Which way to go...

poetbloggs

Hi all,

I'm new to the world of mac and am thinking heavily of making the jump to mac - but am unsure of where to go from here. Looking at either the Mac mini or the ibook (a strict budget of €1200 to spend...) In college studying Graphic Design and will need to get Quark 6 etc and am a little worried about the cost of the software too. Any ideas on which way to go?

Thanks.

formatman

I know its outside your budget but take a look at my post in the FS computer hardware , perfect Graphic design machine ....

babypink

couple of things you need to consider....most importantly is whether you need a laptop or not. If you do then you ought look for a 2nd hand machine taking into account the software costs of Quark, Photoshop etc.

If you don't need portability, then go for either a decent 2nd hand machine or the mini. Assuming you have some sort of computer already, there's your monitor sorted and USB keyboard and mouse won't cost you too much. Although I would spend a bit of money and get a decent monitor for the machine, especially as you are going down the graphics route, I use a Relisys TL795 TFT.

poetbloggs

Portable isn't essential - but wi-fi and bluetooth are for network access so I thought the 12" ibook seemed like a good choice... I can get older versions of quark and photoshop from work but am not sure how reliable they will be on the OS X system. O2 are running an offer of a mac mini 80gb with monitor, mouse and keyboard for €999, without Tiger. Would that do the job just as well as the ibook??

SouperComputer

the mini would be just as good if not better than the iBook as the HD is faster.

alos, the machien they are selling may be eligible for Apple's "up to date "programme whereby you can get tiger for the price of the disks + postage (about 15e)

the mini will be fine for starting out, but you might be needing 1gb RAM.

bobwozhere

if your in college you might consider looking at the apple online store for education, they give students a discount. You may be waiting awhile for delivery from the online store though. You could get the following mac mini (without a monitor)

• 512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 DIMM
• 80GB Ultra ATA drive
• Combo Drive
• Bluetooth + AirPort Extreme Card
• Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Kits
• 56k V.92 modem
• Mac OS X Tiger
• Mac mini - 1.25GHz

Ready to ship:
3 days
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Price: Eur 625.90
VAT: Eur 131.44
Subtotal: Eur 757.34

Did the O2 deal have a similar specification?

poetbloggs

As far as i know - the O2 deal had a monitor but no airport / bluetooth and came with panther. Checked out the prices on the apple student site - very impressive! Didn't know they were available. I'm warming to the ibook because it is all inclusive. How does classic environment work with Tiger? Is it reliable?

babypink

classic is what classic is...a stop gap to facilitate legacy apps. the reality is that most, i'll be brave and say all, apps have been re-written for OSX at this stage, and you're taking a performance hit when using classic.

Also remember that screen 'real estate' is going to be an important factor to remember....12" isn't all that much once palettes and toolbars are factored in.

take a look at the education store, as bobwozhere, highlighted. I got mine from the edu store...the discount allowed be to buy my monitor!!

really though, strongly consider the mini from the edu store and a monitor, possible from O2 (i think its sub EUR 300). This with the extra RAM SouperComputer suggests from Crucial.com (EUR 123.41 shipped) will come in just at EUR 1200, you're getting BT & AP, Tiger and BT Keyboard & Mouse.

poetbloggs

Will keep the mini in mind for the next few days and spend some time on the apple site - thanks for your help!! Where is recommended for software for OS X?

babypink

depends what you're looking for...generally best directly from the companies but TYPETEC are pretty ok

bobwozhere

I bought the 12" ibook fairly recently, it's good because I need it to be portable. If I didn't need the portability I would have definitely gone for a higher spec. mac mini with a good monitor.

If you do go for the ibook consider leaving out the bluetooth option (46euro) when ordering and get a bluetooth usb dongle on ebay, thats what I did and it worked out cheaper but it means I have one less usb to use for other things.

If you get the mac mini I've been told that to upgrade the ram yourself is pretty tricky and involves taking the machine to pieces because it's designed to be so small it's not as easy as with most computers and it'll void the warranty. Hope you find some of that helpful!

iMaccy

Thanks to everyone who posted - I've just put the order in with Apple! An 80 GB mac mini with superdrive - complete with airport express and bluetooth. Going to go for the 02 Relisys 17" Monitor for eur329 when it arrives. Read a thread about dim display on CRT Monitors, has anyone experienced this? There were reportedly 'alot' of complaints about how the mac mini display compares to any other machine...

Mac Forum

The thread REALLY shook me... especially if i'm going for a screen design course...

babypink

spectra photo at the molly malone also carry that relisys monitor...they may have it in stock

congrats

the video problem seems to only be affecting CRT monitors, you should be fine. PS - that relisys had a DVI input on it so should be nice!