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mac help

Discussion in 'Questions and Answers' started by Boik14, May 26, 2010.

  1. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Since my Windows computer just crashed and is only five years old I'm leaning towards getting a MAC this time even though I hate their propriety crap. I'm not looking for anything elaborate, just something that is fast and will last. Realistically the budget is around two g's or less but I can go a bit over if the computer is that good. Don't need blueray since I have a ps three...

    Suggestions are appreciated. Desides, where are you lol.
     
  2. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    I like how mor has been louder in his praise of Macs but somehow I'm "the Apple guy." How did that happen? :lol:

    What do you generally use your computer for? And do you prefer a desktop or a notebook?
     
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  3. GridIronKing34

    GridIronKing34 Silently Judging You

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    No offense, but just because your computer crashed after 5 years doesn't mean it was awful. Computer become outdated rather quickly, but that's besides the point.

    However, you sound kinda sold on getting a Mac, so if I were you I'd go with an iMac would be a good thing if you're interested in a desktop. 27 inch screen, quad-core processor, 4 gigs of RAM, and a tera-byte of space. Unless you're doing some sort of design or video editing, you don't need anymore space... That would be the top-end model too.

    Laptops... I'd get a Macbook Pro.
     
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  4. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    i didn't know the mor liked macs so much but thanks. I'll take his input as well.

    Mainly just a web browser and I use ms word and excel quite a bit.....occasionally use netflix. Really not a whole lot outside of the internet. Definitively a laptop
     
  5. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    it wasn't just that it crashed after 5 years there were constant issues with it.
     
  6. DaFish

    DaFish Well-Known Member

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    2K is an extremely large amount of cash for browsing and office apps IMO.
     
  7. phinnhedd

    phinnhedd Reality.

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    save cash and build your own pc, install linux on a partition (it's pretty simple to use), and be on your merry way.
     
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  8. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    For browsing and Netflix, I'd get the 15.4'' MacBook Pro. You can either buy the Mac versionof Office or use Boot Camp or some virtualization software (VMWare, Parallels, Virtualbox) to install Windows and boot your Windows version of Office.
     
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  9. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Ya I probably won't need to spend that much since I know someone who sells macs but I was lookin for multiple opinions and assuming that budget
     
  10. Muck

    Muck Throwback Uniform Crusader Retired Administrator

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    Agree.

    You can spend a lot less and get a dang good PC with Windows 7.

    Office 2007 comes with a free upgrade to 2010, which will be here momentarily.
     
  11. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Ya I'm done with Windows, this is the second computer I've had issues with in the last ten years and they were both Windows. And they both had way too many issues. So like a high maintenance girlfriend its time to dump them. :up:
     
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  12. DaFish

    DaFish Well-Known Member

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    Usually it's the manufacturer's fault and not the OS itself. If you fell disgusted with Windows and you need a machine just for browsing and office apps then I would suggest Ubuntu.


    Something like this loaded with Ubuntu FTW!!!
    http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=CG5275-AR003-PB-R&cm_mmc=geekmail-_-daily_html-_-27may10_LOGITECH4UP-_-LOGITECH4UPProduct
     
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  13. BigDogsHunt

    BigDogsHunt Enough talk...prove it!

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    Yup, both my Wife and youngest Daughter converted over to MAC with this configuration options (White Mac Book and Mac Book Pro). Wife uses the tie-in to run all MS apps via virtual OS, and Daughter uses MS Office version for MAC (each picked one option) is huge. Each was in the $900-$1600 neighborhood (Education discount buys), but zero issues to date.

    No complaints, they love them.
     
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  14. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    Dont ask questions. Buy the Mac. Love the Mac. You'll thank me for the rest of your computer loving life.
     
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  15. unluckyluciano

    unluckyluciano For My Hero JetsSuck

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    llllllllinnnnnuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuxxxxxxxx
    llllllllliiiiiiiiiiinnnnuuuuuuuuuxxxxx
     
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  16. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    I want you to buy the Mac so bad that I'll give you the Office mess on a DVD as long as you pick up the shipping ;)
     
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  17. unluckyluciano

    unluckyluciano For My Hero JetsSuck

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    don't do it its probably the chinese version.
     
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  18. DaFish

    DaFish Well-Known Member

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    Come on Mor.......don't become a fanboy now. :lol:
     
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  19. unluckyluciano

    unluckyluciano For My Hero JetsSuck

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    too late. He has Steve Jobs as his wallpaper.......

    [​IMG]
     
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  20. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    No! My wallpaper is the MacBooks very cool rotating wallpaper!

    f.u.
     
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  21. GridIronKing34

    GridIronKing34 Silently Judging You

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    Yeah if you're just looking for something to browse the web, use iTunes, check your email, etc... Just go with a Macbook Pro or even just a Macbook. You'll appreciate being able to move it from place to place and it's a good laptop for the casual user.

    That pains me to say a little, it's not that I don't like Macs... I just don't like half of the people who have them.
     
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  22. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    I bought my woman the all white Macbook for $999. All she does is music stuff on iTunes, internet stuff, and a few office type stuff. She loves it. Zero issues.
     
  23. unluckyluciano

    unluckyluciano For My Hero JetsSuck

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    plus they are a product of advertising :escape2:
     
  24. Muck

    Muck Throwback Uniform Crusader Retired Administrator

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    Sorry to hear that.

    Windows 7 is excellent though. One year in and I've yet to have a single freeze/crash/etc. running on 4 year old hardware.
     
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  25. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    not your fault dude but thanks. I've tried Linux, tested windows seven as well and wasn't terribly impressed with either.

    On the good side I'm getting really good at using the voice recognition feature on my Droid to post lol.
     
  26. DaFish

    DaFish Well-Known Member

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    Ditto Muck!

    I have been running 7 since the beta without any issues. I am currently running it on 2 machines. I am a very happy camper running Linux or Windows and much cheaper. I am not saying that Macs are bad machines but I think they are extremely overpriced.
     
  27. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    it's not in mandarin is it :pointlol:
     
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  28. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    totally understand the sentiment and appreciate the response. However in the last ten years a few of my friends have had their same macs whilewhile my pc's both dropped dead without any real reason. So on that front my mind is made up, id rather shell out for a quality piece of hardware rather then keep dealing with this every four or five years.

    Now for the second question....my pc won't boot up past a certain point, tried safe mode and read through the manuals. Anyone know any back-end ways to get it to boot? I had some of my stuff backed up to an external hard drive but its been a while since I did it. Thanks again for any responses
     
  29. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Have you tried booting from the OS disc, or burning a recovery disc and trying some of its programs? Really, once a crash happens, it's tough to get the computer back to the state you had it in. If you go down the recovery path, you might invest a lot of time and effort for little or no gain.

    Honest recommendation: make an appointment at an Apple Store, and if you like the product, ask if they can take a crack at getting whatever personal data you might want off your PC. I've heard of Apple Stores going to those sorts of lengths.
     
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  30. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    thanks dude. I found out the problem is that its a crashed hard drive and I could possibly retrieve the info if I have a backup hard drive. I'm thinking I might purchase a backup hard drive see if I or someone else can transfer the info then turn around and sell the laptop if the crashed hard drives all that's wrong with it. I tried the back up disks as well...no luck :(

    I'm probably gonna take yours and griddles advice and go macbook pro.
     
  31. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Sounds about right. Once a crash happens, that's generally the end. Tough to recover from those.

    I'd recommend getting a nice, big external hard drive. Say, 1TB or so. If/when you get your Mac, plug it in and use it as a Time Machine drive.
     
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  32. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    Me & Desides hardly ever agree....but on Dolphins and Macs. Time Machine is about the coolest application ever made.
     
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  33. anlgp

    anlgp ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A

    liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinux

    or mac
     
  34. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    You mean we're not arguing over this? Time for a celebratory beer. :knucks:
     
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  35. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Good to know I'm bringing you two lovebirds closer together :lol::hi5:
     
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  36. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    [​IMG]
     
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  37. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    So I went and got a macbook pro today....pretty awesome piece and one of my friends hooked it up with a quality discount. Thanks to the advice from all.
     
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  38. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Congrats, Boik. Enjoy the best OS in the world. :up:

    Two things you need to know about OS X:

    1. OS X handles open applications differently than Windows. On Windows, when you close all of an application's open windows, then the application shuts itself down. On OS X, even if all the windows are closed, the application remains open but invisible. To fully quit an application on OS X, bring it in focus, click on its name in top bar in the upper left corner, and click Quit. Alternatively, two finger tapping its icon in the Dock at the bottom of the screen and selecting Quit will do the same thing. Or another alternative, use the Command + Q keyboard shortcut.

    2. When you download a new app, it will probably come in Disk Image format, .DMG. This format is a cross between a ZIP file and an ISO file. When you open a DMG, it mounts to the file system much like whenever you plug in a thumb drive or insert a CD. Usually to install an app, you just drag the icon to the Applications folder, and that's that. Some apps have setup processes just like Windows, but that's uncommon. When you're done installing an app, you need to eject the mounted image and delete the DMG file. The quickest way to get both done is just to open your Downloads folder in Finder, delete the DMG there (presuming you saved the DMG in the Downloads folder), and then click the eject icon next to the mounted image in the left-hand sidebar.

    Sounds complicated, but it's pretty easy. You'll pick it up quick. Enjoy.
     
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  39. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    anything else chief? Anyone else got something to contribute? :wink2:
     

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