I plan on getting a mac. . .

I have about $1300 (canadian dollars) to spend, so I figured I would ask you guys what the best thing to do is. (I'm a student in Advertising)

I'm thinking a mac mini with g4 1.25ghz 512ram, and 80 gig hard drive and spending the rest on a monitor of some sort. I'm not entirely sure though.
I'll be using it mostly for basic portfolio work.

Where's the best place to get a mac?

In my area, theres a Best buy, Futureshop and a Apple store opened up at a near by mall.

I like the Apple Store. It's a very nice place and the people, at least at my apple store, were very friendly and helpful. That way you cna get a feel and play with the different Macs tat the store, ask quiestions to the people who work there and should be knowledgable. I believe the base iMac starts at $1599 CND If you add a bit to that amount maybe you could get the base iMac, then you wouldn't have a screen to buy, and you would have a much better graphics card, a 1.8 GHz G5 with the 512 MB of RAM you want standard and a 160 GB hard drive. The eMac also meets or beats the specs of the mini.

I was going to go for the mini, but if you don't already have a spare monitor and keyboard to add to the mini, it seems to me to be a better deal to get the iMac. Unless of course part of the reason to get the mini is because of the form factor. I know in America, you can get a student discount of something like 6%, maybe thats available in Cnada too. I ended up getting a 20" G5 with AppleCare 3 year warranty for under $1900.

BEEEsH said:

I have about $1300 (canadian dollars) to spend ... (I'm a student in Advertising)

I'm thinking a mac mini with g4 1.25ghz 512ram, and 80 gig hard drive and spending the rest on a monitor of some sort. I'm not entirely sure though.
I'll be using it mostly for basic portfolio work.

Where's the best place to get a mac?

Click to expand...

First of all, get the Mini if you don't care about portability, but look at an iBook if you do, although the price might exceed your budget.

If you don't care about portability and really want to exceed your budget (har! har!), get an iMac if you want the computer and monitor all-in-one - no extra $ required for a monitor. If you REALLY don't care about portability, how about an eMac? They have more bang for your buck than the Mini and don't cost much more - they're just big and bulky all-in-ones. Whatever you do, get as much RAM as you can afford - it's worth it.

Second, Futureshop doesn't sell Macs. Best Buy and London Drugs do, but they all come "stock", or bare-bones: you'd have to install upgrades yourself (and void the warranty) or get an Apple authorized facility to do them to not void the warranty.

So your best bet is the on-line Apple Store Canada (http://www.apple.com/ca/ then click Store). Free shipping, customize (but at some extra cost) the way you like it - you can't go wrong.

MAKE SURE, however, since you're a student, that you go to the Education Store part of the site. As a post-secondary student you qualify for instant lower prices. Be sure to buy the education version of software as well (Office for Mac, for ex.).

Hope this helps.

BEEEsH said:

...I figured I would ask you guys what the best thing to do is. (I'm a student in Advertising)

Click to expand...

Quit advertising? ;-)

Sorry, I have a personal hatred of advertising, so couldn't resist. I used to really like it, but as the advertisers themselves say, like bugs we build up a tolerance to it and they need to up the noise and get more and more "inventive" (I prefer the more accurate "invasive").

^^

hehehe.

My goal is to uproot the moral fabrics of society. Take it as you will, could be a good or bad thing. Anyways, my rationale for getting the mini, is that it will get me through what i need to do for now.

Eventually when I find work that actually pays (not internships) then i'm gonna take the monitor and switch up to a G5 tower. Incase I go freelance, I'll have the means to do it.

I actually went to the apple store today. I saw the mac i wanted and with my student discount its going to come out to 599 + tax. I'm gonna get the 512 mb upgrade for 60$ and I'm gonna steal a 1 gig ram module from my friend (same specs) One of the guys there showed me tiger and i was like :spook:

Widgets = crazy productive.

Is it worth it to pay the extra 125 for the applecare? I'm totally psyched about getting this now.

Apple care is worth it, but dont buy it off the bat. Take that $125 and put it somewhere else for now. You have a year to buy it. Do it then. No sense in spending the money now when it renders itself useless until after the original warranty is done.

Josh

kappa4life7987 said:

Apple care is worth it, but dont buy it off the bat. Take that $125 and put it somewhere else for now. You have a year to buy it. Do it then. No sense in spending the money now when it renders itself useless until after the original warranty is done.

Josh

Click to expand...

That much is true.
So you CAN buy it up to a year later?
thats great

Absolutley. I just ordered my PB(should be here tomorrow) and I didnt order AppleCare up front. A rep from Apple called me yesterday and noticed I hadnt purchased it and asked if I wanted to. I told him that I was going to wait a year and he agreed and told me that was the way to do it. So ya. Im excited. You'll enjoy your mini. I hope to get one for my parents soon

Josh

BEEEsH said:

^^

...I'm gonna get the 512 mb upgrade for 60$ and I'm gonna steal a 1 gig ram module from my friend (same specs) One of the guys there showed me tiger and i was like :spook: ...

Click to expand...

You might want to check on that RAM. I had thought that the Mini only had 1 slot for RAM? If indeed it only has 1 slot, and you are going to get that 1GB stick from your friend, it would be better not to upgrade to the 512MB because you won't be able to keep it anyway when you put the 1GB stick in.

Maybe it does support 2 sticks, but I think its only one...something to definately check out.

claudius753 said:

You might want to check on that RAM. I had thought that the Mini only had 1 slot for RAM? If indeed it only has 1 slot, and you are going to get that 1GB stick from your friend, it would be better not to upgrade to the 512MB because you won't be able to keep it anyway when you put the 1GB stick in.

Maybe it does support 2 sticks, but I think its only one...something to definately check out.

Click to expand...

It only supports one stick, but I'm only getting the 512 because i'm not sure 100% if I'll be able to take off of him. (if he wants to give it to me)

Do you guys recomend any little programs and things like that when I actually do get the mini?

Is there a need to reformat it when i get it? (I usually do that with all the pc's i buy)

As far as programs, I couldnt tell ya since I havent gotten mine yet. Check the Applications forum and see there. Ive heard some great things about Launchbar.

I doubt I'll reformat. I too refromatted all my PC's, but I dont know if there will be a need.

Josh

This is the specs for the ram I might be getting.
Would this work?

1GB (1024MB)
184 Pin DDR SDRAM
Unbuffered Non-Parity, Non-ECC Non-Registered
128M x 64 -Bit (Made With 128x4 Hi-Density Dram)

That looks right, except, make sure it's PC2700 or PC3200. I would recommend Crucial for your memory needs. I recently bought a 512MB (For ~$54) stick through my brother in the US and I have no worries about compatibility; they have an online system that tells you which memory is 100% compatible with your Mac (or PC). Most 184-pin PC2700 non-ECC unbuffered non-parity memory will work, but the garuntee is complete satisfaction

Oh, and I can't tell you how it works because I only get it after a month or so.

BEEEsH said:

Is there a need to reformat it when i get it? (I usually do that with all the pc's i buy)

Click to expand...

Not really, it came with some applications on it that I didn't have any use for so I just deleted them. It didn't come with a bunch of crap running in the background like some brand name PCs used to.

very good.

Beesh, I am selling a like new iBook with 768MB RAM a 1.33 G4 and Apple care included as well as iWork, Tiger (even the disks) Office 2004 and a lot more. It all comes in the original box with everything you would get as if it were new from the Apple store. Its a steal at $1100US. That includes the shipping to you as well.

Acill(@)mac.com if your interested. If been getting a lot of emails so hurry!