Wife wants is going to the idarkside

rmciottijr

rmciottijr

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Wife is going to the idarkside

Well my wife is starting a new job teaching history and also teaching teachers how to teach with technology, Blogging, Pod casting etc. So she would like to get a Mac and I am clueless about Macs. So I am looking for a little help on what I should look for. Thanks in advance for any information.

Bob
 
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rmciottijr said:
Well my wife is starting a new job teaching history and also teaching teachers how to teach with technology, Blogging, Pod casting etc. So she would like to get a Mac and I am clueless about Macs. So I am looking for a little help on what I should look for. Thanks in advance for any information.

Bob
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iMac. That is all. *

Well, you can record a podcast with Garage Band and publish it directly to the web with a few clicks with iWeb if you have a .Mac account.

None of that software is professional level, but it works well, and the software is there in the price.

http://www.apple.com/imac/

* Unless you want a laptop. Unless you are willing to use your existing monitor, keyboard, and mouse then it's a Mac Mini.
 
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Re: Wife is going to the idarkside

Also she is looking for a laptop.
 
Re: Wife is going to the idarkside

rmciottijr said:
Also she is looking for a laptop.
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If she's just teaching about Macs and doesn't need the super high end stuff, a regular ol 13" Macbook should do fine. About 1100 for the base model, probably cheaper with an educational discount (Apple is really good about doing edu discounts).

http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html - Main Macbook page.

http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/routingpage.html - Routing page for Educational Storefronts.

If you want an older one, you can probably find an iBook on the cheap on eBay. All depends on what you want :D
 
Make sure she also checks out the school purchase program on their web site. Her school may already be registered and she will get a discount.
 
rmciottijr said:
We did and it is thanks
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Its a little like learning how to use a computer all over again. It took me a little while to get use to the apple but I do Like it. I have a .mac account and have published my Oshkosh 2007 pictures there. Here is the web address
http://web.mac.com/flykelley930

That's one of the many cool thing that you can do with a .mac account.
Good Luck Mike
 
I have been using Apple's since day one(Apple II). I bought a new iMac a couple of months ago and love it. A couple of weeks ago they announced the new line of iMac's and I bought another one. I used the education pricing because my wife is a high school teacher. It has a 20" monitor, 320 gig drive, 2 gig of memory, wireless keyboard and mouse, built in wireless, 2.4 GHz processor and a three year warranty. With 6% state tax it was $1584.00. They have a one month wait.

I have a Dell I bought for flight planning software. I have had it for about three years. Windows is the worse operating system I have ever used. When there's a problem it's a nightmare. I know I'm in the minority, but I will take an iMac over a windows machine any day.
 
Re: Wife is going to the idarkside

rmciottijr said:
Well my wife is starting a new job teaching history and also teaching teachers how to teach with technology, Blogging, Pod casting etc. So she would like to get a Mac and I am clueless about Macs. So I am looking for a little help on what I should look for. Thanks in advance for any information.

Bob
Click to expand...

Hey Bob,

I was going to suggest iMac as well, until you said "laptop." In that case, the MacBook is the iMac of the laptops (they were called iBooks until the switch to Intel). Educational prices are as good as you'll get without having a buddy at Apple.

Blogging is done with a server-side app, so any old computer with a web browser can do it.

Podcasting and many other cool audio things can be done very easily (relative to the alternatives anyway!) with GarageBand, which is part of the "iLife" apps. You can get iLife '08 for $79 retail, I'm sure the educational price is much better.

iLife also includes iMovie, which makes editing video pretty easy. When you're done with that, you can use iDVD to make a DVD. Or, you can simply upload direct to YouTube out of iMovie '08 - The kiddies should like that method of distribution. ;)

There's lots of cool stuff that can be used by teachers in iLife to make the whizbang audio-visual material that will actually keep the attention of today's youth. For what it sounds like she's trying to do, I'd say iLife is "required equipment."

