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Looking for advice...

G

gregnash

2[H]4U
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
2,164
So I have been a PC convert for a number of years now, built several of my own PC, upgraded laptops and everything. I originally started out on Macs back in the Apple IIe days, then moving to others like the Quadra, G3, etc. But when I went away to school it was just more "practical" to get a PC, plus since I was getting my BS in IT it was a bit more fitting to start my knowledge of PCs. Well that was a little over 10 yrs ago and now it is time to get another "house" computer. Last year my wife purchased a 13" Macbook Pro for her business needs and loves that thing and using that with her I now remember why I used to love Apples so much.

So here is the question... I do not do "any" pc gaming anymore (another major reason I went to PCs) and primarily work with my photo, video, and web design hobbies aside from my normal IT stuff. With that said, I am debating between the 21.5" iMac or the new Mac Mini (non-server). I already have a nice mouse, keyboard, and decent 22" monitor so wondering which would be better. Also, how hard is it to hook up dual monitors for the iMac or Mini? I see that they both have a display port, but my monitor is DVI/VGA. Do I HAVE to buy the Apple branded adapter or will something like the Display port to DVI cables from Monoprice work? Since I do web design as my main basis or work and do some on the side the dual monitor setup does help ENORMOUSLY so I will want to hook up two monitor whether I get the Mini or not.

While the Mini is half the price of the iMac, that only means the wife and I would have to save a little longer to pick one up.
 
Apple store near by? If so take it in and see how you like it.
 
gregnash said:
So here is the question... I do not do "any" pc gaming anymore (another major reason I went to PCs) and primarily work with my photo, video, and web design hobbies aside from my normal IT stuff. With that said, I am debating between the 21.5" iMac or the new Mac Mini (non-server). I already have a nice mouse, keyboard, and decent 22" monitor so wondering which would be better. Also, how hard is it to hook up dual monitors for the iMac or Mini? I see that they both have a display port, but my monitor is DVI/VGA. Do I HAVE to buy the Apple branded adapter or will something like the Display port to DVI cables from Monoprice work? Since I do web design as my main basis or work and do some on the side the dual monitor setup does help ENORMOUSLY so I will want to hook up two monitor whether I get the Mini or not.

While the Mini is half the price of the iMac, that only means the wife and I would have to save a little longer to pick one up.
Click to expand...

Ok, to answer some of your questions.

Yes, you can use the Monoprice Mini-DP to DVI/VGA just fine. If you want to run dual displays on the Mac Mini you'll need a Mini-DP to DVI, as well as a Mini-DP to HDMI cables (there is only one Mini-DP port on the back of the Mini)

That said, if you want to get a very nice monitor (plus BT keyboard/mouse) the base iMac isn't 'that' much more expensive, and then you'd have dual displays without having to get another monitor. (I.e. the 21.5 screen on the iMac is gorgeous, and add in your 22" as a second display, using the Monoprice Mini-DP-to-DVI cable and you're done).

If I was in your shoes, I would save, get the 21.5" iMac, because it's only ~$200 more then buying a Mac Mini and a decent 22ish inch monitor, and you're getting an i3 instead of a c2d processor, 4gb ram instead of 2gb, a 500gb HDD instead of 320gb, and a better graphics card. Value added, I think that's a worthy choice IMO.
 
gregnash said:
Take what in? The monitor? I am confused.:confused:
Click to expand...

Yea. Take it all in. See how it works. Better to know in advance.

Go on non peak hours and they are very helpful.

I personally don't like the iMac but it is a better deal overall (as pointed out above).
 
I don't know if this will help, but I think by "take it in" Liver means "use and evaluate", i.e. "take in all the sights", not "bring the PC to the Apple store".

Now, for multi-monitor setups, I prefer to stick with two or more identical monitors, both being calibrated (I don't calibrate single displays). Thus I wouldn't necessarily recommend an iMac.
 
Thanks guys... yeah I was thinking that the iMac was the better "value add" then getting the mini. Looks like we will be saving up this Xmas for an iMac.

