MacIntels Released Today!

[Quantum_Man]

I was following a live running commentary on MacWorld today and was pleased to see 2 Macs updated with Intel chips. The iMac and the PowerBook, or now the MacBook Pro. Each running dual core procs. And to think I just bought a new iMac a month ago...

 

[Qyöt27]

I wonder how long it'll be before people start triple-booting their PCs with Windows, OS X, and some flavor of Linux or BSD, etc...

 

[osx]

cool stuff.

 

[Quantos]

I was following a live running commentary on MacWorld today and was pleased to see 2 Macs updated with Intel chips. The iMac and the PowerBook, or now the MacBook Pro. Each running dual core procs. And to think I just bought a new iMac a month ago...

Well give it a few months, and thell come out with a new version again

 

[osx]

personally, I think apple is putting out to many new products too fast. they need to chill a bit. imho of course.

 

[zoziw]

I was surprised by the iMac revision so quickly after the last one. There's gonna be a lot of unhappy iMac owners who bought within the last couple of months.

I wasn't surprised by the Powerbook/Macbook Pro upgrade...it had been a long time coming. Personally, I thought there would be an iBook upgrade as well but I guess that will wait.

Which is nice because I have the most recent version of the 12" iBook

I'm going to watch the keynote now and see how it went.

 

[TheReasoner]

mm. Work bought me a Powerbook in November. Oh well, in 2007 I will get a new one anyways

I wish I had one of the new intel macs already. I can´t wait to have one computer with both Windows for the games that won´t run on mac, and Mac OS X for my work, some games and hobby environment.

 

[Battie]

I was really hoping they could come down in price a bit. :-(

But does this mean that we'll be able to buy a copy of OS X and install it on a PC? I'm not really looking forward to Vista, so...

 

[TheReasoner]

I was really hoping they could come down in price a bit. :-(

But does this mean that we'll be able to buy a copy of OS X and install it on a PC? I'm not really looking forward to Vista, so...

Sorry, but no. Not legally
There are already versions out there that are cracked ofcourse. But those are fairly buggy. If you want to use Mac OS X on a self-built machine, I would ask around on a few fora, like ambrosia software (www.ambrosiasw.com) which is frequented by a few guys in the know, and then ofcourse there are many more serious mac fora around, but I am not really aware of that many in English :-S
Sorry...

 

[Battie]

Sorry, but no. Not legally
There are already versions out there that are cracked ofcourse. But those are fairly buggy. If you want to use Mac OS X on a self-built machine, I would ask around on a few fora, like ambrosia software (www.ambrosiasw.com) which is frequented by a few guys in the know, and then ofcourse there are many more serious mac fora around, but I am not really aware of that many in English :-S
Sorry...

Thanks for the info. That really stinks though. But I guess if they didn't restrict it they wouldn't sell nearly as much hardware anymore, because I doubt a lot of people would want to pay that much.

How reliable is the iMac's hardware? The 17-inch one is the most reasonably priced Mac with any power, but the design makes me nervous.

I'm not going to be able to buy a new computer any time soon, but I've been planning my next move for a while.

 

[Quantum_Man]

I have an iMac G5 17", have had it for about a month now. No problems whatsoever. It's the 2nd or 3rd revision since they started offering the iMac G5. It is VERY stable, don't have to worry about overheating and what not. And it is pretty quiet. When it is on your desk and you think to yourself, "This is the WHOLE computer!!!", you can't help but smile.

 

[TheReasoner]

Thanks for the info. That really stinks though. But I guess if they didn't restrict it they wouldn't sell nearly as much hardware anymore, because I doubt a lot of people would want to pay that much.

How reliable is the iMac's hardware? The 17-inch one is the most reasonably priced Mac with any power, but the design makes me nervous.

I'm not going to be able to buy a new computer any time soon, but I've been planning my next move for a while.

My experience with Apple Hardware is nought but positive. Well, as a technician I would say they are VERY negative as well; Apple has a tendencee to build their computers like bunkers; They can be very hard to get into - and if you do want to say - change a harddrive on a MacBook/PowerBook/iBook, I recommend you find a nice guide online, with pictures - grab yourself about 5-6 plastic cups for different screws, and use post its in with the screws to identify which ones go where.
However, they do tend to work and work well for a very very long time. Our Macintosh LC was as good as new, minus a few consmetic damages which came on it´s path between continents and cities as we moved about; Even with South America´s faulty power grid it survived perfectly well, and in 2001 when we threw it away - it still worked like a charm.
My aunt bought a classic in 89 I believe, and it STILL works.

So, back in the "good old days" macs were built to last. I have not really seen much to counter that impression today
But ofcourse, it is always a good idea to buy an "Apple Protection Plan" package which will expand your warranty for a small sum. That way, IF something goes wrong, you are covered.

Like you, I am a bit worried about the durability of hardware crammed into a computer with such a design. I have questions about cooling and airflow mainly.
Traditionally though, Apple has done well - even in computers where the airflow seems nonexistant.

 

[applepowerpc]

LOL I used to design the PowerPC's that used to go into Macs. Did I say "used to". LOL.

 

[osx]

My mac is easy to open. much easier than a pc. And it's nearing 6 yrs old. Never a moments problem so far (hope I don't regret saying that).

BTW, Here's a good link for apple technical repair manuals, most models.

www.whoopis.com/computer_repair/

 

[Battie]

My mac is easy to open. much easier than a pc. And it's nearing 6 yrs old. Never a moments problem so far (hope I don't regret saying that).

BTW, Here's a good link for apple technical repair manuals, most models.

www.whoopis.com/computer_repair/

Is it a PowerMac or iMac or something else? I do think that PowerMacs are pretty easy to navagate. Those things have some beautiful guts.

 

[zoziw]

The most stomach churning upgrade I ever did was to my Mac Mini. I wanted to upgrade the RAM to 512 MB but the box was sealed, no screws.

Not only do you have to force a putty knife into the sides of the bottom of it but you have to use the putty knife to force a very large number of plastic prongs off of the main computer so you can remove the outer shell to get at the RAM slot. What makes this truly gut wrenching is that every one of those prongs makes a sickening cracking sound as it detaches.

It doesn't hurt or break anything and the RAM slot is right there and very easy to access...but every crack makes you wonder what you are doing when opening up the Mini.

 

[textstephen]

Not long, although there will be a bit of a wait for Windows. Because of the BIOS these Apple manufactured PCs are using, Windows XP out-of-the-box will not install on them. However, "they" think there might be a hack soon enough.

Windows Vista, on the other hand, is said to be compatible and should install on them as-is.