Mac-Forum's Bar & Grill

[cwa107]

Greetings from sunny Florida, everyone!

It's been beautiful here, lovely weather and the crowds in and around the Disney parks haven't been too bad at all.

Anyway, I was just passing by and thought I'd say "hi" - hope everyone is doing well. Glad I'm not at work this week!

(BTW, I'm connecting via a Verizon Mobile Broadband card, which uses their EVDO high-speed network. All I can say is "WOW!", this is darn close to DSL speeds, it really is a shame that Apple chose to use AT&T as their vendor).

 

[mac0s9user]

I've been wondering,and I hate to say this, but is Apple only geared to wealthier people? I just say this as the average guy cant go out and spend $1200 on a mac. I realize that the mini is like $600 but then you need a monitor and all the peripherals. I'm not trying to stir up anything I've just never seen anyone in a low income bracket with a newer mac. Do you think Apple should come out with a cheaper model?


Oh, and hope your having fun in Florida CWA. Escaping the cold for a while?

 

[Stretch]

two words:

It's snowing

 

[MacHeadCase]

Ouch! I saw on the news that just a bit east of Québec City (in Charlevoix) they had 30 cm of snow (that's 12 inches US friends). ;D

 

[cwa107]

I've been wondering,and I hate to say this, but is Apple only geared to wealthier people? I just say this as the average guy cant go out and spend $1200 on a mac. I realize that the mini is like $600 but then you need a monitor and all the peripherals. I'm not trying to stir up anything I've just never seen anyone in a low income bracket with a newer mac. Do you think Apple should come out with a cheaper model?


Oh, and hope your having fun in Florida CWA. Escaping the cold for a while?

Well, the general perception is that computers have somehow gotten cheaper over the years - in a sense that's true, but in reality, if you're buying state-of-the-art, the prices haven't dropped all that much. Those $400 bargain PCs at Wal-Mart have all the computing power of a 5 year old state of the art machine. So, you get what you pay for. Most of Apple's machines are pretty well equipped and comparably priced to PCs configured the same way.

I do agree that the Mac mini is a bit overpriced for what you get. I'd really like to see Apple build a tower-based model that is more upgradeable than an iMac, but priced around the same ballpark. $1200 (US) is about what a decent PC running Windows will cost you. I'd like to see the machine I referred to go for between $1200-1400.

Oh, and yes, it's in the 30's back home - I'm glad to be here

 

[mac0s9user]

I wouldnt mind paying $1200 for a Mac that was more upgradeable. It just seems like it would go obsolete too quickly. I just think the mini is too much to be honest. If it came with a 19" monitor and was like $700 then that would be a great deal. And I avoid all electronics sold by walmart unless its from a familiar brand.

 

[cwa107]

I wouldnt mind paying $1200 for a Mac that was more upgradeable. It just seems like it would go obsolete too quickly. I just think the mini is too much to be honest. If it came with a 19" monitor and was like $700 then that would be a great deal. And I avoid all electronics sold by walmart unless its from a familiar brand.

Agreed, the Mini is really not a good value at all. A low-end iMac is in that ballpark (starts at $1199), but I don't care for the AIO concept - just not expandable enough for my tastes. That's why I think Apple needs an alternative mid-priced machine.

 

[skye]

they should have an upgradeable tower that doesn't cost the price of a kidney

 

[Leukeh]

they should have an upgradeable tower that doesn't cost the price of a kidney

Agreed! Very much... Mac Pro just costs way too much...

 

[bobtomay]

On this point, think I have to agree with everyone.

Am pretty sure Apple would have another $2k of my money if even just the video card was upgradeable a year down the road in an iMac. Instead, after several months of using basically only my MBP, am still torn between a Mac Pro and building another windows box and pocketing the $1k+ difference.

Of course, I save the $1k building vs buying a win box also. But, I can go out and buy the parts to build that win box.

