Big Apple announcement on Tuesday

[rowjimmy]

Hard drives is hard drives.

[rowjimmy]

That's a gross overgeneralization but... You get the idea.

[jedifunk]

yeah, 3rd party RAM, HDs, burners, etc is extremely cheaper than via apple... they charge like $100 for extra RAM that would cost $40 to install yourself.

[VA $l!m]

is there ever compatibility issues, or could it fuck up your warrantee with apple or anyhtign like that?

i just thought that was one of the downsides of buying a mac, was that you were sorta locked in to only buying apple products.

misconception?

[jedifunk]

misconception... but you still need to buy the right type of RAM for your mac...

try crucial.com they have good prices for mac RAM.... as for HDs i say western digital drives

[VA $l!m]

well, threadjack complete, and thanks for the info.
one more little question though.

one of my big needs fro a new computer is having an optical digital audio out.
i noticed on the imac that it has digital outs and ins doubling as headphone and i think microphone(?) jacks.
it says something like its a 'mini' digital jack. is this different from the optical digital jacks i use on my stereo now?
i just want to make sure i'll be able to stream music digitally from it to my stereo.

thanks for the help.

[jedifunk]

iirc, the mac pro is the online one with opitcal in/outs at this point

[VA $l!m]

iirc, the mac pro is the online one with opitcal in/outs at this point

not from what i read last nite... check out the specs to see what i'm referring to:

Audio

    * Built-in stereo speakers
    * Internal 24-watt digital amplifier
    * Headphone/optical digital audio output (minijack)
    * Audio line in/optical digital audio input (minijack)
    * Built-in microphone


http://www.apple.com/imac/specs/


anyway, i'm also VERY concerned about the sound card i'll be getting, and i have to look into it indepth before i buy anything.

[jedifunk]

mmm, i guess i have that on my macbook as well... but i'm not audio guy so i don't know what that means exactly... hopefully jeph will chime in here, or tet, or matt

[jephrey]

I believe that may mean that it's a 3.5mm or 1/8" jack but that also has a light in it.  Not a typical optical connector, but a standard nonetheless.

Oh, here's an explanation...  At the end.  I believe I'm correct  http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5024297

[jephrey]

Oh, so you'd need a mini-jack > TOSlink which is a cheap thing I think.

As for tomorrow, I think the big news is with iTunes and I think there will be some things more than just the "genius" playlist and visualizers. I'm not sure, but I hope it's something bigger.  Maybe an announcement that apple will replace their "radio" portion of iTunes with a service similar to Pandora.  One huge thing would be if Apple were to pursue pandora and buy them outright!!!  That would be HUGE. 

Or my other hope is for a touch with a mic and earpiece.

[mattstick]

You can buy that optical cable on Amazon.com for really cheap.

[VA $l!m]

You can buy that optical cable on Amazon.com for really cheap.

so it sounds like itcan send digital audio out to a home theatre setup or what have you.
hopefully with the same quality as a standard optical connection...
whatever. when the time comes for me to actually look for a new computer, i'll have to research this sh-- thoroughly. streaming my lossless audio collection through my stereo is my #1 concern, and i want to make sure i have the best possible equipment to do so.
thanks.

[mattstick]

Optical is optical, digital audio is digital audio.

[rowjimmy]

My jb3 has a mini-optical input. The toslink > mini cable is inexpensive but don't get the cheap cheap ones...