAztec]

The machine I built was like 850.00

It has some pretty sweet specs too. I am sorry to say, but I am pirating Windows XP. I dont want to pay for something that I dont trust. That is why I am using this machine for strictly games.

[AlphaTech]

With the way heXPee licenses works, good luck in trying to pirate it. You are just begging for trouble if you do it.

As my store shows, you get a license for either 2k or xpee, your choice.

[scem0]

I have to add..... DONT USE EBAY TO BUY A MAC. Macs sell for
insane prices on eBay. 90% of the time, www.dealmac.com
will have a better price. The 17" iMac sounds perfect for her to
me, I can't believe she doesn't like it.... :confused:

[MacAztec]

She likes the aspect ratio where the monitor gets taller rather then wider. It maxes excel sheets easier because the colums get bigger, rather then just wider.

Alpha, I know it will be kinda hard, but they have like hacks you run on the copy of xp to make it valid.

[scem0]

Well, check www.dealmac.com for the best prices on anything mac. :)

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by MacAztec
She likes the aspect ratio where the monitor gets taller rather then wider. It maxes excel sheets easier because the colums get bigger, rather then just wider.

Alpha, I know it will be kinda hard, but they have like hacks you run on the copy of xp to make it valid.

You will be better off getting an OEM copy of windows... I can actually get those in both 2k and xp... Why do you want to use hexpee anyway?? Of course, I'm talking the pro versions of both... You're better off doing that then hacking, or cracking, the copy you steal and risking getting into trouble.

[FlamDrag]

Sorry dude, but your mom is just wrong.

If you run a resolution at say 600 pix tall (800 x 600 on a regular monitor) going to a widescreen monitor at a same resolution you'll still have 600 pix tall, just more width. She won't see any more of her spreadsheet on a 4:3 monitor. That's just silly. Oh well.

[MacAztec]

She isnt wrong.

Look at the iBook in 1024x768. Thats 1024 pixels by 768 pixels.

Get apples 20" cinema display. Put it on 1024x768.

Now, do you see that everything is bigger than the iBook? Oh but they are at the same rez.

Look at the height of the 17" iMac. Its like the same height as the 15". All they did is make it 2" wider.

She likes screens to be tall and wide. It makes text bigger.

[MacAztec]

Originally posted by AlphaTech
You will be better off getting an OEM copy of windows... I can actually get those in both 2k and xp... Why do you want to use hexpee anyway?? Of course, I'm talking the pro versions of both... You're better off doing that then hacking, or cracking, the copy you steal and risking getting into trouble.

Do that many people get in trouble? Im not trying to be stupid, I am just wondering, who would catch you and how?

I want to use XP because games are being made for it. It is the newest OS and will take advantage of everything to the fullest.

[AlphaTech]

M$ is cracking down on the piracy issue, which they are doing more with heXPee then previous versions of windows.

As for games, all games run on 2k as well. I have been using 2k for games for over two years now.

Oh, and by the way, heXPee removed many of the options for things that was there with 2k. They also made it more difficult to find where to make the changes. Not good on all counts.

[scem0]

I run XP and I like it just fine, but I can't tell you that it is better
than 2k, because I have never used it. But XP is stable, not that
bad looking, and newer.

[benixau]

i have just one question: where is the case for this super good pc?

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by scem0
I run XP and I like it just fine, but I can't tell you that it is better
than 2k, because I have never used it. But XP is stable, not that
bad looking, and newer.

I can't stand all the "bubblegum" that they included in xp. 2k is very stable as well. I had purchased the copy of 2k before xp came out and the only "upgrade" that I would be allowed to do would cost over $200. NOT worth it at all. For people that biatch about the cost of updating the Mac OS for .x versions (such as 10.2 to 10.3, not 10.2 to 10.2.x) they should consider how bad m$ bends you over and inserts the pole.

MacAztec, if your mom still wants a Mac, why not get the low end G4 tower?? If she was using a Mac before, she already has a display that can be used with the new one. You can always get a sweet LCD later you know.

