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MS isn't selling hard drives and memory upgrades, which is what we are talking about here.

If you are looking for competition in the Mac Market, take a look here:

http://dealmac.com/
http://ramseeker.com/

That should give you plenty of competition in the Mac Marketplace for the things the article is talking about (upgrades to products). If not, stop by any computer store or consumer electronics store and see the RAM and hard drive (internal as well as external) options available.

It may be confusing since many components are able to be used on both Macs and PC's (much like some Goodyear tires can be used on both Fords and Toyotas). But that has no bearing on the two companies (MS and Apple, or Ford and Toyota) being in competition with each other. As a matter of fact, that further proves the diversity in the marketplace.

If Apple RAM and hard drives were ONLY able to be used in a Mac and nobody else could make them and they thwarted the attempts to get around the system (Ink Cartridge makers, I am looking at you), then you would be right on the money. But in this case, it is not much more than (Gawd, here I go with the car analogy again) Toyota charging 200% more for a stereo upgrade/shiny rims/undercoating/alarm/etc. than Ford.

And to answer another earlier question, yes, there are usually tighter QC specs on the Apple brand than other manufacturers. Compare a Dell 24" ultrasharp display with an Apple 23" Cinema display - the specs are the same on paper, but I have physically installed these two monitors side by side as a test for multiple designers, told them to work with them for a month, swap them with their partner, work another month, and tell me which should be the standard. Not my money, I don't care which they get - but they always choose the Apple Cinema display because the quality is just a little better during the side by side/swap tests. I also have a small pile of hard drives and RAM with Apple logos on the manufacturers stickers indicating they are made specifically to Apple specs.

I hope that helps clear up the confusion.

The only drawback is that you can only order them from the Internet. I do not know of any retail store who actually sells the brand outright nor do I know of any brand (like Sony, Memorex, Fujifilm) who sells rebranded Taiyo Yuden discs.

I'm told the Fuji's that are "Made in Japan" are usually Taiyo Yudens. I've gotten a pack of them at Best Buy (the country of origin isn't always the same) and they've worked well. I haven't gone the additional step of running a disc ID program on them.

Usually I just order a spindle of a hundred injket-printable discs from Meritline for $30 or so when I'm running low. Watch DealMac for coupons every once in a while. Thirty cents for 4GB of archival data is worth it for me. I burn two if I really care about the contents. 60 cents is also worth it.

Also, the Taiyo brand is more expensive than any other brand.

Ah, that old "you get what you pay for" canard again...

If you have a terabyte of data to store I'm guessing you have plenty of disk space already. Maybe you don't have an empty file system with a terabyte of free space to do disc to disc copies but eventually disk space cost will come down to something reasonable for that amount of data.

[...] recovering data from said flash drive? If so, the data on those works the same way it does on a hard drive. The system deletes a file from the tree, but leaves the data intact until written over. Any standard undelete program will recover files you've simply deleted.

I do not think this is entirely accurate. I have had a USB flash drive with multiple data files lose its index/tree/paritition file (whatever you want to call it) after the drive got removed from the computer. On the next insertion to the computer wanted to format it. Anyways, tried throwing various undelete/parition/file recovery programs at it. None of them saw data on the drive anywhere. It was as though a USB flash drive has some simple electrical command that wipes its entire contents instantly, and that command had been inadvertently sent. (No, it was not hardware failure. The same drive worked just fine after a fresh formatting.)

Yes, it is more expensive, but I like the super thin and small PQI brand: 2GB for $40.

The Mac Pro's are expensive, but they are truly "professional" machines. You will be very happy with a top-of-the-line iMac. I have tried out the regular Core Duo 17-inch iMac and it spanks every Mac I had tried before. And it was not even tricked out. Btw, if you want 24-inch external displays, I would suggest getting the under $750 ones (when on sale) from Dell. That is a good way to save some money and put your cash towards the computer, not the display.

Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor

You can get a 4GB USB thumb drive for $100 (or get four 512MB and one 2GB bundled together for $108). The current crop of MicroDrives (CompactFlash-compatible miniature hard drives) of similar capacity runs even less.

