Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

imac Core2 Duo20" , 2.16 Ghz

Oct 13, 2006 9:19AM PDT

my son is asking me to buy an imac core 2 duo 20" ,2.16 ghzand I have few questions about it :
1- is it true that this computer does not crash ,gets viruses or spywares etc..... ?
2- if yes ,why people buy widows based pcs besides the costs ?
3- can I run msn messenger ,yahoo messenger or skype on it ?
4- If I buy the imca 20 " what kind of problems I could face ?( please note that I don't want to run windows on it )
5- do you guys advice me to buy it now ,or wait until the new OS comes out ?
thank you very much !

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
The answers
Oct 13, 2006 10:22AM PDT

I'm sure you will get a lot more than this one and some that disagree, but here goes.
1. There are currently on viruses or spyware for OS X. The OS is very stable and very rarely crashes. Occasionally a program will hang up but it does not affect the Operating System.
2. Because they do no know about anything different and believe that Windows is all there is. Besides that, all their friends have a Windows machine.
3. Skype definitely runs on a Mac. I'm not sure about MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger though. No doubt someone will let you know
4. You will probably have no problems at all with your choice of machine. You will find the OS very easy to come to terms with and the included software is first class. iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD and iDVD all blend together to give you a great experience. MS Office, if you must, is available.
The real problem you will face will be wondering why you did not do this years ago.
5. The new OS is not due out until early 2007 and will be on shipping machines shortly after that. Can your son wait that long.

Good luck

P

- Collapse -
You will likely have lots of people responding...
Oct 13, 2006 10:23AM PDT

I used to be an IT manager for a large telecom/interconnect company - I was responsible for about 500 PCs and 500 Macs, all the interconnectivity between 13 offices, remote access, networks security, shared resources (file servers, printers, etc), LAN, WAN throughout California... so... now that my background is out of the way, let's tackle your questions one at a time:

1- is it true that this computer does not crash ,gets viruses or spywares etc..... ?
Sort of. Any computer will crash. Crashes happen for different reasons. Hard drive failure can cause a computer to crash. So can complex code that causes conflicts with other code on the machine. My 17 inch iMac flat panel has never crashed. I have been running an application that unexpectedly quit, but since MacOSX is running on top of a multi-threaded Unix environment, the entire machine didn't throw up. I know people who have had their Macs lock up and cause problems. I know a whole lot more Windows users whose machines have locked up (when one application dies. The "blue screen of death" happens way too often - even in my Windows XP Dell machine.

On viruses: That could take days - but how about this: I don't have an antivirus application on my iMac Flatpanel G5. The bulk of the viruses that can infect a Mac come from MS Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word). I use NeoOffice which provides equivalent capabilities but does not get infected by the MS-Office suite. Some will say thet there are no viruses for Macs because they are such a small target. I'm cool with that. Other will say that because of the operating system environment, it is much more difficult to write and spread Mac-specific viruses. I'm cool with that, too. Lots of the spyware out there is written for specific applications and needs to reside in specific directories... typically MS Internet Explorer. Great. I use Safari (bundled with the machine) and FireFox. And if the web-site coder is too lazy to be sure their code works cross-platform, then that site does not deserve my business. Too many security issues with MS Internet Explorer.

So, the short answers you your question #1: No; Yes; Yes.

2- if yes ,why people buy widows based pcs besides the costs ?
It depends what you want to do with the computer. It used to be that there were 40,000 applications for DOS and Windows and 15,000 applications for Macintosh. Count the applications you are likely to use:
Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Image manipulation, Video editing, audio editing, audio library, Browser, email... you think of some... anyway, just for laughs, lets triple the number... so let's say 30... or 40... this does not approach a requirement to have to wade through 10,000 let alone 15,000 or 40,000 or more. Lot's of people convinced themselves that getting in cheap with a PC was the way to go. There have been recent real-life comparisons of similarly equipped Macs compared to Dell machines. And Dll's are supposed to be "affordable"... but when similarly equipped, the Apple machines were less expensive.

In my experience, over a 5 year period, Windows computers are more expensive than Apple Macintosh computers - presuming they have similar capabilities at the start. In addition to the hardware expense, one needs to consider the support expense as well.

