Getting a new computer

[Woody]

Ok folks, a little help please. My computer has finally had it. It no longer boots up despite taking it to computer gurus. I have sent it into orbit via det chord/blasting caps...I am very grumpy because I can no longer play my MOH...

I am going to buy a new computer but I have no idea what I should be looking for and what components/graphic card/memory etc...

Those of you that are computer literate, can you make some suggestions as to what would be appropriate for me. Oh, and is it worth looking into a Mac?

Oh, and cost??

Cheers!

[Lamron]

woody said:

I have sent it into orbit via det chord/blasting caps...

We need pictures!

[Woody]

Sooooooooo......thanks everyone for no advice on what I should be looking for in a new computer!!

[popeye]

the truth is woody,we don,t want you getting better than you already are! lol .if you require my (very limited)advice on a new pc...i would make sure its got a plug on it!.. : ) pop

[AIGAD]

I'd reka'men one of those ones.. that has the button.. that ya push and a little ashtray comes out? Oh yeah and if ya paint sum racing stripes on it...it makes it work faster. Its probably the best performance mod you kin make for so little $$. Hope this helps.

[RedRock]

I think it is obvious, so I didn't state the obvious, but since you insist!

The new intel Mac, if you don't mind paying more than for a PC, is the way to go. If you really have to run some Windows software, such as a game you don't want to replace with a native (runs much faster) Mac version, you just start it up with Boot Camp or Parallels or whatever Apple releases in the next version of its OS (expected about Jan 2007) and then you can run Windows natively. Shut it down and restart, and you've got the Mac back with all its beauty and simplicity. And almost every new Mac comes standard with wireless, bluetooth, microphone, sound and video cards, and camera already installed and ready to go. The 2 intel iMacs out have vid cards with 128 Mb RAM, and the larger one has a 20 inch monitor and can take up to 256 Mb RAM on the vid card.

[Woody]

Red, is there any truth to MAC's not getting as many viruses? If so, then why is that? Are there any drawbacks as compared to the competition?

[RedRock]

woody said:

Red, is there any truth to MAC's not getting as many viruses? If so, then why is that? Are there any drawbacks as compared to the competition?

Yes, it's true, mainly because the hackers want to go for the big target, the 90 to 95% of users (i.e., Windows), and also because (so far) the Mac stuff is written so it's a little harder to hack in through vulnerable spots. I don't understand it, but it is the case. Nonetheless, there are mac viruses and trojans, etc., and you have to protect yourself from them by using Norton Antivirus, etc. In all the years of using a Mac, since 1984, I've encountered only one, and my Norton picked it up, removed it from the file I was downloading, and eradicated it. The current Mac OS is very very stable and hardly every crashes, and the Force Quit function (like Windows' Task Manager's end task function) usually gets you out of any freeze or problem without crashing the whole system (wish Task Manager could work so well).

Drawbacks? It is a personal thing. The Windows OS basically has copied the Mac OS for years now, so if you can run one, you can run the other--the names are different, for example, "Properties" for Windows and "Get Info" for Mac, and you see a disc picture and a name of the disc on Macs for your volumes, instead of A, B, C, D, etc. drives on Windows. Files get stored a little differently but Mac lets you specify your default locations a little easier, it seems to me. Major programs exist for the Mac, usually several of each kind, for whatever application need you have--drawing, spreadsheet, word processing, browsing, games, etc. There is Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop, Netscape, etc. for Mac, and also MS Office for Mac, in fact, with Excel (did you know Excel was first written for the Mac and later ported to the Windows environment???), Word, PowerPoint, and Entourage, and files saved on one platform are able to be directly read and used by the other platform seamlessly. Through email and internet file exchange and network printing, there really is no "compatibility" issue between Macs and Windows anymore. You can buy a Student version of MS Office, too, for about $100 after rebate with purchase of a new cpu, if you are a teacher or student or parent of students, and that gives you 3 full installs of the software for different Macs. With 3 daughters and a wife and myself all hogging 3 modern Macs (and ignoring 3 other older Macs now boxed up but until recently all in use), having 3 copies of Word, etc. that can be run at the same time on different machines for one low price is nice, nice, nice. Now, there might be 80 fps games for Windows and only 20 for Mac, but of the major ones, there are versions for each already out, and who will want all 80 anyway, and also with the new Macs able to run Windows and Windows software natively, even that isn't really an issue, although there might be some functions that don't work exactly the same currently. So people will say there isn't much software out there for the Mac, but it's hogwash. For ease of life, you might have to buy new copies of Mac versions of your favorite programs, but the Mac comes with iLife and Safari and Appleworks free--that gives you multimedia programs (http://www.apple.com/ilife/), browser, and an MS-Works equivalent for word processing, drawing, painting, and spreadsheet, and many major software companies offer upgrade pricing from any version of their software to the current version on either platform. Networking with the Mac, and adding printers and peripherals, is usually just plug and play, or at most installation of a driver and then plug and play, but sometimes you have to do some things yourself because technicians don't do much Mac installations (cable modem, for example) and act like it's impossible because they don't know how. Usually a web search or a local Mac User Group can help that quickly, if plug and play doesn't work.