Here is another question. I currently have a Cisco E2000 router that works great with everything in the house, except when trying to share the damn printer that is connected to my windows box. I am assuming that this issue will go away when I get the iMac correct? Also, will I be better suited to hardwire the iMac into the router or just let it connect via the G wireless? Looking to upgrade the router to a simultaneous dual band as I still have a few "G" items in the house and was looking at either the E3000 or Netgear WNDR3700.. Both have great through-put wirelessly and have a USB port so that I can share the printer via the Router instead of having to share via the networked computer...
 
Unless you're doing a lot of file transfers between computers, I'd just work wirelessly. In both cases, it's likely your internet connection that is the slowest transfer rate of the bunch. (YMMV of course)
 
Ok so the question now is.. How well do Macs work (wirelessly) with non-apple routers? I am looking at picking something up that is simultaneous dual-band like the Cisco E3000 or Netgear WNDR3700 (both highly rated by SmallNetBuilder). Both of these will also allow me to plug a storage drive or printer, via USB, into them as a "network share" item.

Can anyone confirm that this has been done without issues? I don't mind futzing with things but the wife is a different story...
 
Zumino Zufeilon said:
Ok, to answer some of your questions.

Yes, you can use the Monoprice Mini-DP to DVI/VGA just fine. If you want to run dual displays on the Mac Mini you'll need a Mini-DP to DVI, as well as a Mini-DP to HDMI cables (there is only one Mini-DP port on the back of the Mini)

That said, if you want to get a very nice monitor (plus BT keyboard/mouse) the base iMac isn't 'that' much more expensive, and then you'd have dual displays without having to get another monitor. (I.e. the 21.5 screen on the iMac is gorgeous, and add in your 22" as a second display, using the Monoprice Mini-DP-to-DVI cable and you're done).

If I was in your shoes, I would save, get the 21.5" iMac, because it's only ~$200 more then buying a Mac Mini and a decent 22ish inch monitor, and you're getting an i3 instead of a c2d processor, 4gb ram instead of 2gb, a 500gb HDD instead of 320gb, and a better graphics card. Value added, I think that's a worthy choice IMO.
Click to expand...

Second this.
 
gregnash said:
Ok so the question now is.. How well do Macs work (wirelessly) with non-apple routers? I am looking at picking something up that is simultaneous dual-band like the Cisco E3000 or Netgear WNDR3700 (both highly rated by SmallNetBuilder). Both of these will also allow me to plug a storage drive or printer, via USB, into them as a "network share" item.

Can anyone confirm that this has been done without issues? I don't mind futzing with things but the wife is a different story...
Click to expand...

They work great with non-apple routers. I use my macbooks with a Linksys WRT54G2, and never had a problem. Network protocol is the same no matter what OS you are using. In my experience doing support at a large university, I've also noticed that Apple's wifi adapters have better range than most PC laptops too.
 
cbags101 said:
They work great with non-apple routers. I use my macbooks with a Linksys WRT54G2, and never had a problem. Network protocol is the same no matter what OS you are using. In my experience doing support at a large university, I've also noticed that Apple's wifi adapters have better range than most PC laptops too.
Click to expand...

What he said, Airport's are overpriced IMO, so I always use Linksys or Netgear, and I've never had a problem.
 
Ok cool. Just didn't know if I would need to set anything special up when configuring the router.

Next question, as I said this will be used for photo editing. I currently have an old Canon 20D DSLR. Will it be recognized by the iMac or will I need to purchase a card-reader as it takes CF style cards? Will I get faster read speeds from a card reader?
 
It looks like you'll need to install the Canon software from the CD it came with and update it, but it should work after that based on this thread.
 
Trickier question TBH, generally speaking, you plug in a USB device, and OSX goes and finds the driver.

But a good question to ask is, "did I need the CD to get the Canon working with my wifes MBP?".

If you needed it, then you'll need it on the new iMac. If not, then not.
 