3- can I run msn messenger ,yahoo messenger or skype on it ?
MSN Messenger: Don't know, don't care.
Yahoo messenger: Yes. (I use it through the included iChat application)
Skype: http://www.skype.com/download/skype/macosx/

4- If I buy the imca 20 " what kind of problems I could face ?( please note that I don't want to run windows on it )
As I said at the beginning of this post, I used to be an IT manager. My house if full of Apple gear because the last thing I wanted to do was come home and troubleshoot machines for my wife and son. When I was an IT manager, I would get about 1 Mac problem call for every 6-7 Windows problem calls (remember, I had 500 of each). My house is networked (10/100BaseT) using CAT5 cable and a Belkin wireless router connected to DSL. There is a six year old HP5000N laser printer on the network. There is a USB-connected Canon MP780 shared by a G4 tower and a G5 flatpanel iMac. And when I bring my Dell laptop home and my son brings his PowerBook home (he's in college, now), everyone and everything shares the network - wired and wirelessly.

Since you don't want to run Windows on it, you just eliminated 70% of your potential problems (i.e., viruses, hackers, spyware, etc...).

The problems you can expect are not limited to Apple machines, but similar to any piece of high-end electronics. Use the knowledge-base at Apple.com. Find out if there is a Macintosh User Group near where you live (search Apple.com).

Let your son know that Worlds of Warcraft, StarCraft and other massive online games are available for MacOSX - and they work GREAT.

5- do you guys advice me to buy it now ,or wait until the new OS comes out ?
Waiting for the next cool thing whether Windows Vista, Macintosh OSX, camcorders, cars, whatever, means you were not able to use the machine for that period of time until you finally decided to get it. I don't work for Apple or any compnay that is affiliated with Apple. I would recommend getting the machine at anytime - and now is as good of a time as any... In addition to the machine I would recommend that you get an external drive for backing up the data on the computer and I would increase the RAM on the machine -- so likely 2 gig of RAM minimum. And invest in a good surge suppresor - not a cheap $15 one... but a good one... say, $45 or so. I would give these same recommendations for ANY new computer purchase... Macintosh or otherwise.

I don't know how old your son is. Mine's 19 - and he's had his own computer since he was about 5. He now has a 17" Core Duo flat panel iMac and a PowerBook 15" G4...

Over the years, I've heard LOTS of people tell me how much they LOVE their Macs... and a few who were indifferent about them... but I have NEVER heard a Windows user say they love their machine - rather (unless they are a power user or hobbyist), they are typically intimidated by their machine.

thank you very much !

Thank YOU very much - sorry for the long post - but there are no short answers to your questions (except for #3)...

Bill

- Collapse -
imac 20"
Oct 14, 2006 10:08AM PDT

Tank you bill ,your post helped me alot ,and it was not long at all ,i wished if it was !! if you can tell me more about this subject,please feel free to do so ,i'm all ears ,thanks again .

- Collapse -
All ears? hmmm...
Oct 14, 2006 1:30PM PDT

mrmacfixit was a lot more concise.

How old is your son? I ask only because I never allowed my son to have a computer in his room (or a TV). I wanted his computer access to be readily visible. Our spare bedroom became the computer room - my wife, son and I each had our own computers - and when he was on, either my wife or I (or both) were in the room with him... not peering over his shoulder, but the screen was visible and we had a pretty good idea where he was going on the internet and who he was chatting with. We also did not allow video games for a long time (unless they were educational). But no PlayStation and no Nintendo and no X-Box...

If your son is younger than 18, be sure to set some realistic and enforceable ground rules. Heck, you can do that if he's older than 18, since he's living in your house, but at that age, he's supposed to be an adult... Anyway, certain sites should be off limits. It is easy enough to know where he's been. If he breaks the rules, there need to be consequences (no computer access for _____). You need to follow through and enforce that. Everyone in the family should be on the same page. Everyone in the family should follow the same rules. This is not much different than being at a job - they don't want you to go to "bad" sites either, so this is a good time to start that habit-building.

Be sure he understands that he should NEVER EVER EVER give out his personal information online... name, address, phone number, credit card information, passwords to ANYTHING, whatever... NEVER NEVER NEVER. Unless you know about it - and you know 100% that it is the right thing to do - because it is a REAL site that you know and trust.

Go to apple.com and look into Mac User Groups. Is there one near you?

What is he planning to do with the computer once you get it? Homework? Chats? (with who?).

Watch videos at youtube and myspace? Play games? Because the other kids have one? Is there value spending that kind of money for these reasons?

There is so much more that can be done with a computer than surf the internet and play games.

Is he a musician? GarageBand is great for writing and manipulating music and other audio files. Is he into video? iMovie is great for that. Rather than buying Microsoft Office for MacOSX, look into NeoOffice - fully compatible - and open source. Into photography? iPhoto is pretty cool. Stay involved and try and learn along with him. Maybe you'll pick up a new hobby!

Have fun!

