Apple

Although I've been for 30 years always on the IBM side, I now contemplate to get me an iMac as well. What would you recommend? Please, no beginners stuff It should really be up to date - I most certainly don't want to replace it next year [but then again, my PS/2 still creeps along fine - not sure that everyone on here remembers the times when there where no personal computers at all and you still could purchase milk in glass (!) bottles]...

I am still using the 2009 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz, with a 7200rpm 320gb with 8gb DDR 2.
It is still very much up to the task. I shouldn't think you would need quite as much RAM, but I use dual displays and then a windoze virtual machine.

What IBM are you going to compare with?

FWIW the best bet is almost away the MacPro.

indyman007 wrote: I am still using the 2009 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz, with a 7200rpm 320gb with 8gb DDR 2.
It is still very much up to the task. I shouldn't think you would need quite as much RAM, but I use dual displays and then a windoze virtual machine.

Sounds good to me. But to what iMac model are you refering to?

Oskar45 wrote:

indyman007 wrote: I am still using the 2009 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz, with a 7200rpm 320gb with 8gb DDR 2.
It is still very much up to the task. I shouldn't think you would need quite as much RAM, but I use dual displays and then a windoze virtual machine.

Sounds good to me. But to what iMac model are you refering to?

Model ID iMac8,1
Model Number A1224

skywriter wrote: What IBM are you going to compare with?

FWIW the best bet is almost away the MacPro.

I'm not going to compare any IBM with anything else. No way. If you are old enough, you will certainly know what I mean. But I'm taking your advice and will check out the MacPro for my first Mac ever...thanks!

indyman007 wrote:

Oskar45 wrote:

indyman007 wrote: I am still using the 2009 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz, with a 7200rpm 320gb with 8gb DDR 2.
It is still very much up to the task. I shouldn't think you would need quite as much RAM, but I use dual displays and then a windoze virtual machine.

Sounds good to me. But to what iMac model are you refering to?

Model ID iMac8,1
Model Number A1224

THANKS. I'll check it out asap!

indyman007 wrote: I am still using the 2009 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz, with a 7200rpm 320gb with 8gb DDR 2.
It is still very much up to the task. I shouldn't think you would need quite as much RAM, but I use dual displays and then a windoze virtual machine.

DDR2? I have the Early 2009 20" iMac, model 9,1 with the C2D 2.66, 320GB drive, and 8GB of ram, but it is DDR3. Looking up your model 8,1 confirms yours is actually an early 2008.

OP: Head down to the store and buy the base model 21". You can upgrade the ram later if you need to, but if you aren't gaming the base model is just fine. I believe it has a thunderbolt port now too, which is pretty insane for external devices. I personally have 5TB of storage hanging off the FW800, but the rest of the machine is still perfect for my day to day stuff and VM work.

Good luck!

Oskar45 wrote: ... you still could purchase milk in glass (!) bottles]...

Purchase ? The milkman brought them and left them in the wooden box out front, along with the note that said "Also 1 half-gallon peach ice and a pint of cream on Thursday, please."

That was a service economy ....

Oskar45 wrote: I'm not going to compare any IBM with anything else. No way. If you are old enough, you will certainly know what I mean. But I'm taking your advice and will check out the MacPro for my first Mac ever...thanks!

Basically, there are three desktop models: 'mini', 'iMac' and the MacPro.

The MacPro easily has the most CPU power and biggest memory capacity, but needless to say you don't need a dual socket / 12 core Xeon box for office productivity or web browsing. The MacPro is also the only Mac with PCI/PCIe expansion slots and in which you can change the video card. If you need a RAID card you have no choice but the MacPro. The MacPro line hasn't been upgraded in a while, it lacks the 'SandyBridge' generation CPU's and Thunderbolt ports which have by now even found their way into the entry level systems. Evil tongues also say that Apple is making most of it's money with gadgets and the niche of pro workstations just isn't lucrative enough anymore.

Since you're asking for 'my first mac' and not 'the ultimate FinalCut Pro HD workstation', I would advise against the MacPro, just like I would advise against an Onyx3000 as a first SGI If you want Office productivity & web browsing, a Mini with a quad core CPU is more than adequate. If you want better 3D graphics, the iMac can be had with an ATI GPU.

