# New iMacs and more.



## El Caco (Oct 22, 2009)

My iMac died at the wrong time, I was hoping to sell it before these came out, now while mine has been in for repairs it dropped in value over $500  

Anyway I was planning on picking up the new Mac Mini and a 40" LCD TV but the release of the new iMac has made that decision a lot harder.

Apple - iMac - The ultimate all-in-one desktop computer.





Highlights include

Seamless aluminium construction.
16:9 aspect ratio, finally.
21.5-inch models: 1920 by 1080 pixels.
27-inch models: 2560 by 1440 pixels.
First iMac to use a desktop processor (27" model) 2.66GHz Intel Core i5 upgradeable to 2.8GHz Intel Core i7
Processor speed now starts at 3.06GHz on the 21.5"

There is a newer faster Mac mini but more significantly there is now a Mac Mini Server Apple - Mac mini - The most affordable, energy-efficient Mac.





The mighty mouse is dead 
Enter the Apple - Magic Mouse - The world's first Multi-Touch mouse.






The MacBook has also been redesigned and there is also a new aluminium Apple remote to complement the redesigned iMac.


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## -K4G- (Oct 22, 2009)

Shit, nearly bought an imac like a week ago. Is there like a website where like you can read up on up and coming new stuff? 
Went through the apple website a while ago but they didn't say they were putting out new imacs.


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## El Caco (Oct 22, 2009)

Apple prefer to keep new releases a secret however macrumours is a pretty good resource for reliable rumours and their buying guide is a decent indicator of when to buy.

Mac Rumors: Apple Mac Rumors and News You Care About
Mac Buyer's Guide: Know When to Buy Your Mac, iPod or iPhone


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## -K4G- (Oct 22, 2009)

Cool. Thanks.


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## El Caco (Oct 22, 2009)

By the way even the retailers don't know, my local Apple shop is pissed off that they were shipped the old top model arriving today which retails for AU$1500 more than the base 27" model which has higher specs.


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## Daemoniac (Oct 22, 2009)

Man, i have to say, i'm actually tempted by a Macbook at the moment. I may well be getting a laptop in the next week or so, and it's between a macbook 17" with as much as i can put into it (8GB RAM, 500GB hard drive etc.. etc..), an HP notebook with 18" screen, 500GB hard drive, 160GB SSD drive and bluray etc.., and _possibly_ (not really sure about this one) a Toshiba Qosmio X500.

The only eason i'm considering the Toshiba (really) is the core i7 it's sporting... but it has a pissweak hard drive for me (320GB) and awful battery life apparently...

What you reckon s7eve? Your obvious mac preferences aside  Bear in mind the Macbook will set me back about $1000 more than the HP, and the HP is about $1,400 more than the Toshiba.


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## gambit (Oct 22, 2009)

i got lucky, real lucky. i bought my imac 20 days ago from best buy. when i found out about the new ones and how they have better everything for the same price i was fuming. i called apple to rip them a new one and they said they cant exchange it after 14 days. I was like WHAT!!! then i told tem i got it from best buy and they told me to call the store i bought it from. i called them and i said i bought mine 20 days ago and now they have new ones and i want to exchange it, they told me the same 14 days. then i told the manager that i thought being a silver premier member gave me 45 days to return or exchange. i proved im a silver premier member and they said ok, we get the new ones on friday just restore the old one and bring it back with the receipt and i can swap it out lol. PHEW that was close.


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## El Caco (Oct 22, 2009)

I will start off by saying I am biased against big screen laptops, especially when it comes to Mac since the addition of a Mac display means 24" monitor at your desk with the portability of a smaller Laptop and painless connectivity. I will also point out that when considering price you should forget the entry cost and consider the cost of ownership. If you buy now the cost of ownership is likely to be low if you wait until the next model is released and the AUD happens to drop before then. The cost of ownership for lower end Macs tends to be lower than any other PC or Mac however the depreciation of the higher end Pro models can be scary at times.

Is there any Windows software you cannot live without? If so you will need to factor a copy of Windows into the price of a Mac. My advice is to grab the smallest and cheapest Macbook pro that fits your needs, check if it has the ports you need can it be used for your intended purposes? Do not upgrade the RAM through Apple, save yourself some $'s and get it elsewhere. Next instead of advising you to get an Apple Display for $1500 which would allow you to use quick connects to dock your Macbook and keep all your desktop peripherals connected to the Display, I would advise you to grab the base model 27" iMac since for $700 more not only can you use it as a second display for your Macbook but you now have a second Computer with Killer specs and a 1Tb HDD thrown in 

Finally I am going to remind you to not compare specs on paper between a Mac and PC running Windows, trust me when I say that a Mac runs a lot quicker then the spec would have you believe and if you live in the OS X world it is possible that like many before you you may find yourself more productive.


