Going to buy a new iMac.

[Mystic]

I don't think Apple has ever supported Blu-Ray. And there still are not as many thirty party software makers who make stuff for Mac OS X. I have a LG Blu-Ray drive on my Windows computer. I hated the LG software so I got Power DVD. The Power DVD software easily supported Blu-Ray. There is a lot of third party and freeware software for Windows computers. Not as much stuff for Apple.

But at least Apple is not doing stuff like getting rid of DVD play in most of their computers. Some Apple Computers do not come with a DVD player however.

I am just going to keep using both Windows and Apple. It is kind of expensive but I don't know who is going to win. Windows 7 is good, I will probably skip Windows 8, and hopefully Windows 9 will be good. If Windows 9 is a bomb we might all be using Apple Computers in the not so far future.

Right now Apple sees to be making good decisions. They are making a lot of mobile computing stuff but they still are making desktops. I thought they were going to drop the MacPro but it looks like they will keep it around for a while. That will make the computer graphics people happy.

Apple hardware is expensive. But most of their software is reasonable. Microsoft software is expensive. But you can get a custom built Windows computer for a decent price. So I guess it evens out in the end.

I don't care who wins as long as I can do what I want to do.

 

[rg200amp]

Originally Posted By: Mystic


Go into any Wal-Mart and you still will see a lot of DVD movies. Anybody who thinks CDs and DVDs are historical needs to return to the real world. Eventually there will be some kind of new technology that will replace CDs and DVDs but it is not here yet.


Apple has decided to not put a optical drive (cd/DVD) on their next gen Mac book pros. Apple decided a while ago to drop disk drives on there Mac mini's and since there start, the Mac book air has never had a disk drive.



Like years ago with the 3.5 inch floppy, Apple was the first computer company to deploy the 3.5 inch floppy drive on there consumer machines. Not many people embraced the new platform at first. Similarly, Apple was also the first computer company to not offer a 3.5 inch floppy drive at all (on their first iMac). Again, a lot of people called them crazy.

Seeing not where the market is, but where it's going is the cornerstone of tech.

I applaud Microsoft for dropping legacy platforms. It allows for progress. Apple has been fading out there disk drive support for years now.

The real world is, DVDs and CDs have been on there way out for a while now. The market trends show this. It's going digital. Content on local and cloud based storage hubs.

Software can be bought and downloaded from the net. For the rare situations that a Internet connection is not available at all in a area, software companies can still sell there products on a simple USB flash drive.

 

[andrewg]

Originally Posted By: Mystic
Most Apple Computers nowadays are hard to work on except for the MacPro. Aside from adding Ram they can be really hard to take apart.

But even today some of the best computer builders are people building Windows gaming computers. They really know how to put them together. Apple has had silly problems like too much grease being put on. They don't make mistakes like that assembling Windows computers. I personally will not buy a Dell or some other brand of Windows computer. I have been using custom built Windows computers for a long time (not full blown gaming computers however). When it comes to Windows computers I would rather get parts from Newegg and have somebody who knows what they are doing build it. You wind up with a much better computer rather than tolerating the Dell junk.

I still say the desktop computer is not dead. Where I work there are hundreds of desktop computers and they will not be replaced by laptops anytime in the near future.

I personally prefer a desktop computer. An iMac is cheaper than a Macbook Pro and has a bigger screen, which makes a difference when you are working on photos. And when I go on trips the camera gear and clothes are enough for me to carry. A laptop computer would be kind of useless when I am shooting photos on a windy slope of a mountain.

Microsoft decided not to add Blu-Ray to their operating systems because it would have added about thirty bucks to the cost. Now they might drop DVD play. Exactly how silly is that? I remember all the problems we had at work. We had this machine that recorded lots of stuff but the computer we had to use with it was a Windows XP computer. The recordings mostly required DVDs but of course Windows XP would out of the box only support CD burning. Third party software was not allowed. It was silly. We could only record short parts of an incident. We were happy when that old Windows XP computer gave up the ghost and was replaced by a Windows 7 computer.

