Considering a Mac

[Maxcy]

Hi,
Over the past few days I have been looking in to buying a mac. At the current time I have a HP laptop which I bought last October to replace my pc which broke. i have always used pcs and never really looked at macs due to most things been made for pcs e.g. software/hardware. Recently my laptop stated to suffer from slow down which seemed to be from lack of memory. I was rather angered by this as I have not had the laptop 6 month! The laptop has Vista on it and has an Intel centrino 1.7 duo and 2gb of ram. I would most likely buy an iMac as I could still use my currently laptop for working away after it has been sorted.

1) With boot camp can the mac be made just like a normal pc with vista on? So there are no compatibility issues or hardware issues etc? Also could vista be run on the machine the majority of the time or does Leopard still need to be running? The main thing is how ever is it stable and not crashing or conflicting most of the time?

2) If I create documents using this can I save the files in for example word and the file can then be opened on windows? Is it also possible to save to older windows formats mainly 97-03 format.

3)I know this happens allot with modern day technology but if I bought an iMac next week is there a chance an updated model could be released any time soon? Wouldn’t want to buy an iMac and the price suddenly drops or a better model be released for the same price!

4)with the 24inch iMaxc spec: gfx card 2600 256mb + duo 2.4 and 2gb of RAM would this spec be able to run most modern games? Only ones that spring to mind without looking are crysis and Jericho.

5)The extended apple care that takes the warranty to 3 years; is it worth buying is it advisable to sell on and upgrade macs often? 3 years seems a bit of a long time without even an upgrade which is not possible on the iMac?

Any other help or advice appreciated!

Cheers Max

 

[ClassicMac247]

I don't think there will be an iMac update anytime soon, but just to be sure you can look in the macrumors buying guides.

 

[motulist]

It's hard to find your questions when their mixed up with your narrative. For more and better answers from this forum I'd suggest composing your questions into a clear list without commentaries mixed in. For instance:

"1) Can I run games well using boot camp?
2) Is X greater than Y?
3) Who will win the next super bowl?"

 

[wightstraker]

I have noticed that office is available to use on Leopard. If I create documents using this can I save the files in for example word and the file can then be opened on windows? Is it also possible to save to older windows formats mainly 97-03.doc.

Any doc file you make on a mac should be readable on a PC. You don't even need MS Office - consider free version (which are often just a good) like NeoOffice.

I know this happens allot with modern day technology but if I bought an iMac next week is there a chance an updated model could be released any time soon? Wouldn’t want to buy an iMac and the price suddenly drops or a better model be released for the same price!

Macworld was earlier this week so it's probably going to be a long time before any more major hardware updates. Ultimately you'll just torment yourself if you have these sorts of worries, so don't sweat it.

Another point is the graphics card in the iMac, when I used a PC last year before i bough this laptop i used to play the odd game every now and then. Is this card along with the processor/memory able to run most modern games? Only ones that spring to mind without looking are crysis and Jericho.

Most games work fine. Crysis might be pushing it. If you want serious power (and better expandability, one of my personal mac peeves), consider the Power Mac.

The #1 reason to get a mac: Mac OS X, hands down.

 

[clevin]

The boot camp feature that is available now is what has made me consider purchasing a mac. I would just like to clear a few things up however before I purchase a mac. With boot camp can the mac be made just like a normal pc with vista on? So there are no compatibility issues or hardware issues etc? Also could vista be run on the machine the majority of the time or does Leopard still need to be running? The main thing is how ever is it stable and not crashing or conflicting most of the time?

Bootcamp should allow your iMac to run as a normal pc, however, recently I found out that apple's drivers in bootcamp, for the hardwares, are not that good in some cases. So, I can't say its 100%, maybe 90~95%?

I have noticed that office is available to use on Leopard. If I create documents using this can I save the files in for example word and the file can then be opened on windows? Is it also possible to save to older windows formats mainly 97-03.doc.

there will be issues, 100% same is probably not possible due to the problems like fonts, etc

Another point is the graphics card in the iMac, when I used a PC last year before i bough this laptop i used to play the odd game every now and then. Is this card along with the processor/memory able to run most modern games? Only ones that spring to mind without looking are crysis and Jericho.

you need to check the website of the games you play, check their system requirement, compare them to iMac's specs

 

[apachie2k]

Hi,
Over the past few days I have been looking in to buying a mac. At the current time I have a HP laptop which I bought last October to replace my pc which broke. i have always used pcs and never really looked at macs due to most things been made for pcs e.g. software/hardware. Recently my laptop stated to suffer from slow down which seemed to be from lack of memory. I was rather angered by this as I have not had the laptop 6 month! The laptop has Vista on it and has an Intel centrino 1.7 duo and 2gb of ram. I would most likely buy an iMac as I could still use my currently laptop for working away after it has been sorted.

The boot camp feature that is available now is what has made me consider purchasing a mac. I would just like to clear a few things up however before I purchase a mac. With boot camp can the mac be made just like a normal pc with vista on? So there are no compatibility issues or hardware issues etc? Also could vista be run on the machine the majority of the time or does Leopard still need to be running? The main thing is how ever is it stable and not crashing or conflicting most of the time?

I have noticed that office is available to use on Leopard. If I create documents using this can I save the files in for example word and the file can then be opened on windows? Is it also possible to save to older windows formats mainly 97-03.doc.

I know this happens allot with modern day technology but if I bought an iMac next week is there a chance an updated model could be released any time soon? Wouldn’t want to buy an iMac and the price suddenly drops or a better model be released for the same price!

The 24" with a 2.4 and 2 GB of ram would most likely be the spec that I would purchase. Are iMacs at this spec ok for the types of uses that I would be using it for; design work e.g. flash and Photoshop, Media such as watching movies and listen to music and internet browsing? These are basic tasks however I do most things at once for example listen to music while downloading and working on a portfolio in word while researching on the web. However like i mentioned earlier this laptop which seemed a reasonable spec however the song would jerk while web browsing!

Another point is the graphics card in the iMac, when I used a PC last year before i bough this laptop i used to play the odd game every now and then. Is this card along with the processor/memory able to run most modern games? Only ones that spring to mind without looking are crysis and Jericho.

One last question...! The extended apple care that takes the warranty to 3 years; is it worth buying is it advisable to sell on and upgrade macs often? 3 years seems a bit of a long time without even an upgrade which is not possible on the iMac?

Any other help or advice appreciated!

Cheers Max

ok... in order....

running windows on an imac - leopard doesn't have to be runnning, you can run windows all the time, however once you play with leopard there's little doubt that you will want to stay there!

office (2008) - i can't say i know for sure if you can save in older formats, but figuring you can in office 2004, i'm 99% positive you can... only 1% because i haven't used it yet...

24" - 2 GB ram --- plenty for what you will use it for, and good for the games....

warranty -- seems to be a personal thing, i would def. recommend it for laptops, however desktops don't move as often, and if your going to replace it soon it's kind of up in the air, note: you have up until a year after purchasing the computer to extend the already year of warranty and maybe 30 days of phone support (not positive on the phone support) but am positive that if you buy the extended warranty it does come with phone support


good luck!