Thanks for the advice guys.. Tried plugging it into my wife's Macbook and it recognized it right away and installed drives. I bought the thing used so I do not have the discs but can get everything online. Think I might actually try to sell it and get a used 50D. Love the thing but the tiny screen is killer for me and I am starting to have problems with the top thumb wheel. :(
 
Be sure to check your printer drivers/compatibility as well. If you do any graphics "printing" then this can be a major problem w/ Macs w/ Adobe Products.

As for wireless, never had any problems here either with non-Apple APs either.
 
Only "graphics" printing I will be doing is photos that I take.. Don't really print any of the graphics that I make and really it is more for me as a hobby. I work in government so "graphics development" is not really essential here!
 
Ok so looks like we will be picking one up after the new year. So here is the next question. On our PC now we have a ton of photos, music, docs, etc. that I will need to transfer over but I am worried that my small (60gb I believe) backup drive will not house everything. I was thinking of picking up one of the ThermalTake external drive hubs and just plugging the drive into that but do not know if the drive will need to be reformatted or what for OS X to recognize it. Either way, this will be used as a backup/storage drive at 640gb!
 
gregnash said:
Ok so looks like we will be picking one up after the new year. So here is the next question. On our PC now we have a ton of photos, music, docs, etc. that I will need to transfer over but I am worried that my small (60gb I believe) backup drive will not house everything. I was thinking of picking up one of the ThermalTake external drive hubs and just plugging the drive into that but do not know if the drive will need to be reformatted or what for OS X to recognize it. Either way, this will be used as a backup/storage drive at 640gb!
Click to expand...

Easiest way is to just hook the windows PC up to the network, find the IP, then on the mac open finder, hit Command + K, type in smb://ip.address.of.pc/c$ and hit enter. It will ask for your username and password of the windows PC, put em in, then just pull your files over the network.
 
Cool thanks for the info C7... Once this is done then I can just format the drive and then hook it up through the hub and OS X should recognize it correct?
 
gregnash said:
Cool thanks for the info C7... Once this is done then I can just format the drive and then hook it up through the hub and OS X should recognize it correct?
Click to expand...

Yes once you are completely finished with your old windows pc, you could take the hard drive out of it, put it into an external enclosure and attach it to the mac. Format it in HFS+ and then use it as storage or backup.
 
Ok so my PC decided to die today, not sure what exactly the issue is but think it is the video card but could be the mobo as well?!?! So looks like the new refresh could not have come sooner as I am going to have to dip into savings and pick up a new iMac 21.5" in the next few days. So the question is, with the PC not being able to start, would I be better off getting one of the external harddrive enclosures or one of the Thermaltake items?
 
They'll both do the job but Thermaltake's toaster drive reader pretty much is an external enclosure.. for $50 it's worth picking up a cheap enclosure is $35 but it's cheap.. The toasters are easier to put drives into and it's not a bad thing to have in your toolbox.

When you get your iMac there is a free, very simple to install NTFS add-on for Mac OS X. It's third party but recommended by Apple. Also it's worth picking up a multi card reader instead of having to bother plugging in your camera all the time and making sure you have enough battery charge. It's just easier. Or you can use an SD-to-CF adapter so when you buy new memory cards you're buying SD which are more popular nowadays. Then you can just use the built-in SD slot.
 
cbags101 said:
They work great with non-apple routers. I use my macbooks with a Linksys WRT54G2, and never had a problem. Network protocol is the same no matter what OS you are using. In my experience doing support at a large university, I've also noticed that Apple's wifi adapters have better range than most PC laptops too.
Click to expand...

I actually have _LESS_ trouble with apple products on my routers. My windows boxes and my android phone keep losing the Internet on my trendnet router (but the LAN works fine) however none of my apple products ever lose the Internet!
 
Ok well went yesterday and picked up the base model 21.5" with AppleCare from the Apple store. Kinda scary how quickly we were in and out of there with the purchase with the store being packed. Got it home last night and set it all up and she is running great. Did my few customizations to it and now just have to wait to get the "toaster" enclosure and the mini-display port to DVI adapter from Monoprice to hook up my second display and get all the files and everything over from my PC harddrive.