Enjoy!
 
Re: Wife is going to the idarkside

flyingcheesehead said:
Hey Bob,

I was going to suggest iMac as well, until you said "laptop." In that case, the MacBook is the iMac of the laptops (they were called iBooks until the switch to Intel). Educational prices are as good as you'll get without having a buddy at Apple.

Blogging is done with a server-side app, so any old computer with a web browser can do it.

Podcasting and many other cool audio things can be done very easily (relative to the alternatives anyway!) with GarageBand, which is part of the "iLife" apps. You can get iLife '08 for $79 retail, I'm sure the educational price is much better.

iLife also includes iMovie, which makes editing video pretty easy. When you're done with that, you can use iDVD to make a DVD. Or, you can simply upload direct to YouTube out of iMovie '08 - The kiddies should like that method of distribution. ;)

There's lots of cool stuff that can be used by teachers in iLife to make the whizbang audio-visual material that will actually keep the attention of today's youth. For what it sounds like she's trying to do, I'd say iLife is "required equipment."

Enjoy!
Click to expand...

Except if she's trying to teach all the other staff how to do all this fancy stuff and every single one of them has a PC....
 
Re: Wife is going to the idarkside

flyingcheesehead said:
Hey Bob,

I was going to suggest iMac as well, until you said "laptop." In that case, the MacBook is the iMac of the laptops (they were called iBooks until the switch to Intel). Educational prices are as good as you'll get without having a buddy at Apple.

Blogging is done with a server-side app, so any old computer with a web browser can do it.

Podcasting and many other cool audio things can be done very easily (relative to the alternatives anyway!) with GarageBand, which is part of the "iLife" apps. You can get iLife '08 for $79 retail, I'm sure the educational price is much better.

iLife also includes iMovie, which makes editing video pretty easy. When you're done with that, you can use iDVD to make a DVD. Or, you can simply upload direct to YouTube out of iMovie '08 - The kiddies should like that method of distribution. ;)

There's lots of cool stuff that can be used by teachers in iLife to make the whizbang audio-visual material that will actually keep the attention of today's youth. For what it sounds like she's trying to do, I'd say iLife is "required equipment."

Enjoy!
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You're confused, Mr. Mac Certified. iLife 08 comes with every new Mac.
http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html

iWork costs $79 extra. iWork includes Keynote which is a killer presentation program, and now Numbers which is a good spreadsheet.

iLife is one of the reasons Macs are a good value. Getting software like that on Windows could easily cost $200-$300 or more.
 
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Teller1900 said:
Look for the Mac that says PC on it...then you're set :).
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matt, you should be happy you are new here. us seasoned veterans know better than to make comments like these around Kent and the Apple Gang.
 
tonycondon said:
matt, you should be happy you are new here. us seasoned veterans know better than to make comments like these around Kent and the Apple Gang.
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Ahh, he just needs to realize that Macs can run Windows crap these days at the same speed as a Windows-only box. But, since we don't *have to* run windows, we don't need to worry about all the viruses and crapware for the most part. F'rinstance, I run a Windows program in CrossOver which means I don't even have a copy of Windows at all, and since the program I use doesn't connect to the internet I'm pretty well isolated from the junk. If I was running Apple's "Boot Camp" dual-boot system, I'd only need to worry about the Windows side getting infected.

Mike will have to talk about Parallels...

Of course, with so much great software on the Mac in the first place, most people don't need to run Windoze at all. The one program I'm using is called Driver's Daily Log - fairly specialized. I'm going to try Voyager FreeFlight today, and I'm guessing it'll leave me wanting to write my own Mac flight planner just like the rest have. (I can't believe the poor user interfaces you folks put up with.)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Ahh, he just needs to realize that Macs can run Windows crap these days at the same speed as a Windows-only box. But, since we don't *have to* run windows, we don't need to worry about all the viruses and crapware for the most part. F'rinstance, I run a Windows program in CrossOver which means I don't even have a copy of Windows at all, and since the program I use doesn't connect to the internet I'm pretty well isolated from the junk. If I was running Apple's "Boot Camp" dual-boot system, I'd only need to worry about the Windows side getting infected.

