[Johnnyboysmac]

Well, we're talking computers of course, and I'm just curious what particular model of Mac you use, and why.

I'm presently almost terminally anal and undecided re 17"Imac v's 867 tower. I don't need to make a decision, like NOW, 'cos I'm still saving the $$, but I hate this feeling of yin and yang.

Um, not wishing to insult anyone, but it appears, from many posts I've read, that a lot of the owners of the towers, are more seduced by the technology, and the DESIRE for speed, rather than having any real apparent need for it.

Or is it simply the great amounts of testosterone wizzing around in the veins, and the desire to have the biggest and the best, even if one doesn't have a lot of use for it - ahem, still talking computers here!

Whatever, I'm certainly curious why a lot of contributors seem to favour towers over Imacs, when it appears often from their posts, and profiles, that their choice of computer doesn't always seem to be one of necessity governed by specific needs.

So what turns you on about your choice of machine?

As for me - well all I can say is that ANYTHING Mac, has to be better than this Windoze box I'm using, but hey, that's another story!

Looking forward with bated breath, to your various tales of computer gratification.

Cheers,

Johnnyboy

[Wagnerite]

Originally posted by Johnnyboysmac:

Um, not wishing to insult anyone, but it appears, from many posts I've read, that a lot of the owners of the towers, are more seduced by the technology, and the DESIRE for speed, rather than having any real apparent need for it.

Or is it simply the great amounts of testosterone wizzing around in the veins, and the desire to have the biggest and the best, even if one doesn't have a lot of use for it - ahem, still talking computers here!

hmmm, ripping, er, i mean, backing up...3-10 DVD's a week (and encode them into .mov) for me justifies the need for the latest and the fastest G4 chip. Because, my g3 ibook is running 100% cpu for average 3-4 days a week.

im allowed to backup ONE copy of the dvd i own... and when i rend them, i own them when i'm backing them up

[OverclockedHomoSapien]

It's not speed that I like in a tower, it's longevity.

I bought my Sawtooth 400 MHz G4 2 years ago, and since then I've upgraded the video card to a Radeon for games, and of course now I can take advantage of Quartz Extreme as well. This video card upgrade alone added a good 2 years to the useful life of my tower.

I've bumped the RAM to 576...nothing that couldn't be done in an iMac, but I didn't have to do it in one shot, I just added it incrementally since I'm not lacking in ram slots.

As soon as the price of a decent CPU upgrade falls below $500, I'll be buying one. "Decent" to me is either a single 1+ GHz or a dual 867+ Mhz. I figure within a year I'll get that CPU upgrade.

I've also added a soundblaster live...not much good in OS X, but supposedly some rogue programmers are writing OS X drivers for the SBLive.

All in all, this tower has lasted 2 years, and I foresee another 2 years of solid use out of it. If I had opted instead for an iMac, it would already be ready for the landfill. No QE support, no altivec and thus poor OS X support, horrible display that I can't upgrade, and no chance in hell of a serious dual processor upgrade.

So you're wrong, I didn't buy a tower because I desire speed I don't need, I bought a tower because I don't have money to burn every 2 years on a disposable iMac. Even the new iMacs, powerful as they are, are still nothing more than disposable computers. Those video chipsets in the current iMacs are already outdated at the time of sale...in 2 years they will be antiquated. Four year old iMacs are rubbish, they are good for nothing in terms of games or running OS X.

[Scotttheking]

This is a more general discussion, so it's going to the lounge.

[beb]

I don't know, I really like my FP iMac. I wish it had a video out and a larger backside cache on the processor. Otherwise I've never had any problem with it. I sure as all heck don't think that it's out of date.

And yes, while Wolfenstein gets better frame rates on my mirror door machine at work, the iMac gets decent marks also. I look forward to Jedi Knight, Halo and whatnot. If the iMac I have now doesn't play Halo, I'll just have to go out and get a new one. Big deal.

I do think Apple's Education pricing standards for indivduals is a bunch of bunk. $50 bucks? That's it? If I order from a Zones merchant, I get free memory and a printer. I also don't have to wait three weeks for the thing to arrive.

Then again I could just drive up to Southpoint, but thats a 90 minute drive on really dangerous roads if you go by I40 to someplace that really is out in the middle of nowhere. They should've put one in Cary and another in Greensboro and Charlotte and most definitely Wilmington.

[Siddhartha]

I kiss my iBook often, above the hard drive so it's warm. I love it that much.

It's sad, but true.

[Mastrap]

My iBook.

Top for travelling: It's small, it's light, it can connect to pretty much every network there is - wireless or not - and I have my own in-flight entertainment. The battery life is ok, the screen a thing of beauty. It runs everything from Office (for writing invoices ) to Final Cut Pro for quick n' dirty roughcut edits.
I've charged it from car batteries, I've charged it from solar panels. I've got a bluetooth adaptor and a GPRS account for it so it's got it's own connectivity.


I though about replacing it with a Titanium a while back but the small form factor is just too important to me. My ideal would be my iBook with a G4 and a decent video card.


For my needs it's without doubt the best computer I've ever owned.

[DigitalEl]

I wish the Cube had caught on. Cube with a Cinema Display. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

In the tax bracket I call home, however, I'll be sticking with (and happy with) my iMac G4.

Also, for "Says what it does / Does what it says" simplicity and beauty, gotta love any version of the iPod.

[DigitalEl]

Oh... And I really love this 17" wide, beige Compaq Deskpro on my desk here at work.

I love the crooked "Designed for Microsoft Windows" sticker right on its front and the Microsoft authenticity sticker on its top. I love the beautiful blank panel where another generic, beige media drive could go.

How elegant.

[cheerios]

FP iMac 700 here, and except for the graphics card, I'm in heaven. I'd be MORE in heaven if I could turn the textures up in Warcraft 3, but you do what you can. :Shrug: I could probably make use of the high end stuff, for gaming if nothing else, plus a penchant for multitasking things that shouldn't be multitasked, like VPC et al. Short and sweet, buy the one you can afford and that turns ya on. it's all about loving the mac YOU have.

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally posted by Johnnyboysmac:
Whatever, I'm certainly curious why a lot of contributors seem to favour towers over Imacs, when it appears often from their posts, and profiles, that their choice of computer doesn't always seem to be one of necessity governed by specific needs.

So what turns you on about your choice of machine?

I have a Quicksilver 800. I'm in no way a power user, so it's not a matter of needing speed. I just didn't want to be limited to a built-in monitor.

I have a refurbished 21" LaCie and like it very much. Editing documents is much more pleasant on a big screen and short of dropping 2 grand on a cinema display, I can't get a screen that's much larger. Plus, if by any chance a 21" CRT begins to seem too small I can always add an Apple display and extend my desktop. iMacs, of course, are limited to mirroring only.

[ringo]

An iBook and an Airport card...so I can wander the house, chill on the couch, hang with the wife, sit on the back porch, etc.

Desks? We don't need no stinking desks!

[fat mac moron]

I bought a Power Mac 867 in January, mainly for the expansion. I originally had a 15" Apple LCD, but moved to a 17" Apple LCD (and hopefully in another year to a 22" LCD). I also added another internal hard drive, but I bought a 40 gig which is already almost full. So another hard drive upgrade is coming. If firewire 2 ever comes out, I can add an expansion PCI card too.

[daimoni]

.

[anarkisst]

[sek929]

Well sure, maybe I don't use 100% of my 733 all the time but whebn I decided to upgrade from the iMac, I decided I might as well get a really good machine so two years from now it'll still be fast.

Plus you can chuck tons of cheap RAM, extra HDD, vid cars, etc... in the G4 Tower, none of those things can be done in the iMac.

Don't get me wrong, I love the iMac, I just crave a huge screen (I have a 19" Flat CRT right now) and alot of upgradability.

[maxelson]

As we speak, that new dual 867 is turning me on pretty good, jet intakes and all!

[GoGoReggieXPowars]

OverclockedHomoSapien and I are in the same boat: Sawtooth G4 400. I upgraded the video card to a flashed PC Radeon 8500, just picked up a 32x CDRW/DVD ROM combo drive which is sweet as all hell, and am looking to stick another 512M of RAM in because the price at the moment is too good to ignore. My Power Tower mac clone lasted 3.5 years of solid use, and is still going strong at a friend's house who was upgrading from a Quadra.

Right now, I could see a Dual 867 with Radeon 9000 on the floor, churning away my Maya renders juuust fine.
I don't know if I could ever make use of an iBook or PowerBook, since I don't do a whole lot of travelling for work. Sure, they're cool and all, but all my work is at a desk.

[Tigerabbit]

Originally posted by anarkisst:

Dammit, you beat me to it!

[ckohler]

If a switch turns you on, doesn't that make you an android?

[Bushleaguer]

mmmm

[driven]

I have a Cube with a 17" Studio LCD Display.

So ... when it comes time to upgrade I'll probably go with the tower because I want to keep my display. (And the fact that I'll actually use the extra power.)

When it comes time to upgrade the wife/kids iMac 500 DV SE I'll go with the 17" FP iMac. It's a great design and a killer value IMHO.

[::maroma::]

My Mac turns me on cuz it talks dirty to me.