I've now decided it's time to purchase a new PC or Laptop, I fancy a change so have decided to go for an Apple product.

I don't need the biggest or the best just a good value system with dvd RW.

What would you suggest is the best for less than

Apple .

Apple laptop for under 800 :thumbdwn:. Not worth it really there's only the 12" iBook.

Buy from the Apple store - most Apple stuff is rarely marked down from new anyway as it's all from the one supplier, and if you know a student at Uni somewhere get them to order it from uni, or go in with them and order it there. If you access the Apple Store from a University network you can get the Higher Educational discounts and on some things save up to 30%.

The 17" iMac G5 would be under 800 with the educational discount I think. It would be an excellent starter machine. You don't need a monitor and it has a SuperDrive. Not really any upgrade path with it though. But that may not be a problem depending on what you intend to use it for.

They look nice in the flesh too. The 20" is gorgeous.

I've now decided it's time to purchase a new PC or Laptop, I fancy a change so have decided to go for an Apple product.

I don't need the biggest or the best just a good value system with dvd RW.

What would you suggest is the best for less than

I know what your both saying thanks.

Everybody I talk to that owns one swears by them, come to think of it a bit like Skoda owners. The only ones that don't like them are the Brand changers, a bit like this site.

I'll go and look at the G5 17" you suggested.

Personally I wouldnt bother with an apple. There's plenty of pc choice out there and you wont have to worry about incompatible software. Also give it a few months and if you really must have mac os you will be able to install it on your pc.

Get a laptop and install Linux Job done

Personally, I looked at Apple because of the design and build quality. In the end the departure from Windows, and the compatibility that it brings with it, put me off.

I went for a Sony VAIO in the end. If you avoid the budget plastic ones, they're excellent. The X-Black TFT is a joy to use, well screwed together and with a metal top, looks the business too.

Not sure what

What compatability problems?

I have Linux on my desktop and an iBook 12" as a laptop and they both do everything you could ever want.

Ask yourself seriously, what do you do with your computer?

Surf the web? Use Firefox (Mac/Linux) or Safari (Mac)

Check your email? Thunderbird / MacMail.

Music (amarok / iTunes)?

Image stuff (the GIMP / iPhoto)?

Watch videos (QuickTime, Windows Media Player - yes, there's a Mac version, VLC)?

Write documents (Appleworks, OpenOffice, Microsoft Office)?

Copy stuff to/from a bluetooth mobile phone? - it's all built in.

Instant Messsaging? I use the free program 'Fire' which connects to ICQ, MSN, Yahoo and Google all at the same time.

IRC? There are loads of programs available.

Install a Firewall, Anti-Spyware and Anti-Virus packages? What viruses? What spyware?

The modern Macs all come with iLife too, which will cover just about any media thing you want to do. There has been hardly a single Mac virus either. And the OS is just so damned swish. On this old G3 900MHz, with a Radeon 7500 (the original Radeon) chip, when I press F9 all the windows slide around gracefully and smoothly. When I minimise my video player, the video carries on playing in the Dock at the bottom of the screen.

The only two things I would say are:

* Make sure you spec at least 512MB of ram.

* They don't make many Mac games.

If you want to decide for your self, get down to an Apple retail store. All the kit is laid out for you to play with. Surf the internet. Log on to MSN Messenger. Use iChat, the video conference software. They know if they just let you play with the kit, you'll want to buy it!

As for Mac OS on a PC. No chance. Apple make too much money from the hardware. Yes the CPU inside is going to change in the next year, but the Mac OS will be *identical*. All the new programs will be built as so-called 'Fat' binaries. You can put the same program on a PPC Mac and an x86 Mac and it will just work. All the developer does it tick a box in the XCode compiler and it all happens automatically.

Ooops. Sorry about that. Another long rant!

J

I need to read more and go for a test drive. Thanks for the advice.

I forgot to add, I'd like to try video editing and hear that the MAC is very good at this.

Apples are top banana ( ) for music and video. The pro's use 'em .

Personally I wouldnt bother with an apple. There's plenty of pc choice out there and you wont have to worry about incompatible software. Also give it a few months and if you really must have mac os you will be able to install it on your pc.

As 51octytdi said, MacOS on PC? no. It'll never happen.

Point 2. What incompatibility? In the world of Mac/PC exchange the only incompatibilities are the actual applications. And thats true for everything. You can't play PS2 games on a PC. You can't run your old commadore 64 MIDI composers on Linux. So there's not much difference there.

If you want to transfer word files, images, music etc etc between the two platorms, everything is fine. OS X will hook up to PC, UNIX etc. servers. Perhaps the only thing you'll be missing is a floppy drive.

