I really use my MCE primarily as a DVR only. For BlueRay I have a PS3 and my AVCHD work is done on other macs. All of my content is served up to my TV's by either the PS3, a PC itself or an Xbox 360 running extender software between the Macs and those platforms. I will look at the aopen page though.
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Apple Announces New iMacs, Mac Minis, AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule
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I really use my MCE primarily as a DVR only. For BlueRay I have a PS3 and my AVCHD work is done on other macs. All of my content is served up to my TV's by either the PS3, a PC itself or an Xbox 360 running extender software between the Macs and those platforms. I will look at the aopen page though.
My local BMW dealership has some amazing deals on at the moment, and I'm going to guess that has something to do with recession perhaps? A common metaphor but not entirely comparable
Great deals yes, but i don't think I'd be able to walk out with a brand new 09 BMW M3 for half price cause of the recession.
The point I was making is Apple should be considered a premium "luxury" brand. Their prices are high and I complain about it too but that's why there are the Dells out there that can cater to general mass consumer.
Do it!
I've been running OS X on my machine I built since '06. This thing screams. I've been able to upgrade my video card, add internal drives with ease, overclock, use dual matched matte displays. My tower cost less than a current Mini (initially) and I don't have to buy a new machine every few years to upgrade it or wait on Apple to release sub-par hardware at a ridiculous price.
Using OS X on third party hardware used to be a pain, but now it's super easy. Heck, I run all my updates from software update, my machine shuts down/reboots/sleeps out of the box and my hardware is WELL supported.
You can't go wrong.
Apple has never been known for giving customers good values on products. They focus on the providing a better overall package with design and quality as their hallmarks.
That said, yes they are more expensive, but that's because Apple is perceived as a PREMIUM brand and they don't see themselves as a direct competitor to Dell or HP who charges half the price. If anything Apple competes with Sony.
It's annoying when people bag on Apple's prices as a "Apple Tax"... so answer these for me:
Why must BMWs, Mercedes and all those luxury cars cost so much? Why can't I buy any of them for the same price as a Toyota Camry?! Even in this economy, you would think they could slash the price of a $35,000 luxury car down to $18,000...
Same ordeal. I could go on and on with this... Rolex watches, fine dining etc etc...
Luxury cars ARE being slashed in price - there are huge discounts available now.
Apple's recession strategy so far is to take a hit on their sales volume and maintain unit profit margin - they've already confirmed this during their last results forecast.
But Macs aren't for gaming! They're the 'funnest' computer ever, but they're NOT for gaming! What? They can run Windows too which ARE for gaming? Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! I am the all power Jobz!! Somehow, I imagine if that were the all powerful Woz, we'd be in much better shape. Seriously, Hackintoshes are really nice these days and have REAL hardware (as in Mac Pro level GPUs, quad-cores, etc. that work fine with OS X). They can even watch BD movies in Windows. If everyone goes Hackintosh, Apple will get the message (that they need to make OS X incompatible; heck they might even go back to PPC where they could punish the Mac community with overpriced hardware and no one complained because there was no clones to hack). Apple loves a monopoly on OS X hardware. The question is how loyal are Mac fanboys and how much they're willing to pay to get less.
It's annoying when people bag on Apple's prices as a "Apple Tax"... so answer these for me:
Why must BMWs, Mercedes and all those luxury cars cost so much? Why can't I buy any of them for the same price as a Toyota Camry?! Even in this economy, you would think they could slash the price of a $35,000 luxury car down to $18,000...
Same ordeal. I could go on and on with this... Rolex watches, fine dining etc etc...
Haha, it's Apple fans boys like you (check your sig!) that means Apple can charge what they want.
Your example doesn't work. You cannot compare a BMW to a Mercedes, can you buy a BMW with a Mercedes engine? NO.
Does a Rolex watch share any components with a Casio? NO.
Do McDonalds sell comparable food to a fine restuarant? NO.
Can you buy a Dell with comparable components with an Apple? YES.
I think I will yes and the standard PVR/DVR software that comes with the Elgato.
That is how I read it. If your concerned enough I would wait till people start ripping them open and benchmarking them. It does say minimum ram so it can go higher.
My related questions are:
Does the minimum scale after 2GB? Can the 9400 get up to 512?
While I understand that this upgrade from the last iMac is nothing special, I personally am very pleased and will definitely be ordering the 20 inch iMac.
I was still working on a Powerbook with not even 1 GB of RAM. My video iPod had more space than the HD of my Powerbook, for goodness sakes. And I would have gone happily along with my Powerbook for more years if it hadn't been stolen, unfortunately.
For me, being able to go to 320 GB HD, 2 GB RAM - that's a great update for me! Plus, my quote for the last iMac (250 GB HD, 1 GB RAM) is the same as the new 20 inch with 320 GB HD and 2 GB RAM. I, personally, think that's fantastic.
I do; however, agree that the UK prices are horrific.
I was still working on a Powerbook with not even 1 GB of RAM. My video iPod had more space than the HD of my Powerbook, for goodness sakes. And I would have gone happily along with my Powerbook for more years if it hadn't been stolen, unfortunately.
For me, being able to go to 320 GB HD, 2 GB RAM - that's a great update for me! Plus, my quote for the last iMac (250 GB HD, 1 GB RAM) is the same as the new 20 inch with 320 GB HD and 2 GB RAM. I, personally, think that's fantastic.
I do; however, agree that the UK prices are horrific.
Originally Posted by LaMerVipere View Post
Can someone tell me if the new integrated NVIDIA graphics for the 20"/24" iMacs is better or worse than the ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO that was in the previous top of the line 20" iMac?
