| Our
Mac Buyer's Guide & Recommendations UPDATED January 2005 (Mac Mini & NEW PowerBooks) |
|
Of course, you
want a Mac for your personal use - maybe you have a PC at work but even
if you like the desk lamp at work, are you going to buy the same thing
for your house? Would you re-buy the company car for your garage?
As for teaching your kids a computer OS - there are dozens of careers that are very Mac centric (such as design, films, fashion, small law firms, etc ...) and besides, all kids today are smart enough to learn a new operating system in 5 minutes (PlayStation, cell phone, TV remote, Mp3 player, etc, etc ...) and since every version of Windows is based on the Mac OS, you are set to go. This guide is for the average computer user who just wants a computer that works, doesn’t crash and is free of virii, spyware, malware and just works. That is a Mac. If you’re a die-hard PC user or a person who knows you need the top-of-the-line desktop G5, you don’t really need this guide. This guide is for someone who wants to edit some home movies, print, edit and store personal photos, surf the internet without worrying about spyware, check their email without worrying about getting viruses, do word processing, maybe some spreadsheet work, personal finances, taxes, graphics and most importantly, doesn’t want to spend hours diagnosing and fixing their computer – then the best computer to do all that is a Mac. It is that simple. SO, LAPTOP OR DESKTOP? The main difference between a laptop and a desktop is a tradeoff of speed versus cost & portability. Of course, the new MAC MINI weighs only a few pounds and while you can carry that from room to room, you also have to carry the monitor and keyboard with you. The laptops contain everything to go in about 4 to 6 lbs. The portables allow you to go anywhere and you have everything right there - the tradeoff is it's the last generation of microprocessor (so it's slower) and because everything has to be that much smaller, it costs much more for the same size of hard drive, etc ... you can add a monitor at home so when you feel like working at the desk, you can get a full size screen (you can also add a full size keyboard and mouse too). Keep in mind; memory (RAM) costs more for laptops also. IF YOU DEFINITELY DECIDE ON A LAPTOP … The difference between the PowerBook (aka: PB) and iBook line? Again, it's a tradeoff of a little bit of everything. The PB's cost more so you get more - the key is whether you feel the difference of $500 to $800 is worth it. If you can afford a PB or it's in your budget - then get it. If you're on a slightly lower budget, here is a quick guide to help you decide: If you're not going to be doing music creation & recording (with GarageBand or other software); if your videos tend to be home movies; your graphic needs are just home photos less than a couple MB's in size and you don't spend a lot of time playing graphics-intensive first person shooters, then the iBook really serves ALL your needs. While the PB is probably 20-30% faster, for most people, saving $500+ dollars is worth the few extra seconds you might have to wait. For Mac newbies the iBook along with its' great software will be speedy enough. So other than at 12", the PB offers larger screen size options 15" and 17" versus 14." The PB's are slightly faster to much faster. The PB's all have a faster video card with more video memory. The PB's also weigh less and are thinner. Another key difference is their video output. If you attach an external monitor with an iBook, that monitor only "mirrors" what you already see on your iBook screen - while the PB's output can be different - for instance, you can surf the web full size on your PB screen while a full screen DVD movie is playing on the external monitor. Perhaps a better example is a PowerPoint presentation - with a PB, you output the slides to a projector that everyone is viewing but on your PB screen you can have notes that only YOU can see. You can't do that on an iBook. And of course, the PB’s are sexier in their sleek shiny aluminum bodies. There is a rumor that the NEXT GENERATION G5 chips will be coming relatively soon - maybe by early summer but it’s a RUMOR so if you can wait a few more months – great – if not, Macs hold up their value well and you can easily sell in 6 months if you absolutely need to have the latest machine. IF YOU DECIDE A DESKTOP IS FINE … The new MAC MINI is great on MANY levels. If you’re a PC user and you have a VGA monitor you like and a keyboard & mouse you’re happy with – the new MAC MINI starts at $499 and is plenty powerful for 80% of home users. I tested it out at MacWorld and it runs all the apps just fine. I did not test out burning a