posted on February 20, 2006 07:48:55 AM new
My son decided today he is need of a new PC or Laptop and wants a Mac. I admit to being PC challenged and have only owned Windows based systems. I don't want to spend a fortune on one as he has 2 laptops and a PC already, but as he is taking more and more Tech type classes he wants a Mac as well. Asking for help at BestBuy or Circuit City gets a wide range of opinions from people who have never even started a Mac up.
Is there a source for information you can recommend? Any opinions on a good starter Mac?
Thanks so much for any enlightenment you can give !
Life is full of ups and downs...take advantage of them all !
posted on February 20, 2006 08:22:06 AM new
A good starter Mac is any of iMacs. It all depends on what you are willing to spend.
The new ones start at about $1200 for the flat screens but if he has the desk space, you can back track to the earlier iMacs (the ones with the translucent color backs) and pic one up for under $250 on ebay.
You can also pick up a brand new Mini Mac for about $500 - they just don't come with monitor, keyboard, or mouse. The great thing about them is that I've seen pastrami sandwiches that take up less space on the desk.
What type of "tech" classes is he taking? If he is going to be working with a lot of graphics and such you might want to go with one of the early iMacs and max out the RAM.
Another person that may be a good source is Prof. I think he is running 2 or three different models of the Mac right now so might be able to give you better comparisons depending on the apps your son is going to be using.
BTW - Don't go to Best Buy for your Mac (I can give you some pretty amusing "horror stories" just from my experiences with them). Circuit City has gotten a little better since the they now have a dedicated Mac section that in most locations has an Apple employed and trained salesperson. you could also check and see if there is an Apple Store in your area if you decide to go with something new out of the box.
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Never ask what sort if computer a guy drives. If he's a Mac user, he'll tell you. If he's not, why embarrass him? - Tom Clancy
[ edited by fenix03 on Feb 20, 2006 08:22 AM ]
posted on February 20, 2006 09:36:46 AM new
Don't, under ANY circumstances, go to Best Buy or Circuit Sh!tty for a Mac. Their sales people work on commission, and the profit margin on Macs is much slimmer than it is on Pee-Sees. They'll steer you away from the Macs every time with all their bogus, ages old "no software for Macs", "Apple's going broke" bullcrap. Your best bet is to go there and handle the macs, then order online. The way Apple prices their products, nobody sells them any cheaper than Apple itself, but you can get bonuses like a free printer or extra RAM if you buy from MacMall or one of the other online retailers. My favorite Mac independent retailer is SmallDog Electronics, www.smalldog.com. They have new and also really good buys on refurbs. If your kid is a student, there are discounts for education on the apple.com website. Click on the education link at the top of the page.
For information from people who won't be trying to sell you anything, I'd suggest looking at the All Things Macintosh forum at DSLReports.com. A lot of the regular posters on that forum are Mac programmers, tech guys or developers. They know their stuff and are more than happy to answer "noob" type questions. They're at:
When you log on, explain who you are and ask away.
If he's already got a Pee-C running, fenix' suggestion of a Mac Mini is a great way to go. He can learn the Apple OS without using up any desk space. The mini is 6 inches square or so, and he can plug and unplug it into his existing keyboard and monitor as needed. It won't be the top of the line in terms of speed, but it'll get the job done as far as learning Macs is concerned. One can be had for an education price of 479 bucks, free shipping. We now have a total of 6 machines on our network, 4 Macs: A G5 tower, a G4 tower, an iBook laptop and a Powerbook laptop, along with an older Dell that runs Linux and one that has WinXP and is usually out of comission due to some bug it caught, want to buy it? My G4 tower lives in the dusty ranch office where it's always either too hot or too cold, and has been running constantly for over a year now with nary a bleep. It runs the ranch books. I don't even turn it off to drop the side panel and blow the dust out of it once a month. Talking to you on it now, as a matter of fact.
Forgot to mention, there are also lots of good discussion forums on the apple website. Good luck!
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posted on February 20, 2006 09:40:01 AM new
one more thing, you might also look for an apple retail store in your area...there are lots of them around the country, they are ALL Apple and you'll find EVERY model to play with and salespeople who know their butts from page 9...here's a link to all of the apple retail stores:
posted on February 20, 2006 10:06:27 AM new
Prof - I stand corrected on Circuit City. The computer store with a dedicate Mac section and salesperson is CompUSA.