Go into any Wal-Mart and you still will see a lot of DVD movies. Anybody who thinks CDs and DVDs are historical needs to return to the real world. Eventually there will be some kind of new technology that will replace CDs and DVDs but it is not here yet.

If Microsoft wants to compete with Apple for the mobile computing market that is fine. But Apple has not given up on desktops yet. They are still building Mac minis and iMacs and MacPros. Somebody needs to tell the CEO of Microsoft that.

Personally I much prefer using a desktop to any laptop or portable device. It's simply not as enjoyable for me. Larger screens....keyboard....mouse....and all in the comfort of my home office. I have no desire to stare at a computer when I'm not at home. I don't grasp how or why some folks seem to enjoy being hunched over some puny laptop or notebook while on a bus or just about anywhere else in the real world. Same thing with the cell phones. I could see if it was needed for your job or while traveling on an aircraft. But for me, I like to keep the computing stuff at home. I do not want my experiences in the world to be confined to a small screen....when the real world is right there in front of me.

 

[Mystic]

I agree with you completely andrewg. The last thing I want to do everywhere I go is stare at a tiny computer screen. I would rather look at the world around me. I like computers, and I like working on photos on my computer at home, but life would not be worth living if I was staring at a tiny computer screen 24/7. And when I am taking photos on a trip and I get back to the hotel room, the last thing I want to do is stare at some computer screen. A laptop computer really does nothing for me while I am taking photos. When I am at home working on photos I prefer a large screen and a full size keyboard. When I am traveling I want to look at the WORLD!

If you see somebody walking around a zoo and they are always looking at the screen on their iPhone or their tablet or their laptop, you feel like asking them-'When are you going to look at the animals in the zoo?' The last time I was at the zoo the people with all the portable computing and phone devices were looking at the animals, and using their portable devices to take photographs. A person would really have to be some kind of computer nut to stare at a tiny computer screen all day everywhere they went. No silly video game or some other kind of nonsense on that tiny computer would be better than the real world. I go on trips to see stuff in the REAL WORLD. And to take photos of that real stuff.

One of the reasons I want for my computer to support DVDs is because for Christmas gifts I make photo slideshows with hundreds of photos along with a music track and give those DVDs to members of my family and to friends. Otherwise I would have to have a website and direct them to the website. The DVD seems more personal to me. And cloud computing may be great and all that, but if the internet is down for any reason and any period of time, suddenly all of that fancy cloud computing does not exist anymore. I will not store all of my personal information 'in the cloud' and use applications online. The 'cloud' is just server computers where there can be security issues and perhaps even loss of your data-especially if the servers are located in another country and the 'management' changes. Look at all of the stuff that occurs even today-we hear about huge security issues like hundreds of thousands of passwords being stolen, etc. There are already so many online criminals I sometimes wonder if there will even be an internet very much longer. l already will not buy anything online. And the internet is international so nothing can be done about the international criminals. I visit usually only a small number of websites today. Perhaps the 'cloud' will not even be around very much longer. Considering the small number of websites I visit today if I could I might go back to phone line internet. It is a world of crime and insanity on much of the internet today.

 

[rg200amp]

Originally Posted By: Mystic


One of the reasons I want for my computer to support DVDs is because for Christmas gifts I make photo slideshows with hundreds of photos along with a music track and give those DVDs to members of my family and to friends. Otherwise I would have to have a website and direct them to the website. The DVD seems more personal to me. And cloud computing may be great and all that, but if the internet is down for any reason and any period of time, suddenly all of that fancy cloud computing does not exist anymore. I will not store all of my personal information 'in the cloud' and use applications online. The 'cloud' is just server computers where there can be security issues and perhaps even loss of your data-especially if the servers are located in another country and the 'management' changes. Look at all of the stuff that occurs even today-we hear about huge security issues like hundreds of thousands of passwords being stolen, etc. There are already so many online criminals I sometimes wonder if there will even be an internet very much longer. l already will not buy anything online. And the internet is international so nothing can be done about the international criminals. I visit usually only a small number of websites today. Perhaps the 'cloud' will not even be around very much longer. Considering the small number of websites I visit today if I could I might go back to phone line internet. It is a world of crime and insanity on much of the internet today.


