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Macs...Help, please!

SuperDA said:
i'll look into that and see wot i can find.
i thoguht the actual screen wasnt 17 inch, but the whole monitor was, and thats y i think it looks so small
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no way dude. apple wouldn't cheat like that. when they say "17 LCD Widescreen" they mean wide SCREEN, not wide computer :)

as for AVI files on macs... they are hit & miss. try downloading a media player called VLC. it seems to be much better at handling AVI than quicktime player is.

honestly though, if you're gonna be doing lots of video editing or whatever you're gonna want that extra real estate that the 20" gives. stretching a timeline out over the bottom half and having room for all your viewers & slugs is nice.
 
yeah, i'll get the 20 inch, but im not sure wot to start my comp bid on ebay...its gonna be at least £500 tho.. but i want a buy it now one too, maybe £950
 
so anyone got any ideas of what to put my pc on for on ebay?
the specs are on the first page at the bottom
 
buffalo said:
In case you didn't see, I did PM and email you with my information...
If you have questions, feel free to ask.
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i know, ive e-mailed u sumthin, ive been away for a day so ive just got round to doin this.
can anyone help me on wot bid i should start me computer at? £500?
Specs:
Windows XP Pro SP2
3.2GHZ HT Pentium 4
512mb 3200 DDR memory
Gigabyte Mainboard
Geforce FX 5600 Ultra
DVD-RW DL Drive
DVD reader
Floppy Disk Drive
120GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
2 speakers with one sub woofer
500w PSU
17 inch TFT Monitor
 
i'd be lucky to get that much for my current pc which has an x800XT a 64-bit cpu but with no dvd burner.
 
If I were you, I'd just purchase Pinnacle Studio for your PC. Don't waste all your cash on a Mac that you're not really sure you need. Pinnacle these days is a fine piece of Software that even my father in law can use and create reasonable home movies. If you are serious about video editing, then you'd probably want to stump up even more cash and get Final Cut Express for starters and then upgrade when you are ready to Final Cut Pro. iMovie is well beaten by Pinnacle in my mind, FCE/P are in a different league.

Your PC seems to have a reasonably capable spec so stay with it. Make sure you know what format your input media is in. Make sure it is DV. Adding a firewire card to you PC - if needed - is pretty trivial.
The key to any good movie is the original recorded content. You can't improve on rubbish even with the best software. I have filmed an inordinate amount of rubbish so speak from experience.

Guessing what your future educational needs are is also pretty tough. Most educational institutions in the UK are pretty unimaginative about hardware choices - i.e. PC based. Wait and see what your media further education needs are. Of course if you happen to have loads of cash to burn...

PS. You seem to have escaped lightly with all the txt spk. There are several folks on this forum who hate bad spelling let alone txt spk.
 
Hi SuperDA,

I'm a recent switcher from WinPcs to Mac (and also live in the UK). First of all, get yourself to the nearest John Lewis store (Nottingham or Sheffield) and have a look at the Macs properly. They will also be able to answer most of your questions. Once you see these wonderful computers and have a little play on them, you wondered why you even considered NOT to! I'm a network engineer by trade and all of my work has always been on Windows. I thought that i'd never be able to use a Mac for work, until i tried it. .
If media manipulation is your thing, then definitely go for a G5 Mac. Having read your entries, i would go for an iMac and sell your existing PC+monitor.

On the software side for what you've asked, this is what i use on my Mac:

P2P software = iSwipe
IM software = Skype and Adium (if you must use MSN/AOL)

Back to John Lewis, you may still be able to pick up an iMac in their clearance sales. They had a 1.6Ghz iMac in the Reading store for only £599 a couple of weeks ago (i assume it was ex-display).

Hopes this helps! :)
 
osiris315 said:
Hi SuperDA,

I'm a recent switcher from WinPcs to Mac (and also live in the UK). First of all, get yourself to the nearest John Lewis store (Nottingham or Sheffield) and have a look at the Macs properly. They will also be able to answer most of your questions. Once you see these wonderful computers and have a little play on them, you wondered why you even considered NOT to! I'm a network engineer by trade and all of my work has always been on Windows. I thought that i'd never be able to use a Mac for work, until i tried it. .
If media manipulation is your thing, then definitely go for a G5 Mac. Having read your entries, i would go for an iMac and sell your existing PC+monitor.

On the software side for what you've asked, this is what i use on my Mac:

P2P software = iSwipe
IM software = Skype and Adium (if you must use MSN/AOL)

Back to John Lewis, you may still be able to pick up an iMac in their clearance sales. They had a 1.6Ghz iMac in the Reading store for only £599 a couple of weeks ago (i assume it was ex-display).

