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Are the days gone for the need to buy nice G5 towers?

Would imacs or mac mini's with a nice LCD monitor work ??

We have 1 monster machine... bought about 3yrs ago. Use for Big files / Jobs to RIP, etc. (how do you show screen shots in post?)

But it seems the new imac's and mac mini's be fine for everyday prepress op.? Thoughts?

Quote from: prepressDog on November 22, 2010, 09:46:23 AMAre the days gone for the need to buy nice G5 towers?

G5's are no longer available unless you buy a used one. All the new Macs are Intel.

and...
Depending on how you use them, they will ALL work.
I prefer the tower for ease of repairs (adding RAM, replacing hard drives, etc.) and, if the monitor goes south on you, you don't lose the whole machine while it's in the shop.

I use a pair of 3 yr old iMacs, 2.4Ghz Intel, 2Gb RAM. I'm pretty happy with overall performance.

Of course, I spent three years at my last job entirely Windows based. So any kind of Mac is a treat to me. :laugh:

We use all iMacs. There is a lot to be said for David's point of view. The towers are much easier to work on than the iMacs and Minis. Unfortunately we're never going to see towers in prepress here again because of the initial cost of them.

 we got four 27" iMacs here, 2 for marketing and two for prepress.
Would love to have the tower, but as Joe said, crazy expensive, and we don't RIP huge files to warrant that kind of muscle.
On the other side of that, you may not need to upgrade for 5 or more years with a new tower.


There is an "Additional Options" pull down when you post that will allow you attach screen shots, etc..

We have a Mini. It gets very hot so I have it lifted up off of the desk. The USBports go wonky every now and then making a restart necessary. By wonky I mean the keyboard doesn't work and the Preps dongle key goes out. You can't put much RAM in this one and it cannot drive a large monitor. I wouldn't get one for production other than a Preps station or something like that.
I've seen the iMacs and they are cool but the "all-in-one" scares me.

Quote from: Stiv on November 22, 2010, 11:03:29 AMI've seen the iMacs and they are cool but the "all-in-one" scares me.

Likewise. For anyone who didn't follow my thread about the dead iMac hard drive, I ended up having to take the whole machine to an Apple store for hard drive replacement (covered under Applecare). I found an online tute on doing it yourself but it terrified me so I took it in. Changing out a hard drive should not be terrifying...

Quote from: gnubler on November 22, 2010, 11:06:59 AMChanging out a hard drive should not be terrifying...

Agreed...but to cram all that stuff in such a little place is going to cause inconveniences like this. Plus you have to have the special Apple tool for the screwheads if you do want to do it yourself.

2 imacs, on Intel tower and my tired old G5.

Quote from: Joe on November 22, 2010, 11:19:10 AM

Quote from: gnubler on November 22, 2010, 11:06:59 AMChanging out a hard drive should not be terrifying...

Agreed...but to cram all that stuff in such a little place is going to cause inconveniences like this. Plus you have to have the special Apple tool for the screwheads if you do want to do it yourself.

And don't forget those suction cups to gingerly lift off the glass display. :scared:  ...and good luck getting it all back together.

I used to tear into the original iMacs a few times, it was alot easier back then. Still, I've had 3 of the flat-panel iMacs with no trouble of any sort. I did see one monitor go bad on a friend's machine, but I'm still suspicious that it wasn't the monitor but the video-card. He dumped it and bought a new one, though (it was a G5, after all) I recommended them to my current employer, they seem pretty reliable, and certainly can do anything you'd need to do in Prepress, I even use them for more demanding 3D modeling and rendering on my personal machines.

I replaced both my workstation with and new Intel and Bossmans G4 with a used G5 iMac. Easy enough to open and replace hard drive, DVD drive, and or Ram. The power supply just died in Bossmans used iMac. Cost me $125 for a new power supply and about 1/2 hour to replace it.

Yes, the G5 iMacs are easy to get into and replace things. Once they went to the Intel CPU you can't get to anything other than RAM without pulling the LCD. PITA...

Thanks all for replies...

Thinking stick with Intel towers, cust build and repair (although BossMan prob rather send out for repair)... but nothing beats mac cinema displays...seems.

but mby a few imacs...for norm everyday prepress op.

Gives me something to think about. Hate seeing bossman shell out 2-5 GRAND for awesome Towers.... then a new imac comes out year later that can spank it. hmm...

Late to this cos been asleep.  :rolleyes:  There's no Intel equivalent, really, for G5 towers. Mac Pros look like them, but the price has gone up, relatively, by about 40%. If they will let you, get one. People have covered iMacs. I can only add that the only one worth getting is the new 27" with LED (LCD) IPS panel.
Minis. I'm one-eyed. I love them, especially the new ones. They've dealt with the heat dissipation in the latest ones better. Flatter form factor. Plus they're easier to get into.
RAM is a breeze to add, and they'll take 8GB. My son has put an OWC 120GB Solid State Drive in his MacBook Pro, and it flies., like really flies. I had plans to do same with Minis for prepress but my plans were scuttled.
Cinema Displays? For that kind of money, look at entry-level NEC or EIZO. Chalk and cheese.

