[Treebeard]

http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/ulti...c&f=4&t=003350

No one seems to give a rat's @$$ in that forum.

Basically, we just bought a QS 867 and want some guidance on what things to buy with it:

19" monitor
speakers+subwoofer
10/100 router/switch

[Aussie John]

Hi, I think you need to be a little more expansive at to what you want to do with your computer as its configuration can depend on its chores

[Treebeard]

Well, let's see.

Monitor: We want a nice one, with a good picture, but don't want to break the bank. We'll be doing some movie editing, but only in iMovie (at least at first). I'm hoping to do some VHS to DVD conversions. I also play games pretty often, but not "professionally."

Speakers+Sub: Something nice. But not too expensive. But we hang out in our study quite a bit and listen to MP3s. Again some movie editing, some games. Are HK's SoundSticks a good deal--or expensive?

10/100 Switch: We want to set up a home lan with our DSL line, iMac DV, and laser printer. A freind or 2 may come over once in a while and want to hook in to play lan games. I heard last year that some were good, and some were buggy and hard to configure and a pain in the @$$. Is that still the case, or are most pretty decent now?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Nyuni]

Treebeard-

I just recently ordered a QS 867 (Still waiting for it..) and I picked up botha 19" monitor and a nice set of speakers w/sub, so I'll let you know what worked for me.

Note - I'm a college student, so it's not like I've got oodles of cash to burn, although I do like to get nice, namebrand stuff for my systems and don't mind waiting a little longer to save up for them.

For the monitor, I wholeheartedly reccomend the Sony CPD-E400 19" Toatlly Flat FD Trinitron ($499 MSRP.) It's got the legendary Sony brightness and quality that you'd expect from a Trinitron monitor, and eye strain at high resolutions is kept to a minimum. (I've got the beast hooked up to my G3/233 while I wait for the QS to arrive. ). Granted, it might not be the cheapest 19" out there, but the quality just can't be beat.

For the speakers, I got a set of three-piece Altec Lansing ACS66i speakers. ($95 MSRP, find them Retail for ~$80) They have great sound quality with a pretty substantial woofer (30W) that delivers excellent bass response, especially for games or DVDs. Plus, the satellites come in an "ice" enclosure with snap-off colored accents to match your system (includes all the iMac fruit colors plus graphite for us big gun users. ).

I don't have a 10/100 switch, but I work at an IT company as a Network Admin, so I've got some reccomendations. Any 3Com switch is going to be high-quality and pretty straightforward to configure, but they tend to be a little pricey. Of the lesser expensive brands, I'd reccomend NetGear by Bay Networks. They're reliable and easy to set up, and the price is a little easier to stomach than 3Com.

Hope that helps.
-Brian

[ 08-01-2001: Message edited by: Nyuni ]

[waffffffle]

I have the soundsticks attached to my pismo. Well actually they're at harman-kardan right now being fixed. I can honestly say they sound amazing and when I listen to music on any other system I feel like the sound quality is lacking in comparison, but I do have a few problems with my soundsticks but it seems as if I am the only one with these problems. My problem is that while I'm listening to music with the 'sticks and I try to upload something over ethernet or airport (or write to my firewire HD) the sound will cut out on the entire machine (internal speakers, heaphones, and sticks) and replugging will not bring it back. This happens to me in OS 9.0.4, 9.1, X on both my pismo 400 and iBook SE 366. I cannot reproduce this on my bondi iMac so I don't know what to make of the problem. Some people hate all USB audio. In my opinion, it's great for speakers (aside from my supposedly rare issue) but it's useless for input. Apple needs to get it through their heads that a line-in jack is supposed to be free. Although it is very frustrating that after a whole year they are still selling these speakers for $200 when you can get very nice analog sets for less than $50.

Also, do you really need a 10/100 switch? 100 mbps hubs are usually cheaper, and since you're only going to have 2 machines and a printer I don't think you're going to need a switch. However you will need a router of some kind. This topic has been discussed to death in the networking forum but if you want to kill 2 birds in one shot you can go with the BEFSR41 - EtherFast 4-Port Cable/DSL Router which includes a 4-port 10/100 switch. I have it and I have mostly good things to say about it. It's a hell of a much better setup than my old config, which was running IPNetRouter on my bondi iMac and putting everything into a 10 mbps hub with the cable modem on the uplink port (a security deathwish). However the couple problems with the linksys are that it's difficult to setup to work with AIM file transfer, and it doesn't officially support Apple hardware and AppleTalk, but they both work fine. I got mine for $135 in December.

Good luck and enjoy your new toy.

[Leonard]

For this network... will you have the Macs all in the same room or are you going to have the iMac in a different room. I'm just wondering if a wireless network using an airport base station and airport cards may be better. I think it works with DSL. Probably more expensive, though, than the solution your looking at.

I'm going to try it once my G4 comes, I want my G4 and Powerbook G3 firewire to share a cable modem as well as share a few files... the cable modem is upstairs with my G4, the PB usually downstairs.

[Treebeard]

Originally posted by waffffffle:
<STRONG>I have the soundsticks attached to my pismo. Well actually they're at harman-kardan right now being fixed. I can honestly say they sound amazing and when I listen to music on any other system I feel like the sound quality is lacking in comparison, but I do have a few problems with my soundsticks but it seems as if I am the only one with these problems. My problem is that while I'm listening to music with the 'sticks and I try to upload something over ethernet or airport (or write to my firewire HD) the sound will cut out on the entire machine (internal speakers, heaphones, and sticks) and replugging will not bring it back. This happens to me in OS 9.0.4, 9.1, X on both my pismo 400 and iBook SE 366. I cannot reproduce this on my bondi iMac so I don't know what to make of the problem. Some people hate all USB audio. In my opinion, it's great for speakers (aside from my supposedly rare issue) but it's useless for input. Apple needs to get it through their heads that a line-in jack is supposed to be free. Although it is very frustrating that after a whole year they are still selling these speakers for $200 when you can get very nice analog sets for less than $50. </STRONG>

Yeah, I probably would have gone for the SoundSticks. I liked the sound quality, but $200 is a lot. $80 for some Altecs sounds much better (plus I guess I can throw the saved money at a better display...).

<STRONG>Also, do you really need a 10/100 switch? 100 mbps hubs are usually cheaper, and since you're only going to have 2 machines and a printer I don't think you're going to need a switch. However you will need a router of some kind. This topic has been discussed to death in the networking forum but if you want to kill 2 birds in one shot you can go with the BEFSR41 - EtherFast 4-Port Cable/DSL Router which includes a 4-port 10/100 switch. I have it and I have mostly good things to say about it. It's a hell of a much better setup than my old config, which was running IPNetRouter on my bondi iMac and putting everything into a 10 mbps hub with the cable modem on the uplink port (a security deathwish). However the couple problems with the linksys are that it's difficult to setup to work with AIM file transfer, and it doesn't officially support Apple hardware and AppleTalk, but they both work fine. I got mine for $135 in December.

Good luck and enjoy your new toy.</STRONG>

OK. See. This helps. I guess I don't even know the difference between a switch and a router. I guess I was thinking of a router. Little SOHO thing. Allows mutliple computers to be networked and share a DSL line.

So what's the difference between a switch and a hub and a router? (I used to deal with this stuff years ago...but back then 10BaseT networks using coaxial cable were all the rage. No routers/hubs/switches. But if one computer went down, they pretty much all did. That sucked so much I decided I never wanted to deal with networking again if I could avoid it.)

Guess I should just read up in the networking forum. &lt;shiver&gt;

Are 6-port or 8-port (or whatever) routers much more expensive than a 4-port one? 'Cause I'd like friends to be able to jack into our network to play games every once in a while. But if it's much more expensive, screw 'em.

Thanks to both of you. This had halped quite a bit. Although more advice would always be welcome. FYI, by giving me good advice, you're doing your part to convert a platform agnostic (my wife) into a true Mac believer. If we don't have any--or just minimal--headaches, she'll be sold for life. (We have friends and family who use PCs and brag about how cheap everything is, but then they end up having to reinstall windows every few months.)

Thanks again. And keep it coming.

[kwiersma]

With my Quicksilver I got a ViewSonic 95f Pefect Flat CRT for $350 from Best Buy after rebate. I considered getting the Sony monitor since they are excellent but ultimately could justify the extra price. I feel that the ViewSonic is pretty close in quality.

For speakers I picked up some LabTec Pulse speakers for $50 from MicroCenter. This is a tree piece speaker set that is VERY impressive especially for $50. The sub is 30 W like the one mentioned above, but for the price you cannot beat this speaker set. It also has a headphone jack on one of the satilliates which was an absolute requirement of mine.

Hope this help ya. . .
--KW

[Max8319]

get a daul 800.........better computer........

[Treebeard]

Originally posted by Max8319:
<STRONG>get a daul 800.........better computer........</STRONG>

We thought about it. But then we couldn't have afforded the router or speakers.

Or the monitor.

I'm thinking this is fast enough and upgradable enough to last us about 3 years.