- Collapse -
Hi Bill
Oct 18, 2006 6:35AM PDT

My son is 12 years old and he is a highest honor student and same for his brother , they have a play station but they're not allowed to use it during the weekdays, only on the weekends ,and they already know the rules you talked about , they don't act on their own when it comes to using the computer, if something happens while they are using the computer they call me right away ,and no computer games what so ever ,they only use it for home work or to do some reserch about something they heard on the news....but to use the computer for nonsence stuff ,that is not allowed in my household ,
the new computer is going to be in my office (I have a little home office and they will be using it when I'm in my office and only after they finish their homework ,and if i'm not home they don't dare to approch the computer, those are the rules around here ( I hope i'm not doing anything wrong ) ,I'll see in the next post , take care

- Collapse -
In my opinion (whatever THAT is worth),
Oct 18, 2006 7:37AM PDT

it sounds like you are doing all the right things! At least, it sounds like many of the same rules/guides we had in our house. Good for you and you should be proud of both your sons' "honors" status. I know I am of mine.

My wife and I didn't really pressure him, but somewhere, he picked up on the fact that it feels a lot better to get good grades than not good grades - and he's worked hard to be where he is (2nd year of college, will be at 3rd year status at the end of this quarter).

As you know, our computer rules were very similar. I did not allow games on the computer for a long time - and a LONG time ago, I think I got some RAM or something and they bundled F/A-18 Hornet (a flight simulator). I finally let him install it, and the training (in Hawaii), Korea, and Middle East scenarios, along with carrier and airport operations turned into a really cool geography lesson... and technical operations training. So what I thought was a game was actually REALLY educational! He's not planning to be a pilot or getting into the Navy, but for a 9 year old, it was pretty cool (and about the closest he will get) to an F/A 18 Hornet...

Think about getting them a digital video camera if you can afford it - they'll have a blast writing scripts, filming and editing...

- Collapse -
tank you
Oct 14, 2006 10:09AM PDT

Tank you bill ,your post helped me alot ,and it was not long at all ,i wished if it was !! if you can tell me more about this subject,please feel free to do so ,i'm all ears ,thanks again .

- Collapse -
Core 2 Duo!
Oct 20, 2006 1:15AM PDT

Bill kind of said it all, but there are a few things I would add.

Now is a good time to buy a new iMac because they have already changed the processor from the Core Duo to the Core 2 Duo, Intel's latest and greatest chip. Also, since the iMac is an all-in-one machine, I recommend making a graphics upgrade at the time of purchase even if your son doesn't play high end games now because down the road it will be more difficult to upgrade the graphics memory. RAM is an easy enough upgrade to make on your own, so find a supplier that has the appropriate RAM upgrade on sale but beware of no-name manufacturers; look for the bigger name manufacturers: samsung, crucial, micron, etc.

Also, PC's and Mac's have common applications that are basically the same for both platforms; the most common of which is Microsoft Office. There are certainly alternatives, but the same product does exist for both OSes.

If your son is headed to college, Apple offers a good discount on software and hardware items to students. On an iMac you'll save about $100 on the base price, and I'm not sure how much additionally on upgrades.

Happy purchasing.

- Collapse -
Get it, but wait..
Oct 23, 2006 12:11PM PDT

I really recommend you wait 'till Leopard (Apple's next OS) which will come soon in 2007, the new OS looks very nice and includes great features the current OS doesn't have. Viruses, none, zero, nada, don't even think about it. Macs are actually better priced than windows pcs because of total cost of ownership and computing experience. These machines are truly great and you won't have the pain that windows xp will give you. Skype, msn messenger and many other software of that type always have a mac version as well. I really don't think you will have any problems, Apple is all about simplicity performance and (of ourse) beauty. At first you will probably not understand a few things in mac osx, but you shouldn't run over too many difficulties. I tried to get my dad into getting me one but he said it was too expensive, I was not able to convince him and I wish he understood how great the mac experience is over a windows pc. Once you get a Mac, you'll wonder how you lived without one.

- Collapse -
MSN messenger and Macs
Oct 25, 2006 12:05PM PDT

MSN Messenger will work with on your Mac, it has since version 5.1 (according to Microsofts website).

For what its worth, I think Macs are great, solid, reliable, etc; however, if your son is at all interested in 3D gaming, he may be found wanting if you choose the Mac over the PC. There have been fewer games written for Macs than PCs, but they now have the same internal hardware (and the Core 2 Duo is a great processor, btw) so this may become less of an issue than it has been in the past.

I think your son probably knows what he wants, and if he is tech savy, I say buy the Mac.

Good Luck.