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## Daemoniac (Oct 22, 2009)

My biggest concern with Macs is compatibility. There are three things that the laptop will be used for mainly;
- Gaming; which PCs completely dominate.
- Music; So far as i can see, it's a 50/50 choice here. Both platforms have pros and cons, and some people plain prefer one system over another for various reasons. At the moment i prefer PC for music, cos i use Cubase and Fruity Loops.
- Graphics/Design; Technically a Mac would be infinitely better than a PC i think for this. 

The big thing for me is taking the plunge without then having a PC to back it up, not to mention the fact that a Macbook Pro will set me back near $4.5k, whereas the HP is under $3.5k, and the Toshiba under $2.5k so it's a pretty weird situation. I really do like the idea of owning a mac, just not 100% sure if i can do it without owning a PC too


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## El Caco (Oct 22, 2009)

But you realise that a Mac can run both OS's right. Since you want to play games on your laptop I'm really not sure if the current MBP is for you, check the MBP windows gaming benchmarks to be sure. If you did get even the top end MBP keep in mind that the upgraded CPU is almost never a wise decision it just doesn't offer the performance for the dollar and remember that you are throwing money away if you buy it upgraded to 8GB from Apple. Now since you are a student, bet you forgot that right, you are an apprentice and that means the moment you enrol in TAFE you are entitled to a educational discount, with the educational discount and the upgraded HDD to 7200 rpm it will cost you $3062, buying your RAM from a 3rd party will save you a bunch of dollars and the 4GB will be no problem to sell. 

I still believe you would be better off grabbing the iMac for gaming + low end MBP for portability, it will work out approximately the same price and be far better. Just wait a few days and the iMac benchmarks should be up.

Either way you will need to keep me posted, I am in the market right now and I would love to take advantage of your educational discount


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## Daemoniac (Oct 22, 2009)

Honestly I think i will need to stick with a PC laptop at the moment, partially because i'm not yet at a point where i _can_ make the switch 100%, though there will definitely be either an iMac or Mac Pro in the future, cos i do enjoy using them.

As for the discount, you're more than welcome


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## El Caco (Oct 22, 2009)

I really can't imagine what you need a Mac Pro for.


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## Daemoniac (Oct 22, 2009)

s7eve said:


> I really can't imagine what you need a Mac Pro for.



Bragging rights 

Seriously though, i'd never actually buy a Mac Pro. I hate and despise teh Xeon processors. Complete pieces of shit IMO, the PC's at work all have them, and they're slow as hell.

If i were going to spend that much money on a computer, i'd get one built. Which i will once i start getting into multimedia applications and animation more.


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## DarkKnight369 (Oct 22, 2009)

Let me say a few things....

Don't buy a Toshiba laptop. My wife and I went through 3 of their laptops, all pieces of shit that broke multiple times. I am sure the Qosmio is a little better, but still.

It depends on what time of gaming you do, but the laptop is really not the best platform to do so. I love FPS shooter games, and they are really difficult for me to play at a laptop. In addition to that, computer gaming is always evolving and demanding more from your machine. I don't know how many times I had to upgrade my video card when I was a PC gamer, my brother has done it a few times now as well.

I was a die hard PC user for many years, and hated macs for a long time. I made the switch over a year ago after getting a Mac at work. I was worried about leaving the PC world because of software I might need. Really, they only time I ever have a problem is when some stupid website makes their shit work on IE only. Of course this is absolute terrible web design, but whatever. That is the only time I needed windows though. On my computer at work I have parallels and a copy of XP. I can boot up windows and run it along side the Mac OS. Of course, Parallels cost money, so does VMware Fusion, which is another good option. The mac comes with the capability to boot in either Windows or the Mac OS using bootcamp. So really, you can have a machine that can do pretty much anything.

For graphic design and such, the Mac isn't so much superior. The adobe suite will run and work just fine on a well equipped PC. What I find gives Macs the edge is their displays. I had a dell monitor with my PC at work and no matter what I did to calibrate it, I just could not get the colors right. As soon as I got the MBP I have at work there was a huge difference and the colors were that much better out of the box. The MBP display made the dell monitor look like shit. Then, I got a 23" cinema display and it was even better than the MBP display and Dell monitor. Since you work in print, having your monitor accurately calibrated for proper color display is important. Macs definitely have the edge with that.