I understand you like DVDs. Countless people liked floppy drives as well. Did not change the trends. It's a fact that computer makers are fading away from disk drives.

Saying perhaps the "cloud" will not be around much longer is nonsense. Internet is cloud. Cloud just refers to non local storage. Off location memory. Your typing on this very forum is saved on some server in cyber space. You use cloud storage without even realizing it. It is just over the past few years that companies have been really marketing cloud storage for consumer content storage.

This is how I see the future:

Consumers are going to have on location "home" storage. A 1-5 TB drive/raid for all of there digital content. Movies, photos, music, games, files. Docs, ect. . . . . . . . .

SSDs are going to move in to consumer grade products (laptops and desktops) with 60-120 gb hard drives. Consumers can pull what they want from there main storage hub.

Consumers will also have a cloud based option to put however much of their content they want on it. That way the things they want access to anytime anywhere, they can have.

Over the next 10 years we are going to see gigabyte Internet speeds come into more main stream. We are going to be producing and consuming so much data it's really going to be a golden age of technology.

 

[Mystic]

It is kind of hard doing business in a lawless world. I saw a video a while back. The FBI and Microsoft employees went to some server facilities that were run by criminals. Those server facilities were located in the eastern United States. The server facilities were being used to run botnets and they were shut down. Criminals are making billions of dollars on the internet and they cannot be stopped easily because they are international. You also have actual cyperwarfare taking place today (not sometime in the future). Nation-states are supporting attacks on businesses, corporations, governmental facilities, etc.

A very large number of people today care only about themselves and material wealth. They really do not care about anybody else and they would willingly steal money from the elderly using identity crime and other types of internet crime.

As an individual before I store my data in the 'cloud' I am going to need some very solid guarantees that the data will be safe. Because right now I will store my data on my own computers and my own external hard drives. I have no faith in internet security. The 'cloud' is not some fairyland in the sky. It is server facilities that could be located anywhere in the world and even under criminal ownership.

If I owned a business I would think twice before firing my IT staff, selling my servers, and paying to have all of my company's data stored in some server facility somewhere. I would rather have my data under my control and my own servers and own IT staff.

I think wise business people are going to think very carefully before they put huge amounts of very important data in servers on the internet.

There is a certain country in Asia that has already engaged in widespread attacks on various businesses, governmental agencies, and even the computers of individuals throughout the world. Major American businesses have been attacked by that country. Would you want to have the data for your company stored on servers in that country?

Wise business people will demand ironclad guarantees for security and right now today it looks like there is no way that such guarantees could be offered. There are massive security leaks all the time. And every year the crime on the internet is more widespread. If it gets much worse people will start leaving. I already know people who have left the internet. I personally do not buy anything on the internet anymore. People will refuse to do business in any area where there is so much crime. As bad as it is the experts are wondering why it is not worse.

Let me say it again. People will refuse to do business in an area where there is so much crime.

 

[Mystic]

Yes, I am an old man out of touch with modern technology and I don't know what I am talking about. Here is just one example:

A woman is suing LinkedIn for five million dollars over a data breach where six million passwords were stolen and posted online. You read that right. Six MILLION passwords were stolen and posted online. Read the article at Threatpost.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Originally Posted By: Volvohead
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
From there, add your own RAM, hard drive upgrades, etc, far cheaper than paying for these in the initial purchase from Apple.



And THAT statement is the difference between Win-PCers and Mac folk in a nutshell.


Me and my old Mac Tech would tell everyone the above advice. They'd buy a laptop with their edu discount, no tax, we'd tell 'em what parts to buy, install them for 'em, they were amazed they could get a decent deal on a high-performance Mac, some even went the SSD route, some didn't as they wanted a ton of storage on board. To each his own.

To that end, people who followed our Win7 setup, we never saw again, just like the folks who wanted Macs. Buy a decent rig with Win7, set it up right, educate the user, the units don't return back.