Quote from: Stiv on November 22, 2010, 11:03:29 AMWe have a Mini. It gets very hot so I have it lifted up off of the desk. The USBports go wonky every now and then making a restart necessary. By wonky I mean the keyboard doesn't work and the Preps dongle key goes out. You can't put much RAM in this one and it cannot drive a large monitor. I wouldn't get one for production other than a Preps station or something like that.
I've seen the iMacs and they are cool but the "all-in-one" scares me.

My main machine is a mini - 2.53 C2D with 4gb ram, runs 2-23" monitors just fine (apple cinema 23"HD and a viewsonic) - replaced my G5 tower...
Got another 24" intel imac in production...and another mini doing prep work. No more towers for this prepress dept.

With you, mwc. What bothers me is that I've had two occurrences of display/mouse lockout on few-weeks-old 27" iMac. Have had to button off. OK, I ran fsck afterwards, and will do Permissions/Disk Verify this morning, but am not real happy about it. All that stuff locked in a confined heat-box.

Quote from: gnubler on November 22, 2010, 11:36:09 AM

Quote from: Joe on November 22, 2010, 11:19:10 AM

Quote from: gnubler on November 22, 2010, 11:06:59 AMChanging out a hard drive should not be terrifying...

Agreed...but to cram all that stuff in such a little place is going to cause inconveniences like this. Plus you have to have the special Apple tool for the screwheads if you do want to do it yourself.

And don't forget those suction cups to gingerly lift off the glass display. :scared:  ...and good luck getting it all back together.

I've mentioned before I had to swap my drive in my 24", but I'll mention it again :wink:
I found a suction cup at Home depot for $2 and the Torx driver kit for $7 the next aisle over, followed the tutorial and back up and running within hours.
I'm not one to tear crap apart for "fun" but this wasn't too bad. Oh, and the $100 , 1.5 terabyte drive is 3 times larger and also faster than stock.

I don't know if I'd risk doing it on someone else's, wouldn't want to fry something not my own.

Quote from: Grimace on November 22, 2010, 02:46:56 PMI don't know if I'd risk doing it on someone else's, wouldn't want to fry something not my own.

That's why I didn't even bother. Plus it was still under Applecare - let one of their techs fcuk it up.

Quote from: Grimace on November 22, 2010, 02:46:56 PMOh, and the $100 , 1.5 terabyte drive is 3 times larger and also faster than stock.

Apple's "no charge" charge for the replacement HD was something like $225 for a 500Gb drive. :laugh: What a joke if we actually had to pay that, and I'm sure many people do.

Quote from: gnubler on November 22, 2010, 02:52:07 PM

Quote from: Grimace on November 22, 2010, 02:46:56 PMOh, and the $100 , 1.5 terabyte drive is 3 times larger and also faster than stock.

Apple's "no charge" charge for the replacement HD was something like $225 for a 500Gb drive. :laugh: What a joke if we actually had to pay that, and I'm sure many people do.

That was the driving factor for me to try the swap myself. I asked the Apple tech to ballpark a cost for me and said he couldn't. I asked, "Under a thousand?" in a frustrated attempt. he said, "I doubt it"

Goodbye, Apple. I'm pretty convinced I will never buy anything directly from them again. Gonna get a replacement Mac on eBay or craigslist when the time comes.

Hackintosh. Not a good idea for a production workstation but would work fine for a home box. My Mac Pro came from the refurb shop. Don't even think I would buy a iPod at retail prices unless I needed one immediately.

Quote from: Farabomb on November 22, 2010, 03:27:12 PMHackintosh. Not a good idea for a production workstation but would work fine for a home box. My Mac Pro came from the refurb shop. Don't even think I would buy a iPod at retail prices unless I needed one immediately.

I consider myself fairly computer smart. I tried a Hackintosh, for learning purposes only of course. I got the OS installed but could never get it to boot.

Great info.... Sounds like imac can replace the towers.
I mean there MACs.... Not PCs. In my years dealing... only minor issues... if any. Still have old G3 laying around....dont have heart to trash. or still hold on for Backup. Never know... (how many people can say that about PCs... and people wonder why you pay extra for GREAT apple Hardware / Software)

As long as they keep easy access to items... wonder if they will ever just get rid of the towers??

Wonder why or how... (never looked new imacs too much) they keep everything Cool??
Thought the great thing about the towers... was the all aluminum body and big fans blowing all that hotness out the back....

 :offtopic: (I have an intel 2 x 3ghz Quad-Core Xeon with 16gb Ram...lol. Dont laugh... but for all the ram and hype. Not as fast as I'd think. Dont get me wrong... its great. Can have whatever open for most part. Just the dual processing power... not that impressive. Seems like still have to wait till one thing finishes.... b4 can work on another. Now this is 3-4 years old.... Im betting that the newer imacs prob faster. And that would SUCK....cuz I think BossMan paid bout 5g's.... (16gb ram?? think he just said MAX out... and they overdid it....8gb prob just fine....LOL...listen to us talk...8gb RAM!!! Lucky to have a hardDrive that big back in the day....LOL  :azn:)

The new Intel processors run cooler than the G5s (PPCs), which is one reason Apple made the leap. Minis, for that reason, went from G4 to Intel. Am guessing the aluminium cases on current iMacs help, but they still get hot. Had they 'ribbed' the back, like LaCie external drives, they would have run cooler, but wouldn't be cool.  :undecided:

Quote from: prepressDog on November 22, 2010, 04:20:27 PMAs long as they keep easy access to items...