As far as audio editing goes, have you ever heard of Logic? Its supposed to be pretty damn awesome. They have student discounts for it that makes it pretty damn cheap. Oh yeah, and its Mac only software. Macs do come free with Garage band though, which will work well enough for simple recording.


I personally have a MBP at home because its better for me. I sit at a desk all day, and I sure as hell do not want to sit at one when I get home. On top of that, I travel often, so its nice to have something to take with me. I have a 17", simply because I cannot stand doing the work I do on anything smaller. I would buy a 20" laptop if they made it, because I can never have enough screen real estate. I am not the average person though, as I am a giant. So while I don't mind the large size at all on my lap, many will not like it. Bigger laptops are impossible to use on a plane as well. 

If I were going to buy a desktop, I would opt for one of the new iMacs. The 27" version has the intel core i7 processor as an option as well as 2TB of storage an I think 8GB of memory. Unless you are editing and rendering high def video or creating digital 3d animation you really wouldn't need more power than that.


Now I said I made the switch, and I haven't looked back. I really could care less about windows 7, since I am completely happy with snow leopard. What I hate with PCs is how you always had to worry about adware and viruses. It seemed like half of my time on my PC at home was doing some sort of maintenance. Macs are pretty much worry free. I do not have anti-virus software on either of my Macs at home or my Mac at work. I open it, use it for what I need, and I don't have to worry. Only thing I ever have to do is install updates. That's it. One thing I also love about Macs is how quick they boot and come out of hibernation. I am not sure how Windows 7 is with this, but I now XP and Vista were a joke comparatively. I open my the lid to my laptop and its back on. From being completely shut down I think it takes less than 30 seconds to boot up. That is a huge deal to me, and I love it.


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## D-EJ915 (Oct 22, 2009)

wow they finally got the idea that the huge bottom part was ugly as hell  looks a loooot nicer now


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## Sepultorture (Oct 22, 2009)

fucking YES, so gunna be getting one of these 27" mofos with the i7

gaming, recording and mixing here i cum, WOOT


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## damigu (Oct 22, 2009)

that multi-touch mouse looks friggin' sweeeeeeeeeeet!!


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## asmegin_slayer (Oct 22, 2009)

Looks like ill be purchasing a new imac this holiday season.... i7 and a terabyte will be more then enough and last me for a quite awhile. My fiance already calls dibs for my 24 inch lol.


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## Daemoniac (Oct 22, 2009)

First off dude, thanks or the input, i appreciate it 



DarkKnight369 said:


> Let me say a few things....
> 
> Don't buy a Toshiba laptop. My wife and I went through 3 of their laptops, all pieces of shit that broke multiple times. I am sure the Qosmio is a little better, but still.



^ This is a help, and i will definitely steer clear. It was actually the thing that was worrying me. I don't feel like i'd heard much about Toshiba laptops, but the only stuff i do vaguely remember hearing was bad, so i will definitely avoid that.




DarkKnight369 said:


> It depends on what time of gaming you do, but the laptop is really not the best platform to do so. I love FPS shooter games, and they are really difficult for me to play at a laptop. In addition to that, computer gaming is always evolving and demanding more from your machine. I don't know how many times I had to upgrade my video card when I was a PC gamer, my brother has done it a few times now as well.



I am an FPS fan as well, though i don't actually mind playing them on laptops. I had an HP laptop a couple of years ago that i could run FEAR and Stalker on, and i actually thought it was pretty fun. The video card issue is there though, and while i do enjoy PC gaming, i'm thinking it may just be better to buy something more 'solid' like a PS3 and let that do my gaming needs 




DarkKnight369 said:


> I was a die hard PC user for many years, and hated macs for a long time. I made the switch over a year ago after getting a Mac at work. I was worried about leaving the PC world because of software I might need. Really, they only time I ever have a problem is when some stupid website makes their shit work on IE only. Of course this is absolute terrible web design, but whatever. That is the only time I needed windows though. On my computer at work I have parallels and a copy of XP. I can boot up windows and run it along side the Mac OS. Of course, Parallels cost money, so does VMware Fusion, which is another good option. The mac comes with the capability to boot in either Windows or the Mac OS using bootcamp. So really, you can have a machine that can do pretty much anything.



I'm already pretty much used to macs, i grew up around them 'cos my dad wouldn't buy anything else, and i also use a mac at work. I've just been using PC's for so long now i'm really 'comfortable' around them i think.




