Quote
Originally posted by Puddle Jumper:
**I'm interested in hearing gamer's tales about the iMacs, iBooks, and the new cube. I'm shopping.
**
The cubes, and the 15" LCD screens, are excellent. The silent operation and form factor is very nice, and of course it looks great too.
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Andrew Welch / el Presidente / Ambrosia Software, Inc.
Yes. My brother got a G4/500MP and it rocks. It is very fast, I just dont like the mouse.
Otherwise, I was in a shop in london and played around with snow iMac and a cube.
And I have to agree with people, the 15" display is seriously cool.
My ideal combination: it has to be the one I have at the moment (until I go back to uni next month) G4/500MP, 22" Cinema display, MicroSoft optical mouse (it may be microsoft, but is very comfortable, and is a lot better than the apple thing)
Anyway, showing off over.
C~M
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Before you meet your prince you have to kiss a lot of toads.
Quote
Originally posted by CheatMaster:
**Yes. My brother got a G4/500MP and it rocks. It is very fast, I just dont like the mouse.
Otherwise, I was in a shop in london and played around with snow iMac and a cube.
And I have to agree with people, the 15" display is seriously cool.
My ideal combination: it has to be the one I have at the moment (until I go back to uni next month) G4/500MP, 22" Cinema display, MicroSoft optical mouse (it may be microsoft, but is very comfortable, and is a lot better than the apple thing)
**
For use in the office, the 22" cinema display would indeed rock -- for home use, though (at least for me), it would be overkill. It's also a bit too large to have as a monitor at home; I mean, really, there's something to be said for it not taking up your entire desk. 
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Andrew Welch / el Presidente / Ambrosia Software, Inc.
The newer Mac have USB inputs for the mouse and joystick but EV or EVO do not support Input Sprockets. Therefore, joysticks cannot be used in combination with the keyboard for better control and "feel". This was one of my requests for EV3.
Quote
Originally posted by Puddle Jumper:
**I'm interested in hearing gamer's tales about the iMacs, iBooks, and the new cube. I'm shopping.
**
If you get the high end ibook (i think best one is a g3... its ok but you got to upgrade the ram on it... i got diablo 2 to run very well on it...
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Raptor
~If you find yourself trying to gather your thoughts ask yourself: 'How do you gather chaos...'
Am I the only one that think the cube look VERY UGLY on the top? And I still wonder why you would want a cube instead of a regular G4 that has more features at the same price, unless you buy it cuz it´s silent (not realy, still got HD and CD-player).
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If it´s quality software you can read "Made with Macintosh" -Shadow
Quote
Originally posted by Shadow:
**Am I the only one that think the cube look VERY UGLY on the top? And I still wonder why you would want a cube instead of a regular G4 that has more features at the same price, unless you buy it cuz it´s silent (not realy, still got HD and CD-player).
**
Silence, form factor, and elegance. The fact that it is small and out of the way is quite nice for a home machine. It's amazing how noisy computers with fans are by comparison -- and you really can't hear the hard drive or CD (except when the CD is being used to read CD ROM computer CDs, not music or DVDs).
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Andrew Welch / el Presidente / Ambrosia Software, Inc.
(url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/~andrew/")http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/~andrew/(/url)
"You can´t hear the the CD-palyer while playing music-cd´s or DVD"
-If you turn the volume all the way down you can!
The fact that it is small is good, but when you can have something better at the same price (performance) you would probably choose the regular G4.
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If it´s quality software you can read "Made with Macintosh" -Shadow
Quote
Originally posted by Shadow:
**"You can´t hear the the CD-palyer while playing music-cd´s or DVD"
-If you turn the volume all the way down you can!
The fact that it is small is good, but when you can have something better at the same price (performance) you would probably choose the regular G4.
**
No, you can't -- the CD playing music or a DVD makes almost no noise.
As for "better" -- the g4 tower @ 450mhz plus a pair of speakers (which comes with the cube) costs more than the cube. What you miss out on with the cube isn't anything "better for the price) but rather expandability.
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Andrew Welch / el Presidente / Ambrosia Software, Inc.
(url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/~andrew/")http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/~andrew/(/url)
Quote
Originally posted by andrew:
**No, you can't -- the CD playing music or a DVD makes almost no noise.
As for "better" -- the g4 tower @ 450mhz plus a pair of speakers (which comes with the cube) costs more than the cube. What you miss out on with the cube isn't anything "better for the price) but rather expandability.
**
It is better for the price, you get 2 processors instead of one, as well as a bigger HD. Only problem being you'll have to wait for OS X to take advantage of it.
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(url="http://"http://celticstarbase.tsx.org")http://celticstarbase.tsx.org(/url)
(url="http://"mailto:celticstarbase@esatclear.ie")mailto:celticstarbase@esatclear.ie(/url)celticstarbase@esatclear.ie
Zhouj:
dreese is talking about the condensed keyboards. I've seen them before, but I don't have one, so this might be wrong, but the condensed keyboards have arrow keys in a straight line, not an upsidedown T, where the right Command, option, and control keys usually are. They're also missing the help delete home end and page up/down keys.
I have an "extended" keyboard, but for some odd reason (perhaps my tweaking in the system folder :p) the help key doesn't work anymore. No more waiting for an assistant to load when I just wanted to delete something
Kwanza Man: when zhouj said "The new dual processor ones are equal to any 1.5 GHz processor", he was talking about overall speed, not actual numerical processer speed. He didn't say the 500 MHz ran at 1.5 GHz, he said it was as fast as
Yeah, peecees would be kicking Apple's butt if processor speed was the only consideration as to how fast a computer is luckily it isn't
Shadow:
There is no such thing as an ugly Macs.