If you buy an iMac, "expansion" is a little tricky, compared to a desktop Mac; it's the equivalent of flat screen with built-in cpu (iMac) versus tower configuration (Mac)--not just everything will fit in the available space, but most people don't need to expand their iMacs, beyond adding RAM or a bigger hard disk, and those things are usually done when you buy it in the first place, not later. And with the price of expansion boards and DVDs, chips, etc. compared to new systems every 2 or 3 years, it's probably better to buy a new system anyway, if the current one isn't working well. Most desktop and tower Windows boxes, however, are created to be for the mass market, with lots of gaps and empty places from the get go for "customizing" or "expanding" the systems, so people buy those thinking they have a lot of future options, but most never upgrade their systems either, and even they are probably better off with a new system than trying to mix and match upgrade parts 2 or 3 years after the initial purchase. Remember that today, the average generational life span of a computer is about 6 months; after that, it is yesterday's model--slower, bigger, clunkier, less sexy, more expensive.

Anyway, that's just a primer on it. You should find a local Macintosh User Group and go to a meeting and see what goes on, try out the macs there (for example: web.mac.com/mcoc/iWeb/macclub/Wrapple_files/Wrapple05_06.pdf for a Calgary group), or find a friend with a Mac, and go over and try it out, or find an Apple Store (or CompUSA store) and go in and try one out--click, double click, open, run, play, try, look, listen, feel. Pretend it's a day at work, open the word processor of your choice, type a memo, format it, click print, check out the print dialog box (it's all very very intuitive on a Mac), and just see what's it like. Launch a game from the hard disk or demo DVD the store should have, and try it out. And then go back and do it a couple of more times before you buy, if you do, because you can get the snazzy windows box for about half the Mac price, I'm guessing, but to me, it's well worth the price difference.

I anticipate buying a new MacIntel unit in August (while the wife is away), with 256 Mb VRAM and with real speed increase of 2 to 3 x what I now have, for the same price I paid for this one back in 12/05, and then the wife and kids can have this one to replace the one (8 months older than this one and 10 % slower) that my oldest brought home from college for the summer and will be taking back with her in August, but the wife has gotten used to its nice speed and flat screen, etc.

Enough for now.

[Lost_Child]

Soooooo ?
If your protected from viruses and such with proper anti-virus and firewall .
Windows are copies of Mac ,
The same programs (Netscape, Adobe ,Photo-shop , etc.)are available for each.
85% +/- of my library of software won't work without adding windows native .
And the New Macs alternately runs Windows O/S .
And I have never had window related crashes .

WHERE THEN Mr.Salesman is the reason I would leave a Windows based PC
Which I have intimate knowledge of ,
And go to a Mac ?

[RedRock]

Netscape and Acrobat are free downloads, so there is no expense switching. A small upgrade fee will get you the Mac version of Photshop, if you insist on using it instead of the free stuff that comes with a Mac that will do most of what most people (not the professionals, but most people) do with Photoshop, or just buy the Photoshop Elements mac version (cheaper than the PS upgrade, and does 95% of what PS does), but you can simply run your old software natively with the new Mac until such time as you do purchase the upgraded next version. So, the software issue, as I explained to Woody, is not really an issue, just a smokescreen excuse to avoid the truth.

Those who have switched to Mac from long time use of Windows will uniformly tell you how much easier, and cleaner, and more intuitive it is to work with a Mac, and how much easier it is to get up and running with new projects and customize them far more easily, and those people never look back at the switch, never miss the Windows machines, never miss the frequent defragging and complicated Service Pack updates and many, many viruses and spyware attacks.

How many times have you had to reboot your pc, Lost, or re-image it in the last 2 years here, just to tune it up so you wouldn't lag and could play on Lamrons effectively? Seems like you're forever saying you just did it or need to do it so you could play here without freezing or crashing or lagging. Ask M, he's still in that boat, tries to play a bit, then starts to freeze or crash and just gives up until the next night.