DarkKnight369 said:


> For graphic design and such, the Mac isn't so much superior. The adobe suite will run and work just fine on a well equipped PC. What I find gives Macs the edge is their displays. I had a dell monitor with my PC at work and no matter what I did to calibrate it, I just could not get the colors right. As soon as I got the MBP I have at work there was a huge difference and the colors were that much better out of the box. The MBP display made the dell monitor look like shit. Then, I got a 23" cinema display and it was even better than the MBP display and Dell monitor. Since you work in print, having your monitor accurately calibrated for proper color display is important. Macs definitely have the edge with that.



I hear that. It's the one thng i've _always_ noticed about Macs. The display on my dads older bubble iMac (the one with the flatscreen on the silver swivel thing) is still infinitely better than the Samsung monitors i'm currently using, even though it's near 10 years old. Same goes for the new mac monitors, they're great.




DarkKnight369 said:


> As far as audio editing goes, have you ever heard of Logic? Its supposed to be pretty damn awesome. They have student discounts for it that makes it pretty damn cheap. Oh yeah, and its Mac only software. Macs do come free with Garage band though, which will work well enough for simple recording.



Yeah a lot of people use Logic, i've not tried it personally, but i know that people who use it absolutely swear by it so it has to be pretty good  Whichever route i end up taking, i will be getting some kind of software too whether it be Cubase, Logic, or ProTools M-Powered i haven't quite decided.





DarkKnight369 said:


> I personally have a MBP at home because its better for me. I sit at a desk all day, and I sure as hell do not want to sit at one when I get home. On top of that, I travel often, so its nice to have something to take with me. I have a 17", simply because I cannot stand doing the work I do on anything smaller. I would buy a 20" laptop if they made it, because I can never have enough screen real estate. I am not the average person though, as I am a giant. So while I don't mind the large size at all on my lap, many will not like it. Bigger laptops are impossible to use on a plane as well.



I'm also the same here. My old laptop was a 17" HP, and i'm now looking at an 18"  There are a few nice 17" ones, the iMac being one of them, but honestly after using dual screens with my current desktop setup, i really don't think i could do it. 




DarkKnight369 said:


> If I were going to buy a desktop, I would opt for one of the new iMacs. The 27" version has the intel core i7 processor as an option as well as 2TB of storage an I think 8GB of memory. Unless you are editing and rendering high def video or creating digital 3d animation you really wouldn't need more power than that.



Yeah I think i said a bit earlier, i definitely plan on getting a new desktop, but not yet. I've decided to finish my Graphic Design diploma while i'm doing this apprenticeship as i can do it by correspondence, and then once i'm done i'm going to move into an advanced diploma of multimedia. Once i know what the actual multimedia course is like, then i'll look into getting a desktop that will actually fit the profile of something i would need.




DarkKnight369 said:


> Now I said I made the switch, and I haven't looked back. I really could care less about windows 7, since I am completely happy with snow leopard. What I hate with PCs is how you always had to worry about adware and viruses. It seemed like half of my time on my PC at home was doing some sort of maintenance. Macs are pretty much worry free. I do not have anti-virus software on either of my Macs at home or my Mac at work. I open it, use it for what I need, and I don't have to worry. Only thing I ever have to do is install updates. That's it. One thing I also love about Macs is how quick they boot and come out of hibernation. I am not sure how Windows 7 is with this, but I now XP and Vista were a joke comparatively. I open my the lid to my laptop and its back on. From being completely shut down I think it takes less than 30 seconds to boot up. That is a huge deal to me, and I love it.



I really haven't had too much experience with the mac virus software and whatnot, though it's definitely a pro in it's favour at the moment.

The biggest issues i'm having at the moment are the lack of storage space on the MBP, the Dual core processor (it's by no means a bad processor, just after my experience with my desktop, i'd really rather like something a touch more powerful; i7 or core 2 quad), and the screen size. Now, while i can buy an external hard drive to basically whatever size I want, it kind of kills the 'portability' of it, then having to lug around an additional harddrive and connector cables and all that.

I may go into an actual store in the coming week to actually have a play on one of the macbooks, just to get a feel for the thing in general.  And, as s7eve said, i can get the education discount on the Mac stuff too.

So, now it's a choice pretty much between the HP and a Macbook Pro.


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## El Caco (Oct 22, 2009)

Just remember the Apple educational discount is only available if you buy directly from Apple.


