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DATE CONFIGURED: 10/22/05
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| NOTE REGARDING THE UNUSUALLY HIGH PRICE POINT: In order to match up the Quad-Core PowerMac G5 w/20" display ($4,100) with a suitable Dell product, the only option as of this comparison was the Dell Precision 670 with Quad-Core Xeon processors, a 20" LCD display, and a DVD burner upgrade. As a result, the minimum price point that it was conceivable to run this comparison at shot up to over $5,000. I therefore decided to allow a bit more breathing room for add-ons, resulting in the final $5,300 price point. |
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Best of Field
(in my opinion)
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Apple PowerMac Quad G5 w/20" Digital LCD
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Dell Precision 670 x64 w/20" Digital LCD
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Design/Styling:
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Aluminum Casing
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Black Minitower
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Mobility:
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64 lbs. total; integrated handles
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appx. 60 lbs. total (40 lbs + 17.6 lbs)
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Component Access?
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Side panel pulls off for easy access
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thumb-screws; relatively easy component access
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Cords/Cables:
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appx. 10 cables/cords (Tower, Display, Web, Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse, Microphone)
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Desk Space Used:
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appx. 300 sq. inches including tower, LCD & speakers
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Noise Volume:
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under 35 decibels (computerized cooling)
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Standard cooling fans (30-35 dB??)
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Energy Use:
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615 Watts (550 W CPU + 65 W LCD)
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740 Watts (375 W CPU + 90 W LCD)
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DUAL Dual Core 2.5 GHz PowerPC G5
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DUAL Dual Core 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon
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L2 Cache:
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1.0 MB x4
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2.0 MB x4
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RAM Type:
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DDR2-SDRAM PC4200 (533 MHz)
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DDR2-SDRAM PC4200 (400 MHz)
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Front Side Bus:
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1.25 GHz
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800 MHz bus
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RAM Amount:
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2.0 MB (2 DIMM)
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1.0 GB (2 DIMM)
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Max. RAM:
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16.0 GB (8 slots)
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4.0 GB (6 slots)
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Hard Drive Capacity:
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500 GB
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250 GB
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Hard Drive Type:
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SATA 1.5Gbs
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SATA 1.5Gbs
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Hard Drive Speed:
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7200 RPM
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7200 RPM
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CD:
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24x24x32 CD-RW
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48x32x48x CD-RW
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DVD:
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16x4x16x DVD±RW (dual layer)
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16x4x16x DVD±RW (dual layer)
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Floppy/Other Drive:
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--
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Floppy Drive
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PCI/AGP Slots:
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3 PCIe available + 1 filled PCIe
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4 PCI slots available (3 PCI + 1 PCIe);
1 filled PCIe slot
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Internal Bays:
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1 3.5" available + 1 filled
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2 3.5" available + 1 filled
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External Bays:
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1 5.25" bay filled
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1 5.25" bay available
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Mouse:
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4-button, 360º trackball optical USB mouse
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Optical 2-button scroll mouse
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Keyboard:
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USB Keyboard w/2 USB 1.1 ports, volume/mute/eject keys
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Standard USB Keyboard
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USB Ports:
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8 total: 6 USB 2.0 (3 on back, 1 on front,
2 on monitor); 2 USB 1.1 on keyboard; 7 available
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10 USB 2.0 total (6 in back, 2 in front,
2 on display); 8 USB 2.0 available
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FireWire Ports:
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5 total: 4 400 Mbps (2 on CPU, 2 on display)
+ 1 800 Mbps on CPU; 4 available
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2 400 Mbps FireWire ports
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Legacy Ports:
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--
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2 serial ports; 1 parallel; 2 PS/2
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Video Card:
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NVIDIA GeForce 6600
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nVidia Quadro NVS 280
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Video RAM:
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256 MB GDDR
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64 MB DDR
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VGA Out:
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DVI-VGA adapter included
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2 VGA / DVI ports
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DVI Out:
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2 DVI out ports (1 single link, 1 dual link)
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2 VGA / DVI ports
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RCA-Out:
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via optional PCI card
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via optional PCI card
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S-Video Out:
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via optional PCI card
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via optional PCI card
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Dual Display Support?
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Yes (mirror or span)
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Yes (mirror or span)
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Display:
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20" viewable widescreen digital LCD
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20" viewable widescreen digital LCD
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Display Resolution:
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1680x1050 / 1.7 Mpx
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1680x1050 / 1.7 Mpx
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Viewable Angle:
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170 vertical; 170 horizontal
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170 vertical; 170 horizontal
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Brightness/Contrast:
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250 cd/m; 400:1 contrast ratio
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300 cd/m; 600:1 contrast ratio
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Audio In:
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Analog & Optical digital audio in (Toslink)
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Microphone port; Line-in
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Audio Out:
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Analog & optical digital audio out (Toslink);
front headphone jack
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Headphone jack; Line-out
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Included Speakers:
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JBL Creature 2.1 Speakers w/Subwoofer
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Internal mono speaker chassis
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Ethernet:
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Dual Independent 10/100/1000 ports
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10/100/1000
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56k Modem:
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56k v.92 via optional USB modem
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56k v.92 via optional modem
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.Wi-Fi Card:
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internal 802.11g (54 Mbps) card
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optional 802.11g (54 Mbps)
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Bluetooth Card:
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internal Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR card
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optional
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Hardware Extras:
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--
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--
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Included OS:
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Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger; Mac OS 9 Classic;
BSD Unix; Apache Web Server;
X11 Window System included
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Windows XP Professional SP2
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Windows Support:
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DOS/95/98/ME/2000/XP (via Virtual PC)
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DOS/95/98/ME/2000/NT/XP (Native)
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Mac Support:
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Mac OS 8 apps; OS 9 (via Classic); OS X (Native)
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Mac OS 8 (via Basilisk); Mac OS X (via PearPC)
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Linux/Unix Support:
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Various flavors (Native)
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Realtime Metadata Search/Organization:
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Spotlight (system-wide)
(includes Smart Folders, Content Search, etc)
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(Google desktop search available)
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Modular Desktop Utilities:
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Dashboard (system-wide)
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Task Scripting:
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Automator/AppleScript (system-wide)
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Windows Script Host
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Save-as PDF:
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Native (any file; includes encryption)
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--
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Faxing:
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System-wide (requires optional modem)
Send/Receive logs/archives included
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Fax Service not installed by default
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Zero-Config Networking:
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Bonjour (system-wide)
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Handwriting Recognition:
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Inkwell (system-wide)
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--
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Voice/Speech Recog.:
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Voiceover (system-wide)
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(limited to certain non-core apps)
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Web Serving:
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Apache w/Perl, Python & PHP included
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IIS w/.asp included (XP Pro only)
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Data Backup Utility:
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(iBackup, PsyncX, etc. available as free download)
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Included
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Developer Tools:
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Xcode, Script Editor, etc.
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(free download of compiler/linker/diff tools)
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FIle Compression:
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System-wide Zip compression
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System-wide Zip compression
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File Encryption:
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FileVault system encryption
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Per-file encryption (XP Pro only)
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Word Processor:
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Pages 1.0 & TextEdit (Word compatible)
or OpenOffice (free download; Word comp.)
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OpenOffice (free download; Word comp.)
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Spreadsheet:
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OpenOffice (free download; Excel comp.)
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OpenOffice (free download; Excel comp.)
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Presentation:
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Keynote 2.0
OpenOffice (free download; PwrPt. comp.)
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OpenOffice (free download; PwrPt. comp.)
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Database:
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--
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--
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Drawing/Painting:
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Art Directors Toolkit; GraphicConverter
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--
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Page Layout/Publishing:
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Pages 1.0
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--
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Font Management:
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FontBook 2.0
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no on-the-fly font enabling/disabling
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Projects/Planning:
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OmniOutliner, OmniGraffle
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--
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Web Browser
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Safari RSS 2.0
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Internet Explorer 6
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Image/PDF Viewer:
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Preview 3.0
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Image Viewer
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E-Mail/Address Book:
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OS X Mail 2.0 / Address Book 4.0
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Outlook Express
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Calendar Program:
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iCal 2.0
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Outlook Express
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Data Synchronization:
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Sync Panel
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Offline Files & Folders (XP Pro only)
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System Data Transfer:
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System Migration Assistant
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Settings Transfer Wizard
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Chat/AV Conferencing:
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iChat AV 3.0
(ICQ, MSN, Yahoo avail. as free downloads)
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Windows Messenger
(ICQ, AOL, Yahoo avail. as free downloads)
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Media Players:
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Quicktime 7.0; DVD Player 4.5
(WMP & RealPlayer avail as free downloads)
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WMP 10; RealPlayer 9; Cyberlink DVD Player
(QuickTime available as free download)
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Financial:
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QuickBooks Pro 6.0
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--
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Reference:
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Starry Night Enthusiast 5.0
Dictionary/Thesaurus/assorted widgets
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???
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Digital Photography:
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iPhoto 5.0; GraphicConverter; ImageCapture
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Image Acquisition
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Digital Video Editing:
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iMovie 5.0
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MyDVD Deluxe; MSFT MovieMaker 2
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CD Burning/Music:
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iTunes 6.0; Disk Burner
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Sonic DigitalMedia; XP Burning; Media Player 9;
iTunes 6.0 available as free download
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Audio Engineering:
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GarageBand 2.0
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--
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DVD Burning/Authoring:
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iDVD 5.0; Disk Burner
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MyDVD Deluxe; XP Disk Burning
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Games Included:
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Chess
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Mine Sweeper, Asstd. classic games
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Total Software Titles Available:
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"Fewer" (numbers unknown)
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"More" (numbers unknown)
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Additional Software:
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Asstd. system software
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Free Services:
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1 month Earthlink; 60-day .Mac trial
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--
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Viruses/Trojans/Worms:
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No known viruses, trojans,
worms or spyware affect OS X.
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Firewall:
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Built-in, configurable
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Warranty:
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3 yr. ltd./on-site; 3 yr. phone
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3 yr. ltd./on-site; 3 yr. phone
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Customer Service:
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Subtotal:
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Base system price: $3,299
+ 20" Apple Cinema Display: $799
+ 2.0 GB RAM upgrade: $300
+ 3 yr. AppleCare warranty upgrade: $249
+ Airport 802.11g & Bluetooth upgrade: $99
+ 500 GB hard drive upgrade: $300
+ iWork (Pages / Keynote) upgrade: $79
+ JBL Creature 2.1 Speakers: $100
+ Starry Night Enthusiast 5.0 upgrade: $70
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Base system price: $1,379
+ 20" 2005FPW Digital LCD display: $749
+ DUAL Dual Core 2.8 GHz Xeons: $2,649
+ 1.0 GB RAM upgrade: $160
+ Scrollwheel optical mouse: $29
+ 16x DVD+/-RW w/Sonic Software: $119
+ 250 GB hard drive upgrade: $100
+ Internal Chassis Speaker: $5
+ Floppy drive upgrade: $10
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- Rebates if any:
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--
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+ Ground Shipping:
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n/c
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$100
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Total Price
as configured:
(tax not included)
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