Pink Poogle Toy Forum

I have to buy a new computer, because my old on is screwed up, and I dont know what kind to buy. Im only like, almost 13, so I cant get any jobs other than babysitting and yard work and stuff like that, so my budget is kind of restricted.

Ive been looking at different websites, trying to figure out what I want, and I need to know if a Mac is a good idea. I found a really good one on http://www.amazon.com, and all i need is people's points of view.

Is it troublesome to try to find games and hard-ware for Macs? Would a torrent work on one? How about Photoshop and PSP? I really dont want to buy a Dell, or a Gateway, I really want a Mac, but if they suck, then I guess not.

And please dont post anything if you are just going to say that they suck and give no reasons, please =)


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929 euros

17-inch widescreen LCD with 1440x900 resolution

1.83GHz Intel Core Duo processor with 2MB shared L2 cache

512MB (single SO-DIMM) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)

160GB Serial ATA hard drive

Slot-load 8x double-layer SuperDrive

ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 128MB GDDR3 memory

Built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0




I like it!

Okay, let me sort this out.

Macs are waay expensive, unless you buy the Mac mini and use your current monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers.

Also, software programs aren't hard to find, but games might take a little time. I know most of the Adobe programs were first designed on Macs, so that shouldn't give you trouble. Torrents wouldn't work unless you download a Mac version or get an emulator, as Macs can't natively run .exe files.

I know that you can go to Sprysoft or Academic Superstore for good deals on software. (I think the Adobe Creative Suite is like $400 at discount when normally it's $1000+)

Macs are hawt. (I don't personally own one, but I want to, and I work with them all the time in journalism)

Oh, and if I were you, I'd get one of the PowerPC (G4) ones, as they're soon going to be discontinued because of the crap with Intel.

I am not a Mac user. I used to be until I found PCs. I was anti-Mac for the longest time. Now I am very pro-Mac. If you can get one, go for it. I think Macs are worth it if you know how to use them. I don't think I will ever go back to them, but if I had it to do over again, I would like to go Mac.

The vast majority of programs and games are for Windows, I think.

So no torrents? So BitComet wouldnt work? :(:(

Macs are great, untill you realize you cant play the latest game on it

Actually, I take that back. There are downloaders/torrents, but I can't post the site.

Azureus works perfectly fine on mac.

I've grown up using both PCs and Macs, and at the moment Macs win for me.

It all depends what you like doing, though. Do you like playing games? If so, then Macs probably won't cut it for you. I think it's a bit more difficult and expensive to extend their graphics card and RAM, which you might need to do to play some of the resource-hungry games (they tend to be quite low on RAM) (disclaimer: I'm not much of a hardware geek, but this is what I've heard!). And so many games aren't available on Macs at all.

Personally though, I mostly chat, browse and create graphics... and Macs do that wonderfully. There are so many neat little Mac OS X programs out there, such as Adium for chatting. Photoshop seems to work fine for me, as good as on a PC I think *shrugs*

And yeah, there's plenty of torrent options

I use both but as someone who likes games the PC tops it for me. Macs are good for my work at uni in the lab (ie where I don't pay for it!) while I use PCs at home for both work and recreation.

Macs are expensive for what you get as they are just one brand, whereas with PCs you have many different companies competing which drives prices down... or perhaps with Macs coming from the one place that drives prices up. You can shop around a lot more for PCs to find something tailored for you, and I believe upgrading is a lot cheaper.

Both are fine to use but I think PCs have the edge for value for money if cost is an important factor

Thanks for all the help you guys.


Just one one question. There isnt AIM? o_o

Actually, there is, it's located here, but it hasn't been updated since 2004.

I believe iChat is Apple's version of AIM.

Aside form the iTunes viruses, I'd say go for it. Macs are very safe, as opposed to Windows. But, I say (if it's just the operating system that doesn't work on your computer) switch to Linspire. It's a free operating system you can download off of the internet, or buy in the store. Although, there isn't much hardware to work with it (if you have a HP Printer, it'll work, for instance), all the programs you'll ever need, including the GIMP, can be found in the Click-n-Run (CNR for short) warehouse. Plus, Linspire is extremely close to Windows in look-and-feel. Although, there isn't Intrnet Explorer, there IS every other browser under the sea, including Safari (Mac's browser).

</Linux-plug>

I'd say go with the Mac.

Dragonfire's right. iChat's the equivalent to AIM.

*blinks* According to the website, you have to buy it either way...



Now that I've looked at it on Apple.com, the newest version of iChat (AV) is in some respects better because it's better quality, and the Audio and Video conferencing is cool.

It's funny how much I know about Macs, and I don't even own one. xD I guess you could say I'm a wannabe Mac addict.

... And proud of it!

Oh, and despite the news going around about these two viruses that attack the Mac OS X system and some other flaws found, Macs are much more safer than Windows (2 viruses for Mac vs. 100,000+ for Windows). All this stuff is coming out because more people are switching over.

Yep, you can use iChat to talk to AIM people... and I guess that means you can use AIM to talk to iChat people! I think you might also be able to chat to AIM people through ICQ if you wanted to, there's a Mac version of that.

You could also use the program Adium (that I mentioned up there) to talk to people via AIM. It's a multi-protocol chat program, so you can connect to AIM, MSN, ICQ, Jabber, Yahoo, etc, all at the same time. Very spiffy!

One other thing... have you used a Mac very often before? The Mac user interface is a bit different to Windows, and some people who are used to Windows really hate it. I still get a bit annoyed at the windows management, I must admit (ie. I miss the Windows taskbar ). There are good points and bad points to both user interfaces though.