Mac advice sought

Ted Crilly

Am actively looking at moving to the dark side
(my pc has finally keeled over)
Anything i should be on the look out for before i part with the hard earned shekels
Thinking of going the whole hog and buying the 27 inch mac complete with bells and whistles (once in a 5 year buy)
Am i right in thinking theres no point in shopping around as there all nailed to the same price
Any and all advice gratly appreciated
Kind Regards
Garth

Jev/N

If you want to save a bit and don't mind going for the 24", check out the refurbs here. They're updated all the time so you might even see some 27's in there soon...

http://store.apple.com/ie/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/imac

Sad Professor

Ted Crilly wrote: »

Am actively looking at moving from the dark side

FYP.

Anything i should be on the look out for before i part with the hard earned shekels

Not really. Just don't buy RAM from Apple. And you don't need anti-virus software. What bells and whistles are you considering?

Am i right in thinking theres no point in shopping around as there all nailed to the same price

Pretty much. But if you are a student or know someone who is you could avail of an 8-10 percent discount. There's also the refurb store, some good deals to be had on it, but I'm not sure if there's any 27 inches on there yet.

Sticky Fingers

Go on, take the plunge ! I did about two years ago and have never regretted it. There is a slight 'getting used' to phase, the OS is easier to work and very intuitive as well. The 27" model is MASSIVE, handy for watching movies etc. The picture quality is fab. I have had only one issue, a cd got stuck in the drive. I had to buy an external one as it was cheaper than getting it repaired. I will take the cd out myself when I'm feeling brave enough to open machine up.
Macs are lightning quick too ! Especially with Snow Leopard.

mikemac

A 27' would be fantastic

But I second the post above, you may great value with a 24' from the refurbished store

And sometimes they give a better spec then normal!
My 24' refurbished was supposed to have a 500gb but got 750gb. And got a better proccesor too though I forget the exact tech spec.
A nice bonus

Overature

dont bother my friend, new Mac book pro's dont even have mouse buttons. youd be wasting your money

Sad Professor

Overature wrote: »

dont bother my friend, new Mac book pro's dont even have mouse buttons. youd be wasting your money

Hopefully that's a joke...

banquo

Get the base RAM and then buy extra ram from other dealers. Apple charge you 10 times the price. I remember it was 6k for 8gb of ram last year.

Kbeg3

I'm in a similar position myself but I think I have convinced myself it will be worth it!

john hanrahan

bought first mac a few weeks ago 27inch imac, base model which is still higher spec than the previous 24inch, there are some issues with flash and i had to replace mine as it arrived with a crack on the screen.
the replacement has dust behind the screen which i need to bring to galmac to be cleaned under warranty.

i bought an extra 4gb ram and installed it easily mac is super fast
takes a little getting used to and there are some compatibility issues with software because you will have to mac versions of photoshop or office etc

but have a play with one in the shop they are expensive there will be 27 inch ones hitting the refurb store as a lot are going back with cracks etc

Kbeg3

I see on the apple site iMac takes 2 weeks now was 7-10 days last week.

Sad Professor

Kbeg3 wrote: »

I see on the apple site iMac takes 2 weeks now was 7-10 days last week.

There's a problem with defective displays.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/12/13/apple_to_delay_imac_orders_citing_display_issues.html

ZENER

Have to say that this post made me laugh quietly to myself !! I have a 250GB 2.5" external hard disk to go with my MBP - It's got 2 partitions - The Mac one is called Bright Side . . the NTFS one is called . . you guessed . . . Dark Side

Personally I'd go for TOTR 2.66GHz Quad Core with 4GB. Played with one in PC World today (They have their uses ) Nice machine! Extremely quick !

My motto has always been, buy the best you can afford !! It'll last you longer

Ken

Pixelcraft

Sticky Fingers wrote: »

I will take the cd out myself when I'm feeling brave enough to open machine up.

assuming you've done all the key commands, try sticking some cardboard in the cd drive to stop the cd from spinning properly, it should eject then

darragh o meara

You should really go and have a play with one. I stopped in an Apple shop a few weeks back getting screen protectors for my ipod and ended up coming home with a 17"Imac, a second hand one in fairness but something to get me going. In the past few weeks using it I cant believe how much better they are. I'm gonna get a 27" in Jan.

As for getting used to it, The apple homepage has some good tutorials which will show you how to do most things on your mac vs how you would have done them on a windows pc. Im hooked now and cant see myself going back to windows for a long long time if ever!!!

LFCFan

My wife recently got a macbook air from work and after using it for a while now I can safely say that once I have the money I'll be moving to mac. The software is so intuitive compared to windows and the hardware is fantastic compared to bulky PC's. I love the fact that the air and pro are built from 1 piece of aluminium. Makes them so light and compact. Will start with a 27" iMac and get a macbook pro at some stage. The air is a nice machine but just too small.

Kbeg3

I ordered my 27" iMac today probably won't have it for Christmas though:o Looking forward to it all the same, it will be my first mac. Leaving the evil PC world!

ozt9vdujny3srf

ZENER wrote:

y motto has always been, buy the best you can afford !! It'll last you longer

Bad motto, buying the top end in electronics has always come at a huge premium, buying top end Apple electronics even more so! Coupled with the fact that apples main selling points are its OS and it's excellent design, something you get regardless of what internals you stick in there.

Remember, the improvements in technology that you are paying quite a price for now are only incrementally better then the base spec.

In 3 years time these machines will be exponentially better. The extra you spend now makes very little difference in the long run. I would speculate that its likely intel will have released it's next big processor architecture by then, and SSD's will be very fast and in abundance by then. Thats a huge performance change.

Also, last time i bought a mac, which was last september, it was 10 euros more expensive to buy direct from apple than buying extra memory from an e-tailer. That may have changed as ddr3 might be cheaper now, but beware of that.

note: I'm not saying don't buy now because stuff will be better in the future, otherwise you would never buy, I am just saying don't spend huge money now and expect it to be at the races in 5 years time, better to spend less now and upgrade sooner. I reckon 27" iMac's base spec, thats a good value machine for something with such a sexy screen. If you still want to keep it for 5 years, better to save money now and put in a nice SSD drive and extra ram in 2/3 years time. If you have more money to spend now on an upgrade aswell, then go for the base spec core i5 model. There is no good reason for having 8gb of RAM right now that I can see.

oneofakind32

Sorry I didnt go get in on time with this! If you've ordered a 27ich imac with all the bells and whistles then hopefully you went for the core i7 model. From this review it looks amazing!

Ted Crilly

Quote i beleive was from Mac User
Apple has apologised to customers for delays in shipping its new 27in iMac, amid reports of problems with the computer's display.

The 27in iMac first went on sale back in October, but the Apple store is still showing a two-week delay in shipping orders. By contrast, the 21.5in model is listed as shipping within 24 hours.

In a statement sent to CNet.com, Apple claims it's struggling to meet demand. "The new iMac has been a huge hit and we are working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible," a company spokesman says. "We apologise for any inconvenience or delay this may cause our customers."

However, there are growing reports online of problems with the super-sized iMac's display. An enormous thread on Apple's own support forums contains dozens of reports of the screen "flickering", with many claiming that they've had their iMac replaced by Apple.

Meanwhile, two Apple resellers have told Computerworld that all shipments of the 27in iMac have been suspended for a fortnight, while the company replaces the graphics cards in the machines. The 27in models contain either ATI Radeon HD 4670 or 4850 cards.

The delays could hardly come at a worse time for retailers, with the Christmas rush in full swing.

Apple was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

So not quite there yet. Maybe hold till early Feb.