They're already not. Essentially they're just vertical laptops.

Quote from: prepressDog on November 22, 2010, 04:20:27 PMGreat info.... Sounds like imac can replace the towers.
I mean there MACs.... Not PCs. In my years dealing... only minor issues... if any. Still have old G3 laying around....dont have heart to trash. or still hold on for Backup. Never know... (how many people can say that about PCs... and people wonder why you pay extra for GREAT apple Hardware / Software)

As long as they keep easy access to items... wonder if they will ever just get rid of the towers??

Wonder why or how... (never looked new imacs too much) they keep everything Cool??
Thought the great thing about the towers... was the all aluminum body and big fans blowing all that hotness out the back....

 :offtopic: (I have an intel 2 x 3ghz Quad-Core Xeon with 16gb Ram...lol. Dont laugh... but for all the ram and hype. Not as fast as I'd think. Dont get me wrong... its great. Can have whatever open for most part. Just the dual processing power... not that impressive. Seems like still have to wait till one thing finishes.... b4 can work on another. Now this is 3-4 years old.... Im betting that the newer imacs prob faster. And that would SUCK....cuz I think BossMan paid bout 5g's.... (16gb ram?? think he just said MAX out... and they overdid it....8gb prob just fine....LOL...listen to us talk...8gb RAM!!! Lucky to have a hardDrive that big back in the day....LOL  :azn:)

LOL...I still have a Gateway 386 I bought in 1990. :laugh: (And it runs)

we're running the whole prepress department on ipods in tandem with mac minis. Hard to see much on the ipods screen though. But seriously, I've had a 27 inch imac for a couple of months and love it, i practically work in the dark so the glossy screen is not a problem. it's a 2.93gHz i7 processor and sometimes surprises me on how fast certain tasks go compared to the old G5, especially in Photoshop.

Guess we're kind of vulnerable with the all in one concept but hey, as prepress workers I'm sure we're ALL used to feeling vulnerable.

Quote from: Joe on November 22, 2010, 06:12:18 PM

Quote from: prepressDog on November 22, 2010, 04:20:27 PMGreat info.... Sounds like imac can replace the towers.
I mean there MACs.... Not PCs. In my years dealing... only minor issues... if any. Still have old G3 laying around....dont have heart to trash. or still hold on for Backup. Never know... (how many people can say that about PCs... and people wonder why you pay extra for GREAT apple Hardware / Software)

As long as they keep easy access to items... wonder if they will ever just get rid of the towers??

Wonder why or how... (never looked new imacs too much) they keep everything Cool??
Thought the great thing about the towers... was the all aluminum body and big fans blowing all that hotness out the back....

 :offtopic: (I have an intel 2 x 3ghz Quad-Core Xeon with 16gb Ram...lol. Dont laugh... but for all the ram and hype. Not as fast as I'd think. Dont get me wrong... its great. Can have whatever open for most part. Just the dual processing power... not that impressive. Seems like still have to wait till one thing finishes.... b4 can work on another. Now this is 3-4 years old.... Im betting that the newer imacs prob faster. And that would SUCK....cuz I think BossMan paid bout 5g's.... (16gb ram?? think he just said MAX out... and they overdid it....8gb prob just fine....LOL...listen to us talk...8gb RAM!!! Lucky to have a hardDrive that big back in the day....LOL  :azn:)

LOL...I still have a Gateway 386 I bought in 1990. :laugh: (And it runs)

I have most of my old hardware. Some has been through a flood and/or a fire and it all still works. PCs and Macs use basically the same hardware.

Quote from: gnubler on November 22, 2010, 03:05:25 PMGoodbye, Apple. I'm pretty convinced I will never buy anything directly from them again. Gonna get a replacement Mac on eBay or craigslist when the time comes.

Depends on what you are buying. I got more Mac for the money buying a referb directly from Apple, but the replacement power cord for my wife's Macbook was $79 from Apple... $16.89 total on ebay.

...and this old Mac vs PeeCee crap is getting pretty feckin boring  :sleepy:

Quote from: tapdn on November 23, 2010, 09:52:22 AM

Quote from: gnubler on November 22, 2010, 03:05:25 PMGoodbye, Apple. I'm pretty convinced I will never buy anything directly from them again. Gonna get a replacement Mac on eBay or craigslist when the time comes.

Depends on what you are buying. I got more Mac for the money buying a referb directly from Apple, but the replacement power cord for my wife's Macbook was $79 from Apple... $16.89 total on ebay.

