iMac

[vaxcardinal]

My wife would like a Mac for xmas...ignoring the whole Apple vs. Microsoft debate...are there specific configurations that I should be looking for? I know nothing about Apple products but from their website it doesnt look like they have the equivalent of what I would see if I went to Dell (ie, a slew of pre-built stuff or I can specify specific options). From what I can tell, you can either get an iMac or a Mac-mini. She doesnt plan on doing any heavy duty computer work, just the basic email, surfing, etc. Basically what most people do. I guess she could probably do evreything but gaming. I guess if the picture is good I would watch espn3 on there. Right now on my computer the video quality isnt too good but my computer is about 8 years old (still running XP). Mac-mini looks good from a price perspective but then you need to add a keyboard, monitor, and mouse so maybe not as attractive. Does apple historically ever run any deals on their stuff?

[Juggernautz]

nm

[orangeblueorangeblue]

My wife would like a Mac for xmas...ignoring the whole Apple vs. Microsoft debate...are there specific configurations that I should be looking for? I know nothing about Apple products but from their website it doesnt look like they have the equivalent of what I would see if I went to Dell (ie, a slew of pre-built stuff or I can specify specific options). From what I can tell, you can either get an iMac or a Mac-mini. She doesnt plan on doing any heavy duty computer work, just the basic email, surfing, etc. Basically what most people do. I guess she could probably do evreything but gaming. I guess if the picture is good I would watch espn3 on there. Right now on my computer the video quality isnt too good but my computer is about 8 years old (still running XP). Mac-mini looks good from a price perspective but then you need to add a keyboard, monitor, and mouse so maybe not as attractive. Does apple historically ever run any deals on their stuff?

Video quality on espn3 is unlikely to be much different. That's frankly less a matter of computer quality, more a matter of bandwidth (yours and ESPN's) and the encoded quality.

Apple does quite a few configuration options, so I'm not sure what you're looking at. Admittedly, not as many as Dell, but keep in mind you aren't buying a traditional beige case desktop here. Apple tries to limit the amount of internals for QA purposes.

This page shows two configuration options, for example:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac

[Judoka]

I use my 2009 Mac Mini to watch ESNP3 on my TV via HDMI, and the quality is decent. As someone else mentioned the biggest factor is your bandwidth; less equals a more pixellated video feed. If you already have a monitor the Mini is a better choice for your stated uses; the latest model is surprisingly powerful for such a little PC, and it's about $500 cheaper than the comparable iMac model.

[amangator08]

I was watching the ULL game on the Watch ESPN app on my iPad, and it was SO slow. Pulled ESPN3 up on my MacBook Pro, and I didn't have any further delays.

[vaxcardinal]

Video quality on espn3 is unlikely to be much different. That's frankly less a matter of computer quality, more a matter of bandwidth (yours and ESPN's) and the encoded quality.

Apple does quite a few configuration options, so I'm not sure what you're looking at. Admittedly, not as many as Dell, but keep in mind you aren't buying a traditional beige case desktop here. Apple tries to limit the amount of internals for QA purposes.

This page shows two configuration options, for example:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac

two is a lot less than what i'm used to seeing and the big difference is really monitor size. The big one looks sweet but dont think I have room on my desk for that...but I did go to the apple website a "chatted" with a sales rep...turns out those iMacs are not available yet, should be out in a week or 2 (they didnt have a date).

As for bandwidth...I just assumed its my computer. Ran speedtest and my download speed is 13.31 which should be enough.

[exiledgator]

The iMac is as much about its display as anything. There's as many pixels in my iMac 27 as my 47" LCD.

[philnotfil]

Don't buy extra memory with the machine. Apple doesn't like doing it, so they charge you ridiculous amounts for it. Buy it separately and install it yourself. Installation of memory is pretty easy for the iMac and Mac Mini, it is everything else that is a pain to do.