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jaimzedup · Sep 23, 2005, 01:56 PM

I'm planning on buying an Imac after I seel my ibook on ebay. Some questions before I commit:

Would you recommend the 17'' or 20'' screen size? Do you think the 20'' is well worth the $300 difference?
Are there any possibilities of the iMac being updated in the near future (within couple months)?
How is everyone's experience with the latest iMacs?

Thanks.

fyi: the ibook I am auctioning on ebay is in very good condition and includes a lot of extras. it is a 1.33mhz 14'' screen, pm me for details.

MichiganRich · Sep 23, 2005, 06:37 PM

Haven't these topics been discussed about a BILLION times since you joined?

bradoesch · Sep 23, 2005, 07:06 PM

Always consult the Buyer's Guide if you're unsure of a product's life cycle. It's very handy.

jaimzedup · Sep 25, 2005, 12:55 PM

Originally Posted by MichiganRich

Haven't these topics been discussed about a BILLION times since you joined?

My apologies.

Commodus · Sep 25, 2005, 01:19 PM

My opinion is that if you can afford the 20", go for it. The increase in useable screen area is significant, and in the bargain you get a lot more hard drive space.

jaimzedup · Sep 27, 2005, 12:39 AM

I have another question, if anyone is willing to help.

Before I upgrade to the iMac, I'd like to get an internal HD with external enclosure to backup all my files from this iBook, so that I can transfer them to the iMac.

I was looking at this HD:
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4303165

to put in this enclosure:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817146608

Will these two devices work together? Is that HD a 3.5'' size (I couldn't find the size specs on that page)?

Also, are there any compatability problems from Panther to Tiger? That is, I will be backing up my iBook which uses Panther, and then transferring the files to my future iMac which will be Tiger. Will it simply be a plug-and-play for both, or are there intermediary steps?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

CaptainHaddock · Sep 27, 2005, 01:05 AM

Why not just use a firewire cable to hook your iBook up to your new iMac, and transfer your files when the iMac setup prompts you to?

If the reason is that you're getting rid of the iBook first, just buy an external Firewire drive. It'll probably work better than sticking a hard disk in a cheap enclosure. Also, make sure the drive is formatted with HFS+, or that you format it yourself.

jaimzedup · Sep 27, 2005, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by CaptainHaddock

Why not just use a firewire cable to hook your iBook up to your new iMac, and transfer your files when the iMac setup prompts you to?

If the reason is that you're getting rid of the iBook first, just buy an external Firewire drive. It'll probably work better than sticking a hard disk in a cheap enclosure. Also, make sure the drive is formatted with HFS+, or that you format it yourself.

Yes, I will be getting rid of the ibook before purchasing the imac.

I did some searches for external drives and I read that it was significantly cheaper to buy an internal HD with an enclosure than buying an external HD. The external enclosure I linked you to was one that I believed was of quality build and not "cheap". I've also read that buying the internal HD with enclosure is basically the same as buying an external HD, so I assumed that they would both work with the same reliability, is this a bad assumption to make? I have no experience with either, but you said "It'll probably work better than sticking a hard disk in a cheap enclosure" so now I'm not sure what to think.

Also, how do I make sure that the drive is formatted with HFS+? Thanks.

MichiganRich · Sep 27, 2005, 03:58 PM

Good choice on the drive and enclosure! You are correct about the cost of buying a bare drive and putting it in your own enclosure. Yep, it's a 3.5" drive. BUT the one problem is that the drive you posted is a S-ATA interface, which is the 'new' plug that the G5 iMacs and PowerMacs use internally. It's somewhat rare to find an external enclosure that uses S-ATA (the S stands for Serial), they are mainly regular ATA/IDE. Stick with that enclosure (well rated, external power brick for less heat inside) and get an ATA/IDE version (non SATA) of whatever drive you're looking at. Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital... it's all good. There is no quality or reliability difference between pre-built and build-your-own drives, so I'm not sure why the Captain used words with such poor connotations.

