thinking of buying a mac....

[smokey]

I am thinking of buying a mac (soonish) and I am looking at a PowerMac G4 (the tower one) labeled Fast which is the only one I can afford      .
Only one problem - the screens are really expensive. Do I have to fork out $2,300 minimum on a screen. I know 17" flat screens are nice but I already have one on my pc. It jas got digital video and analogue connectors. The mac without screen is $3,871.00. I upped the GFX card to the Geforce4 MX.

Also the prices are Australian dollars.
This is from www.apple.com.au

I am pretty serious about switching from wAmd (Windows AMD) to a nice shpiffy Mac running OS10.2 which btw looks really good (my dad has a mac laptop). I am hoping to only have to use my wamd box for some gaming.

[ August 10, 2002: Message edited by: smokey mcp0t / b0b ]

[Luke]

if i were u, i wouldn't bye a PowerMac G4, G5 is 'supposed' to be due in September   :rolleyes:  but it aint lookin to good. If I were you I would wait till then. Yes, they will be a bit more expensive, but you'll have some time to save your dough. I work at an apple center and last I heard of them thry were being tested with dual 2 Gig processors!

[choasforages]

really, sweet. multi processor systems are awsome. especially non x86 ones.

[smokey]

oooh looks really sweeet    now I really want one

Do mac's come with Digital Video out connectors for flat screens (TFT)?

[eradicator]

the new PowerMacs are rumored to come out this month, they are also rumored to offer a 166mhz bus (compared to the current 133mhz), ddr ram, and up to 1.2ghz

[rtgwbmsr]

First: Let me handle those rumors:
I have heard nothing about a G5 coming out any time soon.
A higher-speed G4 with DDR is very likely, though.

Second:
The cheapest ADC display is $599
All PMG4's come with a DVI connector (I think...check though) and Apple definately makes, if not includes a DVI-to-VGA adapter if you want to use a CRT. A Pic of it is on this page: http://www.apple.com/powermac/graphics.html

Have fun
-Dustin

[ravuya]

quote:Originally posted by smokey mcp0t / b0b:
oooh looks really sweeet       now I really want one

Do mac's come with Digital Video out connectors for flat screens (TFT)?

Yes, DVI and ADC.

[Kintaro]

You could make a vid converter i had one i made for VGA>TV (except it compressed pixels and looked reeally gay)

[slave]

Just get a 500 dollar PC and put Mandrake 9.0 on it and use the "liquid" theme.  It looks very similar to OS X.

Better yet, just use XP.  It works, so why not?

XP WORKS XP WORKS IT REALLY DOES WORK NO BUGS NO HASSLES SURE MAC IS TRENDY BUT WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO COST XP IS BEST>

[smokey]

quote:Originally posted by Windows XP User #5225982375:
Just get a 500 dollar PC and put Mandrake 9.0 on it and use the "liquid" theme.  It looks very similar to OS X.

Better yet, just use XP.  It works, so why not?

XP WORKS XP WORKS IT REALLY DOES WORK NO BUGS NO HASSLES SURE MAC IS TRENDY BUT WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO COST XP IS BEST>

wtf $500 pc - what is it a 286? XP with no bugs -ha! It couldn't even run my hardware properly and they are standard components - Asus AV7-Pro mobo, 80gig Segate, NVIDIA GF3TI200, stuff like that and XP insisted that my harddrive can ONLY run in PIO mode instead of mode5 (ata100). XP - eXtemely Pathetic!

Wait here is the line that confuses me >>
Just get a 500 dollar PC and put Mandrake 9.0 on it and use the "liquid" theme. It looks very similar to OS X.

Buy a 286 and put Mandrake on it...
Are you seriously advocating the use of Mandrake which _is_ free software. Maybe this site is having an effect on him   .

[ August 12, 2002: Message edited by: smokey mcp0t / b0b ]

[psyjax]

quote:Originally posted by smokey mcp0t / b0b:
I am thinking of buying a mac (soonish) and I am looking at a PowerMac G4 (the tower one) labeled Fast which is the only one I can afford       .
Only one problem - the screens are really expensive. Do I have to fork out $2,300 minimum on a screen. I know 17" flat screens are nice but I already have one on my pc. It jas got digital video and analogue connectors. The mac without screen is $3,871.00. I upped the GFX card to the Geforce4 MX.

Also the prices are Australian dollars.
This is from www.apple.com.au

I am pretty serious about switching from wAmd (Windows AMD) to a nice shpiffy Mac running OS10.2 which btw looks really good (my dad has a mac laptop). I am hoping to only have to use my wamd box for some gaming.

[ August 10, 2002: Message edited by: smokey mcp0t / b0b ]

Im a little late on this, and I know you have already gotten some answers, but allow me to make a suggestion  

I would say just spend 200 on a good quality 17" CRT. Most PC monitors work on the Mac too so if you have one lieing around your set.

Flat screens are nice, one day I probably will get one. But a CRT ment the diffrence between getting a dual 800 and a singke processor.

Try outpost.com and macmall.com for good deals on screens and computers as well.

That's my bit.

Also, dont purchase the Apple RAM. Get 3rd party RAM, it's way cheep. I got 2 corsair 512  DIMM's for under 100 bucks and they are guaranteed for life.

[cocoamix]

ebay is always an option too. I scored a 1st Gen Apple Studio Display (the bondi blue ones meant for the Blue and White G3's) for a mere $269. It had one dead pixel way off to the side, but was otherwise great. This thing is fucking beautiful. It's not a pure digital LCD, as it uses a standard VGA connector, but it still looks great.

You just gotta be lucky and always keeping an eye out.

I admit I got an incredible deal though. The Studio Displays still sell for $500+. Hell, even 300 Mhz Blue and White towers still fetch a minimum of $350 on ebay.

Show me a PeeCee made in 1998 that retains that much value.

[billy_gates]

the new dual 867 is $1700 u.s., (didn't check austrailian) and all the cards come with ADC for Apple Screens and a DVI for Normal Flat Screens and a converter from DVI to VGA for normal CRT monitors.


Do you like all of the 3 letter acronyms?
Just in case you were wondering
CRT=Cathode Ray Tube
ADC=Apple Display Connector
DVI=Not sure, but I think it is Digital Video In, but not sure.

[littlegreencube]

You could just buy a cheap PC monitor and then use the VGA-out on the graphics card to connect to it. You'll get away MUCH cheaper.

[choasforages]

cheap monitor, nah, go ahead and put 330 dollars aside for the monitor, then go to ebay, and buy a sun 21" that can go all the way to 2048x1536 at like 60hertz, and it can do 1600x1200 at 85hertz, i think i might be getting one for christmas. just be careful not the buy the 21" that is limited to a wimpy 1600x1200