DVD, which will probably be the slowest, but if time is not money, the MAC MINI is a great Mac. Even if you don’t have a VGA monitor or keyboard, you can customize your Mac the way you’d like. You can get a cheap 17” CRT monitor for $70 and $20 for a keyboard/mouse so for less than $600, you have a great Mac or of course, you can add or upgrade as you go along. You can add bluetooth and a wireless keyboard and go all out and get one the gorgeous Apple Cinema monitors – see links below. The IMAC is great if you prefer an all-in-one unit and don’t want to spend too much time on configuring your Mac. Buy it. Plug it in – comes with monitor, keyboard, mouse and all the software – you are set to go! Keep in mind that in almost all cases whether you choose a desktop or laptop, you will need to add more RAM (memory). Part of the reason Apple does it so they can sell it for slightly less but the other advantage is that dealers can bundle RAM as part of special deal. It also comes with a great bundle of software that is MORE than the equivalent of bundled PC software. You get a slew of applications that would cost you over a thousand dollars to buy for the PC and in most cases still inferior to the apps that you get with each Mac computer "free." To read more about the software you get with each Mac, click here. Here is a nice cross sampling of typical computer users from a WSJ column asking why or why not switch from a PC to a Mac? Just click on the photo of the particular Mac below to be directed to that specific Amazon.com page to order or to read more info. Note that these photos are NOT to scale. And if you're unsure if you should get an ipod - here's why you should :-) Our iPod Recommendations page. |
 |
The Mac Mini 1.42
GHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM, 80 GB
Hard Drive, & CD-DVD Combo Drive. Note - it is not to scale with iMac photos. The computer itself is just 7 lbs and about 4 paperback books stacked side by side. It's a great starter computer that offers you the choice of customizing the monitor and size with exactly the one you want plus the kind of keyboard/mouse you prefer. It's fast enough for 80% of home users and plenty powerful with all the great software you get. There is also a cheaper (by $100) version that's slightly slower with a 40 GB Hard Drive. It's worthwhile to spend the extra money to get the larger hard drive but if you're really on a budget, the 1.25 GHz version is nice also. Amazon does not yet have the version with the SuperDrive (DVD burning) - that is $699 and only available from the Apple store directly right now. If you're ready to configure your MAC MINI, click on this link for some recommendations: |
 |
The iMac
17" 1.80
GHz PowerPC G5, 256 MB RAM, 80 GB
Hard Drive, & CD-DVD SuperDrive Burner. A perfect home computer - slim 2" width with a ultra sharp 17" LCD screen. This iMac has the latest G5 microprocessor and is perfect for internet surfing, spreadsheet calculations, games, photo handling, music & home video. |
 |
The iMac
20" 1.80
GHz PowerPC G5, 256 MB RAM, 160
GB
Hard Drive, & CD-DVD SuperDrive Burner. Same speed as the 17" iMac - larger screen and twice as large of a hard drive. All other specs the exact same. As with 17" iMac, back removes easily for replacing or upgrading RAM, hard drive or wireless card. |
 |
The iBook
12" 1.2
GHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM, 30 GB
Hard Drive, CD Burner, DVD Player & Built-in Wireless. The iBook line was recently updated and it's a great choice for almost everyone now. For most people, this is probably best as a 2nd computer as the screen is probably smaller than you are used to but to have a fully functional portable Mac for about $999 is a great deal. If you're curious, the PowerBook 12" is about $600 more - for that you get a slightly faster machine, better video card, a 60 GB HDD, slightly lighter and as noted above, the PB 12" also allows you to output video that's NOT mirrored. |
|
|
The iBook
14" 1.3
GHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM, 60 GB
Hard Drive, CD-DVD SuperDrive Burner & Built-in Wireless. A great machine for students. Not the lightest Mac laptop but a nice middle ground of screen size, speed of chip & cost. It's fast enough for internet surfing, working on spreadsheets, writing, photos, music & video. It's a little slow for the real high-end graphic-intensive games but that might be a good thing :-) While we recommend this one with the DVD Burner (easier to back up files), you can save about $200 and get the version without the DVD burner. Everything else is the same. |
 |
The PowerBook
15" 1.5
GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB
Hard Drive, CD Burner, DVD Player &
Built-in