I was a bit surprised when I noticed that the help wanted sign in their Mac department had a .mac address to send resumes to so started chatting up the salesperson in the section. He is actually an Apple employee, knew his sh*t and sold nothing else. Looks like Apple saw the problems you were mentioning and worked out a partnership with the company to put trained people in their stores to help boost sales (person not only knows the Apple products but also all of the off brand peripherals and compatible software) and combat their reputation of cluelessness. Brilliant idea. Especially in areas where there are no Apple Stores.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
Never ask what sort if computer a guy drives. If he's a Mac user, he'll tell you. If he's not, why embarrass him? - Tom Clancy
posted on February 20, 2006 11:50:07 AM new
That's good to hear about CompUSA, I haven't been in one in years. The last time I went to one in Phoenix, years ago, their Mac section was unkempt, unstaffed, none of the machines were up and running, and the sales staff didn't want to help. The best non Apple Mac retail place I've been to recently is Fry's Electronics. I don't know how widespread those stores are though. Apple retail outlets are really the best place for getting information. They've got them in 31 states now so they're fairly easy to get to. I go in one maybe once a year as my trips away from the homestead are fewer and fewer and I like it that way just fine thank you very much. When I'm on the road and can stop somewhere, I'm usually pulling a trailer with 2 or more horses, and retail big city parking lots are the last places I want to negotiate.
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posted on February 20, 2006 05:01:25 PM new
Thank you both so much. I asked and then wouldn't you know we had a power outage and this is the first I've been back on .
My son is 16 and a GT student with the State University. He is a sophomore in high school and classes are hard to come by here. He is doing a graphics course and a networking course along with a Geospatial (sp??) Information course. All this on top of the AP courses he has at high school. He feels adding a Mac will benefit him tremendously and although I don't want to break the bank, I do want a Mac that can handle his needs. He also does music and games if that matters. Will one of the new Mac Mini's still handle that?
I am 75 miles from any of the retailers so I will be checking out those links for on line retailers. fenix, I loved the idea of an older Mac, but would not know if I had a good one or not. It could be DOA and I would think maybe it was supposed to be that way LOL
Life is full of ups and downs...take advantage of them all !
posted on February 20, 2006 05:26:26 PM new
If he is going to do graphics, I would go with one of the newer iMacs and max out the ram. He's going to be using a lot of Photoshop and the new iMac has great processor but Photoshop can be a system drag if you don't give it enough ram. Since it's an all in one system you don't need to worry about an additional monitor and quite frankly I think that once he starts working, you are going to find he will rely much less on the PCs.
The only program i have ever wanted for my Mac that I could not find is a amazing bookkeeping/invoicing/inventory management program that Microsoft bought years ago, parted out and turned into a monsterously expensive piece of crap. (If I could find an old copy of that software I would buy a PC just to be able to use it - it was that awesome)
Since Apple is phasing out the current iMacs in favor of the Intel models, they are dropping the prices on them. The trick is finding them since many outlets are sold or sellng out.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
Never ask what sort if computer a guy drives. If he's a Mac user, he'll tell you. If he's not, why embarrass him? - Tom Clancy
[ edited by fenix03 on Feb 20, 2006 05:27 PM ]
posted on February 21, 2006 04:42:25 AM new
I'd agree with fenix on the iMac if your kid's into graphics and GIS stuff.
You ought to also check the apple website for refurbished products. Both of our laptops are refurbs as well as one of our towers. They carry the identical warranty as new machines and are eligible for the same extended coverage as new ones.
The inventory changes daily, sometimes hourly so it pays to check often. Right at this moment there are several good buys on iMacs, including one model that has a DVD burner (apple calls it SuperDrive) and a 160 gig drive, for 949 bucks. A sweet deal, I wish I needed it. Here's the link to their refurb page.
My G4 tower lives in the dusty ranch office where it's always either too hot or too cold, and has been running constantly for over a year now with nary a bleep. It runs the ranch books. I don't even turn it off to drop the side panel and blow the dust out of it once a month. Talking to you on it now, as a matter of fact. 