And the Win7 folks can keep hundreds in their pockets whereas the Mac folks spent more. Not everyone has the coin to pony up for a Mac, these folks want the same easy-use experience. It's definitely possible, and easy to do. Just don't expect that experience from most OEMs. I like the Microsoft Signature setup, which essentially mimics the business-class experience....simple, straight-forward, no [censored] (what a Mac user has come to expect).

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Volvohead
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
From there, add your own RAM, hard drive upgrades, etc, far cheaper than paying for these in the initial purchase from Apple.



And THAT statement is the difference between Win-PCers and Mac folk in a nutshell.

The typical Apple buyer is not going to do ANY of that. They will just want to unbox it, plug it in, and enjoy it. It is also why upgrading/repairing an iMac (other than OS and memory) is a major PITA compared to any PC (white box or even lappy). Apples are not designed for the HW enthusiasts or on heavily standardized components, but to very different objectives. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that - the stuff flat out works out of the box.

Seriously, the mainstream is past the DIY/you-put-it-together era of personal computing, especially now with the new portable/mobile device norm.

I have no intention of underspec'ing an iMac just so I can tear it down on delivery for HW upgrades. I'll just bite the bullet for the factory SSD.


Seriously?

It was super easy to replace the ssd on my MacBook pro. While my dell hf essentially slides out in a slot, it needs it because the parts used to hit a price point are so inferior the dell has had to effectively been fully rebuilt.

It was so easy to do the ssd on my MBP that I'd recommend the job as DIY to anyone who isnt blind and that has ten fingers.

Replacing a broken screen on my iPhone 3 was similarly easy. I was a bit scared at first having never tinkered with a smartphone, but it really was straightforward and simple.

And lifecycle is good too. I'm still runni g an original G4 Mac mini and it works great. I may just upgrade the RAM on that too.

And at the end of the day, if you think that the average PC buyer is any more tech savvy or DIY capable than the Mac owner, you have to be joking.

 

[andrewg]

Originally Posted By: Mystic
I agree with you completely andrewg. The last thing I want to do everywhere I go is stare at a tiny computer screen. I would rather look at the world around me. I like computers, and I like working on photos on my computer at home, but life would not be worth living if I was staring at a tiny computer screen 24/7. And when I am taking photos on a trip and I get back to the hotel room, the last thing I want to do is stare at some computer screen. A laptop computer really does nothing for me while I am taking photos. When I am at home working on photos I prefer a large screen and a full size keyboard. When I am traveling I want to look at the WORLD!

If you see somebody walking around a zoo and they are always looking at the screen on their iPhone or their tablet or their laptop, you feel like asking them-'When are you going to look at the animals in the zoo?' The last time I was at the zoo the people with all the portable computing and phone devices were looking at the animals, and using their portable devices to take photographs. A person would really have to be some kind of computer nut to stare at a tiny computer screen all day everywhere they went. No silly video game or some other kind of nonsense on that tiny computer would be better than the real world. I go on trips to see stuff in the REAL WORLD. And to take photos of that real stuff.

One of the reasons I want for my computer to support DVDs is because for Christmas gifts I make photo slideshows with hundreds of photos along with a music track and give those DVDs to members of my family and to friends. Otherwise I would have to have a website and direct them to the website. The DVD seems more personal to me. And cloud computing may be great and all that, but if the internet is down for any reason and any period of time, suddenly all of that fancy cloud computing does not exist anymore. I will not store all of my personal information 'in the cloud' and use applications online. The 'cloud' is just server computers where there can be security issues and perhaps even loss of your data-especially if the servers are located in another country and the 'management' changes. Look at all of the stuff that occurs even today-we hear about huge security issues like hundreds of thousands of passwords being stolen, etc. There are already so many online criminals I sometimes wonder if there will even be an internet very much longer. l already will not buy anything online. And the internet is international so nothing can be done about the international criminals. I visit usually only a small number of websites today. Perhaps the 'cloud' will not even be around very much longer. Considering the small number of websites I visit today if I could I might go back to phone line internet. It is a world of crime and insanity on much of the internet today.

