New imac

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Hello everyone,

I am loking to buy a mac within the next few days, I have used them previously ie G4 ibook and a G3 and a power mac back when working for an ISP one of the original macs so some expereinece of them.
However I now work a lot from home, gladly I use Filemaker for my databases and this is transferable over to a mac as far as I am aware however I have a few other questions.

For info I currently have a PC with AMD athlon 64 3200 running at 2 gig, 1 gig of ram, 256 graphics card.

Looking at the imac 17" 1.83 with 512m ram:

Will this have enough processing power for doing my web graphics, Music, Desktop publishing and Websites, or is it worth getting the 2.0 ghz version or will I see much of a difference?
Also would another 512meg of ram make much or a difference pushing it up to a gig of ram?

Then stepping up another £300 you can get the 20" are you just paying for the 20" screen or do you get more for your money?

Also i believe you can run XP on the new Intel macs, speed wise how fast is it, will I notice much difference between what i have pc format to the mac format will it run at full spec and will it pick up all the hardware.

Got my Credit card waiting would love to hear from you switchers.
 

eric


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welcome to the forums!

get at least 1Gb of ram, no matter what mac you go with.
even though your requirements are not very taxing, you'll most likely see slowdowns doing even basic stuff with only 512Mb.

i beleive that going up a screen size just nets you more screen real estate, not more behind the screen (though review the apple site thoroghly before making your decision).

can't help with the windows stuff on mac, i only run windows on wintel machinary right now.

a few of these threads may help you with your decision...

A quick summary of my problems. Read this if you're a new switcher!

Switchers, what do you love most about your new Mac?

switchers - top 5 things you don't miss!

Feelings of Apple Disillusionment

A switcher's guide to OS X Software

I downloaded _________ and i'm not sure what to do
 
M

MacHeadCase

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Congratulations on your new Mac, timboellis1! Remember that if ever you have questions about your latest acquisition, we're here to help.

Oh and, welcome to Mac-Forums! Hope you stick around. :girl:
 
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Thanks all for the welcome, I do have a few questions regarding like for like software, if anyone can help

I managed to buy MS office direct from Microsoft for £15 so thats not an issue.
Also dreamwear I can get for the mac so I am informed.

What I do use on a day to day basis is the following can you advise on an alternative.

FTP client.
Winamp style Music player as not keen on Itunes
A Paint Shop Pro alternative but not photoshop
VNC viewer and client
 
M

MacHeadCase

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VNC viewer... Chicken of the VNC. (I kid you not)
icon12.gif
 
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I was a winamp man on windows and swore by it. I hated itunes, had an ipod and invested in anapod, windows based drag and drop alternative. After seeing my first mac - the 12inch powerbook at a friends. I logged on, brought a macbook and now use Itunes without a doubt. No looking back at winamp either.

Give it a trial?
 
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Well on the PC side Corel have taken over from Jasc Paint Shop Pro so should be the same.

Also what software do you get with the imac?
 
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Ive been looking for a page with all that on it.

One final Question and will leave you all in peace...well until I get it:)

Anyway the speakers that are on the imac are they going to be the same quality as you would get on any TFT monitor or do they produce a good sound?

Just so I knwo before I give my speakers to my mother in law.
 
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i find that they produce better sound than speakers on a tft monitor... i use mine for final cut editing and i love them...
 
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My new 17" 2.0ghz imac was shipped today expected delivery Tuesday, however any suggestions on must haves to go with my new machine?
I am talking hardware lines or possibly software, i have £120 in my paypal account so any sugestions if any needed to improve the mac?
 
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Thanks for all your replies, I woudl gather you all now know i have the MAC with all the questions I have been spamming the forums with.

But jsut to say I am very pleassed with it , just a few little niggling things to iron out but no major issue.

One thing I have noticed is games it not its strong point , however this is a very big possitive for me as it forces me to do my real work instead.
 

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