Why do they make this so hard?

Stonr · Mar 31, 2008

This is going to be long, skip down towards the bottom if you don't want to hear story time from me

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Hey guys, how’s it going? First post on here but definitely not my first thoughts on switching fully to the "Mac world."

I have been a hardcore Windows fan, like many on here for years. Every computer I have owned has run Windows, and I was only familiar with windows. When I entered high school, I got a job working for the School District helping to repair the computers on a daily basis. I attend a brand new, tech school, and various classrooms were using the new imac's. I had to familiarize myself with them to repair them and the fun started from there. I fell in love with everything about them. At the time I did not have the money to switch, and I was worried about compatibility.

Now I am making some more dough, and can justify the cost of converting over. I build all my own pc's, and the one major turnoff I always saw with the Mac's was there all in one design in most of there products. I love expandability, and working on stuff by myself. Well at school we received several older imac's and g4's. Well they gave them to us because no body at the other schools could figure out there problems. A few had bad chipsets, but the one g4 just had bad RAM! We had a crap load of modules for them and loaded it up with a gig, and dropped in a 40gig hard drive we had laying around. It's pretty basic, 400 MHz processor, so it was one of the originals. So I took it home and the fun began. I loved it. Sure it was pretty slow running Tiger, but it was love.

So here comes the debate. I am dying to get another Mac, and the only model interesting me is of coarse the Mac Pro. The thing is a beast, and I have played around with it in the local Apple Store for hours. I love everything about it, so here are my questions.

1) First off which model is right for me. I do a decent amount of Photo editing in CS3, I am looking to learn video editing. I am also a heavy gamer and big media addict. It does not also help that I have no patience with loading on PC's. The 24inch imac would be a heck of a lot cheaper, but at the price of basically no expansion, no ability to work on it yourself, and all around slower PC. I do not mind spending 3k on a pc if it will last me many years.

2) I have read a lot on the different processors in the new Mac Pro. I can not justify the cost of the 3.0, and 3.2 processors. My question is, for my needs, a huge performance difference between the one and two quad core processors, to justify the cost of $500. Also, if down the line I want to add a second processor, is it as simple as dropping it in?

3) RAM. I know Apple, and there insane RAM prices enough to know not to ever buy more than what comes from them. I definitely want 2 gig's in the machine, can anyone recommend any websites selling compatible RAM? Also, if something were to go wrong, does Apple cover RAM related failures if you are using 3 party RAM?

4) Time Machine. I have never used this new feature, but does it allow backup's to a external hard drive that is not Apple's? Could I use my Western Digital to back-up my data?

5) Compatibility. I know Mac's are not the best for games, but are there conversions for windows designed games to run on Mac's? How is it running Boot-Camp on the Mac Pro running games? How is Boot-Camp, and does it really slow down the PC?

6) I have a CS3 suite license for my Windows Computer I received from school. Can this transfer over to my new Mac or will I have to find a Mac version?

7) Apple care. Flat out, is it worth it? Or are these things as reliable as I have been told?

8) I run a Sound Blaster card on my Windows computer for my 5.1 setup. I notice when I run my g4, the sound quality is much poorer. How is the built in card in the Mac Pro? Could I run my card in the PCI slot of the Mac with success? It is not a high end card, I forget the model, but it was around $40 a year ago.

9)I have never owned a wireless mouse or keyboard. Is it worth it to upgrade to the wireless inputs? I know it is a personal preference, but how are the wireless inputs compared to there wired counterparts?

10) Finally! Display. I have a 19 inch CRT that is about as old as dirt, but man does the thing get the job done. I have been looking to upgrade to LCD and with the purchase of a new computer I don't see why not. I absolutely love the Apple Displays. The first time I used one I was in heaven. I definitely would choose the 23 inch, but here’s my question. The price is steep, but is there monitors out there that are any where near the quality of this for a cheaper price? Also Is Apple Care worth it on the monitor?

Wow that was long. Thanks to anyone who reads this, and I am extremely excited to be apart of this site, and soon the Apple community!

ogacon · Mar 31, 2008

I can only answer a few of those, but let me say welcome to M-F!