Wireless. While the PowerBook does come in a 12" & 17" version, the recommended size is the 15" one - the other two sizes are more specialized but you can check them out by clicking on the links. You really have two big decisions regarding the 15". You can get this one that needs more memory, has a slightly smaller hard drive and does NOT have a DVD burner or the PB 15" below which does ... Both 15" machine now feature ambient light keyboards (lights up when dark!) and "Sudden Motion Sensor technology" which shuts off your HDD if you happen to drop your machine ... as long as it doesn't fall on the edge or break the screen - then you are on your own. |
|
|
The PowerBook
15" 1.67
GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB RAM,
80 GB
Hard Drive, CD-DVD SuperDrive Burner & Built-in Wireless. This 15" is slightly faster, has a larger hard drive, more RAM so you don't need to add any (though you probably should) and most importantly, it can read and burn DVD's. This one is about $500 more than the other 15" Depending on your needs, both are recommended. |
| Our
Mac Buyer's Software Recommendations |
 |
MS
Office Student & Teacher Edition Should you get MS Office? Well, on one hand - you get all the software included (AppleWorks, TextEdit) to read and write Word files and Excel files. So, if your needs are not on a daily basis, you might skip buying MS Office. If you definitely need to read a lot of MS Office files from either other Mac or PC users, then you'll want MS Office as AppleWorks and TextEdit are okay apps but not great apps. If you have kids starting to use computers in school and they'll probably get a job in an office, you pretty much have to get them used to using MS Office. They are not exciting apps but it's like learning to use a photocopier - it's just part of everyday office life and I'll bet it's listed as a minimal requirement in 99.9% of office jobs. This contains the latest and full/complete versions of WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT and their Mac mail app called ENTOURAGE (and not OUTLOOK EXPRESS). MS Office has been split in different versions. For those unaware, the Mac versions of the PC versions is in many ways better and looks exactly the same except that if you are used to Outlook, Entourage takes a little getting used to. If you have a student in the family, you can purchase this edition for around $130 (after rebate). There are NO forms or proof required to prove you have a student in the family. It is your call. The "standard" edition is about $340 dollars - what is the difference? The box is a different color and you get a "free" major upgrades - though the next major version of MS Office is probably a good 2 years away so I'm not sure why you'd pre-pay upfront $210 extra dollars for that privilege ... there's no reason the Student edition shouldn't be available then for around $130 so why not just re-buy it then if and when the major upgrade comes out - you have $210 extra dollars to use until that day comes? And just to be even more confusing, there is a "Professional Version" with MS Office AND Virtual PC included together (see below) so you can get it all together for about $425. Virtual PC is available separately for about $225 - you can do the math. For those who loath MS and want nothing to do with them and you are brave, here is the CD-ROM of the "open-source" OpenOffice: Oooff or you can simply go to OpenOffice.org and download it yourself. |
 |
Microsoft
Virtual PC for Mac 7.0 with
Windows XP Professional If the fact that the Mac gives you three OS choices already with each purchase is not enough for you (Mac OSX, Unix and Classic Mac OS) - you can also run XP on your Mac also with Virtual PC. Keep in mind you will need lots of RAM to run it at an okay speed and it's probably going to run just merely okay on your desktop iMac - you probably should get a desktop PowerMac G5 to run it properly. You can't really open a lot of apps and keep in mind that while it will NOT affect your Mac, you can get viruses, spyware & malware on the PC portion - just when you thought you could escape. |
 |
Apple
iLife 5.0 When you buy a new Mac, you get iLife bundled "free". If you want to upgrade your iDVD, iPhoto and iMovie (to iMovie HD), then you'll want this update especially if you want to work in HD and the upgrade to iPhoto looks terrific. If you have several Macs at home, the iLife 5 Family Pack is a great way to go - you get 4 additional installs for only about $20 more. |
 |
Apple
