We've never spoken of computers here except in passing, today Apple released the latest model in their iMac series, I just spent a few minutes at their online site looking at the specs and then I knocked of an email to another Mac friend in UK, here's what I said.
Bill: I just 'built' my ideal Mac, just for the fun of it at this stage, I added twin fastest processors, extra memory, bigger H/D, wireless mouse/keyboard, top of the line graphics card, iWork and insurance. With the 24" monitor it comes out less than I paid for my 512K Mac in 1986, [$2800] in fact it's less than any Mac I've ever bought and it's hundreds times more powerful. I'm tempted. I don't think $2500 is a lot for that computer given how much time I spend with it and the enjoyment it gives me: that's the Education price, retail's about $250 more.
In addition I'd add Parallels and Darkroom.
Summary
Estimated Ship:
1-3 business days
Free Shipping
Specifications
* 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2GB
* NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS w/512MB GDDR3
* 750GB Serial ATA Drive
* Apple wireless Mighty Mouse
* Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) + User's Guide
* iWork '08 preinstalled
* Accessory kit
* AppleCare Protection Plan for iMac - Auto-enroll
* SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
* 24-inch glossy widescreen LCD
* AirPort Extreme
* Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Subtotal $2,569.00
Currently my wife and I have 3 macs in daily use plus all my old ones are upstairs, my main one is a G5 with extra memory, graphics, hard disc and a 22" monitor, there's also an external 300GB drive. My second is a G4 and my wife uses an eMac. I don't NEED another but I am tempted. Beyond email and internet I use all mine for music: Sound Studio, Audacity, Wiretap, for photos: Photoshop and Illustrator, Nikon scan 4, Vuescan and iPhoto, for photo and video retrieval from my file system, both Popcorn and Toast get a bit of use and I've dabbled with Protools. It's obviously a sophisticated 'typewriter' and built in file system and broadband takes it into an entirely new world
What does everybody else use and think of computers in general and how do you use them?
11 comments:
I have 3 macs at home, two are G4 ibooks and there's one G3 imac (new in '99 but runs osx fine).
the ibook follows me around the house demanding i go on the internet. ever since having wireless laptop internet, i can't bear to sit at a computer desk, when there's a comfy sofa calling.
i also hook my ibook up to my stereo to play music and to my tv to watch dl'ed movies. i did have a wireless link (airtunes) to my stereo, but my airport stations weren't compatible with my broadband connection once i'd moved house.
of late my ibook has been doing a lot of blogging, torrenting (i use transmission or azureus) , i keep all my photos on iphoto, and use photoshop for design and garageband for messing around with.
I also sometimes hook up my ibook to a video projector to watch movies or to cheat a bit when painting.
at work i use a mac G5 with Final Cut Pro/Motion/Livetype/Soundtrack Pro for editing and compositing- I also use DVD Studio Pro for authoring. Protools I also use on different G5 in the recording studio. I unfortunately have to use a PC sometimes too for emailing etc. Which sucks. You wouldn't believe how much better this blog looks on a mac.
So, after nearly 10 years of mac use, there's no way I'll ever switch (i've never owned a pc) - i really need to get new models (one ibook is on its last legs) soon, shame it's so expensive!!
I couldn't do my job without computers, and my enjoyment of music has benefitted hugely from the advent of the net.
odd to think that as my child grows up, the net won't even be 'technology' to him. the paperclip was technology once, ken?
I've never used a Mac but seeing as they aren't Windows that makes them a good idea, to my way of thinking.
I am a Linux girl myself, Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon at the moment, running on a PC based on an AMD 64 processor.
I love the idea of Open Source and free software.
I work in the IT industry anyway, though my area of expertise is DB2 databases on large IBM mainframes - also with a bit of Oracle on Unix and DB2 on Wintel boxes.
Any other 'Spillers wondering what the hell this language is that these three are talking in??
#:o{
... so what I'm saying, Blimpy, is that you can safely count me out of becoming a blog admin helper !!
I also enjoy playing the "how expensive can I make a Mac" game.
Well I've got just the one MacBook Pro, a few years before that I had a Vaio, which became useless fairly quickly, although it'll have place in my heart because without it, I wouldn't have started using audiogalaxy, which was great. Obviously the virus came soon enough, so in the end it allowed me to focus on beating my own record at Minesweeper. Aaaanyway, this computer is also the one I work on for now, which is noty the best, because it means it's pretty easy to be distracted, especially on a Friday or wth the 'Spill. This baby is getting old though, it's already full, so thank god for external hard drives. It's mostly full of music, not that many pictures because I got my first camera in September, and it's already broke. There are also a few films of/by my nieces and nephew.
