[mrhack636]

I currently own a P4 1.4 pc and after going to the apple store and sitting there for a few hours playing around on the machines im interested in getting a mac

Main things im going to be using the mac for are web surfing (I do about 6+ hours a day surfing), html editing, Movie Watching (Im a vcd/DVD Backup guy , video editing (Just getting into it), and maybe a little games (Il use my pc for most of them).
I have aprox. $4,500
*The less I spend, the better chance I can get an ipod *

I dunno what to get after seeing that 23 cinema display I had to have one. Just they are so damn expensive and I dont think il have enough for a nice machine if I spend all my cash on the display.

Any ideas?


MrHack

[Benjamin567]

I would see if you could get an old Dual1GHZ QuickSilver from a mac vendor for cheap, say about 2k, then you could get the 22" Cinema Display and a great deal of RAM for 5k.

[dillerX]

My suggestion, take it for what it's worth.

$2194 <-- The old Dual 1GHz System
$1000 <-- Two 17" Studio Displays
$ 499 <-- 20 Gig iPod
$ 115 <-- ATI Radeon 7000 PCI Card (to drive the second display)
$ 149 <-- DVI to ADC Display Adapter (to connect the second display)
$ 316 <-- 1GB RAM (to Max out at 1.5GB)
----------
$4273 <-- Total (give or take a few bucks)

Plus you can get $200 off each display by using the display promotion that Apple has to offer until September 30th. Click Here

I have the old Dual 1GHz and the Dual 17" Displays. Absolutely LOVE them!

[(s)macintosh]

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but...

Apple G4 Cube from eBay: about $900 bucks depending on what's bundled with it.

Apple 23" Cinema Display: $2400

20G iPod: $499

There's $3800 right there, with the extra money you can max out the Cube's ram, upgrade the video card to an Nvidia 2MX (or maybe better?), and upgrade the hard drive. The only problem of course is LACK of DVD-R/CD-RW/DVD-ROM. With the extra money, you could maybe get a nice external model?

Just a thought!

[esc]

The 23" is going to be way too spendy on your budget ... look at the 22" and see if it fits your needs.

The dual 867MHz PowerMac is about $1700 and you can buy a half gb of third party ram to get to a reasonable level to use OS X and do some video editing (the more the better though). There is even a promotion on the large monitors plus a new PM that will get you a $500 rebate.

Stick with the 5GB iPod. They only cost $300 and reconditioned units (many early units had bad batteries) are going for as little as $220. The mechanical control wheel on the older iPods is much better than the new touch wheel ...

[iSilver]

go down the bank and ask the man with all the money for a couple of grand and get what yu want. If you are upgrading from a PC you deserve it!

[mrhack636]

dillerx in that picture those are 17"? they look like 22's

MrHack

[Apple Pro Underwear]

Get the total Mac experience:

Ipod------------$500
Dual 1.25-----$3200
17"--------------$1000

Save up for the second display after you get aquainted with the Mac platform. or use the money for a dv cam, pda or digital camera

The mac experience is the sum of all the parts...ipod, digital cams, and etc.

You'll love it.

[mrhack636]

*whines* But I want a cinema display mommy ;(

MrHack

[businezguy]

I happen to have a similar budget and I must say, I have no problem getting the 22 inch rather than the 23 inch. The 23 inch is great, but it definately isn't worth the extra grand in my personal opinion.

On the other hand, I definately want the larger size and higher resolution versus the 17 inch. The dual 17 inch screens certainly sounds interesting, but I don't see how that would be better than (besides price) getting the 22 inch display.

[mrhack636]

Yeah, like I said I am a movie freak
Thats one reason why i want a cinema display
I have a 21" crt for my pc I mean 2 17's you cant watch the movie on both of them and if I have it on one 17 I should just as well watch it on my pc monitor.

Thanks for the help guys,

I seen some good deals on ebay lately
the 22's new are going for 1999 and the older 1ghz dual towers about just as much.

MrHack

[businezguy]

Where are you finding the 22 inchers for $1999? I have only seen them for $2499.

[mrhack636]

Goto the apple section on ebay do a search for cinema
youl see a bunch of them popup

[CheesePuff]

You can get the Samsung (who Apple uses for its displays) 21.3" Cinema display with DVI for $1,799.00 I believe I saw somewhere a couple of days ago. It also comes with a remote and actually quite nice speakers. They have a 24" that is $4,000, as well.

[Sword of Orion]

Something to keep in mind with the 23" Cinema Display:

--------------------------------------
System requirements

- Power Mac G4 with NVIDIA GeForce2 MX, GeForce3, GeForce4 MX, or GeForce4 Ti graphics card, or ATI Radeon 7500 graphics card
- Mac OS X v10.1.3 or Mac OS 9.2.2
--------------------------------------

If you buy an older Mac (someone mentioned a Cube), you need to keep this in mind if buying a 23 incher...

[dillerX]

Originally posted by mrhack636:
*whines* But I want a cinema display mommy ;(

MrHack

Trust me, they are 17"ers. I was going to buy a Cinema display, but a guy at the Apple store gave me this idea. Two is always better than one.

[mrhack636]

Thanks for the idea cheesepuff but I want the sleek cool looking apple display

Im going to the apple store this friday maybe il win something, if I dont il take a look at the 17" displays and see what I think *I never went near them when I was in the store that 23" display was like a magnet I couldnt get away from it*


MrHack

[olePigeon]

This is my suggestion:

$1700 - Dual 867
$100 - ATI Radeon 9000 Pro
$1600 - 2x 17" Studio
$200 - Apple SuperDrive
$450 - 1.5 GB DDR PC2700 (3rd party)
----------------------------
$4050 + $335 @ 8.25% sales tax
$4385

I emphasize on the dual 17" because having two displays is a godsend for video/dtp. One monitor strictly for files, the other strictly for editing. Nice, clean, and efficient.

Have fun.