choosing a Mac.

accdntly · Post by **accdntly** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 12:40 am

Im pretty elementary with computers but Im looking to buy my first. Looking to buy one for general purposes and producing, would also like to get into video at some point down the road. I have about $1,000 towards my new machine. Does anyone have any advice on what to buy. iBook good enough? or should I just go for the Powerbook? I know that I want a Mac. OK. thanks bye.

g · Post by g » Wed Feb 09, 2005 12:50 am

based on your current needs/experience and the fact that they are both still g4-based currently, the ibook will do you fine.

look for them refurb'd on the apple site or on sale elsewhere (dealmac.com is a good resource) and you should be able to pick a well spec'd machine up for $1k or less. do get as much RAM as you can afford once you get it -- but don't buy add'l RAM direclty from apple, you'll overpay if you do.

mattenglund · Post by **mattenglund** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 1:11 am

I use an iBook and I have no problems

Plus they just went down to $999 USD

maybe something you are looking for!

M

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 3:50 am

The G4s in the iBooks and Powerbooks are still powerful enough for just about everything. I've got a 1 GHz powerbook that works very nicely, so even the low-end 1.2 GHz iBook should be just fine.

You will definitely need more memory though. As was already said, don't buy it from Apple, but someone like Crucial or Kingston, as the prices are a lot better. Also, if you're a student (or know one who would buy for you), Apple gives some pretty decent discounts.

adam · Post by **adam** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 4:20 am

I'm pretty happy with my G4 iMac... you could probably get a good deal on one now as the new generation ones are out. Dunno if you were looking for a notebook though.. but the iMac's are still somewhat portable if you're just looking for something easy to carry into gigs and so forth.

Renze · Post by **Renze** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 5:21 pm

If you're getting into video then a mac is a must-have! The video editing rooms at my school have very powerful Windows XP PC's, and still Adobe Premiere Pro is running very poorly.

Militikie · Post by **Militikie** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 8:07 pm

did had the same question some month ago because of a equipment change wish we had with the act. we decided to buy two iBooks with 1Gig Ram Memory, a extern-harddisk 7200 rounds(very important for ableton and other programs who reads samples).
pretty expensive decision, but i think its really gonnna work. we gonnna buy them within two weeks, so i`ve somebody have some comment on this please reply or PM me

so we can buy something else what is maybe better

j.whitney · Post by **j.whitney** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 2:18 am

Well, whatever you do don't get your RAM from Apple.... 8 times cheaper elsewhere...
They also just updated all the Powerbooks, in which is included 5400 RPM drives. I don't know if that would be economical, but I am working with an older powerbook with an after market IBM drive running at 5400 and have never had any problems reading samples....