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Help: Want to make the switch

A

AppleNoob

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 13, 2007
11
0
I was a Mac user back in the IIc days. However, I've been a PC user ever since that time. Vista is such a piece of buggy junk that I did not feel comfortable keeping it on my main machine and I'm really tired of supporting MS. Everything from their game consoles to their OS is just so unreliable. I recently tried the Safari for Windows beta and was very impressed with its speed. (It renders some pages so much faster than Firefox or Opera.) Anyway, I'm now looking to get a Mac for my next main computer.

Here's what I care about the most:

Mathematica
Adobe Photoshop
Low to Mid-range gaming (Love strategy and puzzle games.)


Here's what I do not care about at all:

High-end gaming
Laptops

All of that having been said, I would like to have a computer that will last for a few years. I'm not someone who purchases a new computer every year. I usually go about 3 years between purchases.

My questions:

1. What lines are overdue for updates? I'd really like to avoid purchasing, say, a high-end iMac and have Apple announce news ones the next day. I know that phenomenon is nothing new in the computer world, but I'd think it would be a bit easier to predict when you're only concerning yourself with one company.
2. How long does it usually take Apple before it drops the price on its systems? The Mac Pro 8-Core looks very appealing (obviously), but it's a bit too expensive for me at this point.
3. What the heck is up with those RAM prices?
4. What have your experiences with Airport Extreme been like?
 
Welcome. The iMac does sound ideal for you, but it is due an update in the near future so it may be worth sitting tight. Apple tend to reduce their prices when they introduce new models, rarely otherwise, although they do run promos fairly regularly. Apple's refurb store is also worth a look.

Apple have always over-charged for RAM. Buy your mac with the standard amount installed, then buy good RAM online.

No experience with Airport Extreme. Sorry ;)
 
AppleNoob said:
1. What lines are overdue for updates? I'd really like to avoid purchasing, say, a high-end iMac and have Apple announce news ones the next day. I know that phenomenon is nothing new in the computer world, but I'd think it would be a bit easier to predict when you're only concerning yourself with one company.
2. How long does it usually take Apple before it drops the price on its systems? The Mac Pro 8-Core looks very appealing (obviously), but it's a bit too expensive for me at this point.
3. What the heck is up with those RAM prices?
4. What have your experiences with Airport Extreme been like?
Click to expand...

1) iMac, Mini (if it survives)
2) They don't. They bump the speed, etc.and maintain the same price generally, or even lower the price as was the case with the recent MBP bump.
3) Don't buy RAM from Apple. Do buy quality RAM. I use Crucial.
4) Fantastic. I have two.
 
Yeah, as Southernboy said, the iMacs are due to be updated. But, I have the bottom end first-gen intel iMac (1.83 Core Duo, 512mb RAM) and it runs Adobe Pshop 7 surprisingly well, though it can take ages to load.
I'm not saying going for the bottom end, just that these machines can be surprisingly powerful - eventhough they should be updated soon.
Apple's RAM prices are a slap in the face...at Crucial UK I can max out the RAM for my iMac (2gb) for ~£50.
On the gaming front, my aforementioned spec runs Call Of Duty 1 (with Rosetta, no Universal patch :( ) without annoying lag.

I too have not used Airport Extreme :eek: ....But i'm glad to know it's there :p
 
You're buying a mac because Safari was fast on Windows? My god, SJ was right!!

Like everyone else said, the iMac sounds good for your needs. Apple RAM is way too overpriced so never buy it from Apple. Airport is great. You definitely need to check out the buyers guide section https://buyersguide.macrumors.com// if your really worried about getting the most up to date stuff.
 
Wait on the iMac.

I own the Airport Extreme g (older model) and it's great. Never had a problem with it. And I love printing wirelessly.

We bought the newer Airport Extreme n for work (a school) to get better range and signal strength (among 20 computers) even though they're not n machines. We had problems with this airport dropping the signal several times a day (several being 3-4). So we reinstalled the older base station too and have both running. I think most of the computers still log onto to the older one.
 
I agree with everyone else here. An iMac sounds like it would suit your needs very well. Do not get RAM from Apple, save money and get it from somewhere like Crucial.

Another thing, if you're looking to game (not high end, but more gaming that Mac OS X can offer you), I've found Boot Camp to be very reliable. Just install Windows XP onto a partition and you'll be open to gaming any windows game.

While the iMac would be great, definitely wait a while because they are due for an update.

Go here for a guide to see the average update time and how near it is. As you can see, the iMac is long overdue.

Also on the updating of computers, one thing that will give you peace of mind with Apple is that if you order a computer right after an update, you can be pretty certain that it will be at least 6 months or so until that model will be upgraded, which is something that can't be said in the PC world.

As for the Airport Extreme, a friend of mine has one, and I don't think he's had too many problems with it, besides that some HP printer/scanner/copier devices don't quite work correctly for wireless printing (I've experienced this with my Airport Express). Another thing that is nice is that you can hook up a single-partition USB hard drive and have wireless storage!
 
make sure to check the Dell XPS series. it's future proof, w/ better service (they have their own XPS tech support number), and it works brilliantly. maybe you should keep Windows XP like i did until all the bugs worked out of Vista.
 
Thank you everyone for the suggestions and info. It sounds like almost all of you think that the iMac would be ideal for me. I hope Apple announces new iMacs very soon. I haven't been this excited about buying a new computer in a long time! :)
 
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