General Mac hardware discussions: Any chance Apple will produce a more affordable tower?
Or...
by guido--2008 - 6/16/06 7:51 AM In reply to: Aaah, the usual stuff by mrmacfixit
He could do what I'd do and that is buy the basic 20" iMac for $1699, and then spend $450 at someplace else (newegg.com) and wind up with More hard drive and More memory for $225 less. You can get a 400GB SATA drive and a USB2 SATA drive enclosure for $210, which would allow using whichever drive he chose to put in the enclosure to be used by Both computers if he formatted it in FAT32. You can also get excellent memory for at least $100 less than Apple would charge, with the benenfit of having the 512 stick leftover.
He sounds like he knows enough about computers in general to do this stuff without much trouble. What I've found is that even though Macs can be intimidating on the outside, they're pretty much the same once you crack the case.
I'm a longtime PC guy (my job) who's been exploring the Mac world for a while now. I have a B&W G3 (now G4) as well as a DualCore Mini that I maxed out the RAM on. Fun Stuff.
This May Sound Crazy...
by muncyweb - 6/16/06 7:54 AM In reply to: Any chance Apple will produce a more affordable tower? by Rob10But even a Mac Mini would be sufficient for your needs. All of the same software that comes with an iMac also comes with a Mac Mini. You can get a Mac Mini with a Superdrive as well.
I currently use my Mini for audio editing, creating movies with iMovie, graphics work with Adobe Photoshop Elements, Flash animations, and of course word processing, browsing the web, email and the other common things we all use our computers for. I've got the old Mini with 1GB RAM, and an external 320 Gig firewire drive, as well as an external Lacie DVD burner with Lightscribe. The little Mini just chugs right along. It never crashes and never gets a virus. I've even heard of people installing and using Apple's pro software, Final Cut Pro on these little Minis.
Now, granted, you can't upgrade the internal hard drive to 500 GB (unless you can find a 500 GB laptop drive?). But all of this just goes to show you how much you can actually get done on the less expensive Macs.
But just imagine what you could do if you bought 2 of these Mac Minis, put them together, and hooked them both up to one screen using a switch. You could have 4 GB of memory, up to 240 GB of drive space, and a major multi-tasking capability. For example, encode your DVD on one Mini, and then switch to the other to browse the web or check your email. Or in your case run Mac OS X on one, and Windows on the other. The possibilities here are endless. And it would all take up less than 7 inches of desk space.
Hope this information helps. Have fun with your new Mac!
~Cliff
Mac user since the 1984 Apple Lisa II.
(NT) You are not crazy…
by taboma - 7/9/06 11:01 PM In reply to: This May Sound Crazy... by muncyweb...Maybe just nuts over the Mac Mini.
I work professionally for a newspaper group and use a Mac Mini since Jan. 2005.
The Mac Mini out-performs any G-4 in our department also.
Memory is 40 Gigs and our hard drive is set at 1Gig. I am sure that more is available working with Apple.
We run OSX10.4.4 currently. OS10.4.7 is available on an update.
This little bugger is just awesome.
One of my co-workers uses a dual Mac Mini at his home since the intro and loves it being so fast.
$699 for a dual Mac Mini is inexpensive.
The Mac Mini will be here for a long time.
It is amazing how many older Mac users do not want to even try out a Dual Processor Mac Mini and only want a tower iMac.
You and I could link about a dozen of these little buggers in the framework of a tower. Just Awesome!!! Something to think about.
Cliff, Thanks for your info.
-Kevin
Strange Numbers
by mrmacfixit - 7/10/06 4:54 AM
In reply to: (NT) You are not crazy… by taboma
"Memory is 40 Gigs and our hard drive is set at 1Gig. I am sure that more is available working with Apple"
Huge memory and tiny hard drive. You probably mean those figures to be the other way around.
There is NO tower iMac.
Why are you not running 10.4.7 on your Mini?
P
Ways around
by jandawson - 7/7/06 3:37 AM In reply to: Any chance Apple will produce a more affordable tower? by Rob10Hi
just bought myself a powermac. Awesome machine and once you see and open it you know why it is that bit more expensive.Checking out the Apple refurbished site
is a good option to save a lot of money. and Buying a rather basic (still powerfull though) tower leaves you the update options for later using non-apple memory
(Crucial has a great support site) etc.
Overall I have no regrets buying this machine.
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