iMac Questions

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Moxio

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This is for the Apple users on the boards. PC users, sorry.

~~

Well I'm here, an inch away from buying an iMac! But, of course, I've got some last questions.

(BTW this is all for the 20" iMac Intel Duo)


1) I understand from what I've heard that Boot Camp runs Windows very well (to the extent that it's like you're using a PC entirely). That means I can play any XP-compatible game I'd like, right? I hope so because I couldn't give them all up, . Also, is the X1600 a good graphics card? Is there any benchmarks so I can compare it to other cards?

2) I'm a student so I qualify for the student discount. However, is there any deals (minus the free iPod one) that I can grab? Is it safe to get a used Apple from someone on Craigslist or something? Or should I stick with a new Apple-shipped iMac?

3) 512 MB of RAM probably won't cut it for me, so I'll add (most likely) a 1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM stick of some third party (Kingston, Corsair, whatever). Is this okay? Will it cause any sort of slowdown in comparison to Apple RAM? Because I don't want to shell out $270 for more RAM from Apple.
 
Welcome to the Mac community! I have a G4 ibook and love it. OSX is the shit, and I don't think I'll ever go back to windows.

Anyway, I'll try to answer a few of your questions in one shot. With bootcamp you can do ANYTHING that a PC can do. Oblivion, Splinter Cell, you name it, it will run on an intel mac. It's just like having a PC on your mac. I don't know about the video card, but upgrading to 256 for only $70 sounds good. You might want to ask on a mac specific board (www.mac-forums.com www.macrumors.com) because they should be able to answer the question better.

You imac will work with your router. Or it should in theory. Apple's come with drivers for about every router and printer known to man, maybe not every. This makes it compatible right out of the box. You should have no worries there.

Yes you should upgrade your Ram. I have 1.5gb in my ibook which is the maximum possible. If you can afford it, beef up the imac all the way. If you are running stuff like photoshop and gaming it's a must. I bought Crucial ram from newegg. The brands you listed should work as well. But like you said, do NOT buy Ram from apple. It's overpriced.

You can buy it wherever you want, though I recommend going with an official seller. I got a hell of a deal from Amazon last year ($800 ibook with free mighty mouse, printer, and bag). Amazon occasionally has MIRs for apple computer Right now their prices are the same as Apple's, sans Nano deal.

I hope that helps. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
 
1) I understand from what I've heard that Boot Camp runs Windows very well (to the extent that it's like you're using a PC entirely). That means I can play any XP-compatible game I'd like, right? I hope so because I couldn't give them all up, . Also, is the X1600 a good graphics card? Is there any benchmarks so I can compare it to other cards?
Click to expand...

X1600 is very similar to the performance of a 6600GT, and very close to the performance of X800 Pro. While it is no gamer's dream, it'll do well enough for last year's games. And yes you can play any XP compatible game. A 10 second google search gave me this page for benchmark of a X1600 Pro. I'm sure if you flip a few more result pages you'll find straight up benchmark of the X1600.

2) I'm a student so I qualify for the student discount. However, is there any deals (minus the free iPod one) that I can grab? Is it safe to get a used Apple from someone on Craigslist or something? Or should I stick with a new Apple-shipped iMac?
Click to expand...

The printer deal expired, so I think iPod is the only deal going on. Buying a used Apple can be risky in the fact that repairing Apple computers costs much higher than repairing a PC if something is wrong or goes wrong.

3) 512 MB of RAM probably won't cut it for me, so I'll add (most likely) a 1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM stick of some third party (Kingston, Corsair, whatever). Is this okay? Will it cause any sort of slowdown in comparison to Apple RAM? Because I don't want to shell out $270 for more RAM from Apple.
Click to expand...
 
Also, don't do anything until the Worldwide Developers Conference on August 7. You never know what kind of new revisions they might throw out there.
 
Right now I'm thinking of getting a 1GB upgrade to bump it to 1.5 GB.

You think I should go down to, like, Portland and buy it w/o tax? Would I still get my student discount out of state? xD
 
The 1gb upgrade is worth it because OSX devours RAM.

That sounds like a great deal. If your tax is 8% you save $175.

But again, if you can wait, wait until August 7. You never know what will happen.
 
[quote name='Moxio']I'll wait till August 7 for sure. But you think it's possible to use an out-of-state student discount thing?[/QUOTE]

It should work.
 
[quote name='Moxio']I'll wait till August 7 for sure. But you think it's possible to use an out-of-state student discount thing?[/QUOTE]

Are you saying that you live in another state, go to Oregon (No tax in Oregon? Is that a special day or all the time?), then get no tax? I don't see why not. If it's one of those special "no-tax" weekends, I'm pretty sure anyone can come in and buy things.

The student discount, though, has to be used at your school, or if you know someone who can hook you up from a school. Now no tax and student discount sounds really sweet.
 
[quote name='munch']Are you saying that you live in another state, go to Oregon (No tax in Oregon? Is that a special day or all the time?), then get no tax? I don't see why not. If it's one of those special "no-tax" weekends, I'm pretty sure anyone can come in and buy things.

The student discount, though, has to be used at your school, or if you know someone who can hook you up from a school. Now no tax and student discount sounds really sweet.[/QUOTE]

I could have sworn Portland was tax free. That's why I want to buy it there.
 
[quote name='Moxio']I could have sworn Portland was tax free. That's why I want to buy it there.[/QUOTE]

If you can get the student discount there, then get it in Portland. But, if your school isn't in Portland, I don't know if you'll be able to get no tax since the tax amount would be based on where you live currently. Try calling the folks in Portland and see what they think.
 
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