Then we'll get ourselves a nice quad 3.5Ghz G5 with a TB of storage, 2 gigs of memory, quad pumped 800MHz bus, and a nice 28" Cinema Display.

[bender]

If you want a great monitor without spending too much, get a CRT. You can still find the discontinued clear Apple Studio display 17" for sale--it's one of the best CRT displays made(actually I saw in the last issue of Consumer Reports that it was the number 1 rated 17" CRT display).

For speakers, I'd recommend the Sonigistix Monsoon MM-700 (around $120) or the digital Boston Acoustics BA790 (around $80)...both include a sub and both sound incredible. It's too bad the digital jack for the Boston's does not fit in the digital audio mini-port on the G4s, but as with the Monsoons they work with the analog sound jack just fine.

As for connecting your G4, iMac and printer to your DSL line, you can get a dsl firewall/router from a company like Asante or Linksys for around $100. Also, I think there's a rebate for the Asante model right now. I happen to own the Linksys model, and I've never had a problem. It's great not having to reconnect everytime I reboot or wake up my Mac.

Hope that helps...good luck!

[Max8319]

all you need to do is when you go through the apple online store, choose the 867 option....then when it goes to the next page, choose the pull down option for the dp800...then change hd's from 60 to 40 GB (who really needs more than that?)...then make the superdrive a cd-rw option(if you really want to watch dvd's, choose the combo, still subtract $250).....

and the total?
$2600......just 100 more than what you had chose before.....and you get a friekn' dp800.......that's awesome! well, maybe you don't get as large monitor or not as good speakers, but then you get a dp800


matt

[bender]

Originally posted by Max8319:
<STRONG>all you need to do is when you go through the apple online store, choose the 867 option....then when it goes to the next page, choose the pull down option for the dp800...then change hd's from 60 to 40 GB (who really needs more than that?)...then make the superdrive a cd-rw option(if you really want to watch dvd's, choose the combo, still subtract $250).....

and the total?
$2600......just 100 more than what you had chose before.....and you get a friekn' dp800.......that's awesome! well, maybe you don't get as large monitor or not as good speakers, but then you get a dp800


matt</STRONG>

That's what I did except for the hard disk. You might want to consider getting the 7200 rpm 60GB, since the 40GB is only 5400 rpm.

[abo]

Originally posted by Max8319:
<STRONG>all you need to do is when you go through the apple online store, choose the 867 option....then when it goes to the next page, choose the pull down option for the dp800...then change hd's from 60 to 40 GB (who really needs more than that?)...then make the superdrive a cd-rw option(if you really want to watch dvd's, choose the combo, still subtract $250).....
matt</STRONG>

Am I missing something? What interests me most about the QS is the superdrive and being able to write DVDs. Am I wrong in this? (Is it much cheaper to get an external? Is there a new kind of drive coming soon that will be much much better?) Afterwards, I think I can live with the computer being a little slower if I save $1000.

[Max8319]

the superdrive also interests me.....sorta......honestly think how much you would actually use the superdrive......i'm not sure if i would really.......but if i really want to later on down the road, i can add a better one in for cheaper(assuming it gets cheaper and better in 2 years).....there'll probably be faster burners and it'll all be better than what apple's putting in now....if you're a video editer, etc....then you'll probably one......it's sorta like being the first person on your block to have one.........that's what always happens.....the first of something is never really the best.......if you wait, then you can get something better.......

man, i rambled too much there....basically, some people have no want/need for a superdrive......but you still want a really fast computer, especially one that''ll last for years....a dp800 would last a LONG time....you have to ask yourself if you're really going to use a superdrive

bender: i was mainly trying to get the price as low as possible.....i personally want to get the top end one with everything.......now all i need is money.......

[ 08-01-2001: Message edited by: Max8319 ]

[Treebeard]

The superdrive was one of the main impetuses to buy a tower. That and the 90 minute limit on iDVD 2 (which makes it more feasible to use...hopefully that will increase to 2 hours by next year).

Trust me, we'll use it. (I can't wait!)

[Mark N]

I ordered the dual 800 with the superdrive, because I plan to use it and I think iDVD (at least iDVD 2) will take advantage of the dual processors. I dropped the HD to 40, because I plan to drop in an 80 GB 7200 RPM, because I really do need the space.

If you want soundsticks outpost has them for $160.

We use a Linksys 4 port router. Easy to configure, easy install, no problems. If you see that you need more ports, you can add a second hub to the router for more ports that also take advantage of the shared DSL.

I purchased a 19" KDS Avitron monitor. I'm pretty happy with it. It is a Trinitron CRT. I think it is about $100 less than the Sony.