Looks like we could start a Mac User's Group board. Thanks for all of the great replies and advice.
I think at this point in Apple's game, any Mac is a good Mac. You just have to choose your priorities; power, price, or portability. Mine happens to be price. I may end up with the new $800 iMac. But the iBook is calling me....
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If you drink, don't park. Accidents cause people.
If you check the Apple Store for pricing, you'll notice that while the 400mhz g4 tower sells for $200 less than the Cube, and has PCI slots & gigabit ethernet, it has 50 less mhz, comes with no speakers, has a fan (you'd be amazed how noisy fans are to you after you've used a computer with no fan), takes up a lot more room (can't be put on a desk easily), and doesn't look as cool.
The price of a dual 450mhz g4 Tower is $400 more than a single processor g4 Cube.
With all that in mind, I think the price of the cube is a decent value compared to the g4 tower, assuming you don't need the expandability. Gigabit Ethernet is an option on the Cubes, so you could get that if you want (but it'll cost you more) -- but realistically, gigabit Ethernet is useful only to a very few people.
Here's some pricing info:
450mhz g4 Cube -- $1799
+ harmon kardon speakers
+ compact design
+ no fan
+ aesthetics
400mhz g4 Tower -- $1599
+ gigabit ethernet
+ pci slots
450mhz dual g4 Tower -- $2199
+ extra processor
+ gigabit ethernet
+ pci slots
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Andrew Welch / el Presidente / Ambrosia Software, Inc.
(url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/~andrew/")http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/~andrew/(/url)
Thanks, Andrew.
I window shop at the Apple store all the time. When the iBook drops below $1,000, then I'm likely to strike. If ever.
btw, fine board you've got here.
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If you drink, don't park. Accidents cause people.
Quote
Originally posted by Zacha K:
Zhouj:
dreese is talking about the condensed keyboards. I've seen them before, but I don't have one, so this might be wrong, but the condensed keyboards have arrow keys in a straight line, not an upsidedown T, where the right Command, option, and control keys usually are. They're also missing the help delete home end and page up/down keys.
iMac/G4 style condensed keyboards do have inverted T arrow keys, but they're half the size of regular keys. It's missing the right control & option keys, but still has help, home, pg up and pg dn and F-keys up to F12.
Quote
There is no such thing as an ugly Macs.
Amen. There's a Mac SE in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
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"He's probably the least qualified person ever to be nominated by a major party... What is his accomplishment? That he's no longer an obnoxious drunk?"
- Ron Reagan, son of the former president, on George W. Bush; a (url="http://"http://www.votenader.com")Ralph Nader(/url) supporter.
AIM: ColdFusion117
Ok, the cube looks nice, except for the very ugly top, probably a airvent to cool it. Oh, and you will need to upgrade your mac in a 1-3 years...unless you want to buy a new and VERY EXPENSIVE one. If you got the money, fine...but many of us can´t spend that much money on computers.
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If it´s quality software you can read "Made with Macintosh" -Shadow
In the end it's really a matter of personal preference.
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(url="http://"http://celticstarbase.tsx.org")http://celticstarbase.tsx.org(/url)
(url="http://"mailto:celticstarbase@esatclear.ie")mailto:celticstarbase@esatclear.ie(/url)celticstarbase@esatclear.ie
Andrew, that wasn´t fair- You compared the 450 Mhz cube, and G4 dual...but you compared a 400 Mhz regular G4 against the cube, why didn´t you compare it as you should, with a regular 450 Mhz G4?
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If it´s quality software you can read "Made with Macintosh" -Shadow
Quote
Originally posted by Shadow:
**Andrew, that wasn´t fair- You compared the 450 Mhz cube, and G4 dual...but you compared a 400 Mhz regular G4 against the cube, why didn´t you compare it as you should, with a regular 450 Mhz G4?
**
Because there ISN'T one -- you can't buy one.
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Andrew Welch / el Presidente / Ambrosia Software, Inc.
(url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/~andrew/")http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/~andrew/(/url)
4 Computers:
1 Tangerine iMac (128mb RAM)
2 Dual 500mhz G4's (768MB RAM, 3 x 36Gig Utltra Drives)
2 17" Apple Monitors
- Don't buy the flat-panel, at least not in our opinion. The graphic resolution isn't as sharp (don't argue it, CNET, ZDNET, Apple, and us have all tested it). And, you have to pay quite a price for it. If you have the money, get it, but its small, and kinda sharp on the eye.
The Cube is good value for money, excellant in fact, considering that many users will not need many upgrades. The best computers are the G4 towers (at least for speed and expandability). If gaming like Unreal, Quake III (and Half-Life if you run a Linux drive as well) then get the Tower, because you can get better graphics cards and faster HD's.
The Cube is cool though, and the CD drive is nearly silent. What are you doing turning the volume down and listening for it anyway?! 
Finally,
1 PC (Dell, 800mhz, 512mb of RAM)
- Quite possibly the worst computer in the world, but ok compared with most PC's. The only reason we use this monstrosity is because Cold Fusion requires it as a development platform. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
1 17" ADI MultiScan monitor (6G)
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The Macology.com Team
Macology - The study of all things Macintosh