My laptop was a refurb from Apple, I think it was $1600 in 2007. Or else I'm on crack and it was $800 - I don't remember but it's still in top shape and hasn't failed me yet. I'll just use it until it goes dark. I still have the same iPod from 2004 and it mostly works.

Ok... Well, I guess I just hate Microsoft, PCs and Bill Gates = Remind me of Quark... Ha  :cheesy:

Guess I have some old PCs too.... but sure they still run like shit. Seems like every pc ive EVER used runs like shit after a year or so.
Gets full of viruses, spy shit, mailware or whatever... even if have a shitty virus scanner that takes 4 days to scan.

So Mac = Clean..... PC =  :banghead:

I tried to do a quick poll... set vote as 10 per user?
(dont do many polls in forms... so change if you want)

Idk if there is a way to put how many computers or just re-vote for how many You have....

Got a good idea... but trying show something to BossMans. They like charts or polls.... instead of reading all our jibb.

Thanks...

Never Mind.... My poll sucks. Ha.
Trash it Joe...

If someone can do a better one... if not no worries... Got plenty of info from this post.

Thanks again!!

We HAVE to have the pc for PREPS and PRINTSHOP MAIL and various other programs work better on it.

macs and pc's cooperate much better today than they did when I got into this racket 11 years ago.

Towers are best but take up a lot of space. I got Imac recently, spend lot on the screen size. Helps but not sure yet about breakdowns.
 :undecided:

Just got word that I'm getting a 27" 2.93Ghz i7 w/16GB RAM and a 256GB Solid State Drive.

There goes my bonus.  :laugh:

You won't be disappointed, speed-wise. SSD hey?...someone's done their research.   :cool:

Quote from: Abdulq60 on November 26, 2010, 09:26:58 AMTowers are best but take up a lot of space. I got Imac recently, spend lot on the screen size. Helps but not sure yet about breakdowns.
 :undecided:

Agree. Let's see in 2 years. Apart from a logic board that died in the second week, on one, our 3 G5 towers haven't missed a beat. Not so sure about iMacs. The accessibility of towers is a big plus. They're dealing with heat dissipation better, too. Though the LED backlights on the 27" is a plus there.

My little bro just went from an G5 tower to an 27" imac and is getting weird characters on his screen, had him do an fsck and zapped the pram to no avail. told him to take it to the apple store. am i missing anything?

We are getting occasional mouse/display lockups/freezes. Have to button off. I run fsck, Verify Disk.   :shrug:  Having said that, I think I need to update OSX on both. One behind, from memory. On Monday's list.
G, have you got him to install applejack, and then run applejack AUTO restart? Dr. Joe's Medicine Oil.

If he just bought it new I wouldn't screw with it. I'd make it Apple's problem.

Same applies here, really. If we keep getting those, I'd have to consider it a problem, and act accordingly. Once I've checked all up to date on OSX...wait and watch.   :undecided:
But yeah, G's bro's is not an intermittent. Sounds nastier.

here's some weirdness...keep getting it here in "mail", not on every email and a restart and a cache clean sometime fixes.......not getting it in any other programs....tried changing the fonts in mail, no difference. New 27inch iMac.


(http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2264/fontweirdness.jpg) (http://img401.imageshack.us/i/fontweirdness.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

the names have been blurred to protect the innocent.

Maybe some weird Canadian dialect you're not familiar with?

Def a font issue.

Agreed. Font issue. What font is that being used there? Stop using it. :tongue:

I use plain old Helvetica in my email client (Tbird) and have display set for plain text (no HTML)

You are probably depriving yourself of some really cool designer graphical sigs.

Quote from: Joe on December 01, 2010, 11:44:37 AMYou are probably depriving yourself of some really cool designer graphical sigs.

Yeah, like the one from one of our CSRs? They don't listen, I don't care. Is it lunchtime yet? I want to cash in one that 3 for 2 burrito deal you mentioned.

Quote from: pspdfppdfx on December 01, 2010, 11:36:17 AMhere's some weirdness...keep getting it here in "mail", not on every email and a restart and a cache clean sometime fixes.......not getting it in any other programs....tried changing the fonts in mail, no difference. New 27inch iMac.


(http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2264/fontweirdness.jpg) (http://img401.imageshack.us/i/fontweirdness.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

Run FEX's maintenance Tools.

FEXs?

What's really weird is that when I copy and paste the "A"s into Indesign, voilà, the type appears properly.

FEX= Font explorer.

FEX > suckcase.

Quote from: pspdfppdfx on December 01, 2010, 12:28:43 PMFEXs?

What's really weird is that when I copy and paste the "A"s into Indesign, voilà, the type appears properly.

My co-workers always have these font issues using Apple Mail. I use Thunderbird and never have them.

Quote from: Joe on December 01, 2010, 12:33:51 PMI use Thunderbird and never have them.

Ditto foshizzle.

Well, I reached an impasse on my efforts to get souped-up Minis, and either retain the displays we've got, or maybe get just one, as a replacement. Brow-beaten into 27" iMacs. OK, some people are prolly saying "What's to complain about?" Heat, is my main concern. It is not hot here this summer, yet. Wet as hell, but not hot. Haven't even kicked air cond on, just a soggy/cool breeze wafting through the door. I cannot leave my hand on the top of the iMac for more than about 5 secs. Can't be good. They have a vent/slot right across the top for convection cooling, but...

