| Author |
Message |
    
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 7400
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 12:09 pm: |     |
Um, in case it wasn't clear, there's always something better soon to come out. There's no sense waiting for it, even though it will be a better value than what's out now. That's because you need something now. |
AlleyGater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 446
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 12:34 pm: | |
I say buy now (but don't blow the mother load on your computer -- spend less then $2000). Buy a mid-range machine. In one year you will START to see the new machines, and you will start to get envious. You probably will get pissed at people like me AND Apple for giving you bad advice as the new model will PROBABLY be a beter version of what you just bought. It's Murphy's Law, really nothing you can do about it. Recognize it now and your disappointment will be lessened. Also the sooner you buy will also help to lessen this anger. In two years time ALL Mac hardware will be the new Intel machines, and you will REALLY want a new machine. Then you do what we all do and start to make up all sorts of crazy complaints about your machine -- how slow it is, and finally bite the bullet and start saving for a new machine. And in 2.5 years you will buy a new machine that makes your old machine look like a toy. I think this is fairly normal for people who use their computers very regularly. The more you use it the more you want something sexy and new and the easier it is to justify spending the $1,500.
Trust me, if you want to switch to Mac, you will get pleasure out of the new laptops. They are real beauty of a machine. The hardware is beautiful to look at, and a joy to use. Also, the more time you wait to switch, the longer you have to use a virus laden PC. I really can't stress to you how good OSX really is. I think it is VERY easy to argue that Apple has the best OS on the face of the earth right now. |
AlleyGater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 447
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 12:41 pm: | |
My personal theory about buying computers is ALWAYS buy the mid-range computer so that you can afford to buy a new machine every two years of so.
If I spent $3000 on a top of the line Mac (you pay a premium for the newest and fastest) now I would have to live with that machine for a very long time (maybe 3 or 4 years). If I buy a mid-range Mac for $1500, I can afford to buy another one in 2 years, and still not have spent more money than I would have. Now in two years time, that new mid-range machine IS going to be faster than that 3-4 year old top of the line Mac that I would have bought. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 7405
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 12:42 pm: | |
Alley, what do you think of the mac mini? What do you think it lacks that would make it obsolete sooner (if that's what you think)?
Do you recommend buying applecare? That stuff probably carries the highest profit margin.
|
Earlster
Supporter
Username: Earlster
Post Number: 1152
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 1:11 pm: | |
If you want to buy a Mac, buy one there is nothing wrong with it.
If you want to buy a Mac because you have viruses, there is no reason for that. Get a firwall router for your internet connection, stay up to date on your security updates and don't open e-mail attachments when you don't know where they are comming from.
We had exactly one virus on the 4 PC's that we are using in our household in the last 5 years. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 7409
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 1:16 pm: | |
I almost agree with you, Earlster, but the effort and expense required to keep viruses away is substantial. And you have to be savvy, too, to watch out for phishing, etc.
Of course, it's a matter of time before Macs are big targets, too. The first internet worm spread in November of 1988. It brought down the internet. The target machines ran UNIX (since that was the vast majority of machines on the internet at the time). MacOS is a version of UNIX. So it can be done. The biggest driver is the incentive, not the technical details. |
kevin
Citizen
Username: Eloso
Post Number: 57
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 5:00 pm: | |
Based on my reading of the computer rags Apple went with intel not because of faster chips (AMD 64 bit chips are the fastest) but becuase the needed better chips for their mobile computing. The Pentium M is only 1.8 Ghz but is much cooler and uses less battery life.
I feel real sorry for Mac developers again. First they had to re-write their code for OSX and now they will have to do it again. Och! |
Network & PC Care
Citizen
Username: Npccare
Post Number: 11
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 5:58 pm: | |
I don't agree Kevin.
I am a fan of AMD because of the price point, but Intel is faster.
Steve Jobs promised 3Ghz to be here a year ago. I don't think it is the only or even main reason for the switch, but it was a big one.
|
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 7435
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 9:25 pm: | |
kevin. when you use a high level language, such as C, C++, java, you don't care what processor you are on. The compiler converts your code into machine language. This doesn't matter to most programmers. It will matter to device driver writers. That's all. As the announcement said, the code written for MacOSX on PPC will recompile and run on MacOSX on Intel. |
kevin
Citizen
Username: Eloso
Post Number: 58
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 9:50 pm: | |
Npccare,
You should check out toms new review of the Dual Core Athlon 64 x2. http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20050509/index.html.
