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Which Apple Product for My Child?

J

jlwilsonjr

macrumors member
Original poster
May 24, 2008
74
0
Murfreesboro Ar
Hello- I'm hoping you guys can help me decide on what to get my son (9 year old) for his first computer. He doesn't need the top of the line mac but I would like for him to be able to do most things and I would like for it to be pretty fast. The list below are the requirements.

1. Internet
2. Ability to have Windows and OS X on the box
3. 1gb of ram and a speedy processor
4. HD size not sure but he will have lots of games loaded on it eventually.
5. Budget <500.00

One note I do have a 19" monitor, USB keyboard, and mouse left over to use so I was eyeing the mac mini but I don't know much about those. Anyway all advice recommendations greatly appreciated.
 
jlwilsonjr said:
Hello- I'm hoping you guys can help me decide on what to get my son (9 year old) for his first computer. He doesn't need the top of the line mac but I would like for him to be able to do most things and I would like for it to be pretty fast. The list below are the requirements.

1. Internet
2. Ability to have Windows and OS X on the box
3. 1gb of ram and a speedy processor
4. HD size not sure but he will have lots of games loaded on it eventually.
5. Budget <500.00

One note I do have a 19" monitor, USB keyboard, and mouse left over to use so I was eyeing the mac mini but I don't know much about those. Anyway all advice recommendations greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Google "Hackintosh" if you are willing to spend A LOT of time getting OS X working. That allows you to run OS X on a normal windows machine at native speeds. It will take some time....

Or a Mac Mini. Both are great choices. But depending on what games he ends up playing, he may need the extra horsepower.

Good luck with your purchase.
 
With the Mac mini, you are going to have to pay for (cheapest)
The mouse - £5+
The Keyboard - £7+
The Screen (first thing on Google Shopping):
21.5 - £153 (1920x1080)
24 - £164 (1920x1080)
27 - £224 (1920x1080)
Connectors - HDMI to HDMI - £12.99

So, if you don't have the "stuff" then you will pay

£729.01 for the Mac Mini with a 500gb HD

All of above without 27 inch screen it's : £776.01
With the 27 inch screen and 500GB Mac mini it is : £1000.00 (I think)


The iMac's come with a mouse, keyboard and screen.
You can get a iMac 21.5 inch (1920x1080) refurb 2009 3.06GHz C2D, 4GB, 500GB, for £749.99.

Or, a current gen iMac 21.5 (1920x1080) new 2010 with 3.06Ghz i3, 4GB, 500GB and ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256MB for £999.

I realise that this is a big jump, from £500 to £740; but if you don't have the peripherals with the Mac Mini then it'll cost around £900, if you do then around £650.
 
Nishi100 said:
With the Mac mini, you are going to have to pay for (cheapest)
The mouse - £5+
The Keyboard - £7+
The Screen (first thing on Google Shopping):
21.5 - £153 (1920x1080)
24 - £164 (1920x1080)
27 - £224 (1920x1080)
Connectors - HDMI to HDMI - £12.99

So, if you don't have the "stuff" then you will pay

£729.01 for the Mac Mini with a 500gb HD

All of above without 27 inch screen it's : £776.01
With the 27 inch screen and 500GB Mac mini it is : £1000.00 (I think)


The iMac's come with a mouse, keyboard and screen.
You can get a iMac 21.5 inch (1920x1080) refurb 2009 3.06GHz C2D, 4GB, 500GB, for £749.99.

Or, a current gen iMac 21.5 (1920x1080) new 2010 with 3.06Ghz i3, 4GB, 500GB and ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256MB for £999.

I realise that this is a big jump, from £500 to £740; but if you don't have the peripherals with the Mac Mini then it'll cost around £900, if you do then around £650.
Click to expand...


Can you please lose the color tags, as it makes some words unreadable. Or at least use color tags with readable colours. It looks like a webpage from the 90s or one of those boards with avatars the size of a car.
 
spinnerlys said:
Can you please lose the color tags, as it makes some words unreadable. Or at least use color tags with readable colours. It looks like a webpage from the 90s or one of those boards with avatars the size of a car.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of the way some girls' notebooks looked when I was in school. :)
 
tkermit said:
Reminds me of the way some girls' notebooks looked when I was in school. :)
Click to expand...

But your (yes, "your" is the correct facebook/friendface spelling) missing the font, the one font to ruin it all.
Comic Sans MS, the harbinger of eyesore, the darling of logo design, the dressing in the soup no one wants to spoon.
And then there is the colour, the colour every girl has to use at some point during their teen pregnancy, the colour to make the pain go away and make room for more than pain, more than anything ever wants to experience and can put into words, even the bible can't be properly printed with that font and colour. And if you bold it, you will get thousand upon thousands of mini tremors in your brain until it will explode, or assplode as it is called in today's day and age. The point still being black.
 
spinnerlys said:
Can you please lose the color tags, as it makes some words unreadable. Or at least use color tags with readable colours. It looks like a webpage from the 90s or one of those boards with avatars the size of a car.
Click to expand...

why are you telling someone to lose the color in their post ... it looks similar to your signature?

hello?:cool:
 
Apple OC said:
why are you telling someone to lose the color in their post ... it looks similar to your signature?

hello?:cool:
Click to expand...

The colour in my signature was taken from the logo of the site I link to, and it is only one letter contrary to the 30 letters and eleven digits in lime colour.

http://mroogle.*************/MRoogle.gif

And the text, the poster in question used to use color tags on, is less readable than the text in my signature, one has to highlight the text to even read it.
 
What about an older imac? There seems to be several for under 500 on fleabay. I could always just "garage" sale the older peripherals from my old PC.
 
spinnerlys said:
The colour in my signature was taken from the logo of the site I link to, and it is only one letter contrary to the 30 letters and eleven digits in lime colour.

http://mroogle.*************/MRoogle.gif

And the text, the poster in question used to use color tags on, is less readable than the text in my signature, one has to highlight the text to even read it.
Click to expand...


your signature is gorgeous ... the OP was asking about a Mac for their child

If the kid is reading this ... then yes you have helped them when they do their own posting.
 
spinnerlys said:
But your (yes, "your" is the correct facebook/friendface spelling) missing the font, the one font to ruin it all.
Comic Sans MS, the harbinger of eyesore, the darling of logo design, the dressing in the soup no one wants to spoon.
And then there is the colour, the colour every girl has to use at some point during their teen pregnancy, the colour to make the pain go away and make room for more than pain, more than anything ever wants to experience and can put into words, even the bible can't be properly printed with that font and colour. And if you bold it, you will get thousand upon thousands of mini tremors in your brain until it will explode, or assplode as it is called in today's day and age. The point still being black.
Click to expand...

:eek::)
Macky-Mac said:
an older imac would be fine for your kid's first computer
Click to expand...

I had a white Intel iMac when they first came out and remember it as an awesome machine. Truly quiet, fast, looked nice, good sound,display and camera. Ran Win XP and OS X without problems. If you can find one in your price range, I'd certainly recommend it. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether it would be a good game machine...I never really used it for that. :)
 
jlwilsonjr said:
Any other website besides flabby to look for an older imac? To bad this forum does not have a classifieds section.
Click to expand...

It does have a Marketplace Forum. You need to have a certain number of posts to use it.

I think you should get him a second hand iMac or a refurb mac mini...
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone I ended up getting a used Mac Mini 1.83 Ghz Core Duo - 2gb ram - 60gb HD - DVD-RW mini on fleabay for under 350.00.
 
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