I've said it before, but if they'd finned the back...   :undecided: Just concerned about reliability a year or 2 down the track. And that's with LED(LCD), not CCRT(LCD).

...oh, am cataloguing Archive DVDs right now. They're in for about 40 secs while I cat 'em. Very hot when they come out. Have counselled Tonto not to leave them in. He loads clients jobs....leaves discs in. Find 'em there the next day. have to eject.   :rolleyes:

It was odd when I was in Australia in June, down south. It was effin' cold and I remember seeing a shop in a small town with a sign on the front door saying "closed for winter". It was around 7C in Melbourne the day I visited.

Quote from: gnubler on December 01, 2010, 09:35:28 PMIt was odd when I was in Australia in June, down south. It was effin' cold and I remember seeing a shop in a small town with a sign on the front door saying "closed for winter". It was around 7C in Melbourne the day I visited.

Um, it's December here. Our season's are outa sync, but the dates are the same.   :cheesy:  Oh yes. Melbourne can get very cold. Bass Strait weather/Southern Ocean.

My iMac has a bad ODD (Optical Disk Drive) fan. It's working but it's noisy as hell. Sounds like the bearings are shot. So how hard do you think it is to replace this little bugger? Follow the yellow brick road here.

Installing iMac Intel 20" EMC 2105 and 2118 Optical Drive Fan (http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iMac-Intel-20-Inch-EMC-2105-and-2118-Optical-Drive-Fan/1097/)

Wish me luck.

Quote from: Joe on December 01, 2010, 09:54:24 PMMy iMac has a bad ODD (Optical Disk Drive) fan. It's working but it's noisy as hell. Sounds like the bearings are shot. So how hard do you think it is to replace this little bugger? Follow the yellow brick road here.

Installing iMac Intel 20" EMC 2105 and 2118 Optical Drive Fan (http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iMac-Intel-20-Inch-EMC-2105-and-2118-Optical-Drive-Fan/1097/)

Wish me luck.

As Peter Sellers said, in The Pink Panther, "Oh deary, deary me!"

Have you got a collage on the wall of all those shots? Arrows...flowchart? They really are not made for the upgrade/repair path, are they.   :undecided:    You probably got all the tools, but son got the little OWC tool case, replete with spudgers, etc. For a few bucks, well worth it. Got his MacBook open and shut, no worries.

Um...sounds lame, but good luck.

Further thought. If you use an old Amex card, you may get some Karl Malden karma.

Quote from: frailer on December 01, 2010, 11:18:15 PM

Quote from: Joe on December 01, 2010, 09:54:24 PMMy iMac has a bad ODD (Optical Disk Drive) fan. It's working but it's noisy as hell. Sounds like the bearings are shot. So how hard do you think it is to replace this little bugger? Follow the yellow brick road here.

Installing iMac Intel 20" EMC 2105 and 2118 Optical Drive Fan (http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iMac-Intel-20-Inch-EMC-2105-and-2118-Optical-Drive-Fan/1097/)

Wish me luck.

As Peter Sellers said, in The Pink Panther, "Oh deary, deary me!"

Have you got a collage on the wall of all those shots? Arrows...flowchart? They really are not made for the upgrade/repair path, are they.   :undecided:    You probably got all the tools, but son got the little OWC tool case, replete with spudgers, etc. For a few bucks, well worth it. Got his MacBook open and shut, no worries.

Um...sounds lame, but good luck.

Further thought. If you use an old Amex card, you may get some Karl Malden karma.

No, actually I don't have the torx screwdrivers needed. I have been looking for a good set but didn't think to look at OWC. I will check theirs out. Thanks for the tip. I haven't ordered the fan yet. Mainly because I haven't been able to find it. :sad:

BINGO! I'm ordering this:

11-Piece Portable Toolkit (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/TOOLKIT11/)

(http://eshop.macsales.com/images/Items/NWTTOOLKIT11/opencase.jpg)

$17.95 - Can't go wrong there.

Aye, that be the one, lad.   :wink:

Quote from: Joe on December 01, 2010, 11:26:09 PM

Quote from: frailer on December 01, 2010, 11:18:15 PM

Quote from: Joe on December 01, 2010, 09:54:24 PMMy iMac has a bad ODD (Optical Disk Drive) fan. It's working but it's noisy as hell. Sounds like the bearings are shot. So how hard do you think it is to replace this little bugger? Follow the yellow brick road here.

Installing iMac Intel 20" EMC 2105 and 2118 Optical Drive Fan (http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iMac-Intel-20-Inch-EMC-2105-and-2118-Optical-Drive-Fan/1097/)

Wish me luck.

As Peter Sellers said, in The Pink Panther, "Oh deary, deary me!"

