Mac soon, buying advice please :)

apeZ

apeZ

apeZ

Soldato
Joined
22 Sep 2008
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Location
Kent, England
Evening.

My PC seems to have pretty much died, and I have always been lured to the Mac side of things: I love the operating system, minimal look (putting the system and monitor in one is brilliant) and the fantastic screen quality. Plus I get the HE discount :cool: so seeing as its my birthday in a few days and I have a bit of money lying around, I thought I'd get one.

Anyway, I need a bit of advice. I have quite a few questions.

Firstly. I am probably going for the iMac 24" , with 2.66ghz processor. I want a nice large screen so I can watch movies and such on it too. However, I'm not too sure whether I should go for the next model up...

The RAM and HDD is fine, but I'm dubious about the GPU. I don't expect to be playing all the latest games and stuff, but could anyone give a slight indication what to expect? Even though I am cutting down on gaming, it would be nice to play every now and again, but this 9400m... what can it do?

Is it any use with Steam or Steam games (L4d, CSS, TF2 etc) ?

If I opted for the next model up, is the GT120, I think, would I see any improvement? It sounds like a chip designed for graphic design and such though, and I can't justify the premium for going to a GT130 or 4850.

Secondly, will the 2.66ghz processor be adequate for day to day use? I will mainly be web browsing, streaming video, playing video (DVD as well as other formats) and using applications such as Word, iPhoto etc, sometimes even all at the same time. I don't particularly want to pay for the next model up, as the only difference is 300mhz or so and a different GPU, so need some advice on what to do here.

Another thing, which may be a bit of a silly question, but are any new models planned for the next month or two? As far as I know, the current iMacs are the 2009 models, and thus we shouldn't expect to see any new ones until 2010 - but I'm not sure. I know technology is always improving, but if there are new models a month away, I would rather hold out for a bit!

And finally, are there any essentials I should buy with the iMac? I heard that a new mouse is a better idea (and I didn't particularly like the Mighty Mouse when I used it in store), so do most USB mice work fine?

Sorry for all the questions, and I hope to join your... 'family' soon :)

Thanks.
 
That means I have to spend £400 more.

24", 2.66ghz, 640GB hdd, 9400M = £1,055.70

24", 2.93ghz, 640GB hdd, HD4850, = £1,459.35

:(
 
- 9400M can run games. It's not great, but it's not super bad (intel).
- You want the GT120 (9500GT) model.
- The processor is fine.
- Just get a Mac now if you're going to get one. If you're really paranoid wait 1 month and see if anything changes at WWDC on June 8th.
- The Mighty Mouse is garbage, do not get one.
 
I think I'll stick with the 2.66 / 9400M model. I'll fix my old PC up and keep it on standby for the occassional game.

Nah, not paranoid - anyway I'm sure I could return it if there was some 'big' new model announced at the WWDC.

Thanks for the help :)

Also, wired or wireless keyboard? I like the fact that the wired has USB ports (the wireless doesn't, does it?) but the wireless is also nice. Would I need to replace batteries often, assuming I spent about 6-8 hours using it each evening?

And the remote: gimmick or useful addition?
 
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I'd go for the next model up, thats what I did. More RAM, faster processor, better GFX card. The GT120 plays CSS perfectly.

Remote is useful for me just to simply flick between tracks in Itunes when I can't be arsed to grab the mouse and move it.
 
It's been well discussed, Snow Leopard will improve multi-core support and introduce OpenCL in a big way. Have a look here
OpenCL

Another powerful Snow Leopard technology, OpenCL (Open Computing Language), makes it possible for developers to efficiently tap the vast gigaflops of computing power currently locked up in the graphics processing unit (GPU). With GPUs approaching processing speeds of a trillion operations per second, they’re capable of considerably more than just drawing pictures. OpenCL takes that power and redirects it for general-purpose computing.
Click to expand...
 
Not sure how that translates to Snow Leopard itself needing a decent GPU... It just appears that the option will be available to programmers of 3rd part software.
 
Ross1234 said:
Im confused as to what OpenCL is for. Isnt that what the CPU is for?
Click to expand...

How often is the GPU actually working hard? When it's not, OpenCL will farm processor stuff out to the GPU, hence improving overall system performance.

vonhelmet said:
Not sure how that translates to Snow Leopard itself needing a decent GPU... It just appears that the option will be available to programmers of 3rd part software.
Click to expand...

It doesn't need it but it'll take advantage of a good graphics card.
 
Still considering which model to go for. Part of me wants to take the 2.93 / GT120 spec.

About this 'Snow Leopard' - does anyone have an ETA? Also, will it be a free upgrade for those who already have Leopard, or do we have to pay?