Glad to have you!

RAM: www.macsales.com (OWC RAM), www.cruicial.com, www.newegg.com
Just be sure its the right size/specs ya know?

Apple care: I'd suggest getting it... you are dropping over 2k on a new machine, if anything goes wrong in three years you will be glad you have it. As far as covering third party RAM, keep your original RAM to place into it if you need to send it in. They wont replace third party RAM though.

Boot Camp - I have not used it myself but have heard form several people it actually runs Windows better than PC's. Kinda funny actually

And if you just feel like doing a few windows apps like word/quicken or whatever it is you are using, get Parallels or VMWare Fusion. They work great for those.

Mr-Fussy · Mar 31, 2008

Welcome.

some answers to your questons. sorry I cant answer all:
Q 3. crucial.com no problems
Q 4. again no problems at all. i use 320gig WD passport partitioned into 3 sections
Q5 Boot camp works a dream and better still you can run windows as virtual pc or natively with no performance decrease.

Hope that helps and sorry cant answer all.

AlyciaAnimation · Mar 31, 2008

1) I think you kind of answered your own question there. If you don't mind spending the money for a better machine the do it. They will obviously last a little longer because they are more powerful and will be able to better keep up with newer os and apps, and it's easier to customize later on.

2) I doubt that there will be a huge difference between the 3.0 and the 3.2. Whether it's upgradable in the future, I'm going to say yes. I did find instructions on how to do it online, but it'll probably void your warranty if you do. If it's as easy as on a PC I don't know because I've never upgraded either, so I couldn't tell you that.

4)You can use pretty much any drive that will connect to your Mac for Time Machine. You might just have to reformat the drive to HFS+ if it's NTFS.

6) I'm pretty sure you can transfer your CS3 over to the Mac. It seems there might be a fee though. Call Adobe for that one.

7) I got my iMac 5 years ago and didn't get Apple Care. In the past five years I haven't had any problems with it. You'll have to decide for your self if you want the added safety net or not. Your Mac already comes with a one year warranty.

9) I've never used a wireless keyboard, but I like my wired one because it's bigger and has the number pad on it.

Jaygray · Mar 31, 2008

8) As far as the sound card, I used a $50 external USB SoundBlaster card on my PC laptop. I wanted real speakers, but didn't want to plug them into the headphone jack every night when I came home. I plugged it into my USB hub so I only had one USB cable to plug in each night. When I switched over to Mac, I brought the USB sound card with me without a problem. It sounds great.

belunos · Mar 31, 2008

I think you'll want to be carefull in at least one assumption. The reason, I believe anyway, that people can keep Macs for so long is that they typically haven't been gaming machines. I mean, think about it.. for more than a decade the two things that have pushed personal computers has been gaming and porn. Gaming forces hardware upgrades more than anything else. And porn pushes connectivity, but we're not talking about that here.

If it wasn't for gaming, I would still be using a P4 or something along those lines. Well, it's like that for macs.. people are still happily using G3 imacs just because they don't need anything more extravagant.

Of course, that also goes to speak of a mac's longevity outside of gaming. It's still a great system, and with current top o the line video in them right now it'll last a couple of years on the gaming front. But coming from the PC sector, you know how quick the software will surpass the hardware, and you can't just run out and get a new video card for you mac.

I find myself looking for a gentle slide. Get the best right now, not expect to upgrade for 5 or so years, but expect a slide in gaming performance as the years go on. I think I can be happy with this medium, for the superior hardware and OS of a Mac, but make sure you can before you pluck down some serious ducket.

cwa107 · Mar 31, 2008

Stonr said:
1) First off which model is right for me. I do a decent amount of Photo editing in CS3, I am looking to learn video editing. I am also a heavy gamer and big media addict. It does not also help that I have no patience with loading on PC's. The 24inch imac would be a heck of a lot cheaper, but at the price of basically no expansion, no ability to work on it yourself, and all around slower PC. I do not mind spending 3k on a pc if it will last me many years.

Buy the iMac and with the money you saved, build a killer, dedicated gaming rig for tinkering. That's basically what I do (although I use a MacBook Pro for daily chores) and I couldn't be happier.

