[Pencil]

I'm thinking about buying an IMAC and trying out the MAC OSX (prefably leopard). I currently use custom-built PCs (quadcores, 8gigs of ram, 2x raid 0 raptor, 2x 750gig, geforce 8600gts) with Windows Vista. I want to get the IMAC just to test out MAC OSX and play around with it.

Some of these questions maybe silly but here goes....

Hardware Questions
1). Is the IMAC portable? Sometimes I want to work in my room or kitchen or patio. Portable as in "carryable" into the location and setting it up.
2) Is the IMAC fast enough? I come from using quadcores with 8gigs of ram and raid 0 setups on Windows Vista. I don't know how fast "leopard" is going to be.
3) I don't know anything about MAC OSX but is 2gigs enough for it? I know for Vista, you need atleast 4+ gigs for "smooth operation"
4) Should I wait getting the IMAC till October when Leopard is released? When Leopard is released, will the IMACs have newer firmware/revisions/design? Or should I just get a IMAC now and upgrade to Leopard later? (I want the latest revision/firmware etc)
5) I use dual Dell 2707WFP 27" monitors for my PC.....are those connectable to the IMAC (both screens at once)?
6) Can I watch TV on my IMAC?
7) How long can the IMAC last without upgrading?
8) I plan to leave the IMAC on 24/7 (like my PCs)...is this ok?
9) Can I get some sort of accidental coverage protection plan? Like if I break the IMAC, apple will replace it for free? (CircuitCity has a accidental breakage coverage plan for like for laptops that if you break the laptop accidentally, they will replace it).
10). The IMAC uses a 2.4ghz Core 2 processor. Is that a E6600 or a quadcore? Also, is it mobile...if it is, is it using the new Santa Rose core?
11). Should I wait till October before purchasing incase the IMACS get new revisions by then etc?

Operating System Questions
1) When you buy a pre-built PC (like from dell, yuck).....there's alot of trial crap installed. It takes like 4 hours to uninstall all this crap...you can't reinstall using the "restore disks" because they also install the trial crap again. If I buy a IMAC, does it come with trial crap?
2) When I buy an IMAC, should I reinstall with a "clean" version of MAC OSX/leopard?
3) If I use bootcamp, will Windows be virtualized natively or emulated? Does it run in it's own "sandbox" (like vmware) so if a virus were to get in, it wouldn't affect the "host" mac.
4) What is Leopard release date?

Programming for the MAC
1) I develop web applications on the Windows Platform. I was wondering about the MAC OS platform. In Windows, I can use Visual Studio 2005 and the .NET 2.0 framework to write linked files (dlls) or binary executables (.exe). What is the equivalent in MAC OS?
2) I can host web applications (asp.net + IIS 7) on a Windows 2003 box. What is the equivalent of MAC OS? (I'm assuming they use apache and php??)
3) What is the equivalent of MS SQL 2005 (database engine by MS) for the MAC OS? (I'm assuming it's mysql)

[MacosNerd]

First off its a iMac not a IMAC and below are the answers to your questions.

1). Is the IMAC portable? Sometimes I want to work in my room or kitchen or patio. Portable as in "carryable" into the location and setting it up.

Yes its luggable though I wouldn't want to do it too often - risk of dropping it.

2) Is the IMAC fast enough? I come from using quadcores with 8gigs of ram and raid 0 setups on Windows Vista. I don't know how fast "leopard" is going to be.

yes because Vista is a pig but you have not defined what you're looking to run,

3) I don't know anything about MAC OSX but is 2gigs enough for it? I know for Vista, you need atleast 4+ gigs for "smooth operation"

4 is better but it all depends on what you're doing. I run aperture and photoshop quite heavily so the 4 gig is a better option. The 2 gig on my MacBook Pro is adequate

4) Should I wait getting the IMAC till October when Leopard is released? When Leopard is released, will the IMACs have newer firmware/revisions/design? Or should I just get a IMAC now and upgrade to Leopard later? (I want the latest revision/firmware etc)

Up to to you but why wait and miss out on the experience. Since the computer has just been updated the odds of seeing another update in october are just about nill. If any firmware updates occur you can still apply them regardless of when the computer was purchased.

5) I use dual Dell 2707WFP 27" monitors for my PC.....are those connectable to the IMAC (both screens at once)?

I don't think you can connect a second monitor to an iMac but I'll let others chime in on that since I'm not sure.

6) Can I watch TV on my IMAC?

Only on iTunes, the iMac does not include a tv tuner.

7) How long can the IMAC last without upgrading?

depends on your usage and needs. It can lest several years, 5 or more but you may not like the performance of a 5 year old computer at that point - who knows only you can determine that.

8) I plan to leave the IMAC on 24/7 (like my PCs)...is this ok?

No problem other then wasting the earths resources. You're probably better off putting it in sleep mode - you have instant on at that point.

9) Can I get some sort of accidental coverage protection plan? Like if I break the IMAC, apple will replace it for free? (CircuitCity has a accidental breakage coverage plan for like for laptops that if you
break the laptop accidentally, they will replace it).

Not through apple but check out safeaware. Apple offers an extended warranty against defects.

10). The IMAC uses a 2.4ghz Core 2 processor. Is that a E6600 or a quadcore? Also, is it mobile...if it is, is it using the new Santa Rose core?

