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newbie advice (which Mac for college?)

B

braff

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 19, 2006
4
0
I am currently a pc user and need to get a mac for college . I am studying film making and thats what all my work is getting done on. But am confused by all the options I have. From mini mac . Power book . imac . Intel chips power pc etc. Just need someone to be kind enough to explain what it the best for me.

Would need it for video / sound editing . Stuff like dreamweaver / photoshop. Not really wanting to play games on it. Want to be able to use it after college finishes for my own movie projects so hopefully something that won't be slow and need replacing soon . Which I know from my pc experiance will be hard as new stuff is out all the time
 
What's your budget like? I am also a film major and I use[ed] an eMac for the longest time before getting my MacBook Pro. Basically, any semi-modern mac can handle video work, just some do it faster than others. If you have the money, get a MacBook Pro (if you can wait go with the MacPro [intel powermac]) and final cut studio. If your budget is lower, go with the iMac and use final cut express (warning, this is not a universal binary!!)

Heck, you could probably do great things with a mac mini!

It really depends on how much money you're willing to spend and what kind of film work your doing.

And no, as a general rule Macs have a muuuchh longer life compared to PC's.
 
Since this is going to be a computer for school (~4 years) don't, I repeat DO NOT get one with PPC chip (IBM - G4, G5). Get an intel Mac and like Kingsly said, it depends on how much money you have. I probably wouldn't go for the mini, but decide on the iMac or MacBook Pro, depending on if you need portability or not. These computers are pretty much exactly the same hardware wise. If you need a killer machine then wait for the new intel PowerMac, expensive and big it will be, may not fit in a college/uni student's budget or dorm room.
 
my budget is about £1000. I can get a student discount by ordering through my college. Would prefer a desktop mac due to a bad experiance with my latop . Which is really high spec but is slow and heats up and dies . So I have to wait about an hour to start it again. Used an imac and I really don't like it . Is the mac pro due out or out as I am in no hurry to get one at the moment but will most likely have to get one about august at the latest . With these intel chips in the macs now is there compatablity probs. Older progs not working with new chips etc.
 
I'd go with the iMac during the graduation season or the pre-semester one. Apple usually has additional rebates for buying Macs/iPods in the summer in addition to the normal educational ones. I got $200 off my iMac G5 and the rebate came back in two weeks since it was mailed instate. :D

I find my iMac G5 powerful enough for what I do. (iLife, web surfing, & mail) The new Intel ones strike a nice balance between power and price.
 
Well, it looks like you've decided. You've only got 1,000 pounds, so you won't be able to afford a powermac. You don't want a laptop. You don't like the iMac. What's left? A Mac mini. Personally I think that's a bad idea, but you've decided, so go ahead and buy it.
 
I could get a powermac for just over that amount.

found this

APPLE IMAC 20 G5 SUPERDRIVE APP IMAC20 G5 SUPER DRIVE


Features for this APPLE IMAC 20 G5 SUPERDRIVE

- Power PC G5 Processor Type
- 2100 mhz Processor speed
- 512 mb RAM Memory
- 250 Gb Hard Disk Capacity
- DVD Drive
- CD Rewriter
- ATI Radeon X600 XT Graphics type
- 128 mb Graphics card memory
- Onboard Sound Card
- 3 USB connections

Specification for this APPLE IMAC 20 G5 SUPERDRIVE

Processor Type Power PC G5
Processor speed 2100 mhz
RAM Memory 512 mb
Hard Disk Capacity 250 Gb
Combo Drive No
CD ROM No
DVD Drive Yes
CD Rewriter Yes
Graphics type ATI Radeon X600 XT
Graphics card memory 128 mb
3D accelerator graphics No
Sound Card Onboard
Speakers Included No
Modem No
No of USB connections 3
No of Firewire Sockets 2
Operating system Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger"
Weight 10 kg
Height 472 mm
Width 493 mm
Depth 189 mm
Detachable Speakers No



For under £1000.

Is this a good deal
 
I think you could be ok getting the iMac G5 if you don't plan on using all the latest and greatest softaware in 4 years. If you can be happy with were the software packages are now then I say jump on it. I have a the old Rev B iMac G5 and it is a solid computer but it does need a ram upgrade if you plan on doing much in the way of multitasking.
 
Decided to go for APPLE IMAC 17" INTEL CORE DUO PROCESSOR


1.83GHz Intel Core Duo Processor

512MB DDR RAM

160GB Hard Disk Drive

DVD RW 8x Superdrive

128MB GDDR3 Graphics

5 USB connections

2 Firewire Sockets

Built-in Speakers

Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" Operating System


Its about £930 so its under my budget and should do everything I need. I will most likely upgrade in the future when needed. Why would getting the G5 stop me from using the newest software in 4 years?
 
The Intel Macs are the newest ones and Apple is transitioning to them. The G5 should still be an option in several years but it's the best bet to get an Intel Mac for power and longevity.
 
braff said:
Decided to go for APPLE IMAC 17" INTEL CORE DUO PROCESSOR


Its about £930 so its under my budget and should do everything I need. I will most likely upgrade in the future when needed. Why would getting the G5 stop me from using the newest software in 4 years?
Click to expand...

Good call. As it happens, I've just ordered one for myself, but I bumped the memory to 1GB and the HD to 250GB.

The problem with the G5 is that in 4 years the newest software will likely require the intel chips. Of course, right now, there are some apps that are not optimized for Intel. They'll run, but they run slower. But down the line, everythign will run better on Intel.
 
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