Wanting to get my first mac!

L

lonegeek

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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
 
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.
 
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.....
 
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.
 
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.
 
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...
 
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.
 
You could also look at some of the previous generation of Power Macs. Remember that Macs hold their value MUCH longer than PCs do, so even if you were to get a Power Mac G4 from 500 MHz and up, you would be golden. Just remember to have a good amount of RAM (512 MB minimum).
 
Incidentally, there is at least one video on the net of someone opening a Mac mini with two putty knives. And as ElDiabloConCaca said, you won't void your warranty just by opening the mini.

If you're technically inclined and a bit adventurous, you could get a gig dimm and put it in yourself.

As for 10.3 versus 10.4, I'm inclined to agree with ElDiablo[withpoop], 10.3 is very good. I guess I wouldn't want to be without Spotlight (10.4, of course). But 10.3 was very polished.

Isn't it AMAZING how much people get for those old PowerMacs!

Doug
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
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.
Click to expand...
Is this true for the iBook G4? If I were to replace the hard drive, I was told that this voids the warranty unless two things are true:
1. I have the AppleCare added.
2. I have a licensed Apple tech do it (like a CompUSA in the US).

I was told this by someone at CompUSA when I called them about having the hard disk capacity increased on my iBook. They told me that they can only do it if I have AppleCare added for the iBook in question.

If I change out the HDD myself, is this going to void my warranty?
 
Well, technically, the part has to be deemed a "user-serviceable part." On some computers, like the iBook, the hard drive may not be a user-serviceable part.

I don't see why it would void the warranty, though.

Also, apparently changing the battery yourself on an iPod voids the warranty, but the iPod has NO user-serviceable parts.

It's always best to double-check before doing any kind of repair/replacement yourself. That being said, I would not trust any tech from CompUSA. I would contact Apple directly.
 
well, one thing that parents appreciate is their kids working to obtain a goal. if you have saved enough for the 650 mini, they may help you get the 800 tower.

:D

i was told in the apple store, though, that the mini is not a user serviceable machine under their rules. so by opening it up you would technically void the warranty. but this was right when they came out and maybe even they were scared to open it. there is no room at ALL in there.

:confused:
 
If I were you I would save up money a little longer and then buy a Powermac G4 or G5, its really worth the investment, I bought my G4 just about 5 years ago and its still running smooth, I don't trust mac minis and plus there is pretty much no possiblity of updating hardware... Desktop Powermacs forever...
 
Applecare has nothing to do with putting a larger drive in your iBook, it won't cover that. But you can void your warranty if you do it yourself, it's not a User Installable part on this machine.
 
back to the kid's question, i'd go for a g4 tower over the mini any day. i had the same problem the begining of the year. i talked to some people, did some google research and even went to a used mac place (Re-Mac Computers) and talked to a guy there. in fact he happened to have a tower he was thinking of selling when his girlfriend's mini came in. it was a digital audio g4/466 with 2xdvd burner, geforce2 32mb vid card, 60gig hd and 1.25gig ram, all for $500 bones. same price as a base mini. so i thought about it, did more research ("built" one on ebay) and looked at what the future might hold, and i went with the tower, and never looked back or regreted it. i love it. i have added a usb card, internal blue tooth(the usb card had an intrnal usb plug so i added a small usb bluetooth adaptor), a sonnet tempo trio, two more hard drives, and an ati 32mb pci vid card. it runes tiger and ilife05 with not a hitch, just a little slow. so now i'm saving up for a 1.2gig cpu upgrade. i'd get a working g4 tower from ebay with at least a 533mhz cpu and then upgrade as need as the money is saved, and it will out last the mini for years. where you at anyway, i might be able to find a g4 locally. i got a g4/500 agp video for my brother for $300, but that was very lucky, and it was a bare system. had to give up 256mb ram to his.
 
Whoa..So really any g4 processor runs decent? So would the 1ghz dual be a bit of overkill for me...I doubt ill do any video editing...I met mess around with garageband though...Use photoshop ...

So like a 1ghz with alot of ram...that would be pretty good?
 
The dual 1ghz is going to be a solid performer for the next couple of years running the latest software. You can get an ATI Radeon 9600 for it for under a hundred bucks these days. That would allow you to have every last bit of eye candy Apple currently offers (if you're so inclined). I still use 10.3 in addition to 10.4 on my dual g4 tower. It's a fine OS. If it weren't for 10.4, I would think it was the best.

It's going to be far easier to keep that dual 1ghz up to current specs for newer software with its greater ram, hard drive and expansion capacity. A duallie isn't overkill, it's OSX optimal. You'll be able to easily add faster optical disc drives, pci adapters for SATA drives, surround sound cards, and all that stuff, too.

The mini is neat, but with so much word out on a replacement right around the corner, I can't get too excited by a machine with an irreplaceable 32mb Radeon 9200 for video. I hear they are pretty choppy on the display, too.

Any original "Apple" part of a mac is automatically warrantied for a year. If you buy and activate an Applecare plan within that year, whether you are the original purchaser or not, you get full support until 3 years from the purchase date. If you replace the ram or hard drive, you may have to put the original back in when seeking warranty repair service from Apple, that's all. Good luck and welcome to mac!
 
That dual 1ghz you linked to on ebay doesn't seem to have an airport card. the older "original" airport cards are getting harder to find and can be a bit overpriced. Keep in mind that you would have to get one if you want to use this machine on a wireless network. (Not usually as big a concern for towers vs portables)
 
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