[blue]

So, as much as I love the G4 iMac I paid $150 for, it is just too damned slow. Hence, I think I will buy a fancy new one. Where should I buy it? Is there anywhere cheaper than the Apple store? I'll be getting either the higher-end 17 inch or the 20. Refurb or with the education discount if I buy from Apple. Next up, when? I was reading on MacRumors that the iMac is due for an update in the next few months. Would Apple then blow out their older style iMacs? I'm likely not interested in getting an updated one unless it's mind-blowingly awesome. However, if I were to wait for the update, that would likely devalue my current machine that I can probably Fleabay for $400...hmmm.

Also: Does Bootcamp/Windows run well on the new Macs? I'd consider it, but only for games...

 

[Toshi]

www.macnn.com

yes, bootcamp works just fine. i run parallels desktop instead myself. see burleyshirley's thread on macs for more fun facts and hax

 

[Transcend]

Bootcamp works great. The new bootcamp is out, it supports vista if you want to torture yourself with that OS. It also have some updated drivers for other mac specific things.

You can sometimes get deals from macmall and such, but they usually have fairly limited (base) setups. If you want extra ram, HDD swaps or whatever you'd have to do it on your own (cheaper anyways) or get from apple. If you want bluetooth or wifi modules installed in the machines that it isn't included in, you have to go through apple. Edu rate will get you $200-300 off usually.

 

[blue]

So how exactly does bootcamp work? Do you just partition the drive in NTFS and the Mac filesystem? If that's how it works, there is little chance of anything Windows corrupting any Mac files, no? I'd likely just go with XP Lite...I've been playing with Vista for the past week. A bloated wannabe OSX is what it is.

I think I'll just go the edu discount from Apple. 17 inches if wub...

 

[Transcend]

All bootcamp does is allow you to partition things (or remove windows partitions you have already created), and then it creates a driver disk for you with all of the mac specific hardware drivers for windows. It does this without touching your mac os x install. You need it to do this as Macs don't have a BIOS, which windows will look for on boot. Neither Xp nor Vista as far as I am aware support EFI out of the box on consumer systems. Server 2003 and vista support it on itanium systems, and vista will support it on consumer grade systems sometime in the next decade or so.

Pretty slick system I think. No digging around to find the proper drivers etc. You need some of the more specific ones anyways for things like the keyboard (so that you can open/close the CD tray etc.)