If a normal consumer can buy these things on the retail market today, Apple really needs to get its act together and start increasing capacity on its lower end or it is going to lose that market to these cheap drives and the simple add-ons that allow playback of music.

Or you could try this amazing little SD card that has a built in USB connector. One of the cleverest ideas of 2005 IMHO.

At the same time, it is absolutely retarded that PDAs are commonly USB clients, but not USB hosts.

Agreed. There are many devices that would be awesome hooked up to a PDA. Bluetooth will take on this function in the future I reckon.

Sounds like you gave it an honest shot and it just wasn't for you. Sure, you could try and tweak it with various methods and 3rd party applications, but by that point you're starting to do what you've already done on your favored linux distro. I don't think such tweaks would make you happy with OS X (although they do make some OS X users even happier).

As afar as that last of the PPC powerbooks goes, wait until the day the intel based powerbooks are out, and then start cruising the Apple Store special deals section on a daily basis or keep your eye on sites like dealmac.

[OK, my brothers, I have him distracted. Get the tar and feathers ready!]

Dealnews
DealInk
DealCoupon
DealCam

and the stuff is not Mac-centric, tons of periperals that are Windows only or cross-platform useable. Many times, combinations of Rebates and hidden Coupons are pointed out showing that the end result is an item that costs $0.00!

Dealmac.com http://www.dealmac.com/
dealram.com http://www.dealram.com/

and the rest of the "deal family." I have never gotten a "bad" retailer from one of their links. Over the year I have saved thousands of dollars from "Deal" sites.

Keep an eye on dealmac.com, specifically the Systems page. Lots of good stuff there.

Keep an eye on dealmac.com, specifically the Systems page. Lots of good stuff there.

Check out dealmac.com in thier systems page. Some pretty good deals in there.

Check out dealmac.com in thier systems page. Some pretty good deals in there.

Why not get the basic eMac then? It's the least expensive Mac you can buy. Apple has refurbed 1.25 GHz w/Combo Drive models for $699 (go to the Apple Store and click on the red "Save" tag on the right hand side.), or you can go to DealMac and they usually have something cheap listed. The great thing about Macs is that they will hold their value for a long time, so if you don't like it, just sell it on eBay and get at least 75% of your money back.

When I first got my 17" Powerbook, I was dreading my inability to boot into OS 9. After the first couple of months, I stopped missing my OS 9 apps, having found better OS X replacements. Every once in a while, I'd accidentally launch a Classic app, but that was rarely an issue. The only problems I see with OS X now is that it's slightly less secure (though much more stable and powerful), and power users such as myself may run into a lack of available applications for specific tasks. (Rasterizing NOAA vector maps, for example.)

I imagine we'll hear a few people here and there complain about needing to migrate to OS X, but I think the pros for dropping G4s from the line outweigh the cons. Besides, I have a feeling that, unless they require very specific compatibiliy with a legacy app that's no longer available, they're going to be fine. Now we're going to see price drops increase on these suckers dramatically, and suddenly a bunch of students and other low-income folks be able to afford a machine that they didn't think possible for their budget. I'll bet DealMac will be listing some price slashing within a couple of days.

You occasionally can get the 10 and 15 gig models from Apple for $199, refurbished.

Incidentally, 5 gig drives are not $100 cheaper than $15 gig drives on the open market. In fact, Toshiba stopped making them when they discovered the new 15 gig process (hence the wierd iPod price structure), which costs as much as making a 5 gig drive.

If it's true that Apple won't bend on their margins, iPods are as cheap as they will ever be. If you really want one, and can't see yourself going with another vendor with slimmer margins, try dealmac. You can often find good third party deals and bundles, save on shipping and taxes, and even get wierd reburb deals.

Goto Dealmac.com for the best deals on Mac-related deals.

This is just one more reason not to buy RAM or harddrives from apple. They're overpriced. Check dealram.com, dealmac.com, & pricewatch.com instead.

The web site dealmac.com keeps track of the best prices for Apple-related products, including ipods. Right now, none iPod of the deals listed are especially great (eg they list the 10 GB iPod for $229.00 from the Apple Store), but there should be updates soon.