As for the wide screen LCD displays such as in the iMac and PowerBooks, there is NO distortion of any kind. If anything the wider screens makes viewing spreadsheets even better, since you can open it up to show more cells (on the horizontal plane).

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by benixau
i have just one question: where is the case for this super good pc?

Good questions. Unless he has a case already, the price just went up again. DO NOT get a cheap case. You WILL regret it. I've seen the cheap cases cause all sorts of problems, typically they cause shorts which can damage the guts of the computer. Same with the power supply, don't go cheap. Both of those items hold true to "you get what you pay for". Antec makes a great case, as does Cooler Master. I don't care for the design of InWin, and I think LionLi cases are trying to rip off Cooler Master (they are made cheaper and look it). Of course, there is Thermal Take which makes good cases, also not cheap, but that is probably overkill (as are the Cooler Master cases).

[Computer_Phreak]

About pirating XP...

I have a "friend" who pirated XP
All he had to do was put in a serial number and it worked... There wasn't any "contacting Microsoft" or anything. I think the CD that he used has a pre-cracked version or something.

I wouldn't worry about getting caught... There are so many people out there will illegal copies.

Also, in my expirience, XP as a whole is as stable as OS X. I do get quite a few little bugs and messed up program crashes, tho.

[AlphaTech]

Computer_Phreak, I cannot advocate pirating any software. Just because m$ hasn't done much [yet] to punish people that crack their OS, doesn't mean they won't in the future. Then again, that may be the reason why they charge so damned much for the OS.

As long as I can obtain OEM copies of the OS, I won't purchase retail versions. The OEM copies are about half the price of the retail ones, which makes the price closer to what OS X runs (the OEM copy runs about $150).

As for xpee, it blows for laptops, especially IBM laptops. With w2k, on IBM laptops, you CAN control the processor speed (IBM's speedstep technology) which allows you to run the processor at full speed when plugged in (fro power) as well as when running on battery. You can customize it as you like, with speedstep, so that it runs slower on battery, but full out on AC. With xpee, you can TRY to set it, but xpee ignores your settings and does as it wants. It even reduces the processor speed when plugged in. I know this for a FACT since I had an eval T30 from IBM that came with xpee. I then got one with 2k, which ran a hell of a lot better. 2k also has better WiFi connectivity as opposed to xpee. Xpee makes you used "secure" connections only (unless you want to constantly hit buttons) where 2k accepts what you give it for settings.

I suppose it's all just a matter of taste, and how much control you want to give up to m$. Also, people with taste use OS X, not windblows.

[benixau]

ok, in my house we have three macs (2xMDD2002 + 1x eMac) and a single AMDXP1800+ winXP Pro PC.

The pc is good. no boubt. i have used 100% legal software from big names (MS Office, Nero, Adobe, and a few other things like NEATO (CD-labelling)). i have also NOT installed symantec software - it is asking for trouble. The only probelm i have with it is the users. they like to go to porn sites (which, upon finding out which ones, i promptly bock the address at our router - clever ehh).

really, If it is a games machine get a case with nice cooling (as above in AlphaTech's post). Also get a P4 - i know people are saying AMD, but it has been shown in games, and games only (i like AMD's) the P4 will whoop an AMD so much it makes the AMD even hotter.
Also, loose a few hundred Mhz and get a ripper of a graphics card, like an ATi Radeon 9700/9800 (pro?) or an nVidia GeForce Ti 4600, both with 128MB RAM. Also DO NOT SKIMP ON SYSTEM RAM. i mean do not get 256MVB when for $30 more you could get 512MB.

overall here are a few suggestions:

get a good graphics card (see above)
get a good case (see further above)
get an ok proc (not below 2.53Ghz P4 preferably above that)
as much RAM as you can get (above 512MB better if above that)
and a SATA drive if you can afford it.

of course prive dictates alot of things. so focus in this order:
graphics card
system RAM
processor
HDD
case

that should help. good luck and may the dollar be with you