I'm Thinking About ...

[Gatekeeper]

... investing the $2700 or so I put up for a new iMac into other options, such as:

1. A solid oak (or mahogany) entertainment center.
2. A HD digital television.
3. XBox and/or PS2.
4. DVD player/recorder.
5. VCR (just for old time's sake).

And I bet I'd have some left over! Alas, not enough for a Macintosh, though. Tough luck, Apple! Looks like other areas of the economy are going to get at least some of my savings, not you! (You have Macsoft to thank for this, plus common sense on my part.)

But, hey, I doubt you'll notice, Apple. You're too damn busy upgrading your OS every three to four months. Maybe in another year or two, when my "fun" budget is replenished, I'll take a look-see at a Mac. Until then, my old iMac 333mhz makes for a fine Internet-surfing machine, and is more than capable of playing Civ II.

Gatekeeper

[Asher]

/me spent $2700 on a top of the line gaming rig, and that's around the same price for an iMac? Amazing.

And it is pretty amazing how Apple releases a new version of MacOS for $119 every year or so (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005...) while MS releases 1 version every 4 years (2001, 2005) for a $99 upgrade, while releasing free upgrades inbetween (USB2, .NET, antivirus, improved firewall, windows media 9, MSN 6, directx 9, etc.

[Drake Tungsten]

I'd get a PS2 over an Xbox if I were you, Gatekeeper.

[Gatekeeper]

Asher:

The $2700 wasn't just for the iMac itself — it was also for software, a decent printer/scanner combo, taxes and so on.

Drake:

I'll probably get both systems. I love the Chrono series of games, and the third in the series will likely remain on the PS series of game consoles. But XBox has drawn my interest lately as well, mainly because of KOTOR and Ninja Gaiden.

Gatekeeper

[Gatekeeper]

I'm finding out that it's a wilderness when it comes to buying HD/digital television sets. Most are HD capable — meaning you have to put a card/converter box in 'em when HD becomes the norm in a few years — while others are HD ready, but the cards in them may not be compatible with what your provider (i.e. cable, satellite) ultimately chooses to offer down the road.

I might just stick with an analog flat-screen TV for the time being and wait for more uniformity in the HD field before plunking down cold, hard cash for a set.

Gatekeeper

[Agathon]

Re: I'm Thinking About ...

Originally posted by Gatekeeper

But, hey, I doubt you'll notice, Apple. You're too damn busy upgrading your OS every three to four months. Maybe in another year or two, when my "fun" budget is replenished, I'll take a look-see at a Mac. Until then, my old iMac 333mhz makes for a fine Internet-surfing machine, and is more than capable of playing Civ II.

I have a slightly faster imac than yours and I'm not planning to upgrade for at least another year.

Apart from some games (none of which interest me) my computer runs just fine.

The 17 inch imacs are really nice though. I just set one up for a colleague.

[Agathon]

Actually here's a better plan.

Buy a new Hard Drive for your imac. I got a 40 gig drive for less than 100 Canadian dollars. It's a breeze to install. Then get 256 MB of RAM (or more), update the firmware on your machine (free) and buy a copy of Panther when it comes out (130 bucks).

Hey presto, you have a machine that will run Civ II (and all your old OS 9 apps) and you get the new system and all the nice new iapps and stuff. You can also invest in OS X software which you can transfer to your new machine when you decide to get it.

That should give your machine an extra couple of years usable life.

Jag would run fine on your imac and Panther is even faster acc to published reports. And you can boot back into OS 9 if you need to (which should never happen).

There you go - a new machine for about 250 dollars.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
I'm finding out that it's a wilderness when it comes to buying HD/digital television sets. Most are HD capable — meaning you have to put a card/converter box in 'em when HD becomes the norm in a few years — while others are HD ready, but the cards in them may not be compatible with what your provider (i.e. cable, satellite) ultimately chooses to offer down the road.

Go for the HD Capable ones -- if you get digital cable and HDTV, it comes with the tuner in the digital cable terminal.
If you get satellite TV and HDTV, it comes with the tuner in the satellite terminal.

Makes no sense to have a tuner built in if you need to buy one anyway with your service.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
Actually here's a better plan.

Buy a new Hard Drive for your imac. I got a 40 gig drive for less than 100 Canadian dollars.

$2.50 per gig for a vanilla 40GB drive?

I paid $1.40 per gig for a 240GB Serial ATA 8MB-cache RAID0 (double reading/writing speed) set of drives.

[Gatekeeper]

Agathon:

Yep, the 17-inch flat-screens are nice. But that's the operative word, "nice." Not necessary, at least in my case. And if I did everything you suggested to get a "new" iMac, my built-in monitor would probably then blow out, leaving me with nothing to see, unless I dropped more money.

Asher:

That's what the salespeople basically say, too: Buy only the HD capable sets for the time being. There was a nice 30-inch 16:9 set for $950 (US) at a local Sears store, and it had a built-in tuner. You really can tell the difference between a 480 and 1080.

Gatekeeper

[Asher]

My new PC outputs to the TV in HDTV via component cables.

Now that, my friends, is sexy.

1920x1080 gaming on a Sony WEGA XBR 36".

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
Agathon:

Yep, the 17-inch flat-screens are nice. But that's the operative word, "nice." Not necessary, at least in my case. And if I did everything you suggested to get a "new" iMac, my built-in monitor would probably then blow out, leaving me with nothing to see, unless I dropped more money.

Why?

I've had this imac for over 3 years and it is on most of the time and is used heavily (mostly by my wife who spends hours posting to hockey fan sites). Nothing has ever gone wrong with the monitor. I've seen a stack of first generation imacs which have had no monitor problems at all despite suffering heavy use in computer labs. Those things must be nearly six years old and still work just fine. Those stupid hockey puck mice have had to be replaced though.

People seem to think that the imac is a "buy and don't touch" computer. That's just not true. You can make all sorts of upgrades quite easily.

I suppose it is weighing the benefits against the cash. But my computing life has certainly improved by making these upgrades.

[Gatekeeper]

Asher:

I, too, have heard that component is even better than "S" video when it comes to picture, sound and whatnot. I've started seeing DVD players and some TV sets with these options. They range from $250 to $450 (US).

Agathon:

I doubt it would ever happen, having a monitor blow out. But I like being fatalistic sometimes. That way, when it doesn't happen, I can be happy. Or something like that, at any rate. And, for the record, my iMac has functioned perfectly since I purchased it way back in the golden age of May 1999, when the stock market was booming, and I was young and FREEEEE ...

Gatekeeper

[Asher]

Component is way better than S-Video for video: It has 3 different cables, one for red, one for green, one for blue. There is no longer any color "bleeding" like in composite and S-Video.

Component is also entirely digital and is the only connector that allows resolutions above 480.

Component doesn't do sound though, sound on a high-end system is done through a coaxial cable or optical.

[Gatekeeper]

So audio would still go in through the usual R and L channels via cable then, correct?