1st home PC - what do I need for gen use and digital photos?

[miniandy]

My reasons for advising a Mac were simply down to the ease of use and the fact that all he needs will be in the box - iLife software for example, and OS X Tiger. What the gent should do is head down to his Apple shop or a John Lewis and have a play around. There is no point debating Mac V. PC - all I know is that I made the change back to Mac about 3 years ago, and I have not regretted it.

Cheers

[mccrackenj]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Thanks to you guys and those on the photography forum I think I now have a decent idea of what I need (and what I don't). I'm going to 'build' a PC on the Dell website and also call into my nearest PC world to have a look at Macs, then I'll get me credit card out.

Cheers everybody.

[page3]

mccrackenj said:

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Thanks to you guys and those on the photography forum I think I now have a decent idea of what I need (and what I don't). I'm going to 'build' a PC on the Dell website and also call into my nearest PC world to have a look at Macs, then I'll get me credit card out. Cheers everybody.

Sounds like a good decision. One suggestion though - try to view a Mac at either John Lewis or an Apple store - PC World is well known for their total lack of knowledge on all things Macintosh (and their PC knowledge is somewhat ropey too!). They have also been known to try to sell old models without telling you that's what they are.

[mccrackenj]

Thanks for the advice Page3. Unfortunately I'm in Belfast so I think PC World is the only option for Mac.

I'll bear your comments in mind though, and treat what they tell me with the appropriate degree of scepticism.

Cheers

[annodomini2]

page3 said:

One suggestion though - try to view a Mac at either John Lewis or an Apple store - PC World is well known for their total lack of knowledge on all things Macintosh (and their PC knowledge is somewhat ropey too!). They have also been known to try to sell old models without telling you that's what they are.

Very true, if I get really bored on a weekend there's a pc world about 200yards from where I live, I walk in and wind up the sales staff with obscure questions which none of them have the answer to, or listen to the sales banter and how much they get it wrong!!

Classic example: (not from pc world, but dixons, one for the techies by the way), "look at this CD player, features include a 1-bit DAC..."

>> Edited by annodomini2 on Wednesday 25th January 18:05

[mr_yogi]

I had a friend who used to have a Saturday job in PC World, but unlike most he really knew his stuff. Worked for Intel OEM support on his work placement.

He was their worst salesman, kept talking people out of hardware they didn't need

They only kept him because lots of customer praised him to his superiors.

Apparently their top salesman used to refer to USB as "uzub" and only a few knew what they were selling

>> Edited by mr_yogi on Wednesday 25th January 14:43