Have you got a collage on the wall of all those shots? Arrows...flowchart? They really are not made for the upgrade/repair path, are they.   :undecided:    You probably got all the tools, but son got the little OWC tool case, replete with spudgers, etc. For a few bucks, well worth it. Got his MacBook open and shut, no worries.

Um...sounds lame, but good luck.

Further thought. If you use an old Amex card, you may get some Karl Malden karma.

No, actually I don't have the torx screwdrivers needed. I have been looking for a good set but didn't think to look at OWC. I will check theirs out. Thanks for the tip. I haven't ordered the fan yet. Mainly because I haven't been able to find it. :sad:

Joe, the main thing I can offer about tearing apart an iMac, DO NOT touch the LCD screen once the protective glass is off.
It sounds like a no brainer, but you'll find putting it all back together there is little room to hold the screen in place while replacing screws. If you can get someone to help, you should.
I have a thumb print just visible in my upper left edge, only visible with some images, green for some reason shows it, but only if you know to look for it.
I've not been able to clean it off with the Apple supplied "soft towel" either, and it looks like the screen will scratch very easily.

Quote from: Grimace on December 02, 2010, 12:04:06 PM

Quote from: Joe on December 01, 2010, 11:26:09 PM

Quote from: frailer on December 01, 2010, 11:18:15 PM

Quote from: Joe on December 01, 2010, 09:54:24 PMMy iMac has a bad ODD (Optical Disk Drive) fan. It's working but it's noisy as hell. Sounds like the bearings are shot. So how hard do you think it is to replace this little bugger? Follow the yellow brick road here.

Installing iMac Intel 20" EMC 2105 and 2118 Optical Drive Fan (http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iMac-Intel-20-Inch-EMC-2105-and-2118-Optical-Drive-Fan/1097/)

Wish me luck.

As Peter Sellers said, in The Pink Panther, "Oh deary, deary me!"

Have you got a collage on the wall of all those shots? Arrows...flowchart? They really are not made for the upgrade/repair path, are they.   :undecided:    You probably got all the tools, but son got the little OWC tool case, replete with spudgers, etc. For a few bucks, well worth it. Got his MacBook open and shut, no worries.

Um...sounds lame, but good luck.

Further thought. If you use an old Amex card, you may get some Karl Malden karma.

No, actually I don't have the torx screwdrivers needed. I have been looking for a good set but didn't think to look at OWC. I will check theirs out. Thanks for the tip. I haven't ordered the fan yet. Mainly because I haven't been able to find it. :sad:

Joe, the main thing I can offer about tearing apart an iMac, DO NOT touch the LCD screen once the protective glass is off.
It sounds like a no brainer, but you'll find putting it all back together there is little room to hold the screen in place while replacing screws. If you can get someone to help, you should.
I have a thumb print just visible in my upper left edge, only visible with some images, green for some reason shows it, but only if you know to look for it.
I've not been able to clean it off with the Apple supplied "soft towel" either, and it looks like the screen will scratch very easily.

Thanks for the info. It seems my ODD sensor is not working causing it to run full tilt at 5000 rpm. I'm afraid just putting in a new fan will result in the same problem if the fan continues to run at full speed. Not having any luck at figuring out how to change the sensor. It appears, if I'm looking at the right thing, it is built into the logic board and we know what that means.

need to borrow my BFH?

Quote from: Joe on December 01, 2010, 11:31:40 PMBINGO! I'm ordering this:

11-Piece Portable Toolkit (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/TOOLKIT11/)

(http://eshop.macsales.com/images/Items/NWTTOOLKIT11/opencase.jpg)

$17.95 - Can't go wrong there.

Sayyyy ... you gonna be needing those hemostats?  :ninja:

Yes, don't want to burn my fingers. :evil:

Quote from: Joe on December 02, 2010, 12:36:45 PMYes, don't want to burn my fingers. :evil:

That's okay ... I guess after today I can buy my own!

why don't you whittle you a set...
or get Tap to do it...   in his "spare" time

Quote from: youston on December 02, 2010, 12:24:05 PM

Quote from: Joe on December 01, 2010, 11:31:40 PMBINGO! I'm ordering this:

11-Piece Portable Toolkit (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/TOOLKIT11/)

(http://eshop.macsales.com/images/Items/NWTTOOLKIT11/opencase.jpg)

$17.95 - Can't go wrong there.

Sayyyy ... you gonna be needing those hemostats?  :ninja:

                Artery locking forceps, to us.    :cheesy:   You been watching too much ER/Grey's Anat.

Roach clips to us some.

Been a while since I rolled something. Except my quad.

At least you're not rolling pedestrians like a certain other member here. :cheesy:

If I recall correctly, a pedestrian rolled under his wheel. He's a b4p member, so we accept his version.   Our main concern are the ambulance-chasing um...attorneys, I think you call them there.

We call them scumbags.

Yeah. Or lowest form of human scum, slime, soulless freaks, etc.

whale shit, it's so low it's at the bottom of the ocean

Quote from: frailer on December 02, 2010, 03:50:03 PMIf I recall correctly, a pedestrian rolled under his wheel. He's a b4p member, so we accept his version.   Our main concern are the ambulance-chasing um...attorneysscumbags, I think you call them there.