I would also like to know this. I'm thinking about buying my first imac and I'm not trolling or anything, I just really would like to know why people think the prices are too high. The reason I ask is because I have been looking for a couple weeks and the 24" imac in the low range was 1699 I think, and now it's 1499. That's a price decrease, albeit for the same hardware other than a memory upgrade. I totally understand the people who are let down though.
Can anyone address these questions?
Can someone tell me if the new integrated NVIDIA graphics for the 20"/24" iMacs is better or worse than the ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO that was in the previous top of the line 20" iMac?
I would also like to know this. I'm thinking about buying my first imac and I'm not trolling or anything, I just really would like to know why people think the prices are too high. The reason I ask is because I have been looking for a couple weeks and the 24" imac in the low range was 1699 I think, and now it's 1499. That's a price decrease, albeit for the same hardware other than a memory upgrade. I totally understand the people who are let down though.
Can anyone address these questions?
While I understand that this upgrade from the last iMac is nothing special, I personally am very pleased and will definitely be ordering the 20 inch iMac.
I was still working on a Powerbook with not even 1 GB of RAM. My video iPod had more space than the HD of my Powerbook, for goodness sakes. And I would have gone happily along with my Powerbook for more years if it hadn't been stolen, unfortunately.
For me, being able to go to 320 GB HD, 2 GB RAM - that's a great update for me! Plus, my quote for the last iMac (250 GB HD, 1 GB RAM) is the same as the new 20 inch with 320 GB HD and 2 GB RAM. I, personally, think that's fantastic.
I do; however, agree that the UK prices are horrific.
Check refurb store, upgrade HDD and RAM yourself and you'd also making a nice saving. I only mention it as there was a 20" on the UK site just a few moments ago with nice discounts.
I'm actually getting a little nervous now about my iMac purchase this morning. No one seems to be able to confirm whether or not he nVidia 130 GT will be able to work with Final Cut Studio 2.
How will this card behave with games on Windows? I currently have an nVidia 8800GT in my Mac Pro but wanted to get rid of that system consolidate my system into one neat product.
But if it's not going to be compatible with FCS or run games poorly I'll cancel my order.
How will this card behave with games on Windows? I currently have an nVidia 8800GT in my Mac Pro but wanted to get rid of that system consolidate my system into one neat product.
But if it's not going to be compatible with FCS or run games poorly I'll cancel my order.
Now it's nearly 100% that I'll be getting an iMac for desktop and Mac Mini for media center in a few months.
pretty much, at OWC
Qty: Item Number: Description: Availability: Price:
HIT0A57547 320GB 2.5" Hitachi Travelstar 7K320 7200RPM SATA Notebook Drive with 16MB Cache
Price only $72.99 after $20 mail-in rebate available for this item. Click here for details & limitations. In Stock $92.99
OWC8566DDR3S4GP 4.0GB (2x2.0GB Kit) PC-8500 DDR3 1066MHz SO-DIMM 204 Pin Memory Upgrade Kit In Stock $64.99
BUT this is a 7200 RPM HDD at OWC, not a 5400 like Apple WTF APPLE??
Both get you where you need to go.
Both tell time equally well.
Both provide nourishment.
A BMW is made with the same raw components as a Mercedes or Chevrolet. Mcdonalds and the fine steakhouse both start with beef.
Components being one portion of the computing experience. The others being packaging/design, software, customer service, etc. Some things are worth more to certain people, and not to others. Go spec out an XPS One, you'll find that they are not that much cheaper.
The iMac has a custom motherboard with insane chip density as well as a highly specialised design.
The components are the same or similar, but a pile of chips isn't a computer.
I did.
Google for cinebench results and other benchmarks for the 9400M and 2600 pro. The 2600 is marginally better at some tasks and well ahead in others.
Check refurb store, upgrade HDD and RAM yourself and you'd also making a nice saving. I only mention it as there was a 20" on the UK site just a few moments ago with nice discounts.
I was thinking of that at one point, but very honestly, I have no idea how to do that sort of thing myself.
Excellent - I may be tapping you for information very soon!
It's the way to go. My machine (see sig) benchmarks higher on Xbench than the average Mac Pro specs that have been submitted and I haven't put the second CPU in yet. So far it's cost me about £600. Admittedly I saved some money on hard drives by using a load from my old G5, but such are the advantages of building a Hack.
As rhpenguin says, it used to be a royal pita, but now so long as you do your homework before (just like with any PC build that's being built for a specific purpose, tbh) it's pretty easy.
www.insanelymac.com www.hackint0sh.org <- your new best friends
Mac Mini
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Remove Combodrive - Check
More storage - Check
Latest 1066Mhz RAM - Check
More USB Port - Check
Mini DVI port - Check
iMac
-----
8 GB RAM support - Check
Larger Screen Size - Check
4GB RAM Standard - Check
More HDD - Check
Integrated Graphics - Uncheck
LED Display - Uncheck
Quad Core - Uncheck
Blu ray - Uncheck
thats how i see it, if apple gives graphic card on $1499 on 24", i think it will be killer machine.
on the mac mini, 2GB on entry machine and 4GB on $799 would be sweet.
--------
Remove Combodrive - Check
More storage - Check
Latest 1066Mhz RAM - Check
More USB Port - Check
Mini DVI port - Check
iMac
-----
8 GB RAM support - Check
Larger Screen Size - Check
4GB RAM Standard - Check
More HDD - Check
Integrated Graphics - Uncheck
LED Display - Uncheck
Quad Core - Uncheck
Blu ray - Uncheck
thats how i see it, if apple gives graphic card on $1499 on 24", i think it will be killer machine.
on the mac mini, 2GB on entry machine and 4GB on $799 would be sweet.