future switcher? advice needed on buying power mac

[travisb]

Hey guys, this is my first post. I hope i'm posting this in the correct thread. I've been lurking in the shadows since september. Before september i dispised mac's but once i transfered to a different college, and was introduced to os x, i've fell in love and wanted to get one. I almost took out a loan to get a power mac in november, but held off, then the prices dropped in january, which was even nicer.

I'm looking into taking out a student loan now to buy one, because through my school we have a deal with apple that we can get a free 10 gig ipod if we spend of 2000 dollars, which i would on the power mac i have picked out. The reason i want a power mac is a few reasons. I have a great 19" monitor that i want to keep, i'm used to upgrading/building my own computers so i like the ability to open the guts up at least to stare at it, and well it's a beast! I'm looking at the dual 1.25 w/ a superdrive.

I wanted to see what you guys thought about buying this now, with all the talk of the new form factor's coming out. I'm leaning towards getting one, just that from what i've leared that has been rumored for awhile now, and i mean it could be a year, it coul be a month. I'm in no hurry, except to grab up that ipod deal which would save me 394, and be sweet as hell. What I have right now is a AMD 1.4 w/ 512mb ddr, 64mb video card (i don't game at all), dvd drive, and a 16x plextor.

So if anyone would lend their expertise that would be much appreciated as i'm kinda tossing back this idea, with nobody i know being a mac user. Thanks in advance.

travis

 

[steeleclipse]

i used to use os 9, but i too fell in love with os x, and decided it was time to have a mac. i too decided that it the powermac was the only way to go, and i havent regreted it since. I have a dual 867 with a gig of ram and it flies...

my only regret is that i didnt wait till now to buy it... the new 1.25s are beautiful. Apple has decided they want to price their units competitively, so now is the perfect time to buy.. ESPECIALLY with the 10 gig ipod deal. That is really sweet.

i too took out a student loan for my mac, so i was a little worried at first, but i have made money back off of it, with several different things you can do on a mac (Ripping cds for djs and burning them on dvds, wedding video editing, corporate identity creation, etc.).

The best piece of advice i can give you is this: YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!

let me know if you have any more specific questions... hope that helps

 

[steeleclipse]

BTW.. dont worry about the 970 quite yet... it will not be mass-produced for a while, and even when it is released, it will be quite expensive

 

[travisb]

dude you rule, thanks for your advice.
slowly i will decide

 

[alset]

I'm running a dual 1.25 MDD w/ SuperDrive (same config you are coveting, right?) and couldn't be happier. Buy one now. You'll thank yourself and wonder hw you were getting by without it.

Dan

 

[NavyIntel007]

Get it and enjoy. I'd say the Powermacs can have the most life of all of them because of their upgradability.

 

[steeleclipse]

looks like the decision is unanimous

 

[travisb]

Originally posted by steeleclipse
looks like the decision is unanimous

haha, yeah seems to look that way. The only upgrade i would do is add a superdrive. I'd probably buy a stick of 512k down the road. I have a 60 gig from my windows box that i would throwin in there.

Do any IDE devices work then? For instance, will my plextor 16x burner work, or does it depend on if the burning software (toast?) will support it. I would like 2 drives for sure, expecially something that will be able to burn cdr's faster. So i'm either looking at a firewire drive, or an internal of some sorts.

 

[hacurio1]

NO PROB!!

Originally posted by travisb
haha, yeah seems to look that way. The only upgrade i would do is add a superdrive. I'd probably buy a stick of 512k down the road. I have a 60 gig from my windows box that i would throwin in there.

Do any IDE devices work then? For instance, will my plextor 16x burner work, or does it depend on if the burning software (toast?) will support it. I would like 2 drives for sure, expecially something that will be able to burn cdr's faster. So i'm either looking at a firewire drive, or an internal of some sorts.

Yes, all your IDE devices should work. As far as I know it depends on the support the OS gives for the burner (if you want to burn through the OS,) and the support burning software has (i.e. toast.) As far as your HD goes, it should work no prob., but you must erase and reformat. If you want to back up your files, there are programs that allow you to transfer them trough form your old computer to you BEAUTIFUL NEW MAC!!! Or, if you don't have more than a couple of GIGS, you can burn them on CD's. Also, I haven't check if they are shiping the ATI's 9700, I suggest you check if that card is shiping!

 

[Catfish_Man]

Originally posted by steeleclipse
BTW.. dont worry about the 970 quite yet... it will not be mass-produced for a while, and even when it is released, it will be quite expensive

Basically right. It'll be mass produced soon enough (second half of 2003), but it's unclear how long Apple will take to introduce it (if they do), and how much such a system will cost.

 

[travisb]

Re: NO PROB!!

Originally posted by hacurio1
Also, I haven't check if they are shiping the ATI's 9700, I suggest you check if that card is shiping!

yeah I don't know if i need to go ALL out, heh. I don't game so the 9000 will be just fine for me.

How does OS X handle a new hard drive? I've never formatted a drive on an apple. Is it as easy as windows xp, where the drive is detected, and you just right click an format it through windows itself?

 

[patrick0brien]

-travisb

Two words:

Never wait.

Oh, and a freebie:

Don't buy top-of-the-line.

If you do, you might become struck with a horrible and debilitating malady not unique to Mac, known as LAGS (Latest And Greatest Syndrome).

It'll kill you.

 

[TonicAngel]

so if i got a powermac, i could dump my cdburner into it? i thought it wouldn't work?! I have a tdk 32x burner... how sad i can build a pc but lost as far as what i can put into a mac machine.. oh well at least i can dump my 120gb into it

 

[steeleclipse]

you can use any IDE devices that have cable select mode...

 

[benixau]

Re: NO PROB!!

Originally posted by hacurio1
As far as your HD goes, it should work no prob., but you must erase and reformat.

no, unless your HDD is in NTFS then you are all good. I know i have rescued a few friends FAT32 disks. actually one of them is going to get a 12" pbook w/SD at the end of the year aswell as an iPod 10GB. He tried the pbook at the local Astore and said that he was going to wait for my ok to go ahead (look at my macrumors rating) and buy. Also he is getting his dad to buy it

I think he was impressed.

 

[steeleclipse]

Originally posted by Catfish_Man
Basically right. It'll be mass produced soon enough (second half of 2003), but it's unclear how long Apple will take to introduce it (if they do), and how much such a system will cost.

I am hoping that it is a resonable price... a dual 970 coupled with a seagate cheetah 15k setup, and you wouldnt have to upgrade ever again

well at least for a while...