Hi All,

I have been a PC guy all my life and my IT work requires PC/WIN/Linux, but .....

I've just bought myself (and my gf) a nice big 24" iMac 2.8 Extreme 4GB RAM edition (did not buy the ram from Apple - don't worry). My gf is a computer animator and I partly bought it for her work at home, but thought I could get a better understanding of what all this fuzz is about :D It looks and feels absolutely fantastic.

I've got a BC2, Lab3s, Lab8000s, 7.1 and BeoSystem3 - but how should I integrate this new piece of kit? What parts are missing? What can I use this for in my little beoworld. :-D

I thought about AirPort Express - but some say that: "there is something in the air" regarding tomorrows macworld expo - so have to wait to see what goodies come out.

 
Any thoughts?

Christian
 

I would certainly get a Beoport and an iPod Touch and revel in two way control!

On the non B&O front, a nice big external HDD for the Time Machine!  

Welcome to the gang Christian!

I remember unpacking my iMac 20" and turning it on, petrified i'd not understand a thing after being a dyed-in-the-wool 'PC Man' ever since i got my first computer.

I switched it on, and it worked - and hasn't stopped working since, flawlessly.  Thanks to Van for giving me the confidence and initial support, plus zapping a ton of software on it for me at Firebrand (and showing me how to use it).  Peter too was a great help.

I too still use a PC for work, and by January 10th we had ordered 2 visits from our tech guy already sorting bloody Windows Vista issues out, where Vista wouldn't converse with XP (or printer servers).

Right - that's the warm, fuzzy "i got a Mac, and how happy am i !!" bit done - down to business..

iPod touch seems amazing - soundproof and Peter have it nailed, so can be a fountain of info!!!

Lee

Hi Christian,

It's definitely worth waiting until the keynote speech tomorrow night (our time). Apple always launch a raft of stuff at MacWorld Expo. You can watch the live cast if you like late night viewing lol

Have fun

Mike 

Good to see you're becoming a Mac fan Christian. As you've already bought your iMac, Peter's comment is a most sound one. You use the iPod Touch to remotely control your iMac which should be plugged into a Masterlink system via a BeoPort, along with your BS3, and BC2. The iPod touch will likely use Remote Buddy or, I understand, better, iRed to control the Mac remotely via your WiFi system (that you'll also need). Result: remote control of iTunes via iPod Touch to play on your Mac from anywhere in your WiFi zone. 

There are articles on some of these issues on the forums, and on iRed at http://www.filewell.com/iRed/ 

Don't know what Steve Jobs has up his sleeve, but if the other forum comments are anything to go by, wait a couple of days and reassess your needs!

Mike 

Lee,

you can try out Beo4VRC. See http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32239 for more.

Peter:

I would certainly get a Beoport and an iPod Touch and revel in two way control!

On the non B&O front, a nice big external HDD for the Time Machine!  

 See already in trouble here... noticed something called Time Machine on my iMac - what's that?

I was thinking of buying a NAS drive, I know linksys has one with 2 HD slots and RAID for a reasonable price. I was hoping this could sort all my movies, music, pictures, etc needs between the iMac, PS3 and 2 PC laptops..

I was also thinking about this iTouch/Remote Buddy/AirPort Express setup ... really cool. Does this BeoPort or whatever it is called add anything to this setup or does it simple render the AirPort Expressunnecessary??

Christian

Looking forward to see Jobs speak tonight ... 5pm UK time is it? 

Time Machine is an automatic backup system.  You need an external hard drive.

BeoPort attaches to your Mac (USB and 1/8" headphone jack) and your B&O system (the usual link).  Then you can use N.Music on your stereo unit (BC2 did you say?) to control iTunes with the Beo4.  N.Radio does the same thing but for streaming audio in it's own playlist.  It's really, totally pimp.

wish i'd bought an imac instead of my mac pro , imo its the best machine in the apple range

they recently did a test and the imac wiped the floor with the NEW low end mac pro 8 core !

nuff said 

Peter:

Have you seen Time Capsule? - now that is clever!

Arrrff, Peter, I should have waited a little while before I got my 2007 My Book Studio Edition external hard drive (Western Digital).

Nice but no way to use it via Airport unlike the Time Capsule.

But that's OK as I fancy the look of the My Book Studio Edition.

Guy 

GuyHui :

Peter:

Have you seen Time Capsule? - now that is clever!

Arrrff, Peter, I should have waited a little while before I got my 2007 My Book Studio Edition external hard drive (Western Digital).

Nice but no way to use it via Airport unlike the Time Capsule.

But that's OK as I fancy the look of the My Book Studio Edition.

Guy 

For a future consideration, you could always buy the Time Capsule Airport and connect the My Book to the USB connection on the airport.  It then becomes an AirDrive for storing documents, music, photos etc. I have a 1 TB harddrive connected to my Airport Extreme by USB.  Works great! 

Thanks for the tip
I will give a try.

Guy 

Flappo The Grate:

wish i'd bought an imac instead of my mac pro , imo its the best machine in the apple range

they recently did a test and the imac wiped the floor with the NEW low end mac pro 8 core !

nuff said 

Where'd you see that?  I'm trying to justify buying a Mac for work. 

The top end 2.8 GHz 'extreme' iMac will outperform the lowest-end MacPro in terms of integer performance, ie, how quickly it can perform mathmatical calculations, but ultimately, the MacPro should be able to out-perform it. It has a faster front side bus, better graphics card, faster hard drives, more RAM, faster RAM etc...

Ultimately though, an iMac is far more than enough for most people's needs. They're very powerful...