So now that I have it, have downloaded the NTFS add-on, Google Chrome, and downloaded OpenOffice (which will eventually be replaced by Office for Mac) what else should I do with it? We iChatted with my sister-in-law this morning in Colorado so that was fun and I am still getting used to the gestures for the magic mouse (which seems super small compared to my old MX510) and just wondering what else I can do with it. Unfortunately, I had a lot of extra software on my PC like MS Expressions Suite, Web Studio Suite, SQL environments, Office Ultimate, etc. so it is a little weird not having all that yet.
 
Adium instead of iChat
iStat Menus
Cyberduck (if you need FTP or SFTP)
Steam if you game
VLC for media or CCCP (I prefer VLC)
VMware fusion or Parallels (currently running fusion, liked parallels better).

Those are pretty much my standards for mac. I have a lot of other stuff for pentesting etc on my mac that I consider critical, but nothing I think you would use.
 
Ok downloaded VLC and Cyberduck (will need FTP for bit of web design I do), I haven an Xbox 360 for most of my gaming but interested to see what this thing can do so any suggestions? I normally like RPGs so I was looking at Torchlight or Two Worlds II.
 
gregnash said:
So now that I have it, have downloaded the NTFS add-on, Google Chrome, and downloaded OpenOffice (which will eventually be replaced by Office for Mac) what else should I do with it? We iChatted with my sister-in-law this morning in Colorado so that was fun and I am still getting used to the gestures for the magic mouse (which seems super small compared to my old MX510) and just wondering what else I can do with it. Unfortunately, I had a lot of extra software on my PC like MS Expressions Suite, Web Studio Suite, SQL environments, Office Ultimate, etc. so it is a little weird not having all that yet.
Click to expand...

haha, this is funny because it was the same experience I had. I got my macbook pro home, installed a new web browser and set up my Mail, and then kinda went, ummmmm, now what?

The simple answer is, now you just use it. And now you'll understand why people are always saying "it just works"
 
Ok so after doing some research it seems that the Office suite for mac has not received good reviews in quite a few years. How does iWorks compare? Or should I just stick with Office for Mac? I can get both for the same price through my school.
 
The newest Office seems identical to Office on Windows to me. I didn't use the older versions enough to know how much has changed, but make sure those reviews are referring to the version just released because I think it hadn't been updated in a while. The presentation tools in iWorks are very powerful and intuitive. everyone who has used both prefers the Mac tools to MS, that I've heard anyway. Theres a demo though so you can try them for yourself.
 
iWorks always gets rave reviews and it can open all your office documents. There's always OpenOffice, too.
 
iWork . . . works pretty well.

Personally I use Word/Excel (cause I'm more comfortable in them) but I use Keynote because it is SO much more flexible and customizable.

One of these days I'll have some time to adapt to the minor but annoying changes between Pages/Numbers and Word/Excel, but for now, I just roll with it.
 
Ok so running into a problem I purchased the Monoprice toaster, installed the NTFS-3G extension and when I plug in the drive it says that the drive cannot be mounted because the last time the drive was used it was not unmounted properly. I cannot access the files or the drive at all. I just ordered so more ram for my aging Gateway laptop in hopes that I can get it to work with that, mount/unmount the drive cleanly and then do the transfer on the iMac. But in the meantime, any suggestions?
 
gregnash said:
Ok so running into a problem I purchased the Monoprice toaster, installed the NTFS-3G extension and when I plug in the drive it says that the drive cannot be mounted because the last time the drive was used it was not unmounted properly. I cannot access the files or the drive at all. I just ordered so more ram for my aging Gateway laptop in hopes that I can get it to work with that, mount/unmount the drive cleanly and then do the transfer on the iMac. But in the meantime, any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Install a trial version of vmware or virtualbox or parallels and windows 7. Then set the USB HDD to be used by the virtualized windows 7 OS.
 
Ok thanks. I will have to give that a try. Was thinking of getting vmware or parallels anyways as I have one program that is not Mac compatible and I need it for my programmable remote.
 
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