Look, Woody asked a question, and then chided me for not answering it, so I did, otherwise I was going to say nothing. Do you think I like being despised for being better (and knowing it) and speaking up about it? OK, I'm kidding. But I can smell your response a mile away even each time before I write my stuff about Macs, and I dread the attacks, although I know it is not mean, just all in fun, even though you do believe what you're kidding me about.

But if you are hell bent on never ever even considering using a Mac or even getting hands-on experience with them, then I can't change your mind. However, I use a Windows box at work and have done so for the last 7 years, and I used a DEC mainframe with a dumb terminal for 7 years before that, and I've used Macs for nearly 22 years now, so I for one can speak about the differences between them in everyday usage, and the Mac is superior--fewer problems, fewer unexplained glitches and changes in preferences for no reason, fewer disappearing files, fewer times when a manual is needed even to do basic stuff, etc.. I can find and fix my own file and application problems, including installations and weird messages, on a Mac, but with Windows, you either need to be a genius or find a "Genius" or "Wizard" and hope it can fix the problems for you without having to reimage your drive or totally reinstall your software or Windows OS. The Mac OS just isn't made that way, it just doesn't happen. And I can't explain it any better than that.

But there's a fun and beauty dimension to it, too--the Macs are just designed to look and feel and run nice, not all boxy and businessy and boring. Watch TV shows, and the cool shows with cool people in offices, they're using Macs, not Windows things, because the Mac is eye candy as wall as brain food.

This new move to let Macs use Windows is just a security blanket for people who are afraid to move away from Windows but secretly wish to, or an excuse for Mac lovers to get Macs into a Windows office (I'm the latter type). But of the former type, most find after using the Mac a month or two, they can't even remember the last time they booted into Windows, or even wanted to, but just like all those empty expansion slots in Windows towers that never get used ("but could be used someday if I want to....."), the Windows side is there to use "just in case or if I want to or need to." They won't (want to or need to, usually). These are testimonials I am referring to that I went and read the other night before answering Woody, btw, on forums discussing the new Macintel machines and their effect on people on the future of the Mac and PC's.

So, unless you are willing to try, Lost, I will never change your mind and I have given up trying, but that's OK, there is a place for you and your machine in this world, too. In your house. With intimate knowledge. Just don't do it with the blinds open to the neighborhoood.

Now I need to explain one thing about the new Macintel units I might have messed up on. If you boot into Windows with Boot Camp, you don't have the nice Mac functionality until you shut down and restart as a Mac, but if you run Parallels or whatever Apple brings out with the next OS, Windows will run as just any other program from the Mac desktop, so you'll be able to run that clunky Access file or MS-Works 97 version you refuse to upgrade from, and still have all the other Mac goodies still instantly available. Also, any virus attacks on the Windows side will be sequestered on that partition or in that RAM area and will not affect the basic underlying Mac side.

Oh, and back to the DEC mainframe with dumb terminal. When the mainframe went on the blink, we could do nothing, no word processing, no database searching and reporting, no communcation, etc. So I took my old MacPlus with 1 Mb of RAM and ran a DEC terminal emulation software program and hooked it up to the DEC mainframe, and I was able to replace my dumb terminal fully and yet have a real computer to use when the silly mainframe was down. Boy were the secretaries jealous, but my Mac made it easy. That was 1989-94, by the way. The new Macs are just the next step in that process.

Anyway, that's about enough for now, don't you think?

[Lamron]

Dang, now you've got ME thinking about switching to a MAC!

[Lost_Child]

OK Red !
You make some valid points.


As you stated Red:
" Lost, I will never change your mind and I have given up trying, but that's OK, there is a place for you and your machine in this world, too."

A Cadillac Escalade may be more eye catching and comfortable .
But I'm not ready to get rid of my Ford Expedition that does the job I want it to ,
just because it may need tires or tune-up once in a while .



But I may be more apt to give it more consideration during next
computer purchase.

A little something for ya Red ;D
www.awdsgn.com/HTML/MacWinSmack.html
(if it works on a Mac)

[RedRock]

That Mac versus Windows smackdown was funny, lost.
And I'm thinking about downsizing my Ford Explorer to a Ford Escape or Nissan Pickup 4x4 (as I used to have) for better fuel economy.
But my Mac is like my handgun----->>>....when you pry my cold, dead fingers, ...........!

