Wanting to get my first mac!

[lonegeek]

I'm very serious about getting a mac. I'm only 14 so..im on a limited income lol..I've just started saving up so...Yeah..I plan to have enough for a mac mini in feburary..

I have some questions about the mac mini though...Would a 1.25ghz with 1gb of ram be better than 1.42ghz with 512mb of ram? I don't want to spend boat load of money on the computer... Would it be worth it holdign out for a mac intel mini...According to think secret its going to be a DVR mac mini and im not really looking for somthing like that considering i just build a Windows XP pvr running GBPVR...

I've never really used a mac execpt for over the internet with vnc (thanks Phulxy..but its slow over your net..)....Does anyone have good upload willing to let me try it out?

I dont plan on completly switching to apple from the get go...I'm probably going to have to get a kvm or somthing...Considering I just spent about 240 for 2 new kickarse 17inch Samsung CRTS.....I run dual monitors...Would there be anyway to run 2 monitors on a mini?

I thought about getting a mini on ebay with 1.42ghz..1gb ram..80gb hard drive..for 650...but then its not under warranty is it? I think the person upgraded the ram thereself..

Then i thought about getting a powermac g4..dual 1ghz...80gb hd...1.5gb ram..but it has osx 10.3... so id have to spend 800 for computer then another 100 for tiger...

So what should i do...?

Zach

[SuperTyphoon]

650 for a mac mini 1.25ghz, and 1gb of ram is overpriced, IMO. IT should be less than 400 for the actual hardware's value. However, always go for more ram because a little boost in processor speed won't be noticeable compared to more ram. The G4 you are thinking about is much better in value (although still overpriced) but yet again... the mini is very small and portable.

Dual monitors are not possible on the mini.

[lonegeek]

Yeah...I dont wanna spend all that money on the powermac g4 though.....

The only bad thing for me about the 1.25ghz mini is that it only has a 40gb hard drive....

Does it void the warranty upgrading the ram your self?

Im sure i could get like a 500 dollar mac mini on ebay with 1gb of ram.....

[SuperTyphoon]

i woudlnt' think that it would void the warranty... That would be plain stupid. I know taking the cpu out and the harddrive out, and changing the case does, but nothign else. Find a mini for under 400 on ebay and it will be good. Just make sure it works! Buy only from people who have a high rating and that are not scamming, usually large companies or businesses are the most reliable.

[lonegeek]

Anyone else got some answers?

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Not even changing the hard drive will void your warranty -- Apple cannot take away the warranty on the rest of the machine simply because you replaced a part. The warranty is only defunct now on that one, single part -- the rest of the machine is still covered under warranty.

If you damage the system yourself trying to change out a part, then of course the damage will not be covered by any warranty.

I would suggest going for the G4 dual 1GHz machine. By your mention of having a PC-DVR machine and your dual monitors, I think you'd have more fun tinkering and working with a full-tower, which will grant you a lot more expandability. I believe you'll find the ability to customize the machine with PCI cards as well as the ability to upgrade the processor more satisfying than the underpowered, non-expandable mini.

10.3 is actually a good OS for that machine -- it's not Tiger, but it's damn close. You could always use 10.3 for the time being, then install Tiger a month or so down the road when you've saved another $100 or so.

[lonegeek]

idk....i dont know if im wanting to spend 800 dollars plus shipping on the powermac g4.....Im thinking of geting the 600 dollar mac mini..then in future upgrading ram...

[SuperTyphoon]

Diablo is right - the tower case will offer much mroe expandability and upgradability. You can upgrade the video card, hd, cpu (definetly not worth it) and cd drives, while having space to work around in. It's a wiser choice. 10.3 will work fine, but may be a bit slow at certain things, but i have never used a dual core G4 (i knowt that single core ones below 600mhz are tedious with osx). Web applications should run well enough to use.