Excellent post Mystic. I wonder why more folks don't realize what they are missing in life. It's just plain bizarre.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: rg200amp


Apple has decided to not put a optical drive (cd/DVD) on their next gen Mac book pros. Apple decided a while ago to drop disk drives on there Mac mini's and since there start, the Mac book air has never had a disk drive.



Laptop computers from ANY make are getting more and more power hungry. Even with the throttling, multi-cores plus bigger, brighter screens and faster clock speeds with more RAM and faster GPUs means more power.

At the same time, my Macbook Air lasts over 8 hours for light duty use. My and my wife's macbook pros will not go past 4 hours nameplate and 2.5-3 hours practically. People want longer duration.

Loosing the CD-ROM gives two functions - thinner laptops, so the fullsize type laptops can still be thinner and lighter, and also to fit a ton more battery in that volume.

A USB CD-rom for users who need them is a reasonable approach and not a lot larger or heavier than having it built in.

 

[Mystic]

For me I just don't see any need for a portable computer. What would I do with it? Try to work on photos while sitting in my car in a National Park like Canyonlands or Chaco Canyon? Watch a video after returning to the hotel room? Type a letter while waiting at the dentist office?

When I travel somewhere I usually just have the clothes and stuff I need and my camera gear. I take enough in the way of memory cards so that I don't have to download photos to a computer.

To each his own, but I will continue to have a desktop computer at home. With a nice, large screen and a decent keyboard and mouse.

That could all change with changes in technology of course. But I don't see how a big screen would suddenly become undesirable. I don't see where a decent mouse and good keyboard would become unnecessary. Although you could have some kind of a dock at home with a large screen and keyboard and mouse and you just plug your laptop in. Still, a laptop computer is unnessary weight on a trip, and there are places I go where I would not want to take an expensive computer. Heck, there are a few places I go I would not want to take an expensive camera. I can think of a few places where I use disposable cameras.

And where I work I don't see laptop computers replacing desktop computers anytime in the near future. At work the only people with laptop computers are the people who need them. Usually just the bigshots and a few people who have to have mobile computers. The laptop computers cost more and are easier to 'disappear.'

And the 21 inch iMac is $1200.00 and a MacBook Pro is maybe twice that. And I would feel really bad if the MacBook Pro got destroyed in any of the places I go where the good photographs are.

 

[andrewg]

Originally Posted By: Mystic
For me I just don't see any need for a portable computer. What would I do with it? Try to work on photos while sitting in my car in a National Park like Canyonlands or Chaco Canyon? Watch a video after returning to the hotel room? Type a letter while waiting at the dentist office?

When I travel somewhere I usually just have the clothes and stuff I need and my camera gear. I take enough in the way of memory cards so that I don't have to download photos to a computer.

To each his own, but I will continue to have a desktop computer at home. With a nice, large screen and a decent keyboard and mouse.

That could all change with changes in technology of course. But I don't see how a big screen would suddenly become undesirable. I don't see where a decent mouse and good keyboard would become unnecessary. Although you could have some kind of a dock at home with a large screen and keyboard and mouse and you just plug your laptop in. Still, a laptop computer is unnessary weight on a trip, and there are places I go where I would not want to take an expensive computer. Heck, there are a few places I go I would not want to take an expensive camera. I can think of a few places where I use disposable cameras.

And where I work I don't see laptop computers replacing desktop computers anytime in the near future. At work the only people with laptop computers are the people who need them. Usually just the bigshots and a few people who have to have mobile computers. The laptop computers cost more and are easier to 'disappear.'

And the 21 inch iMac is $1200.00 and a MacBook Pro is maybe twice that. And I would feel really bad if the MacBook Pro got destroyed in any of the places I go where the good photographs are.

I completely agree. I take photos, such as you, on trips and vacations. I also take along plenty of memory cards so that I have zero need to download any pics while enjoying my trip. Why in the world would I want to do that while on vacation anyway? I save that task....as well as any editing, for the home office where spending time on a computer is comfortable and with a large viewing screen. I also agree on taking expensive cameras in areas that may cause damage. I don't have the money to blow on extra cameras. Sometimes I won't even take a camera if I feel it's intrusive on my enjoyment of things. But it still perplexes me to see folks at monuments and scenic spots across the country spending MORE time looking at personal devices (all hunched over....nearly walking into a tree) than enjoying the real world. While these gizmos have done much to keep us all 'in touch' so to speak.....in my mind it's actually made many of us LESS in touch with our surroundings and taken something away from life.