iWork '05 iWork is the newest Apple bundle which includes PAGE and KEYNOTE. Both are great but aren't for everyone. While PAGE is a word processor, it is really a very nice looking mini desktop publisher - sort of the PageMaker/Quark Xpress/InDesign for the rest of us (plus you're not paying $500+ dollars). PAGE is set up for easy column creation and inserting photos so if you need to make flyers, create a newsletter, make home office brochures or work on graphics and text for school - PAGE is smooth and simple to use. While you can technically do all these things in MS WORD, what you see on the page is not what prints out and it just turns out to be more annoying than anything else. And you can also do most of these in AppleWorks though it's also not as easy. If you need to mix graphics and text on the same page 3+ times a week, you probably want to get iWORK. iWORK also includes KEYNOTE, an excellent Presentation software that replaces POWERPOINT. It also opens PowerPoint files. If you do mostly your own presentations and you don't need to collaborate with others on a presentation often (they're probably still using PowerPoint), then you should definitely get KEYNOTE and iWORK. There are some very cool effects that PowerPoint cannot match. You can see some screen shots here. |
  |
Adobe Creative Suites Standard 1.1 Upgrade If you own any version of PhotoShop (version 1.0 to 7.0), you are entitled to purchase this "upgrade" which includes PhotoShop CS, Illustrator CS and InDesign CS. If you need powerhouse photo manipulation and editing, PhotoShop is one of the great applications in the world. If you also need to do professional desktop publishing, InDesign is a great replacement for PageMaker and in many ways is better than Quark XPress but Xpress is hanging on for dear life. For about $200 more than the "standard" package listed above, you can also get GoLive CS, Adobe's web page design application - again for anyone who has any version of PhotoShop qualifies so it's a great deal to get all 5 appliactions for about $750. Click here for the Adobe Creative Suites Premium 1.1 Upgrade. If you own PhotoShop Elements, you do NOT qualify for the upgrade price. If you just want to upgrade your PhotoShop ONLY, click on the "red feather" box or here - about $170 dollars. If you need a full new version of PhotoShop CS, click here. And if you need a full new copy of InDesign CS, click here. |
  |
Toast
& Popcorn
While the Mac has rudimentary CD & DVD burning capabilities, if your needs are more advanced - Toast is a must-have. There are too many features to really go over but it gives you so much more control over creating DVD's and CD's - the built in Mac burner basically mounts the blank disc and you can drop files into it. Toast also includes Spin Doctor2 which lets you input audio files such as LP's or cassettes, help you clean them up & output them to AIFF or Mp3. Just read the Amazon description or go to the Roxio website to see the amazing and great features of TOAST. It also creates perfect copies of CD's or DVD's if you have two burners or via the "create image" if you do not. POPCORN is new and geared just for DVD copies. NOTE, you CANNOT copy protected DVD's (such as most movie DVD's) but for personal DVD's you made, POPCORN makes duplicating it all very easy, while TOAST requires a couple steps - POPCORN essentially automates the process. POPCORN can also compress "ripped" DVD's into fitting on a single DVD. There is shareware out there that allows you to "rip" even copy-protected DVD's so once you have it on your Mac, it's generally larger than 4.2 GB (what a DVD-R will hold), POPCORN can help you compress it. You can read more about POPCORN here. While TOAST is a multi-faceted app, POPCORN is really a nice supplement but useful for people who have a lot of ripped DVD files. |
    |
Norton
Utilities - DiskWarrior
- DataRescue
- TechTool
It all depends on what kind of Mac user you are. If you are the type like us who like to load new apps and shareware apps - run many, many apps at once and actually manage to crash our Macs a couple times each month (not an easy thing to do for 90% of Mac users), then you'll definitely want to get NORTON, DISKWARRIOR or TECHTOOL. (Note - if you buy .Mac, you get TECHTOOL included). Personally, we've been using NORTON for 15 years and while it's not exactly the nicest looking application, we feel most comfortable using it and we run it about every month to clear up loose cataloging errors and such. The NORTON bundle includes NORTON ANTI-VIRUS which fortunately for us Mac users is essentially worthless :-0 PC users will find it hard to believe but it's sort of like buying 'snow day' insurance in Miami. It could happen but we're not holding our breath :-) We've heard good things about DiskWarrior - especially if you need to recover files. We're not sure if like Norton you need to run a file cataloging app first but if