Santa needs some help!!

[fireflylane]

Santa is looking to bring a good little 7 year old boy and his family a Mac for Christmas and needs some help in getting just the right machine for their needs. The family is interested in a maching that can be used by all primarily for storing, editing photos, storing music collection, internet use and some gaming (nothing extensive here!!). Santa could use some suggestions on games as well if anyone has any - 7 year old is very advanced computer user (keep that in mind).

Thinking about a refurbished imac - any thoughts on these two machines??

1. iMac 24-inch 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
$1,099
4GB memory
640GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB memory

2. 24-inch 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
$1,279.00
4GB memory
640GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 256MB memory

 

[Airforcekid]

Both are great if they plan playing graphic intense games go for the upgrade really no other big reason if you can a quad core would last longer and be a nice starter mac when the kid is in high school.

 

[MrCheeto]

The higher one sounds like a great machine for the job. Apples come with all the software needed to do those things, and do it quite well.
Be sure to record Christmas this year and edit in iMovie I never successfully created a movie until I got my first Mac ^.^ Then you can make it into a DVD with iDVD! Haha oh the i's.

At any rate, there are a few things you should keep in mind.
1. You're going to have a lot of information on this computer, so you'll want to back it up in case a meteor comes through the roof, right? Just purchase an external hard drive (either usb or firewire) that is larger than 640gb and use it for Time Machine!

2. Most family's that rely on a Mac make a mistake that causes it to seem really slow and it's frustrating, however the answer is so simple. In Windows, when you close a window the application quits. In MacOS X when you close a window the application is still loaded so that the next time you need it it opens faster! But for the most part you will want to QUIT the application, like when you're finished browsing the internet. Clicking the red "x" will close the window, but going to File-Quit, pressing Command+Q, or right-clicking the application's icon in the dock and selecting "Quit" will keep your computer freed up to run at full speed

3. If multiple members of the family are going to be using this, be SURE each person has their own User Account on the computer! Nothing is worse than arguing about the wallpaper and dock location and people moving your files. Every User Account can almost be considered an individual computer! Only the Admin account effects other users, so be sure that the first person to set the computer up deserves Admin status. And no, you're Account Name will not have to be "Administrator" . After each person has an account, enable "Fast User Switching" so that you don't have to close all of your programs to let someone else use the machine


It will all be easier to understand once you have the computer in front of you, but these are things that would make a LOT of first time users less frustrated

Here are some helpful links, read up

Mac OS X
Find out How
New User Account
Logging Out
Fast User Switching

 

[jdusoccer12]

I wish that Santa came to my house when I was 7. I just got my first mac (I'm 15) and I got Spore for it and my 8 year old cousin loves playing it so I would recomend that she loves making her own little creatures.

Good Luck and enjoy your Mac

 

[MrCheeto]

Hahahaha, I remember seeing a movie in about 1995-ish and it had a laptop in it, something that blew my mind. (YOU CAN...what?! A computer?! On your lap?! WOW! I could use that everywhere I go! I would take it to school every day!) I think it was Richie Rich

At any rate I wanted one more than anything until about 2001 when my mom got her first laptop, it was the first time I'd seen one in person as well. It came with Windows XP which was JUST released and after growing up on NT, 95, and ME it was a big deal I was so excited! The first thing I wanted to do was browse the internet in bed!!! Except...with my noobish mind...I had overlooked the fact that dial-up requires a cable -.-' Well, at least I could use Paint in bed hahaha.

Now I have a 13" MacBook Pro and my last trip on a plane was spent creating 2 spreadsheets and finishing an iMovie XD and I spend every night casually reading this forum in bed and using other programs I couldn't have imagined all those years ago. Heck, having a full-color display would have been incomprehensible back then!

Oh the times, lucky kids. Every kid should have a Mac to express their creativity in iMovie and Pages and Spore

 

[pukifloyd]

I'd go for the first option...
this imac will be more than enough to handle your needs(unless your 7 year old kid plays call of duty...still it will be fine though )

Merry Christmas

 

[fireflylane]

I am embarrassed to say, my son has completed several versions of call of duty so it is not out of the question that he may want the latest version to conquer. Would the second machine support this??

 

[MrCheeto]

Well, what platform is he playing his games on?

If it's a console, I'd stick to it. I couldn't imagine growing up in a house where my Nintendo was actually my mom's computer, she'd have to bait me into a room and strap me to the floor to get any computer time of her own.

What I'm saying is I think it may be better if you keep gamers to game consoles so that the computer users can use the computer.

But to answer your question, my computer ran the second from last version seamlessly, I'd gamble the higher model iMac could handle it but it's best to ask someone who has first-hand experience with either machine and the game. By the way, the most current game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

 

[pukifloyd]

Well, what platform is he playing his games on?

If it's a console, I'd stick to it. I couldn't imagine growing up in a house where my Nintendo was actually my mom's computer, she'd have to bait me into a room and strap me to the floor to get any computer time of her own.

What I'm saying is I think it may be better if you keep gamers to game consoles so that the computer users can use the computer.

But to answer your question, my computer ran the second from last version seamlessly, I'd gamble the higher model iMac could handle it but it's best to ask someone who has first-hand experience with either machine and the game. By the way, the most current game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Yup i would agree with that. If your son has already finished several versions of CoD and plays many games then it would be better if you got him a ps3/x-box.
If you don't want to buy a console for him then go for the 2nd option if you think the games he plays are graphic intensive ( though the first machine may also handle it). I don't know if CoD (modern warfare) will work with either of them but they should definitely as it also worked on my mum's crappy $600 hp laptop (no she doesnt play, i had no other computer for some months so was forced to install CoD in it... ).

But I will think the 1st imac will be good enough for you and your family. Save money here and buy ps3/xbox for your kid

cheers