 

[sleddriver]

Originally Posted By: Volvohead

And THAT statement is the difference between Win-PCers and Mac folk in a nutshell.

The typical Apple buyer is not going to do ANY of that. They will just want to unbox it, plug it in, and enjoy it.


EXACTLY!

I now own two (used) Apples: a 13"MB and a 17" iMac because the previous owners didn't want to fix them. The former just needed a new HD and an OSX reload. Took 20 min. once the new HD was in hand. The later was far more involved.

These were going in the trash! Don't repair or upgrade: Buy Another. That's the mind-set though.

C'est la 'typical' apple user. . .

 

[Mystic]

Well andrewg you are somebody I can agree with completely. Perhaps I am just old and out of touch but I am amazed by some of the things I see today.

Like somebody talking endlessly on a cellphone everywhere they go-driving a car, walking around a store, jogging, riding a bicycle-absolutely everywhere! I would go insane. Who could find so much to talk about. For a person's sanity sometimes you need a little bit of silence and personal reflection.

Many people today rarely talk to each other in person and instead Tweek or email their friends, or communicate on Facebook. I don't think you can really get to know somebody unless you met that individual and look them in the eyes.

I was mostly an Apple Computer guy for a long time although I used Windows computers also and Windows computers at work. For several reasons I became very angry at Apple and I tried to go just Windows. But I still had my old iMac and I think I will continue to travel both trails for now. What I am getting at here in kind of a roundabout way is that long ago Microsoft Windows seemed kind of crude but also I just did not get the crazy computer gaming lifestyle. There are a few people who are so into computer games that they are completely out of touch with the real world. They have to live in a false world of computer games rather than in the real world. When I first went into the Apple world there were a lot of creative people doing computer graphics and amazing things with photographs. Using Photoshop and working on photographs that I personally had taken seemed much more desirable for me than playing video games all day. I never really became involved much with the computer games world. Now Apple has changed a lot but that is a different story.

Today you see people walking around with their iPhones or other type of cellphone, or their tablets, or tiny personal computers, and they take these adult toys everywhere they go. Some talk endlessly on cellphones and some walk down the street staring endlessly at the tiny screens on their little personal computers. I have seen many people walk down streets hardly even noticing their surroundings as they talk or as they view I don't know what on their tiny computer screens. Maybe they are playing computer video games or watching YouTube videos.

All of this is not for me. I have travelled to many interesting places. For example I have visited many ancient ruins in the Southwestern USA. I have travelled to various historical locations. I have taken a lot of photographs. And my Windows computer and my iMac are at home when I return and I can work on the photographs at home. When I am travelling I hardly even think about these computers. And I got rid of my cellphone. The only time it would really be useful is if I had problems on the road or saw an accident or something like that. If I need to call somebody I can call them at home or go see them. I hardly even used my cellphone.

 

[Hokiefyd]

The new iMacs should have Mountain Lion on them by July. I do understand, though, that if you buy one now, you can upgrade to ML for free.

Even outside of that, for Mac users like me who haven't bought a new machine, the cost of ML will be an astronomical $19.99. What a bargain!

 

[andrewg]

Mystic....you and I speak the same language. And yes, as we get older it becomes more difficult to grasp some 'new' ideas and activities. It's really a pity however that our opinion and use of personal devices is in the minority. I do carry a cell with me most of the time in case of emergencies. I keep it off though and just turn it on once in a while to check for any important messages. I agree with you that I can't understand how or why any individual would want to chat on a cell or stare at a silly little screen while trying to participate in real life activities. It will always cause me to pause and wonder WHY?
Speaking of Apple/Mac....I'll be a new user soon of a new iMac. Never had one before and it should be interesting. I really like the clarity and size of the 27" iMac. Expensive, yes. But it will be very nice to work with photos on it. I'd like to wait until it comes installed with the new Mountain Lion though as I don't want to get used to the current OS X Lion and then adjust to the new one. I expect August or Septmber. I've also heard that a revised iMac is due soon as well.

