Sorry this is kinda long, skim to the bold sentences if you don't want to read all the filler and background stuff.
I have used hand-me-down macs up until now (starting with a Mac Plus), and am now planning to buy my first new comp. The Pro is kinda overkill, but it's fully upgradeable so it oughta last
So I'm planning on getting a Pro w/ a 500 GB HD, ATI Radeon x1900, Bluetooth + Airport, and I'll pick up an extra 2 Gigs of ram from somewhere besides
The questions:
1) Any one know a good place/brand to get a display from? I was thinking along the lines of a 20" widescreen, around $300 (but less is good if the quality will hold up) I've heard good things about Dell and Samsung...
Likewise, anyone have some good clues on some speakers? Nothing too fancy
2) I want to get the iPod rebate and have my pro before fall, otherwise I might wait for Leopard and a possible hardware refresh. Is it possible that Mac will give a deal on buying the Leopard upgrade to people who bought new computers just before it came out? I sincerely doubt it, but hope springs eternal so I thought I'd ask.
3) When I do get Leopard, what will the upgrade do to my BootCamp partitions? If Leopard really does end up changing the current file format and reformats the drive will I have to reinstall everything on my partitions?
My 2 most important questions:
4) How shall I back my stuff up? I've never had a problem on a Mac before, but there's a first for everything. Plus, I need a good way to back up my windows half as well (ever since my Dad's copy of XP that he uses in Parallels just deleted one of its startup files, I've been feeling paranoid). Maybe a RAID? I truly don't have any good ideas
5) Virus protection. In the spirit of paranoia, does anyone have a nice security suite that they like? I can get a free copy of Symantec through my college for XP, but I'd like to protect my Mac half as well. Just in case. I've had bad experiences with Norton, but I could be wrong about it.
Thanks for reading, sorry it's such a long post. Any comments/advice will be much appreciated.
I have used hand-me-down macs up until now (starting with a Mac Plus), and am now planning to buy my first new comp. The Pro is kinda overkill, but it's fully upgradeable so it oughta last
So I'm planning on getting a Pro w/ a 500 GB HD, ATI Radeon x1900, Bluetooth + Airport, and I'll pick up an extra 2 Gigs of ram from somewhere besides
The questions:
1) Any one know a good place/brand to get a display from? I was thinking along the lines of a 20" widescreen, around $300 (but less is good if the quality will hold up) I've heard good things about Dell and Samsung...
Likewise, anyone have some good clues on some speakers? Nothing too fancy
2) I want to get the iPod rebate and have my pro before fall, otherwise I might wait for Leopard and a possible hardware refresh. Is it possible that Mac will give a deal on buying the Leopard upgrade to people who bought new computers just before it came out? I sincerely doubt it, but hope springs eternal so I thought I'd ask.
3) When I do get Leopard, what will the upgrade do to my BootCamp partitions? If Leopard really does end up changing the current file format and reformats the drive will I have to reinstall everything on my partitions?
My 2 most important questions:
4) How shall I back my stuff up? I've never had a problem on a Mac before, but there's a first for everything. Plus, I need a good way to back up my windows half as well (ever since my Dad's copy of XP that he uses in Parallels just deleted one of its startup files, I've been feeling paranoid). Maybe a RAID? I truly don't have any good ideas
5) Virus protection. In the spirit of paranoia, does anyone have a nice security suite that they like? I can get a free copy of Symantec through my college for XP, but I'd like to protect my Mac half as well. Just in case. I've had bad experiences with Norton, but I could be wrong about it.
Thanks for reading, sorry it's such a long post. Any comments/advice will be much appreciated.