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## phaeded0ut (Oct 22, 2009)

Demoniac said:


> The only eason i'm considering the Toshiba (really) is the core i7 it's sporting... but it has a pissweak hard drive for me (320GB) and awful battery life apparently...
> 
> What you reckon s7eve? Your obvious mac preferences aside  Bear in mind the Macbook will set me back about $1000 more than the HP, and the HP is about $1,400 more than the Toshiba.



Have you thought about going with an ASUS instead?

I end up using a few different OS's depending upon what I'm doing at the time. I've the previous gen upper end 24" iMac with Snow Leopard and I'm rather digging the upgrade in the OS. Haven't done the Bootcamp thing with this one yet. Does a pretty good job with EVE-Online and I have to admit that Garageband is seriously impressive for an installed app! I've also got one of the PowerPC mini macs that I've used as a headless file server for years. Relative to the question about laptops; one runs Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit (a HP) and I play lots of EVE-Online and a few other RPG's on it from time to time. The battery life is horrid at best. My other laptop runs (currently) Ubuntu, but it has had Xandros (what was origionally installed) Mandriva and Debian. Yes, the other one is an ASUS EEE PC 8G to be specific.  Gentoo is another distribution I highly recommend on the newer Apple equipment, too. 

S7eve is completely correct, I'd recommend going with the lowest level of MacBook that will do you, and then if you need to use Bootcamp to get into a Windows distro and do some gaming if you want to. The Apple variants on applications are quite a bit more expensive than the Windows (and Linux) versions, so take that into consideration. 

If you're looking for a desktop replacement, you might want to look into a gaming laptop, but then you'll be paying a bit more money for something that will be a bit slower than a full desktop or even LANParty desktop box. The latter might be a way for you to go, if you're looking for something with a bit more power than a laptop and clearer paths of upgrading.

Getting back on the topic. I really like the Mighty Mouse, and haven't had a chance to try out the new one, yet. Kinda digging that they've gone to a 27" screen, it looks pretty. Kinda miss not having a middle mouse button and I find that it is a little funky with "what is right, vs. what is left mouse" on the olde Mighty Mouse. Really kinda irked about having to go to the command prompt to change hostnames and tweak the firewall (which isn't much) along with a host of other bits and bytes. No bare-bones picture editor? Come on, Apple!!! Bring on the G.I.M.P.!!!  I was VERY impressed that it didn't have any troubles with my NAS. OpenOffice is very happening, but the rather funny "surprise" for me was Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac was actually better in MS Word than it is in the Windows version (Office 2007). The layout is a little kinder.


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## DarkKnight369 (Oct 22, 2009)

Demoniac said:


> The video card issue is there though, and while i do enjoy PC gaming, i'm thinking it may just be better to buy something more 'solid' like a PS3 and let that do my gaming needs



That's the way I went years ago. Started with the Xbox, and now the 360. I got tired of playing the upgrade game, and when I get home I just want to sit on the couch and relax which is better suited for a gaming console.


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## El Caco (Oct 22, 2009)

You are playing the upgrade game either way unfortunately. I can see the appeal of PC gaming, the games are cheaper but the system price is often more and the experience can be better but I am not much of a gamer and if I am going to play games I want to do it on the biggest screen in the house. Owning a PS3 or 360 just makes more sense, it is an entertainment solution, you have your games, bluray, songs, videos, photos, youtube and so on all there in one relatively inexpensive simple box.


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## Sepultorture (Oct 22, 2009)

DarkKnight369 said:


> That's the way I went years ago. Started with the Xbox, and now the 360. I got tired of playing the upgrade game, and when I get home I just want to sit on the couch and relax which is better suited for a gaming console.



also there is a company that makes a device that let's you use keyboards and mice with a 360 or a PS3, great for FPS games

i hate the unpredictability of PC gaming, the need to dump huge cash into it to get it to run high res and smooth, consoles are cheap and get the job done.

besides, a mac can run most games better than a PC can, just look at Crysis

that game runs unbeleivably smooth on even a low level macbook using windows XP and bootcamp


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## phaeded0ut (Oct 22, 2009)

s7eve said:


> You are playing the upgrade game either way unfortunately. I can see the appeal of PC gaming, the games are cheaper but the system price is often more and the experience can be better but I am not much of a gamer and if I am going to play games I want to do it on the biggest screen in the house. Owning a PS3 or 360 just makes more sense, it is an entertainment solution, you have your games, bluray, songs, videos, photos, youtube and so on all there in one relatively inexpensive simple box.