Then there's the matter of taste: not everybody likes the glossy screens of the iMac for example. Or maybe you bought a 30" EIZO screen last year and want to keep using it. It's all a matter you what you've got and where you want to go (no pun intended), but you didn't tell us your intended use for the system.

Personally, I bought a 13" MacBook Pro as my first Mac. I was looking for something for light browsing duty around the house, portable, but with a keyboard. I also take it with me to offload my Nikon when we're on holidays (I wouldn't be the first who had his camera stolen or memory card die on the last day of my holidays). I'm quite happy with it. Not only does it work very well as a computer, it has something that makes you want to use it. It also makes the Dell laptop it replaced look incredibly clunky.

Oskar45 wrote: Although I've been for 30 years always on the IBM side, I now contemplate to get me an iMac as well. What would you recommend? Please, no beginners stuff It should really be up to date - I most certainly don't want to replace it next year [but then again, my PS/2 still creeps along fine - not sure that everyone on here remembers the times when there where no personal computers at all and you still could purchase milk in glass (!) bottles]...

Every new iMac you buy today is powerfull enough for every "normal" office task.
The new iMacs have already "Sandy Bridge" Intel CPU and AMD HD Graphics,
so they should be sufficient for at least 3 to 5 years.

Which one you choose depends mainly on which screen size you want.
New iMacs have either 21" or 27" displays.

P.S. you can still buy milk in glass bottles (at least in germany)

hot damn it's ze divco kids! milk-funk anyone?

oskar, you can have every mac's model/order number and a sea of specs at your fingertips here

the zen of the iMac is its cleanness, you only have to plug the power cord to the wall outlet, no ugly spaghetti above/under/behind your desk. it also sports the look and groove that gets the ladies :p

a mac pro will give you long-lasting service, i still get to use some of the 1st generation ones among projects. it'a different product/ballpark alltogether.

jan-jaap wrote: Personally, I bought a 13" MacBook Pro as my first Mac. I was looking for something for light browsing duty around the house, portable, but with a keyboard. I also take it with me to offload my Nikon when we're on holidays (I wouldn't be the first who had his camera stolen or memory card die on the last day of my holidays). I'm quite happy with it. Not only does it work very well as a computer, it has something that makes you want to use it. It also makes the Dell laptop it replaced look incredibly clunky.

I bought the 13" MBP laptop as my first Mac recently as well. Its a good middle ground between a netbook and 15" laptop for travelling, and its nice to have a modern commercial unix to use. But as regards the hardware, I've found the keyboard is lacking some fairly useful buttons, the trackpad takes a bit of getting used to. And as laptop hardware goes, it is obviously seriously overpriced, and with some strange design quirks (only two USB ports, positioned a bit too close than makes sense IMO). Plus the wifi reception is quite weak/flaky compared with the PCs I use in the same locations - seems to be an issue for many people, yet never fixed by Apple.

Oskar45 wrote:

skywriter wrote: What IBM are you going to compare with?

FWIW the best bet is almost away the MacPro.

I'm not going to compare any IBM with anything else. No way. If you are old enough, you will certainly know what I mean. But I'm taking your advice and will check out the MacPro for my first Mac ever...thanks!

actually, no it's pretty vague.

I recommend getting the most modern Apple gear unless you want a romantic attachment to it.

Modern Apple gear is fine but check this out. I have a Mac at work with 16Gb RAM. I run OpenCV's haar_training on it. You can cause OpenCV to leak memory like a mother in some cases. I am watching Activity Monitor and sure enough haar_training hits 8Gb physical RAM used but the Terminal that spawned it hits 5Gb RAM used. I do the same thing from an xterm and guess what the xterm never goes beyond a couple of dozen Mb. Whats up with that? OS-X with the most modern processors available and 16Gb RAM should be enough for a desktop but run Safari, Chrome or Terminal and look out. Trust me I don't miss Windows in the work place at all but this seems messed up. Cue SkyWriters defence of all things Apple.

R.