I would never want to have a PC for personal use, however, I'm getting disillusioned with Apple, especially after having my own proper Mac, whereas before I was using somebody else's, their behaviour sometimes veering on the Microsoft-ish, which is shit. So I'm no MacHead, even though I realise it's still the best thing out there.
Ejay: I didn't view that way, rather I was curious how much a top of the line Mac, totally loaded with everything would cost, it came in at about $2800 retail which surprised me, note my comment re. what I paid in 1986.
So when you said that it was expensive I went to the Dell site and 'built' the closest PC to the Mac in terms of performance. I wasn't able to match it exactly on every feature, Dell has a 2.5 GHz model and a 3.6GHz model, I chose the latter. The Dell and the Mac were identical in terms of potential performance with that exception: The Dell XPS720 cost $4039, The Mac costs $2800.
The Mac was an extreme, there's a basic IMac for close to $1200 and a Dell XPS 210 in the same range.
And a note to DD: there's nothing here that you couldn't learn in an afternoon, it's not complicated, they just try to make you think it is.
I have an iMac, I think it's a G4? It has, apparently 2 GHz intel Core Duo, and I also have an external hard drive, which I mostly use for anything and everything from my old computer. It's funny because I didn't have a computer AT ALL until I was 30, and now, I'm so completely attached to this thing it's almost like a member of the family. I love photoshop, I know quark a bit, I like iMovie, I'm trying to learn final cut pro, but it's taxing my small brain. I justified buying this computer because I was doing freelance copyediting/graphic design, I was hoping to learn final cut and do freelance editing, but all my jobs have dried up so mostly now I use it for the 'Spill. Oh and I love garage band, a fact of which you're all painfully aware (So close to being done with another song...) I'm not really a brand loyal kind of person, but I've never ever had anything other than a mac, never had a job where I used anything other than a mac, and now I do feel very loyal to this machine.
Ejaydee, this is a totally random tangent, but it doesn't really fit in anywhere else either, so why not here? I was listening to The Frog earlier (Q tip/Sergio Mendes), which I had posted on the 'Spill a while back, and I was thinking maybe hip hop/brazilian combo tracks would make a good RR topic...Charlie Brown, Paris Tokyo...(hehehehe...can you imagine the outrage?)
Scandalous!! I'd have to think about it, my internal music library seems to have lost its search function recently. We've yet to have Songs about Latin America as a topic...
I still miss my old Amstrad with the built-in tape player...
I try to avoid talking about computers, 'cos it's a bit dork talk, but hey, since you ask...
My love affair with home computing began with a Tandy TRS 80 in 1978. I loved programming it in Basic (never got as far as machine code), but it was the journey, not the destination - I never finished any program. It was brainaching fun, akin to cryptic crosswords.
I moved on to a second Tandy, a Sinclair, Amstrad WP, Amstrad PC and then after using a Lisa at work, I got a Mac. I've had about 7 since, and swear by them. When I sold my London house last year, the loft was a museum of home computing, all of which went - with heavy heart - to the Council recycling site.
Currently I have a 24" intel iMac and a G4 Powerbook. But I'm beginning to have my doubts about the move to Intel. My iMac crashes from time to time, and regularly locks me out of the internet, requiring a reboot of the router - and I had no problems with the Powerbook. That's progress...
A bit of dork-tork's alright from time to time as long as it's not too obsessive. Tandy, Sinclair and Lisa were just names when I started, I was scared off by computers 'til the Mac arrived. I've maybe had half a dozen and most of em are in my 'loft'.
Can't throw em out, they've been part of my life.
I found an old Mac website a couple of days ago:
http://lowendmac.com/compact/macintosh-plus.html
I looked for it 'cos I wanted to compare specs between then and now.
ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution-$369.99
EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX -$146.99
EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX -$146.99
EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX -$146.99
Intel Core i7 2.66GHz-$289.99
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB-$199.00
SILVERSTONE 1000W-$209.99
Western Digital 640GB-$74.99
LIAN LI PC-A70B-$249.99
Turtle Beach RIVIERA 5.1-$28.99
Hanns·G 19"Widescreen LCD-$119.99
Aqua Computer cuplex XT di-$89.95
ThermoChill PA120.3 3x120mm-$120.00
Swiftech MCP655 12v DC- $75.95
EK Waterblocks EK-$57.95
Ek nVidia GeForce-$180.95
Ek nVidia GeForce-$180.95
Ek nVidia GeForce-$180.95
---------------------------------
~$2860
^^-THE MIGHTY PC.
sorry to break it to you but Mac fucked you over..:(
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