you have mission critical files, then it's a good thing to have around. Keep in mind that most file recovery apps are not that great at media files so if you have music, photos or videos that are IRREPLACEABLE - back them OFTEN and then make a backup of that one. We tried to recover a hard drive of Mp3's and only 40% were recoverable so don't tempt fate for your one-of-a-kind digital photo or video. Make a CD. Then make a DVD of that or better yet these days, an 250GB firewire hard drive is less than $150 dollars - spend that money if you have files you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT LOSE or it's worth $150 insurance not to have to re-do all those files again ... and even then, make a DVD backup! We've also heard good reviews for DATA RESCUE X so again, if the emergency arrives, get it. We're not so impressed with TECH TOOL except for its cool graphics and animation but others swear by it and hate Norton so if you're ultra paranoid or careful - get them all! |
  |
Norton Internet Security Mac 3.0 (AntiVirus, Firewall,
Privacy, Controls, iClean)
- Intego The Mac includes a built-in firewall and unlike Windows XP, it's actually turned on! But if you want to be extra secure, you can add NORTON FIREWALL plus NORTON ANTI-VIRUS (again, it's like they can't give it away :-), and some other applications that are frankly useless because there are better shareware versions but you might like them - we thought they were hard to decipher and we accidentally blocked out sending & receiving email - it does make the computer safer but then so is turning off the electricity. In fact, there are parts of NORTON FIREWALL that don't even work correctly under OS 10.3 (Panther) so we don't really even recommend NORTON FIREWALL anymore but we're listing it here in case you wanted to know if you should get it. Most of the Intego products are not available at Amazon but are more Mac-like and make more sense to get. They work fine and have cool interfaces. Click on the box or here to go to Intego's website. |
 |
FileMaker
Pro 7 Great cross platform relational database creation software. |
 |
.Mac
2.5 While some people just think of .Mac as a online storage and .mac email choice - that's just the beginning. You get 250 MB of storage for files & email, yes, other places like gmail or yahoo give you more but it's nowhere as easy to access. .Mac shows up on your desktop as a hard drive where you can drag files to and from it - great for shuffling files from location to location. You can buy another 1 GB of space for $49. You can log in from any web browser to read email or read your email in your email program. You can also retrieve/upload files from a PC using a free XP utility. You can create an area for people to upload files to you and you can create an area for downloads - this download area can be segmented and each password/login protected so "Bob" cannot see files that are intended for "Bill." For PERSONAL use, you get the world's easiest home page creation setup - whether for photos, movies or your own HTML page. These are very classy templates and classy looking pages not just random templates. You can send email postcards. There's a Backup program that allows you to back up your most crucial files on a regular basis (automatic if your choose) either to .Mac or to a blank CD/DVD. For PROFESSIONAL use, you can sync your calendar, address book & Safari bookmarks so you can access them ANYWHERE in the world with a web browser (you log in of course). And, during the year you get surprise bonus software/goodies about once a month - free games, free software, free sound effects (for iMovie), tutorials and more. In fact, there are about 100 Quicktime movies on how to use a Mac & OSX so if you're a visual person, you can't beat the lessons and examples. It's not for everyone but if you travel, move between two locations, or want a great deal on software - .Mac is great. One last point. Yes, there are plenty of places that offer you "free" storage or an email account, you also cannot be sure they'll last out the year (aka: your files might just disappear one night without warning), or you do not get to decide what kind of banner ad might appear when people go to your storage page and of course, how professional is an email address from something like HOTMAIL? |
 |
AppleCare