To format the drive, you're going to use the plain old Apple Disk Utility (Utilities folder). When you assemble the drive into the enclosure, power it up and plug it in, you then open the Disk Utility to format and partition the drive. While you're waiting for the drives and stuff to get here, read up on format and partition in the OSX Help menu, I think it would be good to get you asking the right questions so we can help ya. I'm going to suggest that you consider partitioning the drive into at least two sections, you will see the wisdom of that in the future.... :-)

As for the process, I would suggest this. Get the drive and enclosure put together. Use SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner to make a clone of your iBook drive onto the external one. When you get the new iMac, you will be able to use the Apple Migration Assistant to move all your stuff over. It will move stuff over from a computer or a drive or a partiton on a drive, it's very flexible. Panther to Tiger, no problem. It will take all your settings and stuff from one user folder and move it into your new one.

Sorry for jumping on you about the 17 vs 20 initial post, but GOD I hated people blabbing endlessly about why one was better than the other and I though the debate had died of natural causes. Of course, the 20 is bigger and better but duh, it costs more. If it were me, I'd give up the good coffee for a few months to make the stretch. It sounds like you are doing at least MOST of the thinking on your own before posting here, which deserves respect and assistance. As for the people who type before thinking, looking for help without helping themselves.... not so much.... :-)

jaimzedup · 04:29 PM

Originally Posted by MichiganRich

Good choice on the drive and enclosure! You are correct about the cost of buying a bare drive and putting it in your own enclosure. Yep, it's a 3.5" drive. BUT the one problem is that the drive you posted is a S-ATA interface, which is the 'new' plug that the G5 iMacs and PowerMacs use internally. It's somewhat rare to find an external enclosure that uses S-ATA (the S stands for Serial), they are mainly regular ATA/IDE. Stick with that enclosure (well rated, external power brick for less heat inside) and get an ATA/IDE version (non SATA) of whatever drive you're looking at. Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital... it's all good. There is no quality or reliability difference between pre-built and build-your-own drives, so I'm not sure why the Captain used words with such poor connotations.

To format the drive, you're going to use the plain old Apple Disk Utility (Utilities folder). When you assemble the drive into the enclosure, power it up and plug it in, you then open the Disk Utility to format and partition the drive. While you're waiting for the drives and stuff to get here, read up on format and partition in the OSX Help menu, I think it would be good to get you asking the right questions so we can help ya. I'm going to suggest that you consider partitioning the drive into at least two sections, you will see the wisdom of that in the future.... :-)

As for the process, I would suggest this. Get the drive and enclosure put together. Use SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner to make a clone of your iBook drive onto the external one. When you get the new iMac, you will be able to use the Apple Migration Assistant to move all your stuff over. It will move stuff over from a computer or a drive or a partiton on a drive, it's very flexible. Panther to Tiger, no problem. It will take all your settings and stuff from one user folder and move it into your new one.

Sorry for jumping on you about the 17 vs 20 initial post, but GOD I hated people blabbing endlessly about why one was better than the other and I though the debate had died of natural causes. Of course, the 20 is bigger and better but duh, it costs more. If it were me, I'd give up the good coffee for a few months to make the stretch. It sounds like you are doing at least MOST of the thinking on your own before posting here, which deserves respect and assistance. As for the people who type before thinking, looking for help without helping themselves.... not so much.... :-)

Wow, thanks for the very clear answers. That helped me a lot. I'll be on the lookout for a ATA/IDE HD.

No worries about the latter, it was my fault. I hadn't been on these forums in such a long time (never needed to because my ibook worked flawlessly), so I wasn't aware of all the 17 vs 20 debating that had been going on. It was just me being lazy and not searching before I posted.

Thanks for your help. In the future (when I get the drive/enclosure), would you mind if I PM'ed you some questions?

EDIT: Is the UATA (Ultra ATA) drives the same as the ATA drives? That is, will it work in that Macally external case that I liked to?

MichiganRich · Sep 27, 2005, 09:53 PM

You're welcome!

Yes, Ultra is plain old ATA. Check out this Wikipedia page I found, it's cool in a Comic Book Guy kinda way to know all that..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance...ogy_Attachment

PM me anytime, I would be happy to help.

jaimzedup · Sep 29, 2005, 12:06 PM

For anyone interested in buying a hard drive, there is a fantastic deal going on at Tigerdirect.com

It's a Seagate 250GB HD, for $69.99 after rebates. That is 28 cents per gig! It's a great deal but the rebate offers end on 9/30.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...p;sku=THD-250A