Want to upgrade - Help pse!

[QueenBee]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum and this is my first post.

I have used Mac's for years, starting with an old SE. But I've been pretty slow off the mark lately, I only gave up my old LCII a couple of years ago for a 2nd hand Blueberry iMac. Which was just heaven.

Now I want to upgrade again. I am starting to get frustated because it just seems to be getting slower and slower, or maybe it's me getting more impatient. I also want to get a digital camera and edit movies.

I live in New Zealand, so forgive me if some of the terms I may use may be confusing, we do speak English but I spose every country has their particular quirks.

Over the last week I have become more and more confused. First I decided, because my old Panasonic camera (about 10+ yrs) crapped out, I needed a new camera. My friend brought a Sony Mini DVD Camera with an LCD touch screen. I thought, mmmm that's cool. I want one of those. Then all the trouble started. Three different salespeople at chain stores told me I could use it with a Mac. I said I wanted to be able to hook it up to my Mac and edit the movies I had taken, then burn it onto DVD. I started getting suspicious because when I looked in the instruction manual, it didn't say anything about software being provided for a Mac.

Finally I rang Sony and they said No. OK. So now I have to start looking again. Apparently Mini DV is the way to go.

But now that I've only got a 233MHz I suppose I'm gonna have to upgrade to a faster machine and get OS10 which I have been avoiding.

So I went to the Mac dealer and he has given me two options. At first I thought Option 2 sounded OK but I've been reading some stuff about the eMac being unreliable, so now I'm not sure what to do.

Just remember, these prices may be alot more expensive that in the States.

Option 1 - Second Hand - 30 day warranty

1. 2nd hand Apple PowerMac G4 733MHz 512MB - 40gb - DVD-ROM/OS9.2.2 - $600.00
2. Viewsonic Monitor 17" CRT - $50.00
3. Mac OS X Tiger Version 10.4 - $199.00
4. iLife 05 Single User - $126
5. LaCie DL DVD + R*/DVD-R8x/DVD RW4x/CD-R40x LightScribe, internal Mac/PC incl: Toast 5.2 and 6.0 Lite. PC Software Easy CD & DVD Creator 6.2 (authoring and burning) DVDMax (Playback) Compatibility Win 98SE/ME - $224.99
6. Installation of DVD Drive and Mac OS 10.4 - $60.00

TOTAL PRICE: including 12.5% GST (tax) = $1,417.69

Option 2 - New

1. eMac G4 1.42GHz SuperDrive

TOTAL PRICE: including 12.5% (tax) = $1753.88


Can't I upgrade from 9.2.2 to 10 for cheaper if I buy the second hand one?

I looked at the iMac G5 but the G5 1.8GHz 17 inch monitor retails for $2338.88 so I can't really afford that one, and buy a new digital camcorder as well. The Sony DCRPC55E which I have been umming and arring about is $1299, so money-wise - it's getting up there.

So when I buy the camera, do I just connect the Firewire to the computer and it knows it's there, or something like that. Then I go into iMovie and download the stuff off the camera on to the computer where I can edit and play around with my movie. And then burn it onto DVD and then watch it my DVD player connected to the TV? Am I on the right track, or is that totally the wrong way to do it.

If someone can give me some help on this it would be great.

Thanks
QB

 

[alex_ant]

Stop right there!

Have you considered the Mac Mini? If you're only spending $50 on a monitor it would end up a far better value than those two options you're considering. It's basically an eMac without a monitor. Entry-level 1.25GHz is $935NZ without SuperDrive. 1.42GHz is about $175NZ more. Add approximately $150NZ for SuperDrive (I can't find the NZ price for it, but in the US it's $100 extra). The mini comes with OS X and iLife so you don't have to buy them separately. As for the rest of your question:

So when I buy the camera, do I just connect the Firewire to the computer and it knows it's there, or something like that. Then I go into iMovie and download the stuff off the camera on to the computer where I can edit and play around with my movie. And then burn it onto DVD and then watch it my DVD player connected to the TV? Am I on the right track, or is that totally the wrong way to do it.

Yes, you got it exactly right, if it's a MiniDV camcorder it should show up in iMovie and you can download the video right off it and edit it right there. Then you would burn the DVD with iDVD. iMovie and iDVD are all the software you need to edit & burn DVDs on a Mac and they're both included in iLife (which is included with new Macs).

 

[crachoar]

Stay away from the eMacs.

They're really not any good. Sorry eMac owners - they're not.

They're slow, the all-in-one design means '...if the CRT dies...you're up 's-word' creek without a paddle'.

I've had the CRT die twice on one of them. Apple charged a neat little sum of money to fix it. No more eMacs - ever.

My honest solution for you is to wait. Wait for the Intel switch - everything will be cheaper - especially second-hand PPC macs. But if you can't wait, and you need a decent G4? Go for the mini.

 

[QueenBee]

Thanks heaps for that info. I had considered a mini but then realised it didn't come with a DVD so then thought here's another cost I have to add, but if they're not that much to add on, it's not a too much of a worry.

