How much is this MAC worth

[Skyenet]

Hi Shug

The Mac Mini is running 10.5.8 so will run the latest iTunes. However it is a PowerPC so obviously it will not run many more modern software since the introduction of Intel Chips by Apple.

Countless times in my Microsoft Windows experience I had to upgrade my operating system to get the latest versions of software to work. The operating software upgrade was far costlier than Apple system software upgrades (Lion is only £20.99 regardless of how many home computers you own, so worked out at less than £7 a computer for me). Quite often this meant upgrading my hardware at the same time and that of course made Microsoft money yet again as part of what you were paying for was the operating system.

So I reckon a 5 year old computer such as my 2007 iMac 24" running the very latest O/S system and 3rd party software is pretty good all round, and my seven year old Mac Mini computer running the very latest version of iTunes is ok too. I have a Notebook with Windows 98 on it and it certainly can't run much of the off the shelf software available now, without a system upgrade. Luckily I don't need Windows anymore as the third party GPS software I needed it for is now supported on the Apple.

SO really is there that much difference between Apple and Microsoft?? They are both in it to make money and to entice us to want the very latest in computer technology. Microsoft used to do it for me but I discovered Apple do it better Now what can I upgrade this year, my iPad or my iMac 27" My X-Plane 10 would certainly would look even better on a new iMac, or I could put it on a new Windows PC, Nah!!

[wheelie]

I agree with Robin to an extent. Apple want to sell new stuff, and the new bells and whistles in the OS have greater hardware requirements.

If you buy into the Apple model where the OS and hardware are from the same vendor so stuff just works, and you are happy to upgrade every few years then all is fine.

iTunes is a great example. It just works on the Mac, but there are many Windows users that feel it is the devil's own software. Is iTunes the best it can be on the PC, or is it enough to do the job, but with the hope that users will switch platform ?

Part of the issue with running newer OSes on older kit is the switch from PowerPC to Intel in 2006. Older machines are also limited in the amount of memory they can address, and newer OS require more memory and processor power.

PowerPC cannot run anything later than 10.5.8
Any Intel processor can run 10.6.8
You need 64bit Core 2 Duo processors & 2GB ram (better with 4GB or more) to run 10.7.3
10.8 moves the game on again, as it will not run on some hardware that is more than 4 years old, including most plastic MacBooks.
Full list here http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/16/mountain ... ac-models/

Most people we work with replace Macs every 3 or 4 years, so fit within the hardware requirements cycle and can upgrade the OS as they see fit. If you don't want the latest OS you don't have to upgrade. I would wager that Windows XP still has the largest install base for all Windows OS, despite the subsequent releases of Vista and Windows 7.

I can see problems though if Apple shorten the OS release to become an annual event, as most wait six months before installing the latest OS to ensure all the major bugs have been fixed. It will be more of a challenge to keep up and users will just do every other upgrade unless there is a killer feature they cannot live without.

One benefit of expansion of the Mac/iOS platform is the increased range of commercial and excellent open source software available, making the Mac a better fit in more environments than when it was just the Designer's computer of choice.

I guess you pick your platform and make your choice.

[robin]

Linux, old hardware, job done I only replaced my last (P4M 1.5Ghz singlo-coro-slowo) because the cat was sick on it

If you live in a world where you need some whizz-bang application, you are screwed, probably. (E.g. CAD or media editing). If you live in a world of "using stuff on the internet and sending emails" you really don't need to pay the billionaire s/w companies for yet more stolen ideas and intellectual property.

Just saying

Cheers,
Robin
P.S. It would be very interesting to ask Apple to name 10 features that were somehow hard to implement on the pre-64bit core machines ... if they cannot name 10 I think they have to go back and make it available on the 32-bit platform.

[pete]

What do you mean in the first sentence of your advert?

Mrs Pete said she wanted an iPad (becasue they are pretty) and because she doesn't like the laptop in the house (running Ubuntu) and the desktop is in a different room.
But she is doing a Uni course at the UHI which means she needs to use tehir email system all the time which the iPad doesn't do that well. And "Pages" is no substitue for "Word" for writing assignments. So she decided to keep the Mac mentioned in this thread and sell the iPad.

I think the 3 is out in a few weeks...

Please stop spreading such unrest. The iPad 2 is better - go on you know you want it...