 On the PS/3 front, was very impressed that it, too, found my NAS, found my printer and those functions work really well. Now, if only I could get screenshots... 

Have to agree, using a wireless keyboard and rodent for certain twitchy games make them a bit easier. 

Getting back to the new Apple products that just came out, Apple seems to have finally figured out what people want with their Mini line, and I hope that at some point they come out with a version that has a better processor, more memory and better graphics chipset in it. I wonder if these new mini servers will make a dent in the various Windows/Linux/UNIX side of things?


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## El Caco (Oct 22, 2009)

phaeded0ut said:


> Getting back to the new Apple products that just came out, Apple seems to have finally figured out what people want with their Mini line, and I hope that at some point they come out with a version that has a better processor, more memory and better graphics chipset in it. I wonder if these new mini servers will make a dent in the various Windows/Linux/UNIX side of things?



I can't agree with that, while I am sure Apple are aware of what people want they will not give it to us and the reason is there is not enough profit margin on the Mini and it would take sales from the iMac. Apple would have prefered to abandon the Mini long ago, since they could not they made some decisions which give it a different market to the iMac and therefore would mean that many customers would own both.

The people want a 7200 rpm HDD, they want a replaceable CPU or at least upgradeable similar to the iMac, they want the best graphics Apple can squeeze in there. What Apple have done is said you can have your Mac Mini but as far as a Desktop goes we will give you a lot more bang for buck if you buy our iMac. This leaves the Mac Mini to the HTPC crowd and those that want the cheapest Mac to try but want to use the peripherals they already own.

I still do not know if I will go with my original plan of a Mac Mini and 40" LCD or just grab the new 27" iMac, I believe the Mac mini will provide me more than enough after I void my warranty and swap the HDD or connect a Firewire 800 drive but the 27" iMac will work out much cheaper and much better bang for my buck both initially and when it comes time to sell, (LCD TVs depreciate far more than Macs). It sucks because if the Mac Mini came out with better CPU's or if it was at least priced relative to the iMac's this would be a no brainer for me, I really want my giant screen.


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## Daemoniac (Oct 22, 2009)

Thanks a bunch guys for your help, i'm going to have a look into the MBP and see it agrees with me. s7eve, i do remember that it has to go through the apple store itself to get the discount, i just need to go to an actual store to have a go 

If it agrees with me, great, i will probably get one. If not? I'll stick with the HP plan, as at the very least i know i like their equipment, and it is if nothing else a powerful multimedia/workstation laptop 

sorry for the massive OT 

Actually, just one more question;

Assuming i have an audio interface, will a mid/high end MBP be fine for recording?


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## El Caco (Oct 22, 2009)

Any Mac will be fine for recording but in your case after you buy it max the RAM.

BTW and back to these new Macs, I just read that the Mac Mini can now use 8GB of memory with the latest firmware update.


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## D-EJ915 (Oct 22, 2009)

If you like the MBP and aren't sure about mac os you can check out the HP envy series...16GB in a laptop is crazy  they are pricer though.


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## rob_l (Oct 22, 2009)

s7eve said:


> Any Mac will be fine for recording but in your case after you buy it max the RAM.



Amen to the 100th power on that one! My '09 Mac Pro 3.2 Xeon is loaded out with the full 32Gb of FBDIMMs. That's my main studio machine. Also have a 2.66Ghz iMac that I got right after the Pro - I was a rabid PC fanatic and software developer.... Until ProTools and the infinite, easy to use - Frican' DAE errors that caused me to buy and immediately return 7 different PCs including a SweetWater top o' the line Creation Station Rack... All went back as quick as they could be repacked. The Mac Pro was a much larger investment. But I was able to avoid the almost $10k hit on the 32Gb RAM kit by going thru RamJet.com and getting at a fraction of a fraction of a fraction.... lol

Also pegged out all 4 drive bays with 4 x 1tb GLYPH drives... 8 cores, 32 gigs, 4 terabytes, 3 x 24" monitors and a 42" Olevia LCD TV for video work or if I'm across the control room using the TranzPort.


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## MF_Kitten (Oct 23, 2009)

i was saddened when i read the specs for these. it's everything that i GAS for in a computer! 

i already have a fairly powerful 24" imac that i still haven't pushed to the limit (not counting graphics in games), but still... 1 tb HDD, more than my current 4 gb of ram, LED backlit display (hope they don't have bloom issues though), and that DAMNED 27" SCREEN!

the much better GPU and the quad core CPU aren't helping the least bit.

i'll probably keep the current one for a bunch of years though, and many new updates will have happened before i get a new one (there has already been two upgrades to the imac line since i bought mine).

i'm thinking about going mac pro + 30" cinema display or something for my next upgrade though. that way, i can have ridiculously high specs, yet never run out of upgrade possibilities, since all the parts in those are exchangeable like regular pc cabinets.


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## TimothyLeary (Oct 23, 2009)

I think you should wait too. This computer world is crazy.. 

I bought my Imac two years ago(three in January 2010), and with the money I spent I can now buy a new 21,5 iMac three or 4 times better than mine. And that's all in almost 2 years.. 

anyway, i'm gasing for a macbook pro, i don't know why, but they look niiiiiceeee!


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## DarkKnight369 (Oct 23, 2009)

Luckily, I bought one of the last of the old MBP design, so I don't really have much envy. The only thing I wish I had was the new unibody because its so much more solid than that of my mbp. I do not like the new no button track pads though. I feel useless whenever I borrow my wife's 13" Macbook unibody. I am sure I can get used to it over time, but I still prefer the button + track pad.


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## phaeded0ut (Oct 23, 2009)

s7eve said:


> I can't agree with that, while I am sure Apple are aware of what people want they will not give it to us and the reason is there is not enough profit margin on the Mini and it would take sales from the iMac. Apple would have prefered to abandon the Mini long ago, since they could not they made some decisions which give it a different market to the iMac and therefore would mean that many customers would own both.
> 
> The people want a 7200 rpm HDD, they want a replaceable CPU or at least upgradeable similar to the iMac, they want the best graphics Apple can squeeze in there. What Apple have done is said you can have your Mac Mini but as far as a Desktop goes we will give you a lot more bang for buck if you buy our iMac. This leaves the Mac Mini to the HTPC crowd and those that want the cheapest Mac to try but want to use the peripherals they already own.
> 
> I still do not know if I will go with my original plan of a Mac Mini and 40" LCD or just grab the new 27" iMac, I believe the Mac mini will provide me more than enough after I void my warranty and swap the HDD or connect a Firewire 800 drive but the 27" iMac will work out much cheaper and much better bang for my buck both initially and when it comes time to sell, (LCD TVs depreciate far more than Macs). It sucks because if the Mac Mini came out with better CPU's or if it was at least priced relative to the iMac's this would be a no brainer for me, I really want my giant screen.




I don't disagree with your latter statements concerning the Mac Mini, but where I think you're missing the niche for the beastie is as a headless server of some form. As stated, I've used mine as a headless webserver/mySQL server and file server since I discovered that my early PowerPC version didn't have quite the horsepower enough to work as a live audio recording device. It also couldn't be used for the vector graphics programming that I really bought it for (would love to gravity test a few MacStore folks on this one for their misinformation). This said, the newer Minis are a bit better served (pardon the pun) acting as different headless servers of various functions. Don't get me wrong, they are slower than other devices which were created in these capacities, but what is kinda nice is the small size and ease of setup. Really digging that they came out with one using the Server side OS. Where I've seen prior models is as different file servers, SQL servers, web servers, print server, wireless access points, bluetooth hub/access points, etc. , ... Again, a much lower end of the market, but they will get you by in a pinch and are an inexpensive backup system if your mains fails on you.

The other disappointment for me is the Mac Pro line... Could've been great but is still vastly over-expensive and frankly not worth it relative to what can be had from other companies out there.

This said, I think you'd be sorely disappointed with a Mini relative to owning one of the new 27" iMacs. I imagine that you'd be using this for some writing (papers, web pages, and music), graphics work (guitar designs, maybe) and possibly a bit of gaming, too. A Mini just simply can't compete. 

On the iPhone end and a bit closer to my own work this was a great development:
Tonchidot&#8217;s Sekai Camera iPhone application &#8211; Augmented reality coming to iPhone

First iPhone Augmented Reality App Appears Live in App Store

I can't remember if the prior line of iMac's had soldered CPU's or not, anyone know? I realize that it'll be tough to get to if I or others wanted to switch these out. 

Have to agree somewhat with Morten, EVE-Online has pushed the heck out of my iMac 24" 3.06GHz Dual Core, 1TB drive, ATI Radeon 4850 and 8GB L3 RAM. Oh, with Snow Leopard, I found that there was a nice improvement for apps being opened up and GIMP slowing things down with more intense distortions/alterations of an image with the upgrade to 8GB. It's not quite as a necessity as it was with Vista 64-bit Ultimate, but it has been very helpful. 

Have to pick up some new USB interface in order to get to GarageBand from my guitar and other 1/4" mono instruments.



s7eve said:


> BTW and back to these new Macs, I just read that the Mac Mini can now use 8GB of memory with the latest firmware update.



And there was GREAT REJOICING!!!


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## El Caco (Oct 23, 2009)

I have a 3.06GHz iMac running Leopard as well as a 2 GHz Core Duo MBP and 1.66GHz Mac Mini running Tiger. For the majority of what I do the performance difference is very minor and I think the majority of that difference is the HDD, the biggest problem with my current Mac Mini is the 2GB RAM ceiling. I also do not game on my Macs. I am like most people and get excited by better specs and I think this is a carry over from a few years ago when we were all running Windows on inferior hardware, we really needed the extra power back then. And sure there are games and software that keep pushing the limits but for most of what we average users do we just do not need the fastest, biggest everything. These days for most things you need a fast quiet HDD, this is where the iMac has the Mini beat since 3.5" > 2.5" and you need lots of memory. The majority of our day to day tasks do not work almost any modern CPU anywhere near their potential even much of the heavy conversions we do are often limited by HDD or network limitations. Sure if you are a gamer you need some more performance or if you are a professional or in research and you need to crunch a lot of information you will need a top end setup but chances are you will need a killer RAID setup to really take advantage.

I am still undecided, I am kind of leaning toward one of the lower end 27" iMacs now but I still want my 40" LCD and I am mostly sure that a Mini will be enough for my needs.

BTW my iMac was one of the first LED models, it was bright, really fucking bright and I could never turn the brightness down enough, I had my screen set to turn off after 15 minutes and it would always burn, at start up my screen looked like some one had written all over it with pencil and rubbed it out. I believe that my screen was responsible for all my problems with my iMac as it got so hot that it left heat marks that streaked from the top corners to the middle. Apple just replaced it as well as my HDD but I have not gone to pick it yet so I do not know if my ultra bright ultra hot display was a fault or if the new one is the same but I do know that every LED TV I have seen are far brighter than the LCD TV's sitting next to them and I have reservations about them. Although they have been out for long enough now, surely if there was a problem with LED displays in general we would have heard about it by now.


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## phaeded0ut (Oct 23, 2009)

For the synthetic side, it was a first gen vs. subsequent gen thing unfortunately as far as the screen burn thing goes. Sadly, relative to Apple, it was bloody difficult to get any real technical information.

In my case, I tend to need a bit more CPU power than most, lots of compiling on this end of the electron stream.  

Another difference between the iMac and the Mini is that the mainboards are vastly different from each other (the mini is significantly slower). One other thing you'll want to look upon is whether the newer Mini's will be able to give you a decent resolution/refresh rate on that 40" monitor. There may still be an upper limit on screen size even with DVI relative to what the graphics chipset can generate for screen size.

My current iMac generates some serious heat and I'm somewhat amazed that Apple hasn't done more to actively push more cooling across the innards. I do have to admit that I'm seriously digging Snow Leopard on it. Gentoo is seriously killer, too!


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## El Caco (Oct 24, 2009)

I know a guy who runs into a projector and plenty of guys are running the Mini into big screen LCD's as a HTPC, the old one handles the big screen just fine, I think it is safe to assume the new one is no different..


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## phaeded0ut (Oct 24, 2009)

I know that my old one is VERY laggy with my 24" Widescreen at max resolution and that it was a bit quicker with a 19". Again, just concerned for you and not slagging this product.


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## The Atomic Ass (Oct 31, 2009)

DarkKnight369 said:


> Really, they only time I ever have a problem is when some stupid website makes their shit work on IE only. Of course this is absolute terrible web design, but whatever.


I have IE blocked from opening on all 3 of the installs I manage, my AutoTap dedicated laptop, my father's laptop, and my VM on my Mac. Haven't looked back.



DarkKnight369 said:


> If I were going to buy a desktop, I would opt for one of the new iMacs. The 27" version has the intel core i7 processor as an option as well as 2TB of storage an I think 8GB of memory.


16GB.  That's just silly.  I think I might get the dirt cheapest iMac for $1199 US and spend another $100 for a 4GB kit from Crucial. 8GB will probably tide me over for another 3 years. 



Sepultorture said:


> fucking YES, so gunna be getting one of these 27" mofos with the i7
> 
> gaming, recording and mixing here i cum, WOOT


Don't cum on your Mac, they don't like being sticky.


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