more newb questions

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we've settled on the 24" iMac and the basic Macbook for our daughter. where I'm confused is the best way to configure the iMac as far as hardware, and what software we're going to lose use of. we'll still keep this XP machine, but really don't want to find space for it.

I'd like to think the iMac is a longterm investment. is the onboard memory and video card enough resources for the next few years or would you think an upgrade would be the way to go? I like to play FPS games, and that's probably the most power we'd need out of the system.

as far as software, am I going to lose the ability to use Office 2000? I watched Bootcamp at the Apple store yesterday, but will I have to purchase a new copy of XP to run the iMac and yet another for the Macbook?

and the Superdrive is kind of confusing, can I rip DVD's and CD's and burn them? I'm used to dual drives on our PC and watching the process. we use dvdxcopy.

if anyone can help a newb out, I'd appreciate it.
 
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It seems to me that you can use Bootcamp just fine to play the games you want on the iMac. Put as much RAM as you can into the iMac, although I'd recommend NOT getting it from Apple as their RAM tends be pricey. You can buy RAM from a local store or a reputable on-line RAM dealer and install it yourself.

For Office, I'd say go out and buy the Student/Teacher edition of Office 2004 Mac foe $149. You get 3 licenses so you'll be set for both machines. Unless you are using a part of the Windows Office suite other than Word/Excel/PP, you will be fine as documents for those 3 apps are cross compatible between Macs and PCs.

For WinXP, the answer is likely yes. You will need to buy a copy of WinXP that includes SP2 as part of the install. Legally you would need to buy 2 copies, but I would hold off and see how much you really need Windows after a while with the Mac, you might be surprised. I'd say wait 3 months before purchasing a second copy of WinXP to be sure.
 
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I didn't know you could open the iMac and upgrade the memory on you own. does the same go for the video card?
 
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No. There is no way to upgrade the memory on the video card. Also I just bought a 24" Imac from apple..com, and it was cheaper to upgrade the memory from them rather than any other websites online.
Now the macbook is a different story, you can buy third party vendor ram alot cheaper than from Apple.
 
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The Applenator said:
No. There is no way to upgrade the memory on the video card. Also I just bought a 24" Imac from apple..com, and it was cheaper to upgrade the memory from them rather than any other websites online.
Now the macbook is a different story, you can buy third party vendor ram alot cheaper than from Apple.

RAM for my Wife's 20 inch iMac was MUCH cheaper at CompUSA than from Apple. What makes your above statement even more out to lunch is that the iMac, MacBook and MacBook Pro all take the same RAM (667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) SO-DIMM ).
 
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I just reviewed the Apple site for the possible 24" iMac upgrades. Based on your long term outlook, I'd suggest the higher end video card as the one must have item.

(I thought I read somewhere that the video is a plug in module based on some standard. IF that is true, than perhaps we'll see upgrades somewhere down the road. I wouldn't rely on that possibility though.)

The .17Ghz (170Mhz) upgrade seems expensive for the minor boost you might see. That is less than an 8 percent gain for a 12.5 percent up charge. To some that is worth it.

Memory is another thing to watch out for. 1GB is decent, but it really depends on what your doing. Apple use both slots in all of their configurations, so if you upgrade further, you have to remove one of the memory modules. Most experienced Mac users buy the minimum memory and buy name brand from a trusted dealer. But price it out, because Apple has been more competitive than in the past.
 
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baggss said:
RAM for my Wife's 20 inch iMac was MUCH cheaper at CompUSA than from Apple. What makes your above statement even more out to lunch is that the iMac, MacBook and MacBook Pro all take the same RAM (667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) SO-DIMM ).
Really???
I upgraded up to 2gb of ram for only $158.00 dollars more.
A search in google showed about an average of $130.00 for just one gb stick. Unless I searched wrong, which i'm pretty sure i didn't, Apple was cheaper.

I guess it just depends who is cheaper the week of.... Some agree with me and some other's disagree.

Unless i'm searching wrong again, here is Compusa's current website pricing for memory.
CompUsa

Click here
 
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owned...thanks for clearing all that up.

to the original question, I would say wait three months as someone else said above. I recently figured out that I could open ppt's in keynote which is awesome cause keynote is much faster on my computer. For some reason the microsoft office progs ppt/word/excel run exceptionally slow on my computer.
 
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The Applenator said:
Really???
I upgraded up to 2gb of ram for only $158.00 dollars more.
A search in google showed about an average of $130.00 for just one gb stick. Unless I searched wrong, which i'm pretty sure i didn't, Apple was cheaper.

I guess it just depends who is cheaper the week of.... Some agree with me and some other's disagree.

Unless i'm searching wrong again, here is Compusa's current website pricing for memory.
CompUsa

Click here


Sounds like Apple may have FINALLY dropped their RAM prices. Yes, what I bought my wife was on sale at the time now that I think about it. I think I paid $80 for a 1Gb RAM stick at the time.

jdgaines said:
For some reason the microsoft office progs ppt/word/excel run exceptionally slow on my computer.

Let me guess, Intel Mac? If so, Office is running under Rosetta. There have been many reports of poor Office performance under Rosetta.
 
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can anyone help me out with my Superdrive questions as well?
 
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Digger said:
can anyone help me out with my Superdrive questions as well?

The super drive is GREAT!!! YES, you can Rip and burn pretty much anything out there. Rip from the SuperDrive to the Harddrive, burn from the HD back to the SuperDrive onto a Blank CD/DVD.

Most of us either use MacTheRipper or Handbrake to Rip (Both Freeware!).

Mac the Ripper: http://www.mactheripper.org/

Handbrake: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12987
 

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