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colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
so i'm finally thinking of buying a mac smile

i'm looking at an imac g4 (1.25ghz) with a 17" screen:


Non-Https Image Link


i'll be using it for layout and graphics mainly (running quark and adobe cs2) but would like it to completely replace my pc if at all possible.

i currently use my pc for video editing, watching videos, watching dvd's, playing music and browsing the net, so i don't think a g4 should have any problems doing all that stuff!

the problem is, the last time i used a mac was in 1997 so its safe to say i don't know that much about them...

will i need to look out for one with a hardcore video card if i want to edit video?
how much memory is sufficient to run say illustrator and quark at the same time with a few files loaded?
how easy would it be to replace the hard drive with a larger one?
can i convert my current hard drive to a usb external drive and use it?
will pc peripherals work with a mac (hp scanner, sandisk card reader, svga monitor/projector)?
how much cooler will my ipod look next to an imac? wink
should i keep my pc anyway cos all my friends have them and its easier to have one around than mess about converting files?
can i get good thirdparty software for free like firefox and thunderbird, a download manager, anti-spy/adware, virus checkers and a multi-region dvd player hack so i can play any dvd form any region (this one is *really* important for me)?


i'd also like some general advice please, especially anything important that i should look out for when buying a mac.

if anyone has any experiences that they'd like to share of going from using a pc to using a mac as their main home computer, i'd love to hear about them too.


cheers,


cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


newgabeSILVER Member
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia


Posted:
I didn't get the intel machine for my new one cos I was told that it may not be compatible with my Filemaker. Interested to hear how your new one goes Cole.

.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....


NateBRONZE Member
Groovy ga watashi no namae desu!
1,530 posts
Location: Oxford, Oxfordshire, England


Posted:
ado, look at cole he didnt appear to know much and he got on fine with it

its amazing when you first turn it on, and it does the cool mac sound, lol

I like Languages.

Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug.gif" alt="" />


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
ubblol so true nate:



"voooooom" ubblove biggrin



apart from the screen being a bit dodgy gabe (which i should hope will just mean backing everything up before taking it back to swap for a new machine), everything is working beautifully.



i don't use filemaker though so that donesn't tell you much but i have had adobe cs2, final cut pro, quark 6.5/7, plus windows xp and various small windows apps (through parallels) all running fine.



which is nice.



*needtowinlotterysoicangetamacbookproandawirelessnetwork*





cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


ado-pGOLD Member
Pirate Ninja
3,882 posts
Location: Galway/Ireland


Posted:
wow ubblove

i love it... the 20" screen is one of the nicest things i've even seen.

in fact this morning i found it hard to leave the house... but its ok because i know we'll be together later on. it all seems failry cool to me and i like the intuitive OS. Alot.

and the wirless mouse and keyboard. and the remote. ubblove

now, anybody got a copy of Windows XP i can borrow?

Love is the law.


SymBRONZE Member
Geek-enviro-hippy priest
1,858 posts
Location: Diss, Norfolk, United Kingdom


Posted:
https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5150508.stm

There's too many home fires burning and not enough trees


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
ooh, forgot to mention the other day:

one thing that does suck about the new intel macs is that, so far, there is no way to get around dvd region coding on the superdrives.

about half of my movie collection is region one so i'm sure you'll realise how much this (completely obsolete) issue pisses me off mad ubbcrying mad


cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


SymBRONZE Member
Geek-enviro-hippy priest
1,858 posts
Location: Diss, Norfolk, United Kingdom


Posted:
Does this work?

https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/508127.html

There's too many home fires burning and not enough trees


polaritySILVER Member
veteran
1,228 posts
Location: on the wrong planet, United Kingdom


Posted:
I got a superdrive cheap on eBay, and it's just a standard Pioneer DVR-110D with the Apple firmware flashed to it. No Apple branding on it anywhere.

You only need Apple firmware if you want to boot from the drive (to install OSX/XP/Linux), otherwise you can use any IDE/ATAPI drive that you can find a region free firmware for. DVD readers are stupidly cheap these days, and a lot more have RPC1 firmware available, so you could hook up an external drive that's been flashed if you don't want to risk a bad flash to the built in drive.

www.rpc1.com - firmwares

www.span.com - storage specialists (good for quality drives and USB2/firewire enclosures/adapters)

You aren't thinking or really existing unless you're willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgment of your existence.

Green peppers, lime pickle and whole-grain mustard = best sandwich filling.