I've actually had two machines die on me in the last 4 years, and the one I'm using (iMac PPC G3) seems to be getting slower and slower, and I've already had to get it fixed twice in the last year. Both times when I went to turn it on in the morning, the question mark in the middle of the screen wouldn't go away. I've just recently changed from dial-up to broadband and now I get problems with the external ADSL Router. Sometimes when I'm trying to get into the internet or onto my mail, it has a big fit and I have to turn the Router off, leave it for about 30 seconds and then it seems to be OK. Weird.

It keeps having a hissy fit when I'm on the internet, can't open Shockwave because there's not enough memory or something like that. Tells me to increase my memory, I've fiddled around with the memory, but I'm not really sure what I'm suppose to be trying to do. Like Cache, Virtual, Ram, - haven't a clue what's what. Can anyone tell me pse what my above settings should be on.

And sometimes I don't even feel like I'm on broadband, feels like I'm still using dialup it's just soooo slow sometimes, I try to be very calm, but it's very frustrating.

Will I notice a big difference going from 233MHZ up to a Mini, or just a little difference? Is that a really stupid questions?

Can I use my old software on System 10 or do I then have to go and buy more. I've got Word, Excel, Powerpoint 9.0 (Office 2001), Pagemaker 7.0, Photoshop 6.0, Quicken 2003 for Mac.

Thank you
QueenBee

 

[Jo-Kun]

Can I use my old software on System 10 or do I then have to go and buy more. I've got Word, Excel, Powerpoint 9.0 (Office 2001), Pagemaker 7.0, Photoshop 6.0, Quicken 2003 for Mac.
QueenBee

yes you can use the classic environment...wich is not ideal to use but it will work (might slow down everything a bit...) don't forget to install your OS9 printerdrivers in classic... or you won't be able to print from your 'older' apps...

later on its advisable to upgrade your software to OSX versions... depending on funds off course maybe you can get your versions of Photoshop 7/CS & office X on eBay... for a reasonable price... Photoshop CS2 & Office 2004 will be more expensive
pagemaker can be replaced by InDesignCS (schould have something built-in to read Pagemaker files... I guess)

quicken: never used... so don't know about osx versions... but I guess they're there...

:edit:

if you put your new mac and old mac in a network first... you can copy everything from the old HD to the new one, choose that as classic folder & continue to work with all your settings from the old mac without the need to reinstall everything...

if your iMac is a DV model (forgot to read that...) you can boot your new mac as target (firewire drive) and copy your HD to the new mac... goes faster than trough ethernet ;-)

:edit:

 

[QueenBee]

Eer, sounds very technical. What kind of cable do I need to hook my old and new computers up as a network. A Firewire cable? I remember doing this with the old Classics to transfer data, but it was a while ago. Then do I turn both machines on at the same time? Will the new machine show up the old machine somewhere. Sorry to sound so techno-stupid or whatever u call it.

Ta, QB

 

[Jo-Kun]

first: does your iMac have FireWire??? since its an 233... I think not...

but if it does: get a normal firewire cable... boot both systems (the newer one as target = press apple + T at boot... so on screen you will see the firewire logo... when both systems are up and running... connect them with the cable & wait... your "external" drive will showup...

than its just a matter of drag 'n drop... open both drives next to each other... select all on the iMac and drop it on the other drive...
you will get 'file allready exists' warnings... but you can let them overwrite it... your changing classic... that's all...

ethernet... its a little more of a setup... so I'll leave that one behind... it's better to find someone who can do that for you than...and Im in belgium (off course I could come to NZ... but that would be expensive planeticketwise...)

so now I started thinking... your iMac has USB1.1... ok its slow... but if someone you know has an external USB1.1/2.0 drive... you can hook that one up to the iMac... drag 'n drop... wait... wait longer... (its USB 1.1 ;-)) when ready disconnect... connect it to the new mac... and repeat... but now off course drag 'n drop to the internal... and wait a little less because its USB2.0 on this side...

when you did one of these with succes...

on the new mac go to system preferences -> classic... and select your classic folder...
you can allso make shortcuts to your apps in the dock...
and since you'll need classic all the time... you can set it to startup when your system boots (allso in the classic setup screen)


PS: your system on the iMac has to be 9.2.2 to work as classic on the new mac...

I hope this isn't too technical :s

good luck...

 

[QueenBee]

Thank you, not too technical at all. I have a friend who has all the gear, so she will be able to transfer everything over for me. What does the firewire symbol look like. I have a connection in the side of the iMac that kind of looks like a wine glass with something going up the middle of it vertically, what would that be?

Cheers, QB

 

[Jo-Kun]

USB logo: http://images.apple.com/benl/ibook/images/index_usb041804.gif

FireWire logo: http://images.apple.com/benl/ibook/images/index_firewire041804.gif

I assume your iMac only has USB... wich is more like the wineglas you mentioned... FireWire is more like a martini glass ;-)

USB is the type of connector used to plug in you Keyboard/mouse...

 

[XNine]

Get a Mac mini. It's faster than pretty much any PowerMac G4, it consumes less space. With 1 gig of RAM, a Superdrive, and airport card built in, it'll eb a fine machine for another three to four years. My powermac G4 is only a 933 MHz and it works pretty well still.. I'll be upgrading next year for sure.