The new iMac G5 is for me....

[sammyman]

I am planning on ordering my first iMac, actually first mac computer ever! I have a couple of questions.

1. If I do some video editing, will I need the 250GB hard drive? It seems like 160GB would be good enough. How long of a movie do I need to be making to make the 250 worth it?
2. I will not be able to by a word processor, so I was planning on using openoffice.org. How compatible is that with M$ word? If I type a paper and burn it to cd, could a professor look at the paper and would the tables be all screwed up?
3.Is a wireless keyboard worth it? I want to save $$$ but $54 does not seem that bad? Advice?
4. Is there a good free FTP program for mac?
5. Will my netgear router be fine with this setup?
6. If they update tiger, will it cost money to get the next update?

LAST QUESTION...
7. WWDC. Will they add iWork or do anything else to the current iMac setups possibly?

 

[macbaseball]

I am planning on ordering my first iMac, actually first mac computer ever! I have a couple of questions.

1. If I do some video editing, will I need the 250GB hard drive? It seems like 160GB would be good enough. How long of a movie do I need to be making to make the 250 worth it?
2. I will not be able to by a word processor, so I was planning on using openoffice.org. How compatible is that with M$ word? If I type a paper and burn it to cd, could a professor look at the paper and would the tables be all screwed up?
3.Is a wireless keyboard worth it? I want to save $$$ but $54 does not seem that bad? Advice?
4. Is there a good free FTP program for mac?
5. Will my netgear router be fine with this setup?
6. If they update tiger, will it cost money to get the next update?

LAST QUESTION...
7. WWDC. Will they add iWork or do anything else to the current iMac setups possibly?

1) For $75 just buy it. That's what i would do.
3) I would say personally no, but many people think they are. With a desktop I just like my keyboard to be connected via USB, that way there's no batteries. It's not like you need portability in the keyboard and mouse.
4) Yeah, don't use FTP, but I'm sure there are some if you search on google.
6) Yeah.
7) I doubt it.

 

[tech4all]

Welcome to the Mac world! I'll try to help on some of the questions:

1. If I do some video editing, will I need the 250GB hard drive? It seems like 160GB would be good enough. How long of a movie do I need to be making to make the 250 worth it?

I don't do video editing, but I assume the more the better. Course you could get an external HD, such as a LaCie.

6. If they update tiger, will it cost money to get the next update?

Any future updates to Tiger will be like 10.4.x Those are done via Software Update free of charge. (If that's what you meant)

Hope that helps some. I'm sure other's will add more soon!

 

[sammyman]

So if they fix bugs on tiger, it is going to cost money for me to get the newer version of tiger? That would suck!

Edit: Yeah thats what I meant. Good!

 

[sammyman]

Do the wireless keyboards last longer? I mean the white keyboards get dirty fast. If the wireless ones were better in keeping clean, I would get it.

 

[mcmav37]

Do the wireless keyboards last longer? I mean the white keyboards get dirty fast. If the wireless ones were better in keeping clean, I would get it.

The Apple wireless keyboard is still white, so it will probably get dirty just as fast (or slow).


Oh, and with respect to HD space, I would say go for the extra space since it is very cheap. Example, I have a 12 second clip captured from a normal DV camcorder and it is a 44.5 MB quicktime file. That adds up quick.

 

[panphage]

I am planning on ordering my first iMac, actually first mac computer ever! I have a couple of questions.

1. If I do some video editing, will I need the 250GB hard drive? It seems like 160GB would be good enough. How long of a movie do I need to be making to make the 250 worth it?
2. I will not be able to by a word processor, so I was planning on using openoffice.org. How compatible is that with M$ word? If I type a paper and burn it to cd, could a professor look at the paper and would the tables be all screwed up?
3.Is a wireless keyboard worth it? I want to save $$$ but $54 does not seem that bad? Advice?
4. Is there a good free FTP program for mac?
5. Will my netgear router be fine with this setup?
6. If they update tiger, will it cost money to get the next update?

LAST QUESTION...
7. WWDC. Will they add iWork or do anything else to the current iMac setups possibly?

Mostly already answered decently, but I'm a busybody.
1. If you're doing video, you'll always want more HDD space. Whether this means getting the monster drive now or just getting an insanely huge external drive when the time comes is up to you. I like as much space as I can get.
2. I haven't used openoffice in a LONG time. If you qualify, it's probably better to just shell out for a student copy of Office.
3. The wireless combo is cool. I personally don't like the new apple keyboards. I'm in love with my Tactile pro. I'd say, with a desktop, don't bother with wireless.
4. I don't know of any free mac ftp programs except "ftp", the shell command. For a GUI ftp, I use transmit.
5. I've had four netgear routers, two of them wireless, all have worked great with my cube and my powerbook, wired, and with both the old and new airport cards.
6. Updates to Tiger are free. You will pay for 10.5.
7. I'd be really, really surprised.