2) I have read a lot on the different processors in the new Mac Pro. I can not justify the cost of the 3.0, and 3.2 processors. My question is, for my needs, a huge performance difference between the one and two quad core processors, to justify the cost of $500. Also, if down the line I want to add a second processor, is it as simple as dropping it in?

Honestly? Most applications aren't coded for multi processing systems. This will change over time, but for right now, you probably won't notice a huge difference in everyday usage.

3) RAM. I know Apple, and there insane RAM prices enough to know not to ever buy more than what comes from them. I definitely want 2 gig's in the machine, can anyone recommend any websites selling compatible RAM? Also, if something were to go wrong, does Apple cover RAM related failures if you are using 3 party RAM?

I like Crucial.com. Apple won't cover the memory if it fails, so it's best to go with a company that offers a lifetime warranty and will be around to honor it.

4) Time Machine. I have never used this new feature, but does it allow backup's to a external hard drive that is not Apple's? Could I use my Western Digital to back-up my data?

Yes, you can use any adequately-sized external hard drive.

5) Compatibility. I know Mac's are not the best for games, but are there conversions for windows designed games to run on Mac's?

Yes, certain games have been ported. CrossOver for Mac can also run some Windows games without the need for Windows.

How is it running Boot-Camp on the Mac Pro running games?

Just like running it on a Windows box. After all, these are x86 boxes and there really isn't much of a difference between Mac and PC hardware these days (aside from EFI instead of BIOS).

How is Boot-Camp, and does it really slow down the PC?

Boot Camp is not a piece of software that runs Windows. It merely preps the Mac's EFI to allow you to install Windows in a dual-boot configuration. So, when you run Windows "via Boot Camp", you're running it natively, there is no emulation.

6) I have a CS3 suite license for my Windows Computer I received from school. Can this transfer over to my new Mac or will I have to find a Mac version?

I believe Adobe offers a program for platform switches. You'll need to contact them for details.

7) Apple care. Flat out, is it worth it? Or are these things as reliable as I have been told?

This is highly subjective, but I think it's a rip-off. Then again, I never buy any kind of extended warranty. If it breaks, I'll repair it.

8) I run a Sound Blaster card on my Windows computer for my 5.1 setup. I notice when I run my g4, the sound quality is much poorer. How is the built in card in the Mac Pro? Could I run my card in the PCI slot of the Mac with success? It is not a high end card, I forget the model, but it was around $40 a year ago.

I can't comment on that as I don't have a Mac Pro and I don't know what your PC sounds like, but I can't imagine Apple would use anything less than the best of what's available, especially considering how heavily used Mac hardware is in the audio industry.

9)I have never owned a wireless mouse or keyboard. Is it worth it to upgrade to the wireless inputs? I know it is a personal preference, but how are the wireless inputs compared to there wired counterparts?

Not sure what you mean - is it reliable? Can you tell the difference? For the most part, no. Outside of the OS (at the boot selection screen), sometimes the wireless mouse doesn't work immediately. Other than that, BT wireless support is pretty reliable in OS X.

10) Finally! Display. I have a 19 inch CRT that is about as old as dirt, but man does the thing get the job done. I have been looking to upgrade to LCD and with the purchase of a new computer I don't see why not. I absolutely love the Apple Displays. The first time I used one I was in heaven. I definitely would choose the 23 inch, but here’s my question. The price is steep, but is there monitors out there that are any where near the quality of this for a cheaper price?

Personal opinion here, but Apple doesn't have any special magic when it comes to displays. Apple doesn't manufacturer LCDs, they buy them from one of the major conglomerates. I can buy a very nice Samsung or Dell monitor that is rated just as well as the Apple display for a fraction of the cost. Again, just my $0.02.

Also Is Apple Care worth it on the monitor?

It's a monitor, if it goes bad, I'd just buy another. If you don't buy an Apple display, you could probably buy 2 from another brand for the same price as one Apple display with Apple Care.

Wow that was long. Thanks to anyone who reads this, and I am extremely excited to be apart of this site, and soon the Apple community!

Congrats and welcome to the forum.