[jb22]

Well I'm currently a Wintel user, and have never owned a MAc, although I've worked on them through out the years. Any way, I'm trying to create a portfolio CD for myself but would like it to be one hybrid CD so that I don't have to have a Windows disc and a Mac disc. So I'm wondering if any one knew of any places selling Macs in and around the $500 range that would be able to run Director 8.5 or MX (just to create a Mac projector file)and would have a CD-Burner.

I'm not sure what I could get for $500-ish (maybe that's to low?) or what my min specs should be.

Also, I'd be willing to pay more for a Cube but am not sure what their specs are? Any ideas how much a Cube would cost? I'd need it to have a CD-RW or even just a CD-R burner. It be nice to have a 40gb hard drive, atleast 256mb ram, maybe 512mb, and a 32mb or 64mb video card that could run OSX and Quartz well. Waiting for MacDoc to get back to me on this one but just wondering what you guys would quote. Also, does the Cube have fire wire?

Thanks.

 

[Finch]

Apple Reseller/Used Apple Resellers:

CPUsed
Simmply Macs
RedTag
MacDoc

G4 Cube est. value and specs:

G4 Cube

 

[Lawrence]

You could just pick up a cheap Beige G3 and throw a
cheap CDRW into it, Then get Toast 5 and you'd still
have money left over for a cheap monitor.
You could probably get RAM and a system for
it online as well in the Mac Trading Post.

Pick up a h.d. on ebay or watch the sales at
Futureshop...They are getting cheaper.

Check out Alex R's ad here in the trading post:

G3 Beige

Dave

 

[jb22]

I'd love to have a Cube but I think it's out of my price range.

I'd like a Mac that could run OSX but OS9 is fine as well. I think I'd prefer the "plastic handle" towers, either G3 or G4 in the 300 - 400-ish range. Really I just need a CD-RW installed, even if it's 8x. I just need it to be able to run out of the box. Don't need a monitor, and just a keyboard, I'd probably but a two button mouse afterwards.

I've been looking at the sales forum but will try emailing macdoc, but I did see Carbon Computing has some G3's in the $500 range. I'll keep looking around, not sure what form factor they are.

 

[monokitty]

Any AGP-based G4 will do you good for your needs in my opinion. However, if you really need that 32 MB graphics card, an optional CD-RW and 512 MB of RAM, expect to pay more than just $500.00 - a stock G4/400 goes for probably around $800.00 alone, and that's without the extra RAM, graphics card or CD-RW, let alone a 40 GB hard drive.

 

[Lawrence]

One thing to note...
If you do decide to buy from a dealer like CPUsed ...
They have a one year warranty that includes parts and
labour on almost any used computer you buy from them.

I found it handy when my Lombard had a problem with
it's keyboard and they replaced the keyboard free of charge.

Dave

 

[jb22]

I think I'd be real happy with a b&w G3 with a CD-RW (8x or higher) and 128mb ram, with a 10gb hard drive as long as it has fire wire. A 16mb PCI video card is fine too, as long as I can connect my Samsung 955DF CRT to it. Also, I'd need 0S9 installed with recovery CDs.

I'd be super happy with a AGP G4 (did they ever make AGP G3s?).

I'll keep looking, I'm trying to see if I can trade my 27" TV and stand (andm aybe cash) for a fairly good G3/G4.

http://www.ehmac.ca/cgi_bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=9;t=002880

 

[jb22]

Well, I got an email form macdoc and they say I can get a a basic REV B G3 400 Blue, 1 meg cache with 256, 6 gig, 52xCDRW and 16 meg Rage 128 pci card for my price range.

I might go for it, although I'd liek ot have a bit more hard drive space but I do have a 60gb fire wire drive so it's not that big of a deal.

I'd probably stick with OS9.

 

[Lawrence]

Why don't you read up on all the Mac's that you'd like to
have at this site and then decide on which Mac will suit
your needs:

www.everymac.com

They list just about every Mac ever built, Whether it's a
Tower, Desktop or Laptop.

Good luck in your search.

Dave

 

[JAMG]

Any Mac that can take an IDE CD Drive can probably take the LG 48x CDr/16xDVD Rom drive I got from Canada Computers for $79 {Can}... Took 15 min to install

Check out www.xlr8yourmac.com to check a specific model with an affordable drive...

I wouldn't bother with less than a Rev2 Blue & White G3 and would recommend a G4 400 AGP as a minimum

 

[jb22]

Looks like I'll need an OSX machine, possible one that will dual-boot OS9.

I didn't know that you needed to create seperate Director projectors for OS9 and OSX.

 

[Kosh]

Ummmm... not that I hate jb22 buying a Mac, but can't he do what he wants to do, on his PC? I'm not a video or Director expert, but wouldn't the PC version of Director be able to save a file in a format that Macs can read? The hybid CD is just an ISO 9660 (or whatever that format is called) formatted CD. Or have you researched this jb22 and the only way you can do it is from a Mac.

 

[jb22]

To burn a proper hybrid CD with seperate Mac and PC partitions you need a Mac. As far as I know, you actually need to have the PC files on a PC formatted CD, Zip, or external drive. Then drag them into Toast and then drag the Mac files off of the Mac HD and that's what it takes.

There are no PC solution for creating hybris, atleast any that actually work. I believe you can create hybrids in Linux but I don't have Linux or even have any experience with it.

As for Director, you can not create a Mac projector in Windows. It's not like LFash which can create cross platform files, with Director you need both a Mac and PC, which really sucks. I was hoping macromedia would have solved this issue with MX but it may have something to do with the Xtras files which are probably a bit different between the OS's.

So if I want to create proper hybrid CDs of my Macromedia presentations, I need a Mac and PC, and two copies of Director.

Now I just found out that I need to create 3 projector, one for Windows, one for OS9 and then another for OSX! I'm still trying to figure htis one out, but it measn I'll need a Mac with OS9 and OSX installed, which most likely means I'll need a better Mac with more power which means more $$$.

 

[Chealion]

Why not just burn an ISO 9660 CD with the director files in there? ISO 9660 CDs work on both platforms.

 

[Kosh]

Now I just found out that I need to create 3 projector, one for Windows, one for OS9 and then another for OSX! I'm still trying to figure htis one out, but it measn I'll need a Mac with OS9 and OSX installed, which most likely means I'll need a better Mac with more power which means more $$$.

I don't know about Director, but MacOS X will run on a G3 400, it may be a little slow, but it'll run. A G4 500 would probably be better, but a B&W G3 would do.

Is there a carbon version of Director that will run on MacOS 9 and MacOS X? You don't want to have to buy 2 Mac versions of Director - one version of Director for MacOS 9 and one for MacOS X.

 

[jb22]

Burning a CD that a PC and MAc will read is not the same thing as a hybrid CD.

A hybrid CD allows you to hide the Windows files from a Mac user, so they will never see the exe file intended for a Window's user.

It's all about the presentation and keeping things organized.

Also, I need a Mac to create a projector file for Mac users, either way I need a Mac.