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
cheers sym and polarity - that is indeed the only way (or prospective way) of getting round it.



however, flashing the superdrive may well void the warranty (and since my mac has a duff screen that i'm gonna take it back for, i *really* don't want to void the warranty).



i haven't seen a post on a forum yet that uncategorically says "i have the new 20" intel imac and have got it to play r1 dvd's by flashing the firmware with this [and a link to the correct file]" - as such, i don't reckon anyone has successfully done it yet and i am loathe to be the mac community's guinea pig on this issue wink



for that reason, i haven't even looked to see if there is a firmware hack for the model of dvd drive i have (i'm pretty sure its a matshita model rather than the pioneer ones they used to use frown) - not to mention that doing something like flashing firmware so early on in my mac journey scares me somewhat... redface





cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


SymBRONZE Member
Geek-enviro-hippy priest
1,858 posts
Location: Diss, Norfolk, United Kingdom


Posted:
I agree - I wouldn't want to risk a new Mac. i'm sure you'll be able to find an old IDE DVD player from a freeads/ebay/etc and just get a USB/firewire converter for it.

There's too many home fires burning and not enough trees


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
that sounds like a much better idea - cheers guys!

grouphug

expect me back here in about three weeks asking where i can find a cheap ide to firewire converter! wink


cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


SymBRONZE Member
Geek-enviro-hippy priest
1,858 posts
Location: Diss, Norfolk, United Kingdom


Posted:
 Written by: polarity



www.span.com - storage specialists (good for quality drives and USB2/firewire enclosures/adapters)



wink

There's too many home fires burning and not enough trees


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
ubblol doh!

still, that website goes a bit over my head redface

will one of these put into one of these work?


cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


polaritySILVER Member
veteran
1,228 posts
Location: on the wrong planet, United Kingdom


Posted:
Yep, you'd probably need a PC (or XP) to flash the drive. I've done loads of flashes, and never had any go bad. My BenQ drive's had at least 8, as I change to suit whatever disks I've got at the time..

Matsushita Kotobuki is the Japanese name for Panasonic.

You aren't thinking or really existing unless you're willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgment of your existence.

Green peppers, lime pickle and whole-grain mustard = best sandwich filling.


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
i've flashed my psp firmware so i've not got a phobia of it - its just doing it to the dvd drive in my new imac that scares me!

thank-you again hug


cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


MaaiSILVER Member
journeyman
56 posts
Location: Arnhem, Netherlands


Posted:
Hi I'm new and I just had to mention that i'm a apple addict :P

I don't have a bf anymore, so I married my to-cute-to-exist iBook 12" It even fits my purse! :P

Tink

Without Poi in heaven, I won't go!


ado-pGOLD Member
Pirate Ninja
3,882 posts
Location: Galway/Ireland


Posted:
quick one guys

any recomended dissussion groups or support sites for macs?

Whats the story with Universal Binary. I've found a couple of different lists of games available but they all differ. I really want to buy a bad ass game so i can see just what i can get out of this new machine of mine...

Love is the law.


polaritySILVER Member
veteran
1,228 posts
Location: on the wrong planet, United Kingdom


Posted:
[edit] I've mastered the Google force, so I don't tend to use forums much for info, I am on the macrumours.com forum though.



Don't bother with universal binaries for games. Most games are written to run under Direct3D in Windows, and the conversion to OpenGL for Macs lowers their performance a fair bit. I'm hoping to get a 17" Macbook, which'll have XP for games.



Check out www.tomshardware.com for their graphics card reviews, to see what kind of game's they're running to tax the most powerful computers available.[/edit]



Games you can run with all the graphics settings turned up full:



Doom 3, Unreal Tournament 2004, Half Life 2 and anything from the Call of Duty series for first person shooter mayhem. I can highly recommend the CoD series. It's got some extremely good missions, and I've played through all 3 titles twice in a row it's that good, and played a fair bit networked at lan parties, where nothing else got played after it came out. Doom 3 is just pretty graphics with no content in comparison.



Rise of Nations, Warhammer 40K:Dawn of War + Winter Assault add on, and C&C Generals + it's Zero Hour add on for real time strategy. Generals networked is an absolute hoot to play.



Neverwinter Nights + add ons and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for some huge Role Play campaigns. I've completed SW:KotOR as light side and it took long enough. NWN is just massive though. I'm about half way through the second chapter of the original, and there are 2 more expansions to it too. Neverwinter nights looks great with a distance mod at high resolution, when you're slinging spells around.





Games you can run with the graphics settings at low medium-medium:



Battlefield 2 and F.E.A.R are the latest big name FPSs (BF is multi player, F.E.A.R. has an intense single player campaign and is kind of the benchmark for high level graphics and physics).



Elder Scrolls:Oblivion is so graphically intense that it cripples most machines, but yours should be OK on the lower settings.



Star Wars: Empire at War is a newish RTS that I haven't had time to look at yet, but it's the latest in the genre, and Lucas Arts make some really good games.