Mike will have to talk about Parallels...

Of course, with so much great software on the Mac in the first place, most people don't need to run Windoze at all. The one program I'm using is called Driver's Daily Log - fairly specialized. I'm going to try Voyager FreeFlight today, and I'm guessing it'll leave me wanting to write my own Mac flight planner just like the rest have. (I can't believe the poor user interfaces you folks put up with.)
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Switchers, even the stodgiest like Steve Gibson, have found that they make the Windows partition smaller and smaller until they don't find the need to run Windows at all.
http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2006/08/steve_gibson_spinrite_creator_1.html

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http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2162397,00.asp

I haven't booted up my Parallels Windows VM for many months. I only needed Windows to get to work and I have my dedicated PC for that.
 
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ConsumerReports:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...608_back-to-college-laptop-buying-tips_ov.htm

Good advcie here is to get AppelCare with a an Apple laptop.

They do recommend Macs although they go with the canard that they cost more. Again you get $300 worth of software. Figure the time you spend cleaning, reloading, and reformatting a Windows system at some hourly rate and see which costs more.

Oh! Pay the $10 and read "Take Control of Buying a Mac:"
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/buying-mac.html
 
Y'know, I was reminded yesterday of why I like Apple. They know what people want.

I wanted a new product from Shure that is a mic that works with the iPhone and has a jack so I can plug my lightspeeds in as well, basically the exact same thing I used to do with my old phone. I'd heard on a podcast that the Apple Store was now carrying said product.

I walked into the store, and on the huge wall of iPod and iPhone accessories, I could not find the thing I wanted. So, I whipped out my iPhone, tapped the google bar and typed "Shure iPhone" and got a link to the product. On the product page, it said, "Available at the Apple Store." So, that's where the product was cool.

But, the experience was great as well. The next guy who walked up said "Can I help you?" I replied by showing him the Shure product on the iPhone and saying "Do you have these in stock?" He said "I know I've seen one, but it might have been in the back." He then walked up to the Massive Wall O'Stuff, and after a few seconds picked out the product. I must say, Shure did a VERY poor job with the packaging, it hid very well.

Next, he said "Is there anything else I can help you with?" Having just been there last week for some other stuff, I replied in the negative as I looked over towards the cash register lines in the back of the store. Okay, "lines" isn't a good word because there was one person at each, but I was in a hurry. But, the guy who was helping me saved the day again: "If you'd like to pay by credit card, I can check you out right here." Wow! So I gave him the card, he swiped it, told me the total, and took my e-mail address so they could send my receipt electronically.

Bam, done, I'm outta here. With a smile on my face. :)
 
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Bob - you're a programmer! You know better, man!! Please, don't let this happen! You will regret it when it comes time to write something for her.

:D
 
SkyHog said:
Bob - you're a programmer! You know better, man!! Please, don't let this happen! You will regret it when it comes time to write something for her.

:D
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Actually, the Mac is very nice to program for.

Twenty years ago, it sure wasn't, but it is now. If only I had more time, I'd be writing some aviation-related software for it. As it is, I keep having to delete the dev tools off my hard drive so I have enough room to edit video. :(

Bob, I didn't know you were into programming. Once you get that Mac, go here: http://www.apple.com/developer/ You can become a member of Apple Developer Connection for free, and the dev tools are free (they should be on the install DVD's in the box, or you can download them from the above site too).
 
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SkyHog said:
Bob - you're a programmer! You know better, man!! Please, don't let this happen! You will regret it when it comes time to write something for her.

:D
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's really hard. I know a guy who wrote a logbook program that worked on the Mac and Windows. I'm sure the mac version took hours more to write.
 
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