Purchase help

[betterdays]

Hi all

I'm about to switch to an iMac and probably switch my mom to the Mini, too.

I'm having a damn hard time trying to decide what to get:
The 17" iMac I'm after has 1GB RAM by default. Probably won't be enough to drive a second monitor and CS3, I fear... So I feel like getting 2GB but the premium Apple is asking for 2GB makes me wonder if it wouldn't be better just to get 1GB and buy 2GB separately,

then.......

Upgrade the mom's future Mini with those 1GB, then I'd have the stock 512MB RAM left over. Hard to resell, right? nobody needs 2x256MB SODIMMs...

Or just get 2GB directly installed by Apple in my iMac and 1GB in the Mini, more expensive in the end but nothing left over (that can't be resold).

Still, that would be valid only with new machines, and I'm still pondering buying a refurb Mini, in that case it's 512MB, period (unless I get lucky and receive one that got upped to 1GB, which happens, I heard).

Oh, what to do, what to do... Refurb or Education rebates?
Can an iMac run smoothly in dual screen with only 1GB? and isn't a Mini with only 512MB a bit "underkill" ?

Feel free to share your thoughts ;-)

PS: the mini has no keyboard or mouse, but mom currently has a PC USB wireless set: is it OK to use a Mac with a PC keyboard? or would it just be easier to switch completely and get used to the Mac keys layout? I'm still wondering what to get with my iMac, wireless KB&M or not... Will I like the Mighty Mouse's ball? If I don't, is it easy to resell? (I say resell because I have tons of useless leftover PC keyboards and mice from the past years)

 

[theheyes]

I have an iMac with 1GB ram and it handles two monitors fine. The graphics card will have more of an influence on this however. I have the 128mb x1600.

As for the mighty mouse, after about a week of use I plugged in my old Microsoft wireless optical mouse. I keep the mighty mouse as a spare.

 

[betterdays]

As for the mighty mouse, after about a week of use I plugged in my old Microsoft wireless optical mouse. I keep the mighty mouse as a spare.

Thanks for the answer, what exactly don't you like about the MM compared to your MS mouse? last time I touched a Mighty Mouse I know I found the smallish scroll ball a bit uncomfortable under the finger.

 

[qbmcnabb108]

I just bought myself a new MacBook and am looking for a mouse. I heard that not many people like the Mighty Mouse, is that true? Also, does any one think that Apple will update the Mighty Mouse anytime soon?

 

[Maxwell Smart]

I doubt they'll upgrade it. I use a logitech VX Revolution and it's great, but just about any logitech bluetooth mouse would work great with your mac.

 

[qbmcnabb108]

Oh Ok, thanks!

 

[Liong612]

Mighty Mouse solution

I just bought myself a new MacBook and am looking for a mouse. I heard that not many people like the Mighty Mouse, is that true? Also, does any one think that Apple will update the Mighty Mouse anytime soon?

One reason i don't like about Mighty Mouse is the speed. I type very fast and i have to able to pint point to an object in the screen in an instant. It annoys the hell out of me that my new iMac has very slow mouse movement (even with maximum setting). However i recently found a small program called SteerMouse. Not only this program can speed up my mouse to the way i like it, it allows me to assign keystroke to all the mouse buttons (I use middle button to close window Cmd-W that way i can close window without moving the mouse pointer, and I use hot corner to replace the dashboard button). Check it out. It may also work for you. I am glad i can still use Mighty Mouse. I love how it looks and feels. I don't think a new mouse will be able to replace that.