With an ever present eye on the necessity for plan A to be in place, I am now forging ahead with plan B: to move out of this residence and retire. I have purchased those things that would carry me until I am carried out--with the exception of a decent computor! Have a year or more of food stuffs. Shopping will be curtailed to absolute necessities and the rest saved to move. YEA.

-- catherine plamondon (Lunchtime@home.com), January 07, 2000

Answers

Get an IMac.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), January 07, 2000.

OK, Big Dog, you started it. Do you have an iMac? My sweetie can't decide between an iMac and a G4. My son in law tells me we should get a G3, then upgrade it with a G4 chip, if we ever want more speed. He also thinks the G3/4 would be easier to upgrade in the future.

Do you have any informed opinions on this score (myself, being fairly frugal, would be perfectly happy staying with my old Performa 636CD. But then, I'm not using all the fancy programs my honey does for her job.)

-- jumpoff joe a.k.a. Al K. Lloyd (jumpoff@ekoweb.net), January 07, 2000.

No, I'm chained at the moment to a PC (though an awesome laptop one). Bought first Mac on first day it was released in 1984. I'm not the guy except for the usual mumbo-jumbo, keep it simple for non-tech user, etc. IMacs not good for upgrading, though, that I know.

Others on this forum who are Mac-enlightened might be able to help.

Now, once I have some post-Y2K money available, I would LOVE to get a G4 .... I need it for some sort of desperate prep emergency up ahead, can't quite remember what it is at the moment, but I will in just a minute ....

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), January 07, 2000.

I tend to favor the use of a Linux workstation...if you can get the software you want...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), January 07, 2000.

ok BigDog(I have so enjoyed your postings!), tell me WHY should I get a Mac? My kids just scream and pout when I bring the subject up--you can't do this and you can't do that---they say---me? I just want to get on the net, write a letter or two and research a million different things that strike my fancy---like, "how did we escape y2k--or did we?" Maybe it would be nice to have bells and whistles, but what I notice is that these blasted extras are like having a backyard full of VW's all strung together to make one auto--it is just tinker tinker. tinker all the time---I just want to get in and DRIVE. Whatcha think?

-- catherine plamondon (backhomeagain@work.com), January 07, 2000.

OK, Big Dog, you beat me to the early Macs. I got a Plus in 1986.

catherine, It sounds like an iMac would do everything you want to do and it's a lot of computer at a low price. It does lack the ability to be upgraded but it has a G3 chip already. Remember with a G3/G4 tower machine you also have to buy a monitor. The only reasons people need anything faster is for high level spreadsheets, graphics or hopeless addictions to the newest games. I do everything you want to do on a 1994 Mac Quadra 840AV and it does just fine. We do have a PowerMac (old, bought it for $160) but only use it because the new MacInTax requires one.

-- Evelyn (equus@barn.now), January 08, 2000.

iMac! WheeeeeHeeeeeeee! BUT, a new 17-inch screen iMac is about to come out ... worth the wait, about 1 1/2 months.

Everything is very easy on an iMac. No tinkering necessary. Oh, well, ya know with Microsucks, ya always have to quadruple the Memory to run the application without crashing ...

Select the application (not the alias) ... File menu ... Get Info ... increase Memory ... voila!

Apple has an awesome iMac Discussion Forum (also Forums for iBooks, G4s, OSs, etc) where you can ask questions and search archives and get very fast help.

iMac Discussion Forum

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), January 08, 2000.

I have met many PC users who tell me that Windows is "just like" a Mac, so why get a Mac? They say a PC is just as good as a Mac. But while I have met PC users who actually use and understand both PC and Mac systems, I have ****NEVER**** met one who preferred the Windows machine. Not one.

There have been one or two things I have encountered which I wanted to do, which are only available for the PC (some kind of Internet fax software, and something else which I cannot remember right now), but nothing which mattered. And my PowerBook G3 almost never crashes. I have never opened the manual. Actually, I don't even know where I put the manual. Only people who love reading thick manuals with cryptic technobabble will enjoy their PC and their PC software (and the viruses and trojan horses so common in the PC world). Learn one Mac application and you know the basics of every Mac application. All the commands are in the pull down menus. Nothing to memorize. You DO have to know what the software is trying to do, of course. Nothing is totally effortless in life....

Basically, nobody who knows what they are getting into would voluntarily get a PC. I have met a number of people who are forced to use Windows at work but bought a Mac for home. That is what is called a ***clue*** for you! Get an Imac for $800 and a printer for $200 and you are done for now. Consumer warning: your new Imac will have a date related hardware problem. In something like the year 29,000. I don't remember exactly what the year is, but I am planning to be ready for it by then. (grin!)

Oh, and one other thing: you can run your entire Mac system and do everything you want to do, without even one unpleasant whiff of Microsoft software. So you can escape the whole nasty world of Microsoft-specific viruses that your PC user friends never quite get around to mentioning to you. And you escape the annoying habit Microsoft has of secretly adding "features" which invade your privacy.

-- Macaroni (got@manymacs.com), January 14, 2000.