John Kettler Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 I recently went through a terrible cybernetic nightmare when I took my 800 MHz, 1GB SDRAM, 32MB VRAM 17" flat panel dual boot iMac in to make sure it had no issues which would explain terminal Internet issues (zero signal) I was experiencing with my complex's WiFi system. The outfit was reputable and reported I had both a defective logic board and a dying HD, then quoted me an $1100.00 repair bill. Needless to say, this set me to casting about for a less expensive scheme to restore previous cybernetic capabilities, which is how I wound up with a sibling of the dying iMac, to which I had my maximum system memory upgrade and programs migrated. With rush charges, file transfer, etc., it was around 700 bucks, steep, but a real improvement over what I was looking at before. I'll spare you the gory details of how that was eventually achieved, but I wanted to note that I was told my rig had well exceeded its design life. Further, and much to the consternation of the Mac repair shop people, a 1.25 GHz iMac loaner I was provided while fixes were made to things not done right the first time, also died, displaying merely 3/8 inch of the desktop upon booting, both here and at the shop. The guy there said of this: "Weird!" My replacement rig runs fine and was also thoroughly checked to verify Airport card function. Efforts are underway here to bring the WiFi up to the criteria defined in the lease (free high speed Internet was one of the inducements to lease here), but I know the issue can't be my rig. In discussing my adventure with my Mac power user friend and business partner, he told me the "towers are basically bulletproof, but the iMacs are designed to last only a few years." If you have any ambitions of retaining Mac native OS 9 CMBO/CMBB/CMAK capability, I highly recommend you snag yourself a replacement dual boot rig while you can. Airport cards for my model are practically impossible to come by, the clear sphere speakers even more so. Luckily, my replacement iMac had the speakers (mine had suicided, wrecking the connector and the socket in the computer), and my Airport card in my old rig still worked fine, so it went into this one, which had none. If nothing's gone wrong with your rig, rejoice, but realize if it's an iMac, you're probably living on borrowed time. Plan ahead and avoid the mess I went through. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Welcome back to cyberland. useful to know re the obsolence built-in. I am glad I keep all my old PC's - bar my 386 of 1991. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilhammer Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 That's one reason to go PC - you can fix these real cheap - parts are easy to come by, and the base of Windows techs is far larger than Mac Techs. For 700 dollars, you can but a pretty nice older rig for PC gaming. For 1100 dollars it can be new. That being said, I would like to have an iBook. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoolaman Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 That's one reason to go PC - you can fix these real cheap - parts are easy to come by, and the base of Windows techs is far larger than Mac Techs. For 700 dollars, you can but a pretty nice older rig for PC gaming. For 1100 dollars it can be new. That being said, I would like to have an iBook. Yeah you'd have to be mental to pay $USD700 to replace an aging obsolete Mac with another the same. Macs are nice if you can afford to pay too much for a slightly cooler and much less versatile computer. If your budget is tight and you want to play CM by an old PC for $100. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 dieseltaylor, As noted, the towers are bulletproof. This isn't a tower. It does, though, have all the components, to include the display, in one integrated, small footprint unit. Wilhammer, Tres droll on the iBook! You are indeed correct as to the greater numbers of PC techs, but your argument fails to take into account, inter alia, the very steep learning curve for me, replacing all of my programs, converting all my writings to a PC compatible format, the endless succession of security issues arising from bloated MS OS with holes big enough to drive the Titanic through, and the need to replace most of my CM games. That said, I sure wish I could play CMSF! What I wish I had were OS X native versions of all the CM games and a powerful rig on which to run them. We're supposed to get such a version of CMSF in due course. Instead, I'll probably wind up keeping the current rig and getting a new Intel Mac of some sort. Besides, I really want to be able to play the to me sadly PC only HW:LG, TOW, etc. hoolaman, $300 plus of the price was for data migration and the rush job, which got me the computer back before Christmas. Otherwise, I doubt I would've had it until well after New Year's. This is important because I not only have personal stuff to deal with, but a great deal of material related to my business and other tasks. Enjoy your PC, but I've used both, and I greatly prefer the Mac--for a host of reasons. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicky Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Wow $300!, I'll have what they're making an hour Using FireWire Target Disk Mode, Migration Assistant and a firewire cable that must have taken 5 minutes to set up and an hour to run unattended. They saw you coming... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoolaman Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 dieseltaylor, hoolaman, $300 plus of the price was for data migration and the rush job, which got me the computer back before Christmas. Otherwise, I doubt I would've had it until well after New Year's. This is important because I not only have personal stuff to deal with, but a great deal of material related to my business and other tasks. Enjoy your PC, but I've used both, and I greatly prefer the Mac--for a host of reasons. I'm not trying to bash macs, it just seems odd to start a thread telling us that a certain model computer is likely to fail after a certain period of time, and knowing yours had reached the end of its life, tell us that you replaced it with one exactly the same. You also paid enough money to buy three secondhand macs better than what you ended up with, and you are limiting yourself to OS9 so you can keep playing CM. You could have bought CMAK, CMBB, CMBO, and CMSF for $100 (even direct from BFC), a PC capable of playing all of them and doing nothing else for $300, and a decent secondhand mac for $300. Not being hugely computer savvy is not a crime, but don't forget you have a lot of geeks here at BFC forums who would love to help you. Friends don't let firends get ripped off and make poor replacement computer decisions. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilhammer Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 "ou are indeed correct as to the greater numbers of PC techs, but your argument fails to take into account, inter alia, the very steep learning curve for me," Oh, i forgot about your disability 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pak_43 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Never mind, here's the future for Apple users... http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tero Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Never mind, here's the future for Apple users... http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary I can see it now: with auto-guessing words on (as seen in phones) typing will be fun. At the receiving end anyway... And when the wheel goes wonky you pay topdollar and meanwhile your computer is useless unless you happen to have an USB keybord on you. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 The one I have now has been expertly checked out, it does what I need it to do, I love the flexibility provided by the arm mounted pivoting LCD sceeen (as opposed to conforming myself to my Gen One 233 MHz iMac and being stuck in one seating geometry until next I restacked the bricks) and it was near-instantly obtainable, allowing me to get back up and running quickly, which is also why I paid the stiff premium for rapid turnaround. I don't have a lot of room here, so having everything all in one is a big plus for me, and it came with a 30-day warranty. This may not be a great solution, but I applied Patton's dictum about a good plan today. Absent multiple crunches, and armed with some of what you've related to me, there may well've been a better way, but I was in a jam and needed a solution, and I needed it quickly. The point of the post, though, was to let others with a rig like mine know that they needed to start thinking about a backup plan, so they might be spared what I went through. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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