dp 1.25 - getting closer to purchasing

[mdeschenes]

Looking for some final advice - I am not quite sure if the following will work well together. Perhaps some of you more experienced users can be of assistance.
I called the Apple Store people and asked for the following:
-their price for DP 1.25( $190 savings for Education Discount)
-Office X
-Micromat Utilities
-.Mac
I was going to get an additional 256 megs ram but this would cost $150 cdn. I did find a second party DDR 512 ram for $150 at a local PC retailer. Can I use this second party ram in the new DP 1.25? I am currently using a PC that has 1 X 512 DDR PC 2700 and, added to the 2nd 512 DDR stick (Samsung), should really help the DP 1.25 perform much better than "stock" (if the second party RAM will "run" without a hitch). The Apple Store does not sell Virtual PC. I would like to load Virtual PC 6.0 DOS as I have a licensed copy of XP home. It can be purchased at our local Apple reseller for $199 cdn. Has anyone had experience in loading XP onto the DOS version? If so, was it difficult? Did it work well? I have many files and programs from my PC that I need to continue to access. The folks at the local shop said that it would likely take the tech 1.5 to 2.0 hours to install VPC + XP - with a charge of about $150 for the labour. I hope to do it myself if I don't manage to crash everything (it's been quite a while since I worked with a mac -- back in the MacOS 8.5 days)
The Apple Rep stated that he would give me a deal on a Superdrive. Instead of an additional $300, the upgrade would cost $200. I just wonder if I would use it enough to justify the additional cost. I am not familiar with burning DVDs and I am not really into downloading movies. Are there other multiple uses of such a piece of hardware? (Sorry, not very well versed in the hardware).
I also wish to add a usb 2.0 (4 ports) card as I have several usb peripherals. I take it that the motherboard + OS will easily accommodate this card. I will eventually upgrade to firewire hardware as I replace older external hardware.
About FireWire 800 - being that it is a very new development, my current firewire LaCie external CD-RW would only perform at the transfer rates for the FireWire 400 if plugged into the 800 port - is that so?
The Apple rep stated that it would take 11 to 17 business days for the computer to reach my door. I guess that with the above "educational" deals make it very worth the wait. I have been waiting for a long time to rejoin the Mac family.
Good bye PC....Hello Mac.

 

[crazzyeddie]

OK, lots of questions and answers here...

For the DP 1.25ghz I show a price of $100 off retail with educational discount.
Micromat utilities (I'm assuming TechtoolPro) is not yet compatible with OS X... so I would wait for that, or buy Norton Utilities, which is fine for users like yourself.
RAM: Any PC2700 DDR will work, but I would stick to reputible names, like the Samsung you mentioned.
Virtual PC: Its pretty easy to use, very straight forward. If the copy of XP Home you bought was the upgrade version, it will not install on DOS. If this is the case, you could install Windows 98 first, then upgrade to XP. Dont worry about crashing everything, because you cant. If you mess up the Windows install, or crash windows, just drag it to the trash and reinstall. Very Very easy.
The DVD Burner is very useful for backing up large amounts of data, upto 4.7GB per disc. This is great for backing up all your work on one disk, or for transfering large files for your job. DVD-RW disks exsist, just like CD-RW, the process is very much the same. Also burns CD-R and CD-RW. It only takes 15min to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD... they dont call it a Superdrive for nothing
Adding a USB 2.0 card: Do you have USB 2.0 devices, or are they just USB 1.1? A USB 2.0 card will have drivers to let it work at 2.0 speeds that you can download from the manufacturer. But if you dont need USB 2.0, dont waste your time. Firewire > USB 2.0 . If it is, for instance, a CD Burner, forget about it, just use the built in one.
Firewire 800 is not the same port as firewire 400, so you cant plus your LaCie into it, but there are firewire 400 ports (2) on the powermac. There will be adaptors someday, but your devices will still only work at 400 speeds, much the same as USB.
The 1.25 Dual is a very good deal, don't hesitate to buy it. Office X for Mac is better than the PC version, have fun with it. .Mac is ok... if you need that stuff. If you need a webpage, then get it, if not, dont worry about it, but it might be worth it for the first year with this promotion they have going, which is what I did.

 

[MrMacMan]

Oh god that post was no spilt up into sections.
eek.
Apple overcharges for ram so get it someplace else but make sure it is compatible with mac.
Ram does improve preformance alot.
I'm not sure of the shipping/tax/Can-American $$ issue but here are some prices. Don't get for anything much higher it is probably not worth it.