It beats the dual core P4 in most benchmarks and came be used in exsisting athlon motherboards. |
kevin
Citizen
Username: Eloso
Post Number: 59
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 9:59 pm: | |
Tom,
If you have developed in Cocoa then the code can be easily recomplied. However, if you don't use Cocoa and most developers don't then you have some work ahead.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1824839,00.asp
|
kevin
Citizen
Username: Eloso
Post Number: 60
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 10:04 pm: | |
Here is an article explaining why Apple will probably use the Pentium M.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1825776,00.asp
|
AlleyGater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 450
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, June 9, 2005 - 1:14 pm: | |
I'm not really in the market for a mini Tom so I wouldn't consider myself an expert on the specs, but I REALLY like the idea of a Mac that starts at a $500 price point. It allows Apple to compete in new markets.
If you are Unix person, and you do most of your work on a command line than a Mac mini is going to have MORE than enough horsepower for you. Also if you are Unix fan, the lack of monitor, mouse and keyboard might be ok if you use VNC and control your machine through another machine. I think the Mini is powerful enough for most everyday uses like web surfing. But it's not a high end machine so I wouldn't expect it to handle video editing or gaming all that well for instance. I can't possibly be telling you anything new here since you are already in the market to buy one. But I LOVE the idea of a PC person being able to drop a small amount of cash and get a very small computer that takes up very little space, that is powerful enough, and can really try out the BEST OS on the planet. |
Earlster
Supporter
Username: Earlster
Post Number: 1153
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, June 9, 2005 - 2:25 pm: | |
[more thread drift]
Tom,
besides of a firewall/router, which is a < $100 item these days, I'm not going through any extra efforts to prevent viruses, etc.
WinXP and Server2003 update kind of by themselves and to be honest I haven't updated my NortonAV file in more then a year. (I don't even have it on all my machines, only the ones that I do e-mail on.)
Phishing is as dangerous on Mac's as it is on PC's, as long as it is a mock webpage or e-mail. |
Network & PC Care
Citizen
Username: Npccare
Post Number: 12
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 10, 2005 - 8:51 am: | |
Kevin, the Dual Core AMD is a great chip.
Intels dual core cips were disapointing to say the least, but I still think they hold an overall advantage over AMD. (Just my opinion of course)
Toms didn't bench the chip against Intels (arguably) fastest chip. The P4 EE 3.73
Pretty much apples and oranges at this point though.
I am thrilled that I will be able to use a Athlon x2 will run on my current motherboard. That is very good news! |
kevin
Citizen
Username: Eloso
Post Number: 66
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2005 - 10:12 pm: | |
Cringely has a great conspiracy theory about the deal.
Read it here: http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050609.html
|
AlleyGater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 476
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 15, 2005 - 11:22 am: | |
Wacky theory there. I don't know how I feel about it. Sorta overly complicated. My only thought is this, people have been talking about SOME COMPANY (fill in the blank) would buy Apple from day one. And yet Apple just kept growing. I just don't see it. I do believe that Apple and Intel both hate Microsoft and would love to screw them hard, but I don't know about selling out to Intel. I do however think that Apple should have Thought Differently and gone with AMD though. I don't have any real foundation to base this opinion, I guess I just still associate Intel with MS so they must be evil. AMD appears to me at least as the little company that could. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 7583
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 15, 2005 - 11:28 am: | |
Intel hates Microsoft? Why? |
Network & PC Care
Citizen
Username: Npccare
Post Number: 17
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 15, 2005 - 1:05 pm: | |
I will try to answer each question one by one..
Question 1: What happened to the PowerPC's supposed performance advantage over Intel?
The G5 was better in some ways, but not all.
This decision was for the future of Apple. It sounds like they believe Intel is the way to go for the future of apple.
Question 2: What happened to Apple's 64-bit operating system?
Just a guess, but i don't think Apple is going to drop the 64 bit technology. I would guess that 64 bit chips were a part of the agreement at least for the high end systems.
Question 3: Where the heck is AMD?
I don't think Apple would jump without expolrting all options. Apple really believes in their laptop line. Maybe apple thought Yohan was more promising than the Amd's portable chips.
Why announce this chip swap a year before it will even begin for customers?
That is the way Apple does things. They introduced OSX over a year before it was released. This is nothing new from them.
They have to get the info to developers.
Question 5: Is this all really about Digital Rights Management?
No, but I would guess that is a large issue, and a reason for choosing Intel over AMD. As far as I know AMD does not offer this (I don't know for sure)
Intel will feature DRM in the upcoming chips, which is a huge step towards hollywood getting behind buying or renting movies online. |
AlleyGater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 478
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, June 16, 2005 - 10:19 am: | |
DRM on a chip...get out of the way, I think I'm going to be sick! |
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