Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I`m looking about buying a iMac G4 laptop.  Does anyone want to weigh in pros and cons?

Apple Computers; Great Marketing Strategy. You are essentially buying a lifestyle with their products. But as far as computers go, too expensive and they will become more prone to security issues as they become more popular as the market share of Apple Computers continues to grow.
If you worry about security and don`t want the headaches that come with dealing with viruses, spyware and other nasty security threats, and you are not a computer savvy or a novice to computing, I would suggest that you do get a Mac, but if you are more advanced user and know how to troubleshoot and, or maintain you computer then stick with a PC.


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It`s just going to be a working computer, word documents, excel spreadsheets, and maybe some design software. 

The iMac g4 laptop is 6 months old for $700.  The owner bought it for $1000

Is that a good deal?

I can`t answer your question but I can say "Yes! I`m a Mac fan!". I actually use a PC now but I had Mac`s for years. I only switched because I changed careers from graphic/web design to real estate. Our MLS software was not Mac compatible.

Good luck!

While the outward design undeniably looks "cool", the cost definitely isn`t.  For almost any Mac laptop, you can purchase a PC laptop from Dell, Acer, or Toshiba for half the price with the same parts and specifications.  And with the money you save, you can always hire someone else to build a custom design case.    

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"Forget inspirational quotes to keep you going. If by doing what you do, you get an hour every day to relax, be with the ones you love in comfort without doing wrong, then it is all worth it." -Anon.

If you enjoy dealing with technical stuff, save some money and get a PC.  If you would rather have your teeth drilled, than learn about how your computer works, then  get a mac.

As for the deal of $700 I would walk away fast. Last week these were replaced by the new MacBook with intel processors. You can boot up as as mac or  in windows XP. The price of the used iBooks have plummeted.

I would avoid buying a used Mac for another reason. If it`s all new to you, you`re just not going to be able to understand what the previous owner has done to the machine. You just won`t be able to tell if `thats the apple way of doing it` or if an issue is some strange way the previous owner set things up.

love to see you in a Mac , but certainly not that one.

An an almost all-mac shop, I have to say I love the Apple.  Considering that time is money and my computer acting slow or being down costs money, I`ve had a grand total of three hours down due to do computer problems in three years.  Their reliability and being well-built is worth the money; it`s not just a pretty case.

I would also say spend the money and get an intel-based mac.

Although there are all the programs you list are available for the mac, you may still want the option in the future to run certain windows software.  The intel mac when that time comes will let you do that with something called "boot camp."  That way you can load not only Windows XP but OSX so you have the best of both worlds.  Or, you can get Windows when you buy your new mac and load it up right when you start, so you don`t have to make a choice at all and run whatever software comes your way... I have a friend who uses his macbook with OSX 90% of the time and then the other 10% of the time, when he needs to (and not for surfind online), he starts it up as a Windows XP machine.

I was at a clients the other day and they swore I could never connect to their network, use their printer, etc. and they were, of course, completely and totally wrong.  I was using it in about say, 15 seconds.  I haven`t met a network I can`t play on yet.

I`m interested in making money... my computers are crucial to that.  I need them to work and not fail; I still have a mac laptop from 2001 that does all you describe every day and follows me wherever I go (I have, of course, more modern hardware for my desktop, for editing and design).  I can almost guarantee that if you buy a mac it will serve you longer, be better built, and you will have less technical problems with the software you mentioned. Yes, you`re paying a premium for certain things.  I agree.  But I`m always going to pay a premium for something I know is going to work.

p.s. Entreprenerd, come back!  Come back!  You can run your MLS on it now!  Come back!


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Letutor,

   I sprained my wrist yesterday so I won`t type too much today; however, as someone who converted to Mac via a used machine, I really encourage you to give it a try.  I am currently working on an iMac G5 and I`m 150% satisfied.   

   Ranking high on my list of "reasons why" is the Mac`s ability to handle multiple languages really well.  I regularly switch between Japanese, Chinese and English with total ease.... adding more languages into the language palette is so easy and intuitive, it`s almost silly to compare to windows:  Arabic? Hebrew? Inuktitut? Russian? No problem, you don`t even need to download special add-ons;  you can even switch to a Dvorak keyboard layout if that`s your fancy.

   As you are in the language business, I imagine that the flexibility with languages will be one of the perks of working on a Mac that you appreciate.

   One other function that I don`t remember having with my PC was `print to PDF`.  Making .pdf files directly from word is really easy.

   As for the price-- check out a few auctions on e-bay, and you`ll have a good idea what the going price for a used model is.

What Canadiasian said.

I have been a Mac user for many years...and it`s a pleasure...the iphoto and itunes are fabulous.

Go for it!

Having worked on both platforms extensively and having recent experience with my son`s PC (he`s a gamer and of course the newest games are on PC first or exclusively) I side with the Mac`s. My background includes both working with PCs on jobs, and teaching graphics and productivity (word, excel, etc) software - usually on PC. (I started way back when Microsoft Word was a Mac program - PC people used WordPerfect as their standard.)

From what I`ve seen, cheaper PC laptops are just that - cheaper. They may have the same ram/HD/video/USB2, but not the sound, networking ease, build quality or decent included software. Not to mention as soon as you buy a PC you`re also going to buy as much security / firewall / antivirus / pop-up stoppers / etc software as you can afford. Yes, that may change as Macs become more popular (thank you thomasz - I note you said they are becoming more popular - and there`s a reason for that) however the way the Mac OS is built it is inherently more resistant to attack than Windows. With Windows, it seems to be a running battle to keep ahead of attacks.

Consumer reports has consistently rated Mac`s highest for user satisfaction, and the lifetime use of a Mac is generally two to three times longer than a PC. As well, overall cost of ownership is usually substantially less than PC`s.

For you business owners, you should really note that last point - the purchase price and the cost of ownership are two separate issues and can make a big difference to your profit line. Not only do Mac`s generally take less maintenance, but you need 1/5th the IT department compared to a PC based business. Its long been a (sort of) joke among Mac users that IT departments refuse to allow Macs in the work place because 80 per cent of them would lose their jobs.

Just for the record, I do think PC`s can be well made and work incredibly well - but they wind up costing more than an equivalent Mac, look at Voodoo Computers machines. Beautifully built and rock solid. Very expensive.

As well, if you`re really technically inclined and know the PC, stick with it - making the change can be really hard if you already know how to make Windows sing - Macs are based on Unix and have a different psychology.

And yes, there are bad Macs that misbehave, just like PCs. It happens. However, my experience with PCs has occasionally left my jaw on my chest for silly/simple/stupid problems that took an IT person to fix and had brought the PC to a dead stop. I don`t have time to learn all the PC tricks - I`d rather just work.

If you would rather not worry about the technical stuff get a Mac.

Overall, there`s nothing I do that my Mac doesn`t seem to handle better than the PCs I`ve used. And as pointed out, the new Macs will do both anyways.


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