 

[todd51]

Morning everyone, it's going to be a long day for me today. I'll finally get home tonight at around 12 and then I will still have to do a little bit of homework. Well, I'm off to class!

 

[mac57]

On this point, think I have to agree with everyone.

Am pretty sure Apple would have another $2k of my money if even just the video card was upgradeable a year down the road in an iMac. Instead, after several months of using basically only my MBP, am still torn between a Mac Pro and building another windows box and pocketing the $1k+ difference.

Of course, I save the $1k building vs buying a win box also. But, I can go out and buy the parts to build that win box.

Hey Tom, I checked Windows XP licensing terms yesterday. They license by physical CPU chip (or conceptually, by sockets) vs. by core. So, Windows XP Pro will happily run a Penryn quad core. See:

www.microsoft.com/licensing/highlights/multicore.mspx

Building your own just got a little more attractive?

 

[mac0s9user]

I think that the lack of upgradeability is what is making macs less attractive to people now. The G4 and G3 seemed to be the last of these. Like my video card for instance. I would love to get a newer one that has at least 256 MB of VRAM. However it's such a pain to find an affordable one thats mac compatible that I don't even bother looking. I think this would really help Apple out.

 

[TheCustomer99]

I'm gonna go to bed. I've been studying for my Monetary Policy exam for over 6 hours. If I don't get at least a 100% (we have extra credit on exams), then I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I have an 89% in the class right now, so a 100% would basically guarantee an A in the course. The prof said on day one that you have to have a firm grasp on the material to get an A in the course. I saw that as a challenge, so I've been keeping up on the reading and now I'm going over every detail of every topic that could possibly come up on the exam, even the stuff that I already know. I've studied so much that I could basically take Bernanke's job right now. Well, I'd love to go on but my bed is taunting me and my eyes are starting to sink lower and lower. Good night all!

 

[todd51]

I'm gonna go to bed. I've been studying for my Monetary Policy exam for over 6 hours. If I don't get at least a 100% (we have extra credit on exams), then I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I have an 89% in the class right now, so a 100% would basically guarantee an A in the course. The prof said on day one that you have to have a firm grasp on the material to get an A in the course. I saw that as a challenge, so I've been keeping up on the reading and now I'm going over every detail of every topic that could possibly come up on the exam, even the stuff that I already know. I've studied so much that I could basically take Bernanke's job right now. Well, I'd love to go on but my bed is taunting me and my eyes are starting to sink lower and lower. Good night all!

Good luck on the test TC! I have myself a physics exam tomorrow that I don't think I really am going to study for tonight, I'm just going to go over it tomorrow morning. I like studying much better in the morning with a warm cup of coffee and a full stomach.

 

[TenderSurrender]

Good luck TC and todd with your exams today

Ive just finished the first round of lectures for today, sitting upstairs having a quick pint, whilst writing up some notes and spending money i probably dont have

Hope everyone is having a good day

~~ TS ~~

 

[todd51]

Thanks TS, I don't think this test will be too bad. I'm just finishing up the last 5 minutes of studying, then I have to hop in the shower and get ready for class. It's going to be a long day, I'll be on campus until 7 or so tonight. After that though some friends of mine are buying a keg so I'll get to have a few beers!

(Nasty beer,...but beer nonetheless)

 

[TenderSurrender]

Well good luck again dude and have a good evening

Just sitting in the lecture with (follow forum members Mylo And JohnT) learning about different ICS we need to know about...

TTL - 74 Series ICs
CMOS ICs - the 4000B series
DIPs and other packages

Kinda confusing but at the same time, its really interesting (from a tech head point of view )

~~ TS ~~

 

[kman445]

i just got home, from my morning classes. i have to go back for one more class today (im still in high school).

 

[TheCustomer99]

Well, I took the exam. A couple of the questions seemed to be curveballs that I didn't expect to be on there, but overall I think I got an A. Well, I'm off to my final class of the day. Cya