[Hidden-tech] Advice on used Mac buying

[Rob Laporte]

I attended an interesting talk at Harvard last summer that showed that from
2003 to 2012, personal computer speeds increased little, something like 10%
if I recall right. It has to do with how multiple CPUs (dual and quad) work
on most tasks that aren¹t CPU intensive like most tasks are in all but
extreme statistics software and the like. I have found that keeping an older
Mac well tuned makes it perform about as well as a newer one that, like all
Macs and PCs, get slowed by various software and other conditions over time
if they are not tuned. The solid state flash drives really do add speed, but
they can be added to older Macs.

Best Regards,

Rob Laporte
President and CEO
DISC, Inc. - "Making Web Sites Make Money"
413-584-6500
Fax ­ 413-553-0745
Rob at 2disc.com 
www.2disc.com 

Note: Increasingly, ISPs, companies and individuals use spam blocking
systems that block legitimate email too. Important emails should be followed
up with a phone call if no reply happens within an expected span of time.





From: Annamarie Pluhar <annamarie at pluharconsulting.com>
Date: Wed, 14 May 2014 08:38:05 -0400
To: Hidden-Tech Listserv <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net>
Subject: [Hidden-tech] Advice on used Mac buying

   ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
** If you did, we all thank you. Hi all, I think that some of you on this
list might have some useful help for me. I offered to help my nephew find a
mac to replace his 7 year-old MacBook Pro.  He's got a limited budget -
about $700. He's making a film, in fact the only thing he really does with a
computer is make films. He has Final Cut Pro 7 and wants to stick with it. I
found the specs for that software (below).  Obviously we're looking at used
machines with older operating systems. I'm thinking he'd get a whole lot
more out of a iMac than a Macbook Pro  - but I could be wrong. He doesn't
have a keyboard, mouse or monitor.  He can't have a mini as they have the
wrong graphics processor at least that's what I'm understanding. He's also
dealing with temporary housing (like so many kids these days) so his first
thought was a laptop. Comments? Thoughts? Thanks for all help. Specs: Mac
computer with an Intel processor  € 1GB of RAM (2GB of RAM recommended when
working with compressed HD and uncompressed SD sources; 4GB of RAM
recommended when working with uncompressed HD sources)  € ATI or NVIDIA
graphics processor. Integrated Intel graphics processors are not supported
except the Intel HD Graphics 3000.  € 128MB of VRAM  € Display with
1280-by-800 resolution or higher  € Mac OS X v10.5.6 or later  € QuickTime
7.6 or later  € DVD drive for installation  € For burning Blu-ray discs: a
Blu-ray recorder Annamarie Pluhar Pluhar Consulting
http://www.pluharconsulting.com 802.451.1941 802.579.5975 (cell)
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