And don't forget DealMac. They have a Dec 5 listing for MacResQ for a refurb 10GB for $199.

And don't forget DealMac. They have a Dec 5 listing for MacResQ for a refurb 10GB for $199.

Go to www.dealmac.com and search for "ipod". There are deals to be had on old models, refurbs, used, and open box ipods. On brand-spankin' new ones, you'll be lucky to get $10 off.

I am a sysadmin for an ISP in NYC and I know one other ISP's sysadmin up here has a Mac laptop as well.

It's hard to beat built in FreeBSD on a 15" display that is so thin.

The display for the price sold me on my laptop. You couldn't buy a PC laptop with 15" display and DVD/CD-R capability for what I paid for this refreshed (apple's term for refurbished) laptop.

They also threw in a gig of ram which makes a world of difference in OS X.

I stopped using my desktop and totally switched to my Mac at work. Most of my work is in terminal though.

For those that have to connect to a windows network, the built in samba is hard to beat.

I bought mine at the apple store but Smalldog is has a good refurb selection if you don't have an apple store near you. Dealmac is where I found smalldog and has a lot of other good links as well.

1.I know this sounds like flaimbait, but Mac users will buy anything Steve Jobs tells them is good. (I admit it, I really want to get a 17 inch powerbook)

2.They are used to paying full price for things having to do with technology, because Apple products and peripherals don't go on sale.

That is why the iTunes music store was such an unprecidented success. It was not just sheer luck.

As I remember, the APP does NOT cover cases of "abuse". I remember a discussion on dealmac about someone stepping on her powerbook (and cracking the screen) and not being reimbursed by Apple. I would guess the same would happen here.

This'll be small comfort, I'm sure, but the SuperDrive is a Pioneer DVD-R/RW drive that makes fairly regular discount appearances under CenDyne and a couple of other brand names. I haven't tried this yet (but my birthday's coming up, and as long as I'm dreaming, God, I would also like a pony), but it is documented that if you install the drive in your G4 tower, iDVD will be none the wiser that you didn't get it at the factory.

Everyone who has dealt with Shreve Systems has discovered that they are an organized crime ring. This is not an exageration... If you aren't patient enough to read my tirade just take a look at this link to a usenet search for Shreve Systems... 2700 unhappy customers, 'nuff said.

Whats more, dealmac.com started their consumer complaints section because of Shreve Systems!

Here is my personal experience. I bought a mother board from them some years ago. I paid full price for a NEW motherboard and recieved a USED motherboard. The salesperson assured me it was new even though I could plainly see that someone had unproffesionally modified the board with a soldering iron. I checked the PRAM and discovered that the board had over 9000 hours of use logged on it! I sent it back the day I got it and was charged a $100 restocking fee. When I explained that I had ordered a new part and they sent me a used part they would press the infinite hold button on their end then hang up.

So I was steamed and started to do some research. I was collecting information to file to the Better Business Bureau. (I discovered that the Louisiana BBB is a faceless black hole of inaction.) Searching online, I came across former Shreve Systems employees confessing to crimes committed while on the job as some kind of revenge for getting fired/laid off. The stories ranged from changing printers page count back to zero, to selling completely broken equipment and then charging restocking fees when the customer returns the part.

Macworld and macweek magazine should never have continued to publish their ad in the back with the knowledge of these kind of business practices. Shame on them.

It's worth noting that Shreve Systems tends to seed various web pages with false positive reviews of themselves to throw off first time buyers.

works fine on a mac too... apparently you can get it for only $19!

Hereis the dealmac discussion...

Their best price on 512MB for the TiBook right now is $95 shipped from Data Memory Systems.