DVD burning takes a little effor but here I am not king.
If you NEED USB 2.0 then there a a couple options, none harder than the next.
Next Question: Yes your firewire 400 will only run 400 on a 800 Firewire. Not faster.

I think that is all, next time split up your questions please.

 

[mdeschenes]

Sorry about...

not splitting up....

my questions....

into separate paragraphs.

Will do better next time around. Grammatical/stuctural issues aside, thanks for the advice. The salesperson assured me that Micromat 10 (tech tools) is supposed to work with OS 10 but I will double check on the web. Norton's will do fine as an option.

If I should choose to go the Norton route (including anti-virus), will .Mac be redundant. I read about it on the Apple site and only have a vague idea of what it is supposed to do. An internet tool with many applications - I'm not sure if it is worth it. Anyone????

I do have a backpack external HD (usb 2.0 I think) and a Canon s820 printer. I also have a Microsoft keyboard (Mac drivers included) + Logitech wireless mouse. Thought perhaps the usb 2.0 card would be worth the $88 cdn.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[JustAGuy]

Hey, another canuck looking to get the dual 1.25; we must be multiplying. .Mac is probably not worth it unless you plan to heavily use the features they're selling. The ones of most note are:

- iCal publish share with other Mac users
- Address Book sync between macs
- iDisk for online storage & software retrieval
- Web site hosting (actually kinda handy for throwing up albums from iPhoto)
- mac.com email

There are other services but these are the big ones. For me, this is a Giant Ripoff, but others might find it more useful. Undoubtedly Apple will be adding to this list in the future, but I'd rather not buy a subscription service based on features that are not implemented yet and not even confirmed.

As for your USB toys, the keyboard, mouse & printer almost certainly don't support USB 2.0. Even if they did, they wouldn't use the extra bandwidth (keyboads get along quite happily at the "low" USB rate of 1.2 Mbps).

The HD might use it, but unless it is fairly new it probably doesn't have it. Personally, I'd crack that USB enclosure open and throw the disk inside the case if I didn't need the mobility (which my iPod handles nicely).

But, hey, the great thing is that you might as well try it without for a bit and if you really want the USB 2.0, buy it later. No harm in waiting.

One last thing: expect the tax on this puppy to be 7% GST and a harmonized 7% provincial import tax (regardless of the province of delivery). At least that's what my buddy who works for CCRA told me...

 

[TheMightyG]

Hi :

Just a note of caution re: Norton.

It does funny things to the kernal when you install it and I'm not sure that I trust disk doctor all that much. Often it will report errors when Apple's own Disk Utility will not and vice versa.

I'd wait for Alsoft to bring out DiskWarrior 3 for X (?this month) instead. DW 2.1 for OS 9 was a much better product than any flavour of Norton, and I expect no less from Version 3.

With respects to the educational discount, often Canadian independent VARs will sell Macs at educational prices (with Valid ID) . You may be able to get a better bundle than what you found with the Apple Online Store if you bargain hard. I've had good success in the past with Westworld in Vancouver. Try shaking the tree a bit.

Lastly, I don't think .mac is worth the annual fee unless you do a lot of online publishing/sharing, especially if you already have an email account with your educational institution

 

[Sun Baked]

Are you really going to be saving money if you buy Virtual PC with DOS and then pay someone to install XP on top of it?

Check out the price of Virtual PC with XP, it may end up costing you less, since you should be able to handle it all yourself.

 

[crazzyeddie]

Norton find errors that DiskUtility doesn't, and fixes problems that DiskUtility doesn't. I had about 1.5GB in lost files and only Norton could restore them, not DiskUtil. And its fine if youre not a computer technician.

You don't need anti virus! I can't remember the last time I saw one of these email bugs that affects Macs. The worst thing we have is bugs with InternetExplorer (dont use it, use Safari), and MS Office, which is more of a security risk than a virus risk. I have had Macs for 10 years, and never had a virus. Coming from a PC world, that might be difficult to understand, but while my friends reinstall their systems every month, I don't ever need to.

As far as Micromat, you must be referring to Disk 10. This is an OK tool, but Norton is much, much better than Disk 10. For Diskwarrior and TechTool Pro you must restart the computer off of the CD ROM, which is quite impossible considering you cannot boot into OS 9 on the new Macs.