bevo barry
500+ Posts
I apologize in advance for the long post. Back in October I started a thread titled "How long can I expect a computer to last?", and some of the answers y'all gave touched on some of the subjects below; but I am now about to finally "pull the trigger", and so I would like Mac-owning HornFans to help me configure my computer. I am probably one of the very few adults in this country with a professional degree and with a decent income, over the age of 50, who does not have a home computer. That is because for the past 20 years I have spent the majority of my day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, here at the frickin' office, going home just to crash. We were supplied a computer (PC), and while officially we were not supposed to surf the Net, the suits upstairs looked the other way as long as we did not try to visit online gambling or porn sites (which were blocked anyway). The same thing applied to e-mail: We weren't supposed to use it except for official company use, but everyone did and no one ever got their hands slapped.
I have now retired (still working here 1 or 2 days a week per diem) and I am about to make the leap and purchase my first home computer. After reading many threads here on HornFans, and after talking to many coworkers, I've decided to go with Apple, not PC. For my needs and preferences, I'm going with the desktop, not a laptop. Basically I just need to surf the Net and have e-mail access, and I'll use my home computer for music storage-editing-management, photo storage-editing-management, and DVD authoring. I do not plan to do any gaming, though perhaps that may change. I asked my oldest son, who is in the IT field up in Seattle, what he would recommend, and without my telling him my preference toward Apple products, he recommended the following, even though he is a PC user (he says that he is going to change over to a Mac for his next home computer):
The Link
I would like to get a "second opinion" from you guys. First, my son told me that, given my needs, there would be no point in me buying the 3.33 chip instead of the default 3.06 GHz one... correct? Second, I've always heard the maxim that one should purchase as much memory as one can afford. Paul (my son) thinks that 4 GB would suit me just fine, but that if on general principle I wanted to purchase more RAM than that, he would recommend the cheaper of the two 8 GB options (4 x 2 GB as compared to a 2 x 4 GB). Still, everyone here at work keeps saying the same thing over and over... "purchase as much memory as you can afford". Well, I actually can afford the 16 GB memory option, though perhaps for my needs it would be kind of like buying a $150,000 Ferrari to drive 10 miles to and from work at 60 mph... in other words, a total waste. Question for HornFans: If I were to upgrade to 8 GB, what is the difference between the 4 x 2 GB versus the 2 x 4 GB, and why does the latter cost $400 more than the former? And, if I were to upgrade, which one should I choose?
Any reason to go to the 2 TB hard drive over the default 1 TB? I can afford it but, again, perhaps for my needs it would be a total waste of money?
One more thing: Beat the hell out of the Crimson Tide!
I have now retired (still working here 1 or 2 days a week per diem) and I am about to make the leap and purchase my first home computer. After reading many threads here on HornFans, and after talking to many coworkers, I've decided to go with Apple, not PC. For my needs and preferences, I'm going with the desktop, not a laptop. Basically I just need to surf the Net and have e-mail access, and I'll use my home computer for music storage-editing-management, photo storage-editing-management, and DVD authoring. I do not plan to do any gaming, though perhaps that may change. I asked my oldest son, who is in the IT field up in Seattle, what he would recommend, and without my telling him my preference toward Apple products, he recommended the following, even though he is a PC user (he says that he is going to change over to a Mac for his next home computer):
The Link
I would like to get a "second opinion" from you guys. First, my son told me that, given my needs, there would be no point in me buying the 3.33 chip instead of the default 3.06 GHz one... correct? Second, I've always heard the maxim that one should purchase as much memory as one can afford. Paul (my son) thinks that 4 GB would suit me just fine, but that if on general principle I wanted to purchase more RAM than that, he would recommend the cheaper of the two 8 GB options (4 x 2 GB as compared to a 2 x 4 GB). Still, everyone here at work keeps saying the same thing over and over... "purchase as much memory as you can afford". Well, I actually can afford the 16 GB memory option, though perhaps for my needs it would be kind of like buying a $150,000 Ferrari to drive 10 miles to and from work at 60 mph... in other words, a total waste. Question for HornFans: If I were to upgrade to 8 GB, what is the difference between the 4 x 2 GB versus the 2 x 4 GB, and why does the latter cost $400 more than the former? And, if I were to upgrade, which one should I choose?
Any reason to go to the 2 TB hard drive over the default 1 TB? I can afford it but, again, perhaps for my needs it would be a total waste of money?
One more thing: Beat the hell out of the Crimson Tide!