The MacOS is a joy to use, especially compared to Windows. I haven't met anyone who has given OS X a reall go and not preferred it over XP et al.

The only reasons nowadays that I would advise against purchasing a Mac are these:

Price. Apple are still expensive for what you are specc'd (though don't compare speed etc directly with a PC as they work very differently and a slower processor in a mac doesn't mean a slower system in general)

Games. It's getting better, but if you want a hardcore games machine Windows PC is the only way to go.

I have an old Dual 500Mhz G4 upstairs, it saw me through 3 years at Uni, doing everything from Photoshop work to Video Editing and MultiMedia design. It's not the fastest computer in the world but It's still going and works a charm. Unless you want to get into hardcore design a 17" iMac will be more than enough for you.

My Dual 2.4Ghz G5 at work with a 6800GT Gfx card in is beginning to look slow when I'm fiddling with 200Mb Photoshop files - and my home computer would probably throw a wobbler with those types of files. But it all comes down to what you intend to use it for. Your average home user Surfing the web, emailing, word processing etc. would be happy with a Mac Mini let alone the iMac which is well put together, solid as a rock and beautiful to look at.

And on an aside, the Apple Powerbooks are (in my opinion) gorgeous examples of a laptop. Nothing comes close in quality and design. And also, unfortunately, in price.

Rant over. As mentioned once you go Apple you do tend to defend their products a lot. And I've been using Macs since I was 3 and had an Old Mac Classic.

You could try the Apple Refurb store. It only opens on Wednesdays but they do seem to have good discounts

http://promo.euro.apple.com/promo/refurb/uk/

I need to read more and go for a test drive. Thanks for the advice.

I forgot to add' date=' I'd like to try video editing and hear that the MAC is very good at this.[/quote']

With regards to video editing, it depends on the software that you're going to use, I wouldn't recommend doing that on a laptop anyway. I'm using Premiere Pro on a dual Xeon 3GHz with 2 20" Apple LCD and I also have a 17" PB for work and bought my girlfriend a 12" iBook last Christmas. She loves the iBook, does everything she needs. Gaming wise is where the Macs are let down really, so it quite difficult to point you in the right direction.

You'll probably get 3 pieces of advice here:

1. Windows people will say get a PC, Macs don't have any software.

2. Apple peeps will say get a Mac, they look nice and do all you want.

3. Linux peeps will say, get anything and put Linux on it.

I agree with all of these, but then I have different machines to do the best job in each field

1. Windows people will say get a PC' date=' Macs don't have any software.

...

I agree with all of these, but then I have different machines to do the best job in each field [/quote']

I don't see how people can say that anymore. When they mean Mac's don't have such a variety of software.

Any application you can get for Windows, you can get one for the mac that does the same thing. Maybe not the same piece of software but 90% of the time it has the same features.

You can't get Final Cut Pro for the PC, which I feel is one of the best video editing packages available. But I wouldn't say get an Apple because you can't do video editing on a PC.

In the end it's a personal choice, neither will let you do something the other can't. Try the Mac, see if you like it. Personally I use Windows and Apple machines depending on what I'm doing. Both let me do it, just one usually makes it easier and quicker for me.

In the end it's a personal choice, neither will let you do something the other can't. Try the Mac, see if you like it. Personally I use Windows and Apple machines depending on what I'm doing. Both let me do it, just one usually makes it easier and quicker for me.

I agree. The Apple may be the best computer technically, but if you don't get on with the user interface then you're going to get frustrated by it. I personally use PC's because I can get them significantly cheaper than an equivalent Apple thanks to the number of hardware manufacturers competing for my custom.

One thing to be aware of on laptops is that the screens can be prone to bad/dead pixels. These can be sorted out under warranty, but I believe that they need to be sent off to be repaired ...

Let us know how you get on

Chris

One thing to be aware of on laptops is that the screens can be prone to bad/dead pixels. These can be sorted out under warranty, but I believe that they need to be sent off to be repaired ...

Most TFT monitors suffer from dead pixels. The tollerance is 99% working, or something like that. So in essence manufacturers are able to say they won't replace a screen on warranty for 1 or 2 dead pixels. Though most will out of a goodwill gesture.

They are quite annoying, like the small horizontal line you get on CRT monitors (2 of them if its big) look about 3/4 of the way up (or down) your screen and see if you can spot it. Yes, now you've found it you'll never not notice it again. And yes, it's meant to be there.

Whats yor budget?

Ok unfair question, basically I might have my laptop for sale soon owing to a change in my works policy I will not be able to use it for work. I'm not lugging a desktop around the country so will pressing for a laptop and I'm not going to lug two of them around.