Hopes this helps! :)
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I like this guy! first post he types for this thread, and its everythin i've asked for in one post! cheers! :D
i'll see if there's a john lewis in lincoln sumwhere
wonderin, hows the mighty mouse? i rest my fingers on the mosue ive got, and i thoguht that as its a touch pad on it, it would get annoyin after a while, or is there sumthin which stops that?
 
Have a look at www.johnlewis.com to find your nearest store.

The MM does take a little getting used to. The 'touch-pad' you refer to is actually the middle button. There is no touch pad on the area where you press left or right 'click'.
 
SuperDA said:
ah. bollocks.
start at £500 anyways and see how it does?
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post a link here when you do, i dont really want to keep my pc any more and i need a new powerbook/ibook so whatever yours sells for as long as it's above 350 i'll probably post it as a buy it now.
 
A lot of the regulars find posts according to when they were last posted in. Sometimes it's easy for a thread to be overlooked first time round, so typing "bump" creates a new post that puts the thread back up the top of the pile, rejuvenating (or bumping) the thread. :)
 
SuperDA said:
I've got an ipod, and if i get a MAC, will i have to format it to work on the mac version of iTunes?
Click to expand...
No. It works just fine. The problem comes on using a Mac-Formatted one on Winblowz (M$ can't be assed to write drivers for anything but FAT or NTFS, so the HFS+ iPods are not compat)

I use BitComet for various purposes, and i know that you can use Bit Torrent, but is there other programs that i can use for MAC, like (hopefully) BitComet or another type of bittorrent program?
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The official bittorrent client is quite good

What is the best IM Client for Mac? i use MSN 7.0 mainly, but ive found that the version of msn thats on Mac barely has the features that are used on the windows version.
Click to expand...
Ya, expect that for a while (M$ trying to get people to convert to Winblowz - aint working. As an all rounder, I'd say Adium ( www.adiumx.com ) and it has some cool extras. It doesn't do webcam or anything like that, but it does some other stuff (and it allows you to use AIM, YIM, ICQ, etc, etc in 1 app). Expect MSN 5 to come out sometime shortly

I have a 17 inch monitor now for this PC, so if i got a 17 inch iMac, would i be able to use the reolution of 1280x1024 on it?
Click to expand...
No. The Mac is not underpowered. I currently run mine in at that res on a 17" non-Apple one, and it's perfectly happy (a little shoddy, but that's what you get for buying monitors from the bargain bin :p)

Also is there any places which i can see more pcis of the iMac? all of seen of it is just the pictures apple has of it on their site, and i'd like to see people who own them and see wot they're like in a house or sumthin, if u know wot i mean :p
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Look in our pictures forum. I think we have 2 threads going currently

Thanks very much.
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You're welcome :D
 
ok, now im havin doubts.
i'm not sure to be honest, i mean, ive had windows pcs all the time, and the only few tries ive had wiv macs have been old emacs which have had i think the mac os 9 operatin system, and to switch over to a mac would be, and i think, is very big to switch over to, and i think i mean im just nervous that if i do sell the comp, things i can do on a pc i wont be able to do on a mac, i dont know wot really :p but i know that when i try the mac out there prob will be sumthin. i think mainly its the games. i play half life 2 and gta: san andreas occasionally and to not be able to play that at all would be a bit of a downer. i play emulators mostly but they're on mac anyway, so im happy aout that.
i guess wot im tryin to say, is that im jsut really nervous about switchin completely to a mac, and if i do get it, i wont be able to get on me pc again, only to try me dads pc which is across the house.
 
im not sayin i dont like the mac, im just sayin im really nervous to go onto a completely new OS from usin windows xp for years
 
A year on
Hi,
well it's been a year since i last talked in this topic, and i thought i was right in holding off, but i have decided for 2 motnhs now that i am switching.
First i do have to get a car sorted then in august i will be set to buy a 20 inch iMac. The PC has bene upgraded since, as it has a new keyboard ad mouse, has 1GB of memory, and has a Geforce 6600GT 256mb, and a 200GB hard drive.
Since January i have ben taking an interest in photography and video editing, and since i have got the cybershot N1 and am planning on buying the HDV Sony camera HC1-E, and ive been using Movie maker to edit many videos that me and my friends have been making, and now i beleive that i can do a better job with iMovie and Final Cut Pro, as them 2 programs are much more reliable and can give me better power and effects than i ever could with movie maker. I've also been trying out the different macs too in PC world, and after trying out the imac on its beautiful 20 inch screen, i do beleive that it is the best possible option for me. The screen, its performance and design is enough for me to purchase it.
And of course, with boot camp i will be able to play Half Life 2 and its episode on beautiful widescreen :D
I'd thought i'd write in this topic of the update than just make a new topic.
Thanks for your time.
 
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