 

[andrewg]

Hokie...I know that the new system will be available in late July....yet when I've asked the Apple folks at the store they told me that the preloaded iMacs may not be available until August or September. Who knows!

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: rg200amp


This is how I see the future:

Consumers are going to have on location "home" storage. A 1-5 TB drive/raid for all of there digital content. Movies, photos, music, games, files. Docs, ect. . . . . . . . .

SSDs are going to move in to consumer grade products (laptops and desktops) with 60-120 gb hard drives. Consumers can pull what they want from there main storage hub.

Consumers will also have a cloud based option to put however much of their content they want on it. That way the things they want access to anytime anywhere, they can have.

Over the next 10 years we are going to see gigabyte Internet speeds come into more main stream. We are going to be producing and consuming so much data it's really going to be a golden age of technology.


I too think we will move toward that direction, but I do not believe consumers are interested in making A LOT of contents like at the beginning of the mp3 and digital camera era. When you look at how much photos they take and how many mp3s they download (ah em, purchased), it saturate at a certain amount and never move any bigger (i.e. around 50-200GB of photos and mp3s).

Video will be the storage driver in the future, but consumers usually don't want to spend tens of hours editing or even watching their vacation and holiday videos. They tends to just snap a few minutes and post on youtube, and that's about it.

So where would the data come from? Either streaming from the like of netflix or recorded from the like of tivo. I do not think consumers will be buying a bunch of blank DVDs but I also do not believe they will be renting them to watch on computers (other than college students who have their own computer but not their own sofa and living room). It is a good decision to remove optical drives from laptops because they are taking up space and weight for little use, but people will still buy an external unit because they will still want one at home.

Everyone having 10gbps fiber to home and 100mbps wireless streaming? Cloud everything? I do not believe it will be affordable with today's high price data services and they way the network provider want to milk the most out of their system rather than paying for big upgrade for long term profits. Everyone will have caps and will be afraid of watching lots of videos, and physical optical disks whether from library or mail based netflix will still be around for a while.

 

[Mystic]

Is that your first Mac ever or just your first iMac, andrewg? If it is your first Mac it will take a little getting used to but not long. If it is your first Mac I would recommend going to the bookstore and buying a book on whatever operating system will be on your computer. One bad thing (or good thing in some ways I guess) about Apple is that they are always coming out with new operating systems every year or two. And they support (really support) only the last two operating system releases.

I would also recommend that you look into iWork and Aperture software from Apple. The iWork software is excellent for word processing and even a limited amount of page layout. I think it costs something like $49.00. I have Aperture 2 but Apple has greatly improved Aperture with version 3. You definitely might want to take a look at Aperture (it is something like $79.00) because you can organize and work on photograghs. I don't know if you have ever heard of Ken Rockwell (some people hate him and some really like him) but he claims that Aperture is much easier to use than Photoshop and actually can be a relacement for Photoshop. Rockwell is a little strange in some ways but he seems to know his stuff when it comes to photography.

It is a crazy world today on the internet. Check out the free Sophos antivirus or the free iAntivirus. And be sure that your firewall is turned on. I don't know about the most recent Apple Mac OS X operating systems but they used to ship on a new computer turned off. You want for a firewall to be turned on.

The new iMac has not come out yet but I got a look at an iMac a few days ago. The mouse is actually a two button mouse now and seems great. I did not care much for the tiny keyboard I saw but it was an optional wireless one. I don't know if the standard keyboard is small or larger. I maybe would get a different keyboard. That tiny one would be difficult to type on unless you could get used to it. Just my opinion.

Check to see if your printer and scanner are compatible with the Mac OS. I already checked and I found out that my Epson printer and my Epson scanner are compatible with Lion. I don't know if they will be compatible with Mountain Lion. So when the new iMacs come out I may buy one and then upgrade to Mountain Lion when my printer and scanner are compatible. he upgrade would be only about 20 bucks.