The Apple thread

[Bubba]

Aye, exactly what I'm planning on doing. Figured I could run some lightweight 'doze games on it too.

Ahh the games bit might be worth holding off for a bit, simply because the intel graphics card is pretty bloody awful, and well overdue an update. I'd just be very wary as I suspect they will phase them out pretty soon - they're already a pretty unattractive option given how stonkingly cheap the iMacs are in comparison.

What kinda games were you thinking about? I've tried my mini with some shader based stuff and it was a bit of a joke Saying that, the new intel cards in the macbook aren't that much better... It'll struggle with any modern shader based games (such as anything on the Unreal 3 engine) but should be fine with older stuff like the Source games.

Cheers

Bubba

[gravy]

Balmer's a mac fan

http://flickr.com/photos/choubistar/2439499170/

[skip]

How do you like it as a media centre? Any complaints or major issues and niggles?

It's good. I haven't put XBMC on it (only running 10.4 atm), but I use an EyeTV stick for TV and Front Row or MediaCentral (buggy, but there's newer versions) for video/audio etc.

A bit fiddly if you're just using the Apple remote, but I'll get a full version of Remote Buddy at some point. I always have a wireless keyboard and mouse handy (typing on it now). I'd like a bit more speed (HD and CPU are a bit limiting) when doing multiple things (recording, torrenting, webbing, gaming all at once), but it's generally fine for most media oriented tasks.

[phattslagg]

OK - I'm officially a

Just ordered an iMac 24" 2.8Ghz w/500Gb HD

[matt]

I've been waiting for these iMacs

[amanset]

OK - I'm officially a

Just ordered an iMac 24" 2.8Ghz w/500Gb HD

Good boy.

JOIN US.

[matt]

New iMacs.
http://apple.com/imac

Kemper, what's your opinion of these new models?

What's the best buy?

[phattslagg]

What's the best buy?

Everyone I've talked to so far has said that the 24" 2.8Ghz model is the best bang-for-the-buck, hence I went for it. I also opted for the bigger drive - for £30 it seemed to make sense.

[matt]

That's good advice, thanks

[Kemper_Boyd]

Personally I'd go for the £799 model and spend £60 on 4GB RAM from Crucial.
The 2.4 GHz model will give you 80% of the oomph of the 3.06 GHz top of
the range box. But I always choose price/performance over everything else,
you may want a bigger screen or better GPU.

[tufty]

Personally I'd go for the £799 model and spend £60 on 4GB RAM from Crucial.
The 2.4 GHz model will give you 80% of the oomph of the 3.06 GHz top of
the range box. But I always choose price/performance over everything else,
you may want a bigger screen or better GPU.

This is good advice.

I'll be having a low-end 24" model, and will probably push the drive capacity up a bit (Apple don't seem to ream you too much on drives), but the memory will come from Crucial - It's a no-brainer.

Simon

[matt]

The real estate of a 20" would be fine for me, I am sure.

[Rod_S]

.

What kinda games were you thinking about? I've tried my mini with some shader based stuff and it was a bit of a joke Saying that, the new intel cards in the macbook aren't that much better... It'll struggle with any modern shader based games (such as anything on the Unreal 3 engine) but should be fine with older stuff like the Source games.

Cheers

Bubba

Just old skool shareware stuff really, nothing anywhere near as demanding as Unreal 3 engine powered games. Cheers for the advice.

How do you like it as a media centre? Any complaints or major issues and niggles?

It's good. I haven't put XBMC on it (only running 10.4 atm), but I use an EyeTV stick for TV and Front Row or MediaCentral (buggy, but there's newer versions) for video/audio etc.

A bit fiddly if you're just using the Apple remote, but I'll get a full version of Remote Buddy at some point. I always have a wireless keyboard and mouse handy (typing on it now). I'd like a bit more speed (HD and CPU are a bit limiting) when doing multiple things (recording, torrenting, webbing, gaming all at once), but it's generally fine for most media oriented tasks.

Thanks, Skip, I'm pretty much sold on this now - if anything it'll look good next to my Wii and white Sky+ box

[t0ne]

Can I play too ?
I've just ordered myself a new Macbook Pro with a 4GB upgrade from Crucial

[matt]

I take it there it's glossy screen or nothing?