You can hang external monitors off of $999 iBooks (as pointed out by others) and the towers if you really cannot imagine being without your 17" monitor. What many people don't realize is that it can be possible to hang a different monitor off your old CRT iMac or the eMac. Why you would want to do this is a different question, since the internal displays are pretty reasonable... I know for sure that the older CRT iMacs had a standard VGA cable buried in there. When a buddy of mine got the first variety of iMac in 1998, we hung a 21" monitor and it drove it very nicely. Of course, it looks like crap since your formerly sleek computer is in pieces, but if you have a nice monitor around, and don't mind a desk that looks like a tornado hit it and a voided warranty, it may be worth doing. The eMac doesn't have to be disassembled to get external video- it has its own little external mini-VGA port. It can only drive external monitors at the same resolution as the internal monitor, though. 17" monitors can be nice, but the eMac display is pretty nice, and the price is pretty good- check out LowEndMac's various pages: eMac deals, flat panel iMac deals and CRT iMac deals and of course Dealmac and the Dealmac basement if you are trying to get a good price.

Wanting the Superdrive definitely cuts down on the opprtunity for a great deal, but I see an eMac refurb G4/800, 256/60/SuperDrive for $1,399 which is pretty impressive for writing DVD stuff.

You can hang external monitors off of $999 iBooks (as pointed out by others) and the towers if you really cannot imagine being without your 17" monitor. What many people don't realize is that it can be possible to hang a different monitor off your old CRT iMac or the eMac. Why you would want to do this is a different question, since the internal displays are pretty reasonable... I know for sure that the older CRT iMacs had a standard VGA cable buried in there. When a buddy of mine got the first variety of iMac in 1998, we hung a 21" monitor and it drove it very nicely. Of course, it looks like crap since your formerly sleek computer is in pieces, but if you have a nice monitor around, and don't mind a desk that looks like a tornado hit it and a voided warranty, it may be worth doing. The eMac doesn't have to be disassembled to get external video- it has its own little external mini-VGA port. It can only drive external monitors at the same resolution as the internal monitor, though. 17" monitors can be nice, but the eMac display is pretty nice, and the price is pretty good- check out LowEndMac's various pages: eMac deals, flat panel iMac deals and CRT iMac deals and of course Dealmac and the Dealmac basement if you are trying to get a good price.

Wanting the Superdrive definitely cuts down on the opprtunity for a great deal, but I see an eMac refurb G4/800, 256/60/SuperDrive for $1,399 which is pretty impressive for writing DVD stuff.

there are some here

and here

here

And try ebay too.

Most of this was written to help a friend out, I've updated it to reflect the situation you've discribed. I've included a couple of URL's below that should help in your search for a good Mac for your purposes. It might be worth noting that when you're buying an Apple, it often is a better deal to get a refurbished model and purchase additional AppleCare service agreements. Any reputable dealer will have more information on this for you, if you ask.

Go for MHz over memory. Memory can be added later. Invest in MHz. Also, it seems to be more prudent to buy your memory separately from the computer, for the dealers often use memory to pad the profit margin. For instance, Apple's current rate for 512MB memory on the PowerMac G4 is $300, vs. $71 at a memory retailer. Same thing goes for hard disk drives, though the difference won't be as great, and depending on the model it may be less trouble to buy what they're offering than to do the upgrade yourself. For reference, I have recently found an 80GB 7200RPM drive with an 8MB Buffer for about $114. That's a large, fast drive that surpasses most OEM hardware...

One thing you may want to keep in mind is that Macworld New York is coming up at the end of the month, and Apple may be introducing new hardware, or updating current line-ups at that time. The signs are good, and point to some changes I've been anxiously awaiting for some time now. For instance, Apple recently introduced xServe, which is a rackmount server with a motherboard that uses DDR memory. This change in memory type is an advance that should have been made some time ago, and may percolate down to the non-server models at Macworld NY. If you must buy now, go with the xServe, 1GHz Dual processor: as a professional, it would not be a bad investment. As a home user, it probably isn't suited to your needs, so a tower would be a better choice, but that DDR sure looks yummy!

http://dealmac.com/
Tips on hardware and software deals.

http://dealnn.com/
Tips on hardware and software deals. Different though.

http://www.ramseeker.com/
Good memory prices, provides merchant reviews. Another deal-site, not a retailer.

http://www.powermax.com/
Reasonable retailer, offers new, used and refurbished. Does packages.

http://www.smalldog.com/
http://www.smalldog.com/SmallDogPriceList.txt
Another reasonable retailer, offers new, used and refurbished. Does packages too. Second address is for the pricelist, gives a No BS rundown of the equipment they carry.