Fixed.

Quote from: frailer on December 02, 2010, 03:50:03 PMIf I recall correctly, a pedestrian rolled under his wheel. He's a b4p member, so we accept his version.   Our main concern are the ambulance-chasing sc um...attorneys, I think you call them there.

Corrected.

  I'm happy with that.   :cool:

Quote from: Chilbear on December 02, 2010, 04:25:39 PM

Quote from: frailer on December 02, 2010, 03:50:03 PMIf I recall correctly, a pedestrian rolled under his wheel. He's a b4p member, so we accept his version.   Our main concern are the ambulance-chasing sc um...attorneys, I think you call them there.

Corrected.

We think alike. :laugh:

Quote from: frailer on December 02, 2010, 01:56:34 PMYou been watching too much ER/Grey's Anat.

How DARE you, sir?!? I should challenge you to a du-ell for such a slight.  :angry:

Quote from: youston on December 02, 2010, 07:01:34 PM

Quote from: frailer on December 02, 2010, 01:56:34 PMYou been watching too much ER/Grey's Anat.

How DARE you, sir?!? I should challenge you to a du-ell for such a slight.  :angry:

Gadzooks. Thou'll need artery forceps by time we're done, Sir!    :duel:

I'm starting to research new Mac's
I know I won't be getting anything top of the line
I will max out the ram.
anything I should look for in video cards?

anyone using the latest Imac without problems?
or is mac mini the way to go?

Quote from: Tracy on November 02, 2011, 10:05:03 AMI'm starting to research new Mac's
I know I won't be getting anything top of the line
I will max out the ram.
anything I should look for in video cards?

anyone using the latest Imac without problems?
or is mac mini the way to go?

Either is fine. Mac mini needs separate purchase of keyboard, mouse, monitor. Doesn't have as fast a CPU as the latest iMacs and has cheaper video card. Repair is cheaper though usually...like if the monitor goes out. Replacing the hard drive is easier but more expensive as the mini uses laptop drives. The laptop drives are usually a bit slower than the desktop hard drives too.

iMac is all in one. Less setup. Faster. Better video card. Comes with mouse and keyboard. And I think can handle more RAM than the mini.

Thanks! hopefully getting close

frailer has been waiting for you...

 :laugh:

You can use any of them in my opinion, just depends on your environment.

iMacs are great, just hope the display doesn't go wonky on you. I have two in my area and they both are developing vertical lines on the screen. To fix it, I'll have to replace the Mac or send it off and lose a production machine for an untold length of time. That's the bad part of an all in one box. If one thing breaks, the whole computer goes into the shop.

Are you still using any PPC apps on your current mac?

Lion does not support any classic or Power PC apps, which if you get a new Mac, it will come with Lion.

Yeah, you gave me the info to check! thanks!
looks like I'm ok, don't really need any of those
programs (hopefully) when I update

at some point you've got to let go of the old programs. I mean, seriously some of these things are from the last century.

We just had excellent news - our biggest repeat Ragemaker job is now going to convert to Indy! But the new (read: not 95 years old) person "still hasn't had time to learn Indesign" (groan) so we get to build a master of this publication for her to populate.

Quote from: t-pat on November 02, 2011, 10:52:29 AMat some point you've got to let go of the old programs. I mean, seriously some of these things are from the last century.

We just had excellent news - our biggest repeat Ragemaker job is now going to convert to Indy! But the new (read: not 95 years old) person "still hasn't had time to learn Indesign" (groan) so we get to build a master of this publication for her to populate.

I don't agree. Output should be done from the originating application. Up-versioning and opening files from one app to the next is just looking for trouble.

Quote from: t-pat on November 02, 2011, 10:52:29 AMat some point you've got to let go of the old programs. I mean, seriously some of these things are from the last century.

We just had excellent news - our biggest repeat Ragemaker job is now going to convert to Indy! But the new (read: not 95 years old) person "still hasn't had time to learn Indesign" (groan) so we get to build a master of this publication for her to populate.

If it is like any of my customers they ask for the master and then completely ignore it. :death:

Quote from: DigitalCrapShoveler on November 02, 2011, 11:01:07 AM

Quote from: t-pat on November 02, 2011, 10:52:29 AMat some point you've got to let go of the old programs. I mean, seriously some of these things are from the last century.

We just had excellent news - our biggest repeat Ragemaker job is now going to convert to Indy! But the new (read: not 95 years old) person "still hasn't had time to learn Indesign" (groan) so we get to build a master of this publication for her to populate.

I don't agree. Output should be done from the originating application. Up-versioning and opening files from one app to the next is just looking for trouble.

If all the people of the world would upgrade, then our worries would be over, for a few days anyway.

Quote from: DigitalCrapShoveler on November 02, 2011, 11:01:07 AMI don't agree. Output should be done from the originating application. Up-versioning and opening files from one app to the next is just looking for trouble.

Don't go looking for trouble... trouble will find you!