[Woody]

Thanks for all the advice Redrock. I am seriously considering going with a Mac. I was getting tired of my PC crashing, gremlins etc. I am not a computer guy that keeps up with the latest and greatest programs. All I want is for the damn thing to work when I play a game, check sports scores and websites, pay bills online etc. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that all the viruses are created by the people that make the anti virus programs, just so as we are continually forced to upgrade.

When I buy this next computer, I don't want to have to replace it in a year, or be forced to upgrade. I guess my biggest concern in going with a Mac is having to relearn the operating system, but it sounds like it would be easy even for a guy like me that doesn't have the time or patience for it. Now, here is the most important question...Would I have to buy an new MOH or would my current CD still work in a MAC???

I don't know anyone that has a MAC so I do appreciate the honest assessment. I haven't really heard any convincing argument to not buy one.

[RedRock]

The MOH CD, as far as I know, has only one OS version on it, so you'll need to buy MOH for Mac, UNLESS you want to run what you already have on the Windows side of your Mac. I think you have to install Windows version XP with SP2 (does NOT come with the Mac) and set aside some of your hard disk space (gee, I don't know what windows needs, but the new Macs come with some big hard disks, 160+ Gig); I don't know whether there is some CD key for Windows that has to be entered (I've never set up Windows for the first time on a computer) and thus whether you can use any copy of it you already have, or whether you have to buy a new copy. The effective speed of your application running under Windows on the Mac is about the same as with other boxes running Windows, unless those boxes have souped-up graphics boards, in which case they will be faster.

One thing also to understand, the new Macs run an intel processor, not a powerpc processor, and so older Mac software (such as what I have, including MOH) was written for the ppc processor, and so the intel mac OS runs an emulator known as Rosetta which handles the old software and in most cases runs it almost as fast as it ran on the old Macs (with OS newer than v.9). The exception to that is the very calculation-intense software such as PhotoShop; there, Rosetta runs Photoshop slower than on the old Mac and much slower than if you ran a Windows version of PS on the same intel Mac under Windows. However, many software packages are now being released in "universal binary" version, or having patches released, to run natively on both X86 (intel) and old Mac (G5) machines; THEN, there is a huge jump, 2 to 3 x faster, in performance of the Mac software compared to the old Mac, and those applications even run faster in many cases than the native version on Windows. Photoshop, so far, has not yet been released in universal binary version but it's expected out early next year, I think I read, but many other programs and many games have already been released as univ.bin. (COD2, Q4, D3, WOW, UT2004, etc.). MOH hasn't yet, and I don't know if one is planned, as the program is quite old. See guide.apple.com/universal/ to look up any specific program (more than 2600 universal apps so far) or see wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/X86_software. While MS Office isn't there, you get AppleWorks with your new Mac to do all of that, and it reads and writes to MS Word or Excel format, etc., if you were to find the MS Office for Mac version to run too slow under Rosetta, but MS will probably release a univ.bin. version soon, anyway.

For regular gaming, word processing, internet and email activities, you'll be fine with any new pc, including the Mac, but I think you'll be pleased with a Mac. If you want it especially for gaming, consider getting the bigger mac with 20 in. monitor and faster graphics board, and add the extra 128 Mb VRAM (total 256). My old G4 Mac with 1.25 GHz ppc and 64 Mb VRAM was too slow to play on severs doing FreezeTag MOH if there were more than 12 players, but with my new G5 at 2.1 GHz and 128 Mb VRAM, I haven't had any trouble with up to 40 players on a server, and I expect it will be even nicer with a new mac and more VRAM, especially on a universal binary application (I own Q4 but haven't played it, it's for the kids, but I do have COD2!). Hope I can buy mine soon!

If you do buy a Mac, expect to buy Norton AntiVirus/InternetSecurity at the same time, so you'll be up and running and protected. I would also recommend a different mouse than what comes with the Mac, perhaps even a wireless or bluetooth mouse or keyboard (Mac is standard already wireless and bluetooth). I use an MS wireless laser mouse with 5 buttons, and I like it, but Lam has suggested that a corded multi-button mouse would be better for gaming.

I will be glad to try to help with any issues that might come up, or point you in the right direction for help on something I don't understand, if you do switch to Mac.

One cool program for you to look forward to is Adium, a small free application that lets you run only one application and yet connect to and use almost all of the chat programs (Yahoo, iChat, MSN, AIM, etc.) all at the same time or selectively. It runs really well.