Mick’s Macintosh minimums

For PC minimums, click here.

When shopping for any computer (Macintosh or not), the fine print DOES matter.  What follows is my professional opinion (as of THIS month anyway!) regarding the component specifications.  If you have additional questions, just ask.  As always, I preface this page with a simple IMHO (In My Humble Opinion).

ABSOLUTE MINIMUMS

ü      The iMac is cute, but I recommend sticking with a more "traditional" Mac.  The G5 is a smart design that offers the expandability needed over time.  If you are looking for simply the coolest computer on the market today (in my humble opinion), check out the Mac Mini, but know that you cannot add anything internally to it.  If you are looking for a notebook, obviously the iBook or MacBook is a good start, but trust me on this... the PowerBook kicks ____ and the MacBook is simply cool.

ü      Speed is always a matter of "the more the better."  However, anything at least 1.5GHz (Motorola or Intel chipset) is a good start.  Dual processors may sound extravagant, but the benefits are HUGE if you can afford it.

ü      512M RAM (minimum)… consider 1G if you can afford it.

ü      Although not usually an issue, make sure that whichever brand of video card the system comes with has at least 32M RAM

ü      A 17” monitor is pretty much standard, but a larger monitor will be easier on the eyes!!  For laptops, get at least the 15" display.

ü      You WANT MacOS X (10.4 or better to be precise), but unless you also load Mac OS 9, all those "old" applications may not work.  The problem is the newest versions of MacOS do not have the dual-OS ability.  If you MUST have Mac OS 9 capability, consider running a dual-boot system.

Most systems come with: