Thinking of buying a Mac

Well our Gateway puked after 7 long years of serivce. My brother is into video editing so he wants to get a Mac. I knwo myparents are a little weary about getting a Mac because my specialty is PC. I am thinking ti will increase my market value if I learn hwo to use a Mac so I will reccomend a Mac. I was thinking the Mac Mini with the superdrive so I can burn DVDs. This is way cheaper and compares to a PC. What do you guys think and what recomendations can you make? I need something comparable in price to a PC.

Mini's aren't bad, you don't want to go mobile?
Also the iMac is convenient but they start at $1200...

This is mainly for my parents and my brother. I'm moving out in 6 months to go to college so it really doesn't affect me as much. My brother wants to do video editing and knows iMovie from school so I figure that's the best. I just need something cheap otherwise they'll want to buy a PC (they look at price not everythign else they are pretty comptuer illiterate which is another point I brough up with Mac's OS and how it's easier for them).

how much do they want to spend?

Why not get a macbook (starts at 1050 or so)? they can hook it up to an external monitor when its at home, and then they can take it places too - I've loved my mobility ever since I got my MBP

They do not want to spend much money thats why I have to recommend something half ass cheap. They will not spend another $400 extra to have a Mac when they can get a comparable PC for cheaper. My parents dont know much about computers so they just see a price tag and compare the sticker specs and that is how they decide it.

Can you wait till the new os x 10.5 is out because supposedly Apple is reinventing its current line with better hardware for the same money.

no, don't play the waiting game - Leopard isn't going to be released until October anyway.

Go for the mini then or check out the refurbished ones; there are some pretty good deals to be had.

Are you going to college next year? Apple has a $200 student discount for college students

It's not a $200 discount for everything only the MBP, its normally around 10% but is set at a price. Like the MB are $150 but I got a free nano, and $100 of a printer on top of that

Mini's are actually very nice everyday computers. They won't perform top of the line for anything but nonetheless are still very nice... and well nice a compact

The computer we have now is pretty dead. We basically need one now so we'll have to pay normal price.

As a mac lover, I must reccomend against Apple here. They lack bang for your buck.
First, they still only have the regular Core Duo chip, not the Core 2 Duo. They use slower laptop disc and hard drives. In addition, they're proprietary and un-upgradable.
All for $799
For $699, get the Gateway GT5408 in my sig (Comes with premium I did anytime upgrade). Beats the crap out of a Mac mini in every way. They don't really need a Mac.

(FYI, with rebates, I got the GT5408 and a 19" proview widescreen LCD monitor for $589).

Why not.

By then the current highend mac book pros will be pretty much the macbooks and so forth and maybe Apple will get their asses together and realize how under powered their pc's are compared to the rest of the world.

???

You make no sense. Apple is one o the few manufacturers who are selling quad-core computers, for example. Their entire lineup is Intel Core-based, the graphics are enough for what they can be used for on an Apple computer.

I have no idea what you mean by under powered, especially when there are other manufacturers out there still trying to sell Pentium D based systems...

1200 for a Mac with 1gig of ram, 17inch lcd, core 2 duo and a 160gig hard drive yet I can buy a xp based system same price with a bigger lcd, 2gigs of ram, a video card (not the cheap intel gma 950), 250gig hard drive, and the same core 2 duo processor

What apple needs is to quit this proprietary design crap because that is what is stopping them from challenging MS because with MS you can interchange parts while with Apple its expensive and its nearly impossible to get the pc equivalent

Well first of all, and forgive me if I am mistaken, but the upgradability that you are complaining about for Macs has more to do with the form than Apple's hardware choices. Mac Pros are easily upgradeable, because they are in tower cases; doesn't an all-in-one PC like the Sony Vaio LS series face the same limitations for upgrading as an iMac?

Secondly, an iMac is not more expensive than a Vaio LS, which it more closely resembles than a regular desktop.

Unfortunately, because Sony apparently doesn't let you customize the LS at all, it will be a little difficult to compare these two. But lets see what you get for $2000 at both ends.

iMac:

2.1 Ghz Core 2 Duo
24 inch widescreen
1 GB ram
250 GB HD
7300 GT


Sony Vaio LS:

2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo
19 inch widescreen
2 GB ram
320 GB HD
7400 Go

A 7400 Go isn't really going to be much better than a 7300 GT (although, why is Sony using a mobile graphics card in the LS anyway?). On the iMac, you get a slightly faster Core 2 Duo, and a much, much larger screen, while the LS comes with an extra 70 GB, and a GB more ram. Personally, I think the iMac is a better deal, because I would much rather have the nice big screen, plus it is possible to upgrade memory in iMacs I think.


And what do you mean it is impossible to get the PC equivalent for a Mac? Mac Pros are available with 8 cores (EIGHT CORES!!), 16 GB of Ram, 3.0 Terabytes of storage... No PC manufacturer offers that.

Well for 2 grand you can get a 8800, which would kill both of those cards. Even if its not necessary it is cheaper.

On newegg.com, you can get a a comp for 1.5 grand, and it would totally destroy those 2 you stated above.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227025

Only downside is it doesnt come with a monitor, but you got 500 extra, so that would cover it.

Mac doesnt have a great bang for your buck, neither does sony, but you have to look at different companies. Ibuypower and cyber pc make great computers for lower prices.