It's a savrow razor 1.7dothan core (1mb cache) 1024ddr400 ati motbilty radeon 9700 it does play games but can stuggle on good settings...although not on there site anymore it's only 15 months old.

Laptops are good if you need a laptop. Only the 2K + ones will give you a solid games platform and they are not really convienent laptops weighing in at 4+kgs

If you don't really need a laptop, then desktop, be that mac or pc(windows or linux). I use my laptop for travelling photo storage as well, but a cheap and cheerfull no frills one would do that job as well with the main desktop doing the "hard" work at home.

Just another factor for you

Keep the good info coming. I do like the idea of less attacks on the machine that people seem to report from pop ups, etc.

Colin around

If ever you did want to get a VAIO, let me know

I have no experience of Linux whatsoever, tell me why it's so good

It's free!!!! It has no ports exposed like windoze, so those nasty spywaremonkeys will not get you nor will hackers (generally). You can get any app windoze has for Linux (again for free) Apps are a damn sight easier to install. It runs faster than windoze, and really lower spec machines can run it comfortably. Did I mention it was free Also the free support network is second to none on whatever platform of Linux you choose Also if you like Mac OS X you can make any linux platform look like it OH and it has nowt to do with microthief.

Just have to decide which is the juiciest from the can off worms I've just opened. I dislike the security issues surrounding windows hence the can of worms with Linux and Apple.

Where is the best place to find / get this FREE Linux, I've an old networked PC I could give it a bash on.

I got the SuSE 9.3 version from Novell's site. Free if you want to download 5 CD images, or you can buy it in shops done for you in a box, manual etc.

I downloaded the images, burned the CD's then booted from the first one and began the setup, all nice and painless. I was quite impressed with it TBH.

I'll edit with a linky in a mo

EDIT: here! http://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=aea0zTYvWN0~

EDIT2: I'm personally using a Mac Mini for just about everything now; browsing, email, letters, music etc. the PC is now only used for games

Yawn another Linux vs Windows thread... Both have their place. Both are good if set up correctly. Older windows versions are insecure. Newer ones are better, still not perfect.

The way I look at it is pretty simple - what applications do you use regularly? If you do word processing, emailing, browsing, then all options Windows, Linux, MacOS X, are great.

If you want to play games, the Mac is probably not the best choice. Linux has some games ported from the Windows platform, but it's not going to have the latest greatest. Dual boot if you want to use Linux for your main jobs.

Windows is a platform designed for ease of use. Linux IMHO is a platform that is getting easier to use, and it has been getting better and better for years.

I've used OpenOffice, Apache, Firefox. Not tried a mail client but let's face it, OE is pretty rubbish - each one of those is great and works well.

Would like the Mac Mini, was well tempted by one. Only catch is too little memory but that can be fixed

Hi

I have owned various Mac's for the last six years & used MS Windows in work for the last ten years. I would definately recommend an Apple computer.

This is what I found:

• 
  - Apple is easy to use, secure & reliable.
  - Apple hardware is more expensive than cheapo PC's but for the same quality hardware there's not a lot of difference.
  - Apple less good for Gamers, much less choice & generally less access to bleeding edge graphics.
  - Apple much simpler for home video editing.
  - MacOS X is fantastic for Geeks.
  

Further thoughts:

- I mentioned in work that I needed a PC & was thinking of buying Apple. I got 6 weeks of solid negativity & people trying to talk me out of my decision. The anti-mac fervour was almost religious in it's intensity. I bent to the pressure & started spec'ing up a Windows PC until my brother-in-law (then a recent Linux convert) said "Get whatever you want; it's your money!" which got me thinking again & I bought an iMac. I'm glad I did so & would never move to Windows now. (& yes, you're right. Buying a Mac is a bit like owning a Skoda in this respect)

- As a previous poster mentioned, people talk about 'lack of compatability'. What does this mean? It's infuriating. Mac's are standards compliant. What more can you ask for? Also, lack of software. How many different applications do you need? Once you have three or four choices of word processor or mail application, surely that's sufficient. My opinion is that this 'lack of choice' is actually an advantage for Apple as they have far less options to support & so can make things work correctly. To be fair to Microsoft it must be very difficult to support the hundreds of thousands of hard & software options available for X86 PC's.

- Apple are starting a move to Intel chips next year. It's rumoured that these 'Intel Macs' will be able to run MS Windows natively should you desire to do so. If you're unsure about changing, or have lots of Windows software, it may be worth waiting for one of these.

- For your spec (

Just to through a massive spanner in the works !!!

Apple are switching to intel chips very soon, so expect a lot new software become available for Apple PCs as the OS will be running on x86 architecture and not IBM/Motorola's PowerPC