Tempted.

[dvandom]

I went to the campus computer store to check out the new Macs (my 6 year old iLamp is starting to get arthritic), and they have recertified 24" iMacs (2GB RAM, 280GHz, 250GB HD, IIRC) for $1399, the same price as the new 20" iMacs (roughly the same specs, but only 266GHz). They'll no doubt all be sold before my CDs mature, and even at "only" $1399 (plus tax and some software I'd want to add) that'd pretty much wipe my savings. So I get to wait.

OTOH, the salesman made a fairly good pitch for Google Docs, so I should give that another look soon.

Comments

[grant-p.livejournal.com]

Is that the on-line office suite? It works quite well for things that don't have one, like some PDAs and smartphones, but if you want a Mac-compatible office suite without MS2007, I still think Openoffice is a better deal, as you don't need an internet connection to use it. Supposedly the 3.0 release soon won't need any compatibility layer anymore like X11 to run, they're bundling it with the Mac installer.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm looking at GoogleDocs more for work. We're having trouble with file transfer using OpenOffice and our course management software, and GoogleDocs might be better for that. But it'd have to be FERPA-compliant or we might as well stick to paper copies.

[grant-p.livejournal.com]

Is the software Blackboard based? I just save everything as .doc or .ppt and it seems to work fine. Probably a different system, though. .odf may be the international standard but no one in this country uses it.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

It's more a matter that students can upload to the instructor just fine, but downloading graded work back to the students is a PITA. FERPA interpretation forbids emailing graded work.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Since I'm in part responsible for a good chunk of their Mac sales (including our new server), I get their mailings of EOL offers, offers that usually last less than a day (few days ago: HP 3600N Color Laser Jet, $249, but only four). They had a few recert 24s for $100 less a few days ago and a MacBook Air for $1300. I can keep my eyes open....

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'll probably post on the topic again in January or so when I start seriously looking. I mainly wanted to get a direct impression of monitor sizes today (and frankly, the 24" may be too big for my desk!). I'm not really going to have a grand to toss at anything non-vital until February anyway.

[diosoth.livejournal.com]

I've never looked at Macs much as they just aren't gaming platforms. I'd have to reobtain whatever I own that IS Mac-ported anyway. But in my desire to avoid Windows Vista, I can't buy a new PC so I have to look into upgrade options for my current PC. I boosted the RAM, bigger hard drive, but I still need to look into a better video card, and now even bigger RAM options.

As far as PCs go, upgrading is actually much cheaper than new anyway. I'm not sure if Macs allow such an option, though.

Oh, I also emailed you from my new address, but I never got a reply. Either your spam filter ate both copies I sent, or Hotmail REALLY doesn't like Firefox.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Or maybe I just didn't have anything to say in reply? Try sending again. :)

[diosoth.livejournal.com]

3rd copy sent. I've looked into Macs for their general immunity to virsuses and spyware... I've alreday had to reinstall Windows on THIS hard drive once thanks to something basically crippling my ability to even boot. Whatever it was made Vundo look tame, too, as nothing would remove it, not even digging through manually.

I don't like having to reinstall Windows. My files stay, but sound, broadband and video drivers have to be reinstalled, and certain programs also need fresh installs afterwards.

... I keep my driver install files on USB stick. I can still use the 56K modem while crippled but it's a real hassle to find and download much anything with basic functionality.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

While it's starting to get annoyingly slow, I've never had to do a full re-install on my 6 year old iMac. And Macs aren't so much immune to viruses et al as protected by species barriers. A Mac is no safer against a Mac virus than a PC is versus PC viruses, but there just aren't enough Mac viruses to cause concern, and they can't catch each other's stuff (leaving aside things like macro viruses).

[diosoth.livejournal.com]

Viruses typically come in these varieties:

* the kid who just wants to write a virus "because he can"
* the angry Microsoft hater who think they're striking a blow against Bill Gates, and by extension, Bill Gates supporters(aka PC owners)
* the hacker who wants to steal personal info(credit cards, bank info, online game login info, etc)
* companies that want to sell their bogus products. This is most spyware. Infect a PC with a bad code that pops up ads for a program that promises to rid you of any infection. The program is junkware that they sell.

It really doesn't help that Microsoft coded Windows for easy communication. This is what makes it so easy for virus code to spread out on its own.

If Macs ever became big gaming platforms, their user base would grow and they'd become a target for more virus authors.

[grant-p.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's similar to Linux. Everyone says Linux is virus and hack proof. That's baloney, most servers are Linux and they get hacked all the time. Also, Linux can transmit viruses it can't actually get, I just cleaned one off my Ubuntu machine, that had I transferred a file, it could have infected XP.

[lord-xiphos.livejournal.com]

280GHz? 266GHz? Did Apple silently perfect infrared optical computing? ;)