Now I've only listed a couple of places here, if you want more let me know. I think you'll notice that the big names (The Apple Store, MacMall, Etc.) aren't listed above, because I figured you could find those easily enough. If you want a list of big guys, email me. They have good deals too sometimes.

Oh, forgot to mention - Apple runs all kinds of rebates and promo's all the time so check their site out for the forms and such. And you don't always have to purchase directly from Apple to qualify, either.

I know I've not answered every specific question, but hopefully you haven't been too swamped with replies at this point and this will help with your purchase.

Good Luck!

PS: I bought an Power Mac G4 450 DP when they were first announced about two years ago, and still use it day-to-day for motion graphics, web development, video work, and fun. I've got 768MB RAM, and am running OS X v. 10.1.5, and my biggest bottleneck at this point is my hard disk drive speed. I will probably be investing in the drive I mentioned above: Western Digital model #WD800JB can be found on PriceWatch.com by searching for "8mb 7200" and if you want the larger model (120GB) look for model #WD1200JB.

You should be able to slip this drive into a G4 in either it's available drive bay or by replacing your existing DVD/CDRW/Combo/CD with it. The only difficult part of installing a SuperDrives in an eMac would be getting the case apart and then back together. I haven't taken an eMac apart so I can't comment on it's ease but having taken many iMacs apart, I can tell you it's not super easy. If it's like the iMac, you'll have to get in there pretty far to get at the drive bay. The trick is to go slow, think about it and remember where all the screws came from!

If the thought of taking a machine apart and/or voiding your warranty makes you squeamish, you may be able to put the Pioneer DVR into a Piranha FireWire case for an extra $55. You should give them a call first and make sure this case can handle removable media drives and is fast enough for a DVR.

I'm sorry this sounds bad, but if you haven't heard of xlr8yourmac.com, I have to doubt your skillz. Not that I can say anything, as the only mod I've done is to a B&W G3 (actually, it was also adding a CD-RW - in the zip drive slot), but that is significantly easier to work on that an iMac - remember that's not a full-size CD drive you've got there, it's one from a laptop, so you're probably going to have to cut/move some stuff. It might not even be possible without major EE-type stuff.

Not that you can't do it, but consider getting an external (Firewire!), that way you can burn CD-to-CD and rip even faster in iTunes. Plus, when you dump your iMac, you've still got a useful CD-RW - check out dealmac.com for good daily prices

The real reason the 5GB iPod is still $400 is that people are still buying it. If Apple was having trouble selling them, the price would have dropped to $350 or $300. They are still hot, and there is still no comparable MP3 player on the market, period. Size, capacity, battery life, and firewire. No other MP3 player matches the iPod in all 4 of those categories. Until one does, Apple can charge what they damn well please. That is the free market at work.

I remember reading somewhere that when Apple announced the SuperDrive, that they said you'd be able to purchase DVD-R discs for $5.00 from the Apple Store. Looks like
they're still twice that. But, heck. $10.00 is still a pretty good deal for that much storage. I guess some retailers are offering them for less than $10. But I agree. $5.00 is the real convincing pricepoint for this storage medium.

Take a look at DealMac. I saw some refurbished pismo's (the last generation powerbook g3's) listed recently. If you're patient enough, watch for a deal on the new g4's.

Speaking of the Linksys router, I just bought the same one you have, but without the 4-ports (I already have a hub). Supports the same features and is just $103 at buy.com. There should be a a $20 coupon available on orders of $100 or more for first-time and returning customers, which drops the price down to $83.

Sure, a linux router is a fun solution, but if you don't have the hardware to spare, this router does a great job.

Anyone serious about their MP3 collection has a cdrom recorder. The price point for these devices has dropped into the $200 range, which makes it a pretty ubiquitous consumer product. Consider that a ten-disk cd changer (total cost including head unit is in excess of $350) will give the user immediate access to 10 disks each containing maybe 14 tracks. This amounts to 140 total tracks. Depending on the compression used, a standard CDR will store about 170 tracks.

deal-mac is reporting 10,000 old iMacs still in the channel. They would be the place to check if you want one.