Now, if Apple Would Make Mac's End-User Serviceable . . .

geekboy2000 · May 6, 2006

That's all it would take to assure every future computer I buy would be a Mac. As it is now, after testing the waters with my Mini (and loving it), I think I'll still get an iMac next, but most Windows PC users I know are relatively geeky. That's not to say they all build their own boxes, but they're certainly capable of swapping anything in and out, troubleshooting, etc. I was at CompUSA with a friend of mine last night, and as I drooled over the the 20" iMac, he said, "I'd be afraid of that if it took a ____". Packing up a computer for repair isn't something I've ever done, nor has he. So, while there are plenty of good reasons to switch to a Mac (especially now that they can boot XP if desired), I suspect there are a lot of people like myself, who would jump in a heartbeat if they knew they could do at least some work on their own machine (or easily upgrade hard drives/optical drives, etc). I'm betting Apple could accomplish that, and still maintain a great physical appearance/design.

Mark

PowerBookG4 · May 6, 2006

If you want to be able to upgrade parts, swap parts, add drives, etc, then you can do that with a mac, if its the powermac, a little bit more expensive, and you have to buy the screen, but it does give you that ability to change things.

baggss · May 6, 2006

You can change the HDD in pretty much any Mac. It all depends on what you are willing to risk. I don't think that you can swap out the Video card in the iMac, Mini or laptops, but I could be wrong.

As was pointed out above, the PM line is very serviceable.

macEfan · May 7, 2006

the Video card is not upgradeable.... Hard drive upgrades are a pain, especially in the ibook and imac, but it is possible. If you do decide to do upgrades yourself, take your time, dont be in any rush. If you think the powermac g5's are too expensive, and alternitive is to buy a Dual 1.42ghz Powermac g4, and just upgrade that to the max. Easy to open, and easy to service...

zeta101 · May 7, 2006

This makes me wonder that when apple transition the powermac line over to intel if they will create a new line that is about as powerful as the iMac so it's not overexpensive (and I don't mean make all the intel powermacs cheap, I mean just have one low end option). I'm not sure what graphics cards are like in the Mac world, but this might appeal to people who are casual gamers too. They can get a powermac and boot into xp for games, and also have the option to upgrade their graphics card at a later date.

In my experience, I think most upgrades are either hard disk, ram or graphics card based. If you start talking about new processors (which in most cases means new motherboard) then you may as well get a new machine. This might mean apple would have to suppport more graphics cards in OS X however, and they might not see it as being worth it for now.

geekboy2000 · May 7, 2006

PowerBookG4 said:
If you want to be able to upgrade parts, swap parts, add drives, etc, then you can do that with a mac, if its the powermac, a little bit more expensive, and you have to buy the screen, but it does give you that ability to change things.

Agreed. That would seem to be the way to go for those like myself, that want to dig in whenever necessary, for some DIY stuff. Of course, as you said, you need to buy a display separately, and with a 20" Apple display going for $799, it brings the price up considerably. But, it is a Mac, and I think I'd be very happy with it. Maybe next Christmas, when I assume dual roles as "me the geek", and "Santa Claus".

Thanks for your comments!

Mark

geekboy2000 · May 7, 2006

macEfan said:
the Video card is not upgradeable.... Hard drive upgrades are a pain, especially in the ibook and imac, but it is possible. If you do decide to do upgrades yourself, take your time, dont be in any rush. If you think the powermac g5's are too expensive, and alternitive is to buy a Dual 1.42ghz Powermac g4, and just upgrade that to the max. Easy to open, and easy to service...

It looks pretty clear, that's the way for me to go. To tell you the truth, I can see a day, when I'll have the Mini, a Powermac, and an iMac - eventually. I'm hooked and as the Windows machines drop one by one, I don't think I'll be working to hard to keep them alive by extraordinary means.

Mark

geekboy2000 · May 7, 2006

zeta101 said:
This makes me wonder that when apple transition the powermac line over to intel if they will create a new line that is about as powerful as the iMac so it's not overexpensive (and I don't mean make all the intel powermacs cheap, I mean just have one low end option). I'm not sure what graphics cards are like in the Mac world, but this might appeal to people who are casual gamers too. They can get a powermac and boot into xp for games, and also have the option to upgrade their graphics card at a later date.

In my experience, I think most upgrades are either hard disk, ram or graphics card based. If you start talking about new processors (which in most cases means new motherboard) then you may as well get a new machine. This might mean apple would have to suppport more graphics cards in OS X however, and they might not see it as being worth it for now.

More than anything, considering the prices of the Powermacs, I am surprised Apple skimps (no nice way to put it) on RAM. Even the high end Powermacs ship with 512 MB RAM, which seems almost insulting, especially considering the prices of RAM these days. They can accommodate a lot more RAM too though, so that's a cool thing.

Mark

baggss · May 7, 2006

zeta101 said:
If you start talking about new processors (which in most cases means new motherboard) then you may as well get a new machine.

Not really. Most of the PPC Macs that were upgradable, CPU wise, didn't require a new Motherboard and I'm not sure why this would change. Unless Intel starts changing sockets with each chip update/change, you should be able to swap out chips as new ones become available, and the price should be less expensive than before.