[stephen122333]

I want to get a new computer, my current one is years old and too slow, what should I buy.

I own an iPhone, AppleTv and iPad, so I am thinking one of these new Mac's could be the way to go.

A few questions about Mac & MountiainLion.

Apple claim they boot in seconds, do they still boot in seconds once you have your anti-virus, and all other programs stating at boot?

When streaming the Mac screen to my AppleTv, will I be able to use/watch iPlayer/LoveFilm and the such?

I have a shared internet connection, would I be able to set up time machine(?) and not have other people accessing my documents?

Thanks for any comments or hints.

[Maxatoria]

they boot in seconds with a SSD drive and generally adding stuff wont affect the load time to the eyes of the average human but to the person who needs their computer ready 0.000001seconds quicker it'll be seen as taking forever

[Batwing]

Originally Posted by stephen122333

I want to get a new computer, my current one is years old and too slow, what should I buy.

I own an iPhone, AppleTv and iPad, so I am thinking one of these new Mac's could be the way to go.

A few questions about Mac & MountiainLion.

Apple claim they boot in seconds, do they still boot in seconds once you have your anti-virus, and all other programs stating at boot?

Apparently the betas of Mountain Lion have reduced boot time in half. So on my Mac my boot time is 30 seconds then I should expect 15 with mountain Lion. If you are using a MacBook Air then you shouldn't have to worry about boot times as most people who own them tend to simply let them sleep. They wake up in second or so.

If you decide to install an anti-virus app on your Mac what determines how quickly the computer will start depends on how much of the app interferes in the start up process or whether the Mac OS prevents it from interfering in a speedy start up. You could conceivably get to the desktop and still have the same start up speed but the anti-virus would slow down actual use until it finishes loading.

Originally Posted by stephen122333

When streaming the Mac screen to my AppleTv, will I be able to use/watch iPlayer/LoveFilm and the such?

You should be able to see whatever you want since you would have screen mirroring.

Originally Posted by stephen122333

I have a shared internet connection, would I be able to set up time machine(?) and not have other people accessing my documents?

A shared "internet" connection doesn't matter. I believe you meant to say you share a wireless network.

Yes, you should be able to restrict access.

Originally Posted by stephen122333

Thanks for any comments or hints.

I recommend sticking with Apple because you already have a few of their products, as I do, since they all work so well with each other. If you want portability then you can't beat the MacBook Airs. Really nice machines.

[TheBigM]

Originally Posted by stephen122333

I want to get a new computer, my current one is years old and too slow, what should I buy.

I own an iPhone, AppleTv and iPad, so I am thinking one of these new Mac's could be the way to go.

A few questions about Mac & MountiainLion.

Apple claim they boot in seconds, do they still boot in seconds once you have your anti-virus, and all other programs stating at boot?

When streaming the Mac screen to my AppleTv, will I be able to use/watch iPlayer/LoveFilm and the such?

I have a shared internet connection, would I be able to set up time machine(?) and not have other people accessing my documents?

Thanks for any comments or hints.

Yeah sounds like you should go Mac although I'm sure there are people out there who mix and match between Apple and non-Apple. The main benefits you could have are iCloud and the Airport and display mirroring stuff via apple tv. The rest of your decision falls down traditional Mac vs. PC arguments.

I'm not sure that Lovefilm works on a Mac through the browser because they switched from Flash to Silverlight. Batwing can advise on that.

[noise747]

Originally Posted by TheBigM

Yeah sounds like you should go Mac although I'm sure there are people out there who mix and match between Apple and non-Apple. The main benefits you could have are iCloud and the Airport and display mirroring stuff via apple tv. The rest of your decision falls down traditional Mac vs. PC arguments.

I'm not sure that Lovefilm works on a Mac through the browser because they switched from Flash to Silverlight. Batwing can advise on that.

Lovefilm works fine on a MAc as there is a version of silverlight for the MAC.

[stephen122333]

thanks for the replies. I have a few more questions, (I hope that is okay, and sorry if any of them are stupid).

hard drive space/storage? At a rough guesstimate, how much space should I allow for the general everyday programs/add-ons.....? (I currently have 110GBs of media)

Pro or Air? I dont use CDs/DVD very often I think I last used a DVD to get a digital copy of a film on to my computer, so an Air sounds good, but I think a dvd would still be usefull If I was to go for an Air, is it possible to connect the drive over a wireless network/to a time machine? Are there other options then the Apple Supper Drive?
And what is the difference between a Solid State Drive or a Flash Drive?

[MartinPickering]

Originally Posted by stephen122333

Apple claim they boot in seconds, do they still boot in seconds once you have your anti-virus, and all other programs stating at boot?

I've never installed AV software on any of my Macs since 1987. You need to consider carefully WHY you'd want to install it and lose one advantage that Macs have.

Obviously any applications you set to launch at start up will extend the start up time but, again, you should think carefully about what you'd want to launch at every start up and why and also why you'd want to shut down your Mac anyway. I rarely shut down any of mine.

[cnbcwatcher]

Originally Posted by stephen122333

I want to get a new computer, my current one is years old and too slow, what should I buy.

I own an iPhone, AppleTv and iPad, so I am thinking one of these new Mac's could be the way to go.

A few questions about Mac & MountiainLion.

Apple claim they boot in seconds, do they still boot in seconds once you have your anti-virus, and all other programs stating at boot?

When streaming the Mac screen to my AppleTv, will I be able to use/watch iPlayer/LoveFilm and the such?

I have a shared internet connection, would I be able to set up time machine(?) and not have other people accessing my documents?

Thanks for any comments or hints.

It sounds to me like you should go Mac. You'll enjoy it I have Kaspersky AV on my Mac and it doesn't slow it down too much except when I have too many Youtube videos open. It still boots up very quick. I'm running Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro but I'm getting myself a little Macbook Air sometime in August (always wanted one ) which will probably have Mountain Lion installed. I don't know anything about iPlayer or LoveFilm though or Time Machine backups as I backup manually (my Mac's a laptop so it's easier to backup manually). Oh and once you go Mac you don't go back

[Batwing]

Originally Posted by cnbcwatcher

It sounds to me like you should go Mac. You'll enjoy it I have Kaspersky AV on my Mac and it doesn't slow it down too much except when I have too many Youtube videos open. It still boots up very quick. I'm running Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro but I'm getting myself a little Macbook Air sometime in August (always wanted one ) which will probably have Mountain Lion installed. I don't know anything about iPlayer or LoveFilm though or Time Machine backups as I backup manually (my Mac's a laptop so it's easier to backup manually). Oh and once you go Mac you don't go back

You can use Time Machine wireless and you would never have to worry about back ups at home again.

[cnbcwatcher]

Originally Posted by Batwing

You can use Time Machine wireless and you would never have to worry about back ups at home again.

How does that work then? Where do you backup stuff to in that case? I use a USB external hard drive I bought from the Apple Store. I don't think it does wireless.

[Batwing]

Originally Posted by cnbcwatcher

How does that work then? Where do you backup stuff to in that case? I use a USB external hard drive I bought from the Apple Store. I don't think it does wireless.

Any drive on your network can be used as a Time Machine drive. Your USB drive could be plugged into an Airport Extreme wireless router, for example.

The simplest all in one solution is a Time Capsule which is a wireless router and hard drive in one package. I recommend the Airport Extreme as it is cheap and you could swap out drives as needed.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD...ode=MTY1NDA0Mg

[stephen122333]

Originally Posted by stephen122333

thanks for the replies. I have a few more questions, (I hope that is okay, and sorry if any of them are stupid).

hard drive space/storage? At a rough guesstimate, how much space should I allow for the general everyday programs/add-ons.....? (I currently have 110GBs of media)

Pro or Air? I dont use CDs/DVD very often I think I last used a DVD to get a digital copy of a film on to my computer, so an Air sounds good, but I think a dvd would still be usefull If I was to go for an Air, is it possible to connect the drive over a wireless network/to a time machine? Are there other options then the Apple Supper Drive?
And what is the difference between a Solid State Drive or a Flash Drive?

Could anyone please answer my questions? I think they my have been lost due to the discussion about the time-machine.
As mentioned I have a shared wifi connection, but do have access to a wifi bridge/Ethernet connection, would I be able to set up either a apple time machine or a network drive so that only I have access and not everyone on the network (access away from home would be cool but not essential).

[cnbcwatcher]

Originally Posted by Batwing

Any drive on your network can be used as a Time Machine drive. Your USB drive could be plugged into an Airport Extreme wireless router, for example.

The simplest all in one solution is a Time Capsule which is a wireless router and hard drive in one package. I recommend the Airport Extreme as it is cheap and you could swap out drives as needed.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD...ode=MTY1NDA0Mg

I've heard of both products. Wouldn't using one of them interfere with your wireless internet or can you use them with your broadband? I use an ISP-supplied router.

[Batwing]

Originally Posted by cnbcwatcher

I've heard of both products. Wouldn't using one of them interfere with your wireless internet or can you use them with your broadband? I use an ISP-supplied router.

Update: Drives connected to Airport Extreme and the Time Capsule are still not officially supported by Apple for use with Time Machine as are any other drives on your network unless the other drive is on another Mac or the internal drive of the Time Capsule. Sorry for the initial incorrect information.

After the long initial back up that Time Machine does of your drive the rest of the backups are only done incrementally every hour or you could initiate it yourself. The only thing backed up after the initial back up are recent changes so in actual use you shouldn't see it affecting your wireless broadband.

Depending on how you will use your Air you could simply use your existing external drive as your Time Machine drive and occasionally connect it so it does its incremental back up as needed. It's a great utility that works so well with your Mac and its apps that in any case it is recommended that you use it if you have a Mac.