I have no idea.

11). Should I wait till October before purchasing incase the IMACS get new revisions by then etc?

They just updated the iMac so your not going to see a new verson then

1) When you buy a pre-built PC (like from dell, yuck).....there's alot of trial crap installed. It takes like 4 hours to uninstall all this crap...you can't reinstall using the "restore disks" because they also install the trial crap again. If I buy a IMAC, does it come with trial crap?

No crapware and reinstalling the OS take about 40 minutes if you wish to do it.

2) When I buy an IMAC, should I reinstall with a "clean" version of MAC OSX/leopard?

I do, its generally a good idea so you can choose what you want to install.

3) If I use bootcamp, will Windows be virtualized natively or emulated? Does it run in it's own "sandbox" (like vmware) so if a virus were to get in, it wouldn't affect the "host" mac.

bootcamp just facilitates the installation and drivers for windows. You boot into windows like a pc. Fusion or parallels is the virtualization software

4) What is Leopard release date?

October

[cherry su]

1. See above
2. See above
3. See above
4. Is 6 weeks of Mac experience worth $129?
5. You can connect a second monitor (desktop spanning/mirroring) with Apple's adapter.
6. Buy shows on iTunes or buy a TV tuner.
7. Longer than you live if kept properly
8. See above
9. See above
10. iMac uses one of the following processors: Intel Core 2 Duo T7300; C2D T7700; C2E X7900.

1. No crapware standard; See above
2. See above
3. See above
4. See above

[analogika]

There IS trial software installed.

Namely:

Apple iWork (Pages, Keynote and Numbers) - 30-day trial.
Microsoft Office 2004 - 30-day trial.

That's it.

The wonderful thing is that de-installing them is literally just *press mouse button* - drag-to-trash - *let go of mouse button*.

Yes, de-installing Microsoft Office is drag-and-drop into the Trash.

That's it.

Welcome to Macintosh. Enjoy your stay.

[Pencil]

1) If I reinstall the OSX using the reinstall cds, will the trial software be installed again? (ON prebuilt PCS, this is the case)
2) I went to safeware.com and checked out the insurance policy for a student and recieved the following quote:
Coverage Amount = $2,000.00
Policy Term = 1 Year
Deductible = $0.00
1 Year Premium = $50.00
Total Cost = $50.00

Does this mean I pay $50 annually for 1-year of coverage?


thanks guys.

[MacosNerd]

Originally Posted by Pencil 

1) If I reinstall the OSX using the reinstall cds, will the trial software be installed again? (ON prebuilt PCS, this is the case)

You can choose not to install it,

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Pencil 

1) If I reinstall the OSX using the reinstall cds, will the trial software be installed again? (ON prebuilt PCS, this is the case)

As mentioned, you can choose not to.

But it's really *completely* irrelevant, since it a) doesn't get in your way AT ALL (besides weighing a couple hundred MB), b) does not in ANY WAY affect your system, since nothing is running until you actually run it, and c) is *SO* easy to de-install.

[shifuimam]

If you're just buying a Mac to try out OS X, you really should go cheap to start out. You might find that a Mac doesn't fit your needs, and it makes NO sense to spend $1000+ on a computer that runs an operating system you have no experience actually using.

Look into buying a Mac Mini - you don't even need to get a new one. Look on eBay for used Intel or G4 Minis.

Everyone else already answered your other questions; I just wanted to mention that you don't need to buy an iMac to use OS X, and you can save a bundle of cash by buying a Mini or another used machine.

[MacosNerd]

The mini isn't a bad choice unless the OP wants to run some intensive apps or play games or run windows to play games. The integrated graphics controller is its achilles heal and if has to buy a monitor, then the price inches closer to the cost of an iMac.

Sounds like the OP wants to do more then just check out OSX based on his indepth questions.

[cherry su]

A G4 is going to be slow when running iLife apps simultaneously (even with maxed RAM). Look for a dual-core MacTel.

[Pencil]

Yeah, I plan to do a lot with an iMac that will be resource intensive...I have briefly used Tiger OSX and it was very exciting (very refreshing to use it after using Windows for so long).

I so want to buy an iMac right now...but I want to wait for Leopard too. Does anyone know the exact date leopard comes out? And, can I get an iMac with leopard installed the same day?
BTW, are iMacs custom built from the moment you order it or do they have it in stock? I hope they are custom built (that way you are garanteed to get the latest revision if any)

[JKT]

No one but Apple knows (and let's hope that they do know) the date Leopard will officially be released. When it is officially announced, your iMac (if ordered from Apple's online store) will either come with it pre-installed, or it will include the installer disks for it in the box so that you can update from the installation of Tiger that will be on the machines already.

Only iMacs with BTO options are likely to be custom built when you order them (and that is going to be dependent on whether or not they keep any pre-configured variations as stock at all), but Apple's lead time for inventory is only about a month or two anyway.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Pencil 

2) Is the IMAC fast enough? I come from using quadcores with 8gigs of ram and raid 0 setups on Windows Vista. I don't know how fast "leopard" is going to be.

Obviously it's going to be slower for sustained calculations (having only half the cores), and many former Windows users find OS X to be less 'snappy'. Windows will morph to minimize or similar instead of just snapping.