Would also like an answer on the wired/wireless keyboard thing!
 
apeZ said:
Still considering which model to go for. Part of me wants to take the 2.93 / GT120 spec.

About this 'Snow Leopard' - does anyone have an ETA? Also, will it be a free upgrade for those who already have Leopard, or do we have to pay?

Would also like an answer on the wired/wireless keyboard thing!
Click to expand...

There is no official release date for Snow Leopard yet, speculation is that it may be announced at WWDC in a month or so but nothing definite. One thing that is almost certain is that it will not be a free upgrade. OS X prices are reasonable, around £85 for a single version or £120 for a family pack of five licences.

Regarding the keyboard, I love the idea of the Apple wireless keyboard but it doesn't come with a numeric keypad. In fact, the new wired keyboard doesn't come with a numeric keypad either but it's available as a no-cost option. I understand that battery life is measured in months!

If the wireless one had a keypad, I'd have one but because it doesn't, I've gone with the wired keyboard and I like it. For a small travel keyboard it works incredibly well and it's not taken very long to get used to it, I can type on it as fast as any other keyboard I've owned.
 
No one knows. Probably around the same time as Windows 7.
If you buy a Mac very close to it's release you sometimes get a free upgrade, otherwise it will cost you.
Get wired unless you need to sit 15 ft away. Batteries in input devices are annoying.

Regarding the keyboard, I love the idea of the Apple wireless keyboard but it doesn't come with a numeric keypad. In fact, the new wired keyboard doesn't come with a numeric keypad either but it's available as a no-cost option. I understand that battery life is measured in months!
Click to expand...
Just pick the numpad model on the configuration page, yes.
Batteries last a reasonable amount of time, no better or worse than most wireless crud. But short enough to be annoying. To me, anyway.
 
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Just to give an idea of how much I like this keyboard, when they introduced the wired without the keypad, I bought a spare and put it away incase this one packs up and I can't get a replacement.
 
Thanks for the quick reply Feek!

I think I'm going to go for the wired keyboard with numpad; I'm used to keyboards like that. Plus the two USB ports should come in handy :)

£85 sounds reasonable for a new OS. I might hold out until June 8th to see what happens then, if I can. Would be nice to have the latest model, complete with Snow Leopard. Ah well, I'll see what happens.
 
Took another trip to the Apple store earlier.. probably going to go for the 2.93 / GT120 model now... Heard some good and bad things about the GT120, but if I'm correct, it has about the same performance as an 8600GT? I have an 8600GT in my current PC, and it runs L4d, HL2, COD4, CSS, TF2 etc with ease. Hopefully that will be the same with the iMac, if not I'll just be happy that it handles video well.

The extra processor speed should come in handy, its only about 300mhz more, but every little counts and that should give it a bit more life.

Should be placing an order soon, anyone know how long the iMacs take to arrive from the UK online store?
 
apeZ said:
Should be placing an order soon, anyone know how long the iMacs take to arrive from the UK online store?
Click to expand...

Mine took 6 days - including the long Good Friday weekend - to arrive from China. The Apple/UPS tracking is quite good - I watched mine go from China>Korea>Poland>Germany>UK. Just beware if you don't like your neighbours - UPS delivered it to mine when I was out.

Just one thing about keyboards - I took other peoples advice and went for the full-sized wired keyboard (the wired mouse plugs into one of the USBs on the keyboard) but a week later and I have just spent £96 on the wireless set-up. In my case it's to reduce desktop clutter but if I had ordered the wireless stuff with the iMac it would have been a lot cheaper.

*Oh, and it's definitely worthwhile dragging a student to your local Apple Store in order to get the HE discount.
 
mr.brown said:
Just one thing about keyboards - I took other peoples advice and went for the full-sized wired keyboard (the wired mouse plugs into one of the USBs on the keyboard) but a week later and I have just spent £96 on the wireless set-up. In my case it's to reduce desktop clutter but if I had ordered the wireless stuff with the iMac it would have been a lot cheaper.
Click to expand...

I think the most important thing about the keyboard is whether you want/need the numeric keypad or not. If you don't then go wireless but if you do then you have no option than to get the wired one.

Personally I think the idea of a desktop keyboard without a numeric keypad is badly flawed because I use it a lot, other people will disagree :)
 
Feek said:
I think the most important thing about the keyboard is whether you want/need the numeric keypad or not. If you don't then go wireless but if you do then you have no option than to get the wired one.

Personally I think the idea of a desktop keyboard without a numeric keypad is badly flawed because I use it a lot, other people will disagree :)
Click to expand...

agreed.

I want a full + keypad wireless keyboard.

Apple should be sending me one out along with a wireless mighty mouse, so i'll have both :o
 
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