Considering switching, but need some informed advice

Hey

I am new to these forum and am needing some information on a possible switch . I have had a read through a few posts and this seems to be a place where there are a lot of knowledgeable people.

I use pcs and do not have any experience with macs at all, but i am beginning to dislike how things are going with activation and the eula in x p so i am looking into switching.

I only have a small budget, about £ 500, so i know that this will limit my choices in regards to what i can buy. I have read some people say an emac is good, however , like i said i don't know much about them.

If anyone can offer any advice i would be really greatful.

thanks

lsk

Well for 500 and eMac is pretty much all you can buy, unless you find someone willing to sell their other Apple computers for less. My grandmother has an eMac and it works quite well..

Refurbished Macs are essentially as reliable and certainly as well warranted as new, another good way to save

If you already have a monitor with your PC, you don't really need to get an eMac and pay the price for the extra monitor. 500 British Pounds (I don't have that symbol on my keyboard..) is about $1000. That's enough to get a used dual G4. I have a Quicksilver dual 1GHz G4 desktop and I like it a lot. It's faster than my PC desktop, Sony VAIO 2.4GHz HT P4. Search eBay! eBay is your best friend when it comes to used computer equipments. If you need to get a brand new machine though, I'm afraid your selection is limited to eMac at that budget.

I agree with MoltenLava.
For that money, you better get a used Powermac, preferable a dual. As you used PCs, i suppose that you already have a monitor.
The eMac is a good one too, nevertheless a dual 867MHz or dual 1GHz Quicksilver PowerMac will outperform the eMac.

And be upgradeable, as in most cases the CPU can be swapped out for a faster one, but there are some restrictions as to what is and what's not upgradeable. As for expandability... well I don't think you'll need much in terms of hardware unless you plan to use it for motion capture, edit live video, run a demanding server.

I looked at other second hand models, and i am not too keen on buying one really. Is the emac a reliable machine? Can you alter the refresh rates and res on the monitor? Apple offer a warranty and support , what is this like?

thankyou

lsk

How fast do you really need this computer by? If there is a deadline i would go ahead with the eMac...but if you can wait a bit, I highly recommend it....save up some money or even wait for Tiger to come out (you might like that if yure a programmer!)