Other Games



The latest Need for Speed seems to be most peoples favourite racing game. I prefer the older Midnight Club 2 though, as it doesn't mess around with customising the car, and has a great track editor. Playing LAN we'd either come up with something we could rip round flat out, if every corner's done perfectly (messy pile-ups to dodge), or just do stunts/demolition derby.



Psychonauts is a good platform game, and, as far as I'm concerned, is up there with the old classic Day of the Tentacle when it comes to sheer style.



If you don't mind something a little older, Freelancer still looks stunning for a Space Combat game.

You aren't thinking or really existing unless you're willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgment of your existence.

Green peppers, lime pickle and whole-grain mustard = best sandwich filling.


polaritySILVER Member
veteran
1,228 posts
Location: on the wrong planet, United Kingdom


Posted:
Can't believe I forgot to mention Crysis.

You aren't thinking or really existing unless you're willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgment of your existence.

Green peppers, lime pickle and whole-grain mustard = best sandwich filling.


ado-pGOLD Member
Pirate Ninja
3,882 posts
Location: Galway/Ireland


Posted:
Thanks Polarity

I have pc version of Never Winter Nights including all the expansions and am waiting for my pc to come back fixed so i can get stuck in...

Can all these other ones be played on an Intel Mac?

Thats what this is about really.

That and i want to install windows.

Love is the law.


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
crysis - omfg?!!?!! eek



i said i wouldn't play any games on my mac.



i might just have to become a liar come the end of the year... smile





cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


Pen DravenUnofficial Lord Of Confusion And Pirate Extrodinaire
1,363 posts
Location: Nuneaton


Posted:
Not Quite the same but a useful dodge...... You know that you should be able to play dvds of any region using vlc and it won't matter,, it's only apples dvd software that get's pissy re different regions.....

Ado-p damn i lost years to neverwinter lol and the only reson i got a pc was because my lumbering olde mac can't play Cil V hehe and a mate at work was flogging his old pc for peanuts.

I just need to bug the boss into getting me a MBP but as i got my 15" Albook just before christmas he's not too keene frown

Some men see things and say why....

I Dream of things that never were and say Why Not....?

Oh No I'm going to get Shot Alive if he finds out - DA wink


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
cheers pen, but vlc won't play discs of a different region on intel macs at the moment - it doesn't seem to skip the region firmware on the matshita superdrives like it did on the philips ones used in the power-pc macs.



i used to use vlc to watch other-region discs on me girlfriend's pc (laptop) but it doesn't work on the new big white box frown



there are a *lot* of people, not least me, that are more than slightly pissed off about this...





cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


Pen DravenUnofficial Lord Of Confusion And Pirate Extrodinaire
1,363 posts
Location: Nuneaton


Posted:
bugger frown well thats me shamed then lol although I'll lay the blame on that one to not having an intel mac here to test it on,, yeah sounds good wink

Some men see things and say why....

I Dream of things that never were and say Why Not....?

Oh No I'm going to get Shot Alive if he finds out - DA wink


polaritySILVER Member
veteran
1,228 posts
Location: on the wrong planet, United Kingdom


Posted:
All you need to install XP on an intel Mac is a copy of XP and bootcamp (plus some disk space).

You aren't thinking or really existing unless you're willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgment of your existence.

Green peppers, lime pickle and whole-grain mustard = best sandwich filling.


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
or, buy this ubblove

smile


cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
ubblove D R O O L ubblove


cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


SymBRONZE Member
Geek-enviro-hippy priest
1,858 posts
Location: Diss, Norfolk, United Kingdom


Posted:
yes please!

There's too many home fires burning and not enough trees


ado-pGOLD Member
Pirate Ninja
3,882 posts
Location: Galway/Ireland


Posted:
Last night I was setting up a new user acount so that i wouldnt accidently break anything while i f*cked around witha few settings and installations.

While i was doing this i realised that there were alot of files and stuff in my admin profile that i wanted public access too. So i created a shared folder on the hard drive and started to move stuff over. It all went fairly well except for th torrents which didnt seem to like it. All of them work except on now though.

I also managed to delete my entire applications folder. Completly. Trash empty. I've no idea how i managed that, its not the kind of mistake i usually make... so boy do i feel it now...

And i cant find my installation cd... frown

I will probably find it today when i move house

i hope ubblol

OSX works fine like, and i was able to download most of the apps... except ilife and mpkg.

Love is the law.


Pen DravenUnofficial Lord Of Confusion And Pirate Extrodinaire
1,363 posts
Location: Nuneaton


Posted:
And Leopards fun too biggrin

Some men see things and say why....

I Dream of things that never were and say Why Not....?

Oh No I'm going to get Shot Alive if he finds out - DA wink


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