My wife's old laptop, our last Windows machine, is showing its age. I am thinking of giving her my MacBook and buying a desktop. I would appreciate your input as to which rout I should take.
I am thinking of going with a Mac mini and purchasing a nice monitor for it. I all ready have a keyboard (bluetooth) and mouse I would just need a monitor.
However I wonder if it would be better just to go with an iMac. I do not need the most expensive one they offer.
Anyhow tell me what you think is the better rout to go.
Looking forward to having a completely Windows free home soon!
Ok fellow Mac users
Discussion in 'Computers & Technology Forum' started by 4His_glory, Mar 27, 2009.
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There is a new Mac Mini for just $699, I think. If I needed a new computer, and we didn't have a gazillion I could use here, I'd get a Mini for the cost factor. Add in any monitor you want and you'd be set.
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I like the fact the the new mini's have a separate graphics card instead of the intergraded graphics processing of the MacBooks and old minis. -
On the other hand, I have never had a mac mini, and I have thought about one for the last year myself. -
I was wrong - Mac Minis are just $599.
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I guess what I need to do is find out if just an imac would be equivalent in price to a mini and a new display. -
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I use a Mac mini. I have had two of them now and I have really liked them.
I would suggest the Mini over the iMac.
YOu can usually get a nice display and a Mac Mini for less than an iMac but do get at least 2GB of ram in it. -
Check these guys out for a Mac Purchase
I have just purchased two Macs (G-5 Power Mac and Aluminum Macbook) from Power Max.com online and am completely impressed. I was able to get a much updated machine (AGP Sawtooth to G-5 Power Mac) for less than half what a new machine would cost. They take in trades so they have a ton of great used machines. I would highly suggest you check them out, I will be able to purchase newer computers much more often than the 10 year gap I once had now that I have found them.
http://www.powermax.com/ -
depends what you want to use it for?
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Describe what you mean by "showing its age. Is it not as peppy as it used to be? Keyboard malfunctioning? Takes forever to boot up? What? Odds are I can help you get it back to almost new functionality for nothing.
If you really want it like new again, back up her files on some removable media and format the hard drive and reinstall it fresh. While it will wipe it clean of both good and bad, it will let you start ver with a clean slate.
See if it can use more memory. RAM is still the cheapest upgrade available. Unless you specified the maximum RAM when you bought it, you can probably still max it out. Depending ont he make and model and age, it could handle 1GB, 2GB, or even 4GB of RAM. The manufacturer's site should give you that information.
If you do take the format/reinstall route, you could put in a new hard drive instead of formatting. A newer drive would be faster and give her more storage room. You could put the old drive in an external enclosure and she could dtill access the data on it. Once she transfers it to the new drive, you could format the old drive and, viola! you have an external hard drive you can use.
Those are just a few things off the top of my head. I would be more than happy to help you along with it. -
Thanks for all the input. I like that link you gave Jshurley. I will have to keep that in mind especially when I am back in the states.
I think I am going to go with a Mini- Especially since they now have a separate video card instead of the integrated ones.
I just have to decide on a monitor now. What do you think of LG? -
LG is good.