First Mac...

Im in the market for a new computer
and ive been eyeing mac for a while now
im a die hard pc guy
i do alot of office and adobe/macromedia stuff on my computer
i got a software plan going if i choose to switch
but im wondering what programs are out there similar to visual studio
i need cross a platform developing ide that is good
another thing
i only have $800 to spend
and i see that the mac mini is the cheapest mac out there
i looked at the price
i can build a small form factor pc 10x as good for the same price
but im in love with mac os x
i want to get something good, but cheap
do u suggest for me to scour ebay and see what comes up

Get an eMac for the best bang for the buck.. if you can live with the CRT monitor that is...

I don't know what kind of luck others have had out there with a CRT model but I have had terrible luck with them. This is my second one that I believe the flyback transformer is going out. I get a "flickering" on the screen. I still need to get it into the shop SOON before I loose it completely.
If it were me, I wouldn't get another CRT again. Unless you don't mind fixing it every few years.
but I love my eMac! Or should I say Macs. I just bought a Lombard laptop off ebay.
My friends always give me a bad time because they all have PC's but they all have problems IE: virses, HD's dying because of spyware etc.... I have never had any of those problems.
Since you have a monitor already, you could probably get a good set up by getting a mac mini. Check out some previous threads on the mini.

I wouldn't get the mini. After 1gb ram and an 80gb hd, you can't do much more. Like others said...look into the emac. A iMac G5 on ebay is another possibility.

Well if you think you can get a small form PC 10X better then go for it. Personally I have never seen a PC for $800 be worth a ****. You get no software thats worth anything. With a $600 mini you get a lot more. I agree the mini is lacking in its expandability dept, but still its a mac and that alone makes it better then a PC! I recomend getting a G4 or even a G3 powermac on ebay and getting an upgrade PPC CPU. You can get a great deal on them now.

Here is a G3 with an upgraded G4 in it for only $374 at ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5790131132&category=51034&rd=1

Here are several more too:
http://search.ebay.com/Powermac-G3_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8

Here are some G4 model Powermacs for a great deal too. You can put the new Gigadesign 2GHZ G4 in these! Great deal and very nice systems.

http://search.ebay.com/Powermac-G4_...tionZcompareQQcopagenumZ1QQcoentrypageZsearch