Protection Plan for iBook Should you get AppleCare? This is one of those difficult questions to answer. Normally, you get 90 days of an 800-number support and you get a year warranty on your hardware. AppleCare (for the iBook) costs around $250. You get THREE years of 800- number support and THREE years of hardware warranty plus a TechTool disc for diagnostics and minor software repair. In Apple's words, "This comprehensive plan includes expert telephone assistance, on site repairs for desktop computers, global repair coverage for portable computers, web-based support resources, and powerful diagnostic tools" So, if you're the type that feels much safer with the "best insurance" possible - then you should get it - however, here's our thoughts in which you can weigh and decide to agree or disagree with us. First, you actually have 364 days from the day you purchase the Mac to decide if you want to buy AppleCare to extend your warranty & telephone support to three years - though of course, your telephone support ends after 90 days - it does "restart" the moment you register AppleCare. Our take is this. Most computers reveal themselves as lemons pretty quickly so while we've never had an Apple lemon, I'm sure they're out there but unless you buy computers and pack them away for months before using them, you'll know without hours or days if it needs replacing straight away and your normal hardware warranty is 1 year anyway. Most (if not virtually) all problems tend to be software problems. If you don't spend a lot of time loading all sorts of new software ALL the time (like us), your chances of major problems are pretty remote. As long as you don't work in the Antarctic, get lightning storms daily, work at a dust factory or randomly unplug your Mac for fun, again - your chances of problems are remote. If you are at a major university with student IT support, our feeling is you can skip AppleCare. You should already have student telephone support (along with Mac heads there) and they'll tell you straight away if it's a hardware warranty issue. If you're away at some smaller school without IT support, then you might want to give serious consideration to it. The new factor is if you are relatively close to an Apple store, you can always carry your iBook or PB into the store - you can click on the link to find out where they are. The stores all have a genius bar to answer any question - they even let you sign up for appointments online - you can also sign up for ProCare which gives you additional benefits. If you use your iBook mostly around the house and you have another computer, then you might skip AppleCare for now since you can find some answers online (apple.com has a huge support database & discussion forums) and with the other computer, you can retrieve email, etc ... if the iBook is your only computer, you might feel safer knowing you have a 24/7 800-number right there. If you use your iBook for business, you probably want to sign up for AppleCare since you can call 24/7 to get help and if something requires repairing, they can get you set up right away. |
|
|
AppleCare
Protection Plan for iMac/eMac/Mac Mini Costs less - about $170 for the three-year plan. In some ways, worthy of more consideration since you cannot really just carry the desktop to the store for them to look at. If it's your only computer, you may want to give serious consideration - if you have other computers in the house, you can always get it when something goes seriously awry. The Applecare for the MAC MINI is here. |
|
|
AppleCare
Protection Plan for PowerBook The most expensive - about $350 for the three-year plan. Since they presume you are a serious professionals who need answers right away and probably on the road somewhere. If the PB is your road partner- definitely get AppleCare. |
| Our
Mac Shareware Recommendations Of course there are dozens of other applications that you want to use on a daily basis that are freeware, donationware or shareware. Freeware is just that - applications that are free. Donationware means the honor system – you can either “donate” a specific amount or any amount through a link on their website. Shareware tends to be for more elaborate software with a specific cost – usually you can use it for a few to 30 days fully featured or with some features off and then – you need to enter a registration number. Of course now with broadband, most software makers offer a demo version that allow you to use it for a set period of time before deciding – with most new Macs, there is even a 30-day MS Office Trial version so most shareware these days are really just demos. Follow this link to read about some of the MUST-HAVES and our favorites … |
 |
Or if you just
want to jump directly to
Amazon, just click on the logo to the left. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Metroxing Our Blog |
Macintosh Buying Guide |
Mac
Mini Buying Guide |
Mac
Software Recommendations |
Hardware Buyer's Guide |
Macintosh Getting Started |
 |
 |
 |
|||
| iPod Buyer's Guide |
iTunes Getting Started |
Back
Home Metroxing |
Copyright
© 2005
Metroxing