Quote from: DigitalCrapShoveler on November 02, 2011, 11:01:07 AM

Quote from: t-pat on November 02, 2011, 10:52:29 AMat some point you've got to let go of the old programs. I mean, seriously some of these things are from the last century.

We just had excellent news - our biggest repeat Ragemaker job is now going to convert to Indy! But the new (read: not 95 years old) person "still hasn't had time to learn Indesign" (groan) so we get to build a master of this publication for her to populate.

I don't agree. Output should be done from the originating application. Up-versioning and opening files from one app to the next is just looking for trouble.

You don't agree with what? That the programs are antique? I am meaning that everyone (not just us) should move the f*ck on and update to something that actually runs on a modern computer.

As far as changing versions, I have to do it all the time with Indy because we only have licensing for XMpie for CS3. Otherwise I do try to avoid it because going backwards tends to be a hell of a lot more problematic than going forwards, at least with Indy. I don't see problems opening Indy CS3 files in 5.5 but the other way is sometimes messy.

 

Quote from: david on November 02, 2011, 11:03:27 AM

Quote from: DigitalCrapShoveler on November 02, 2011, 11:01:07 AM

Quote from: t-pat on November 02, 2011, 10:52:29 AMat some point you've got to let go of the old programs. I mean, seriously some of these things are from the last century.

We just had excellent news - our biggest repeat Ragemaker job is now going to convert to Indy! But the new (read: not 95 years old) person "still hasn't had time to learn Indesign" (groan) so we get to build a master of this publication for her to populate.

I don't agree. Output should be done from the originating application. Up-versioning and opening files from one app to the next is just looking for trouble.

If all the people of the world would upgrade, then our worries would be over, for a few days anyway.

Now THAT I can agree with. :wink:

sometimes I just don't have choices, I work with other people and enforcement of "use the version it came in as" is pretty lax so I have to pick up where a co-worker left off, and I can understand where trying all 4 of our installed versions of Indy before deciding which to use vs. hell it opens in 5.5, let's go! is a less annoying route.

Quote from: t-pat on November 02, 2011, 11:45:24 AMsometimes I just don't have choices, I work with other people and enforcement of "use the version it came in as" is pretty lax so I have to pick up where a co-worker left off, and I can understand where trying all 4 of our installed versions of Indy before deciding which to use vs. hell it opens in 5.5, let's go! is a less annoying route.

It doesn't happen often, just enough to make the rule null and void. InDesign, I have seen different versions react differently to the same file. Colors don't appear in the swatch palette, fonts going bonkers... I'd rather do it in the version created, that way I am mimicking the customer as close as possible. I understand we have to work with the tools we have, but to dismiss the problems that can occur because it is "less annoying" is just not doing your job to the best of your abilities. Prepress is a bitch, no one will argue here about that... but being the ultimate pessimist, you have to do what is right for you and your experience. That was a general statement.

Do you have the ID proxy? It will open InDesign files in the correct version up to CS4, IF they are loaded. If it won't open, it is in CS5 or 5.5. Takes a little of the guess work out.

hell I've got fonts going bonkers in files opened in their native version today. I'll look for that proxy thing you speak of, nebber herd of it, thanks!

looks like there's a newer version that will recognize cs5 and more
http://www.rorohiko.com/wordpress/downloads/lightning-brain-soxy/ (http://www.rorohiko.com/wordpress/downloads/lightning-brain-soxy/)

I thought it was free? it's 20 bucks now.

Christ. Is there anything they don't charge for nowadays? I almost expect to get a bill for individual human oxygen consumption at the end of the month.

this is not "proxy" it is "Soxy" - which also does other applications besides indy. My boss will likely spring for the $20, it seems like a small price to pay.

Quote from: DigitalCrapShoveler on November 02, 2011, 01:04:02 PMChrist. Is there anything they don't charge for nowadays? I almost expect to get a bill for individual human oxygen consumption at the end of the month.

Don't give the government any ideas.

I try and open it in the native version but it's not always possible. I've seen weird stuff going either way.

Quote from: Farabomb on November 02, 2011, 01:56:40 PM

Quote from: DigitalCrapShoveler on November 02, 2011, 01:04:02 PMChrist. Is there anything they don't charge for nowadays? I almost expect to get a bill for individual human oxygen consumption at the end of the month.

Don't give the government any ideas.

I try and open it in the native version but it's not always possible. I've seen weird stuff going either way.

Can you elaborate?

I try to always use a different version than it was created in. I like a challenge.

Marriage isn't enough?

I guess not. :blind:

Quote from: DigitalCrapShoveler on November 02, 2011, 01:04:02 PMChrist. Is there anything they don't charge for nowadays? I almost expect to get a bill for individual human oxygen consumption at the end of the month.

    N.Z. is in trouble too. They need the $$s.  Rorohiko is Maori for something like "thunder bolts coming out of long white cloud over mountainous coast" I made that up; a bit. You get the gist.

shoulda charged Peter Jackson more.

Quote from: t-pat on November 02, 2011, 04:32:06 PMshoulda charged Peter Jackson more.

                Perzackly.  Oh... anyone try and (re)vote in the poll? (Nov 2010)    :tapedshut: