Wifes MAC dies, BOHICA!

lendaddy · 08-19-2005, 04:25 AM

So a few years back I drop enough to rebuild a flat six into a G4 for the wife business. Now it's toast

Powerup gives you a folder with a question mark, and the service place is saying eltoasto.

So give it to me straight, how far in my asss is Apple going to be? She has an Advert/Markt business and needs some HP, so what are we talking? I think I dropped $5k-$5.5K last time

Halm · 08-19-2005, 04:39 AM

The new Mac's are susposed to be very nice and seem to have come down in price. IMHO their biggest advantage is that they present a smaller target for virus writers and they do very nice graphics.

That said, is there a particular application that only the Mac can run? You can go TOP end with a Windows / Intel box and not break $2000. For example, check out this Dell page:
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/outrageous_desktops_beta?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

If you do go Mac again, make sure you get the new Tiger OS. HTH

id10t · 08-19-2005, 04:40 AM

Less than $3k should do for a nice dual G5... your monitor, etc. are still good. Heck, would a few mac minis do the job instead?

lendaddy · 08-19-2005, 04:42 AM

She NEEDS a MAC it is the standard in her industry, $3k is what I was thinking.

jyl · jyl's Garage

store.apple.com

A current G5 iMac should be more powerful than a few-year-old G4 PowerMac. They start at $1300. Add 2GB of third-party memory, try www.memoryx.com or similar. Or, try the refurbished Macs (lower-right corner of the store page), I've bought two of them with no complaints, they look brand new.

deanp · 08-19-2005, 04:48 AM

The question mark on startup is saying it can't find the system folder. The system folder resides on the hard drive. Is it just your drive that is fried or the board? If the board then you need to replace with a G5, lots of options for how much you can spend depending on how you option it out. If it's just the drive, replace the drive, install the latest version of OS X and you should be off and running.

Can the service place get it up and running off the system restore disks?

lendaddy · 08-19-2005, 04:53 AM

I have no idea. I am told that they got her info off of it and were going to run some more tests today.

87911jon · 87911jon's Garage

When G-4s were new they were in the 2k ballpark. Which should mean the other money you spent on her system can be transfered to a new G4 or G5. I'm guessing the other monies went for external (or internal) drives, monitor, memory (transferable?) software and other peripherals, all transferable. It's not as bad as it looks. Make sure you trust the Mac service place, ask if it's owned by MM! As you probably know, Macs are pretty robust computers. Are you sure you can't just reformat the main hard drive and reinstall the system software? If it's the mother board, that'll run you under a thousand. Find out EXACTLY what "eltoasto" means. A great place to ask questions is the technical department at PowerMacPac 503-256-5210, they service and sell Apple stuff and they're not all about selling, they'll walk you through getting your box back up. Macs are amazingly easy to work on. If you plan to buy a new computer, consider the 17" power book. I do pretty intensive work on mine, Final Cut Pro, After Effects, DVD Studio Pro, Director etc...

lendaddy · 08-19-2005, 05:21 AM

She did inquire about an iBook, she could use her current monitor at home and still "take it all with her".

It's really not the money(though I must b1tch

), so are these books serious performers? Can you count on them or are they "buggy".

Thanks!

deanp · 08-19-2005, 05:32 AM

I've had two Powerbooks and currently have an iBook as a back-up to travel with. If she is contemplating using the laptop full time, I would most likely spend the extra and get a Powerbook. The iBooks, while very sound machines have always tended to have 'older' tech. Generally slower than the Powerbooks, not as many options, not as powerful, Apple's version of budget machines.

Kind of like how Porsche is separating the 911 from the Cayman and Boxster. The potential is there but they don't let them compete for the same market side by side.

lendaddy · 08-19-2005, 05:33 AM

I just didn't know the MAC jargon, I meant a Powerbook....or whatever the workhorse is. Thanks. Would you trust one as your main machine?

id10t · 08-19-2005, 05:36 AM

Yup. And you should be able to use your existing monitor, etc. as a "docking station" (PC term... do Macs have 'em?)

deanp · 08-19-2005, 05:38 AM

Absolutely!

yellowline · 08-19-2005, 06:19 AM

My Powerbook (6 weeks old!) is great in general, though the battery life isn't the greatest...I probably get 3 hours with the extended life battery settings, but that's with Airport on. I'm thinking using wireless takes a lot of juice. If she's used to Apple, I don't see why a notebook couldn't serve as the main machine.

Go for performance if you get a notebook...I went with a no-frills 15" 1.5GHz model. Now I'm not sure if I should have gone with a loaded 12" model for the same $. ($2k) Get one with a little more RAM and a faster processor. For $3k, you should be able to do well.

stomachmonkey · 08-19-2005, 07:02 AM

Flashing question mark is a disc issue. Where is the box? Who has it?

Flashing ? is usually not overly serious.

In terms of a Powerbook I have both the 15 and 17.

Love the display on the 17 but the 15 is easier to work at, keyboard is closer to you and more comfortable.

Either way to get any laptop, Mac or PC, to rival a desktop in performance you should swap the hard drive.

Laptops come with 5400 rpm drives which is not great for work that generates a lot of swap files, Photoshop.

Hitachi make a 7200 rpm drive that screams. Take the original hd and toss it into a small external case and you have a travel drive AND a back up destination.

id10t · 08-19-2005, 07:37 AM

And for the battery life, Spotlight may be messing with it keeping indexes up to date... recent /. article on it

stevepaa · 08-19-2005, 08:27 AM

Joel, get more info on exactly what is wrong. The machine might be fine and the hard drive is having a problem or the OS got screwed. It is easy to replace the hard drive and try a new one. Is data backed up?

stomachmonkey · 08-19-2005, 08:31 AM

BTW,

I use my 17 for

Video editng, Final Cut.

Graphics, Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, Flash.

Audio, I plug my Tascam into it and have a mobile VO station.

Music Editing

3d animation, use Cinema 4d but I'd love to have 3ds Max on it, I'm sure that'll finally come with the switch to Intel.

This thing is a workhorse, sometimes it'll start to bog down and then I realize that I'm running 12 or more apps.

On a regular basis I've got Photoshop, Flash, Mozilla, Entourage, Acrobat Pro, Illustrator, Word, Excell, Final Cut and DVD Studio Pro running and it does not flinch.

lendaddy · 08-19-2005, 08:43 AM

Thanks guys, as soon as I get info on it's status I'll post it. My wife deserves a new machine anyway to be honest, and with her giving birth to our second son in 6 weeks a laptop may be a well timed addition to her arsenal anyway

stevepaa · 08-19-2005, 08:44 AM

I PM 'd you.