rolf wrotePS: If you're buying a mac to run windows as your primary OS on it... Forget it, unless you're prepared to pay all that for the looks.
Actually I need a compact desktop, like an All-in-one PC that has everything( speed/storage/wifi-n/BT/cam/mic etc..) + beautiful display.
Kassem wrote@ Kareem: check this out HP TouchSmart 600 Quad

LINK 1
LINK 2
Surtout pas ca hein ?

i'd rather buy an Acer! I had horrible experience with HP products and I have a faulty DV9000 HP laptop next to me they asked me to have a look at it, it's not booting, Beeeeep beep beep, bios warning and error code : Video card fried... this is the 2nd time they replace the board....

And the HP display is really nothing close to Sony or Apple one.

But thanks.
This might seem silly to some people, but one the main reasons i'll be getting a Mac, is because of TextMate.
Kareem wrote
Kassem wrote@ Kareem: check this out HP TouchSmart 600 Quad

LINK 1
LINK 2
Surtout pas ca hein ?

i'd rather buy an Acer! I had horrible experience with HP products and I have a faulty DV9000 HP laptop next to me they asked me to have a look at it, it's not booting, Beeeeep beep beep, bios warning and error code : Video card fried... this is the 2nd time they replace the board....

And the HP display is really nothing close to Sony or Apple one.

But thanks.
I am connected from a dv9000 right now! I bought it like a 18 months ago and I've NEVER had one single problem with it! It's still in great condition and I'm so happy with it. Of course, Sony Vaio is probably the leading company of the industry, so you might as well check out their L Series. They have good stuff going on.
Kassem wrote
Kareem wrote
Kassem wrote@ Kareem: check this out HP TouchSmart 600 Quad

LINK 1
LINK 2
Surtout pas ca hein ?

i'd rather buy an Acer! I had horrible experience with HP products and I have a faulty DV9000 HP laptop next to me they asked me to have a look at it, it's not booting, Beeeeep beep beep, bios warning and error code : Video card fried... this is the 2nd time they replace the board....

And the HP display is really nothing close to Sony or Apple one.

But thanks.
I am connected from a dv9000 right now! I bought it like a 18 months ago and I've NEVER had one single problem with it! It's still in great condition and I'm so happy with it. Of course, Sony Vaio is probably the leading company of the industry, so you might as well check out their L Series. They have good stuff going on.
Havent u noticed that your laptop display is really very very poor? the colours aren't rich and sharp at all, more like faded color and brightness ( alwen behteh ) a reason why i hate HP products...
Maybe you can fix that by playing around with the display settings?
Besides microtechstores, pcandparts and microcityweb, any good website for a computer shop in lebanon? most of PcandParts products are N/A. I called them they said most of the hardwares are out of stock and they have no idea about the purchase order...
My PC that i want budget is about 1200$:
MB: X58 (INTEL chipset)
CPU: Intel Core i7 2.66 (920)
Physical RAM: between 4GB to 6 GB DDR3
Graphics card: NVIDIA GT 260 with 1 GB GDDR3 (or ATI HD 5000 series)
HDD: 1 TB
Disc Drive: DVD-RAM 22x light scribe (LG)
Screen: LCD preferably Samsung 17’’
PSU: 500W

Note: This is a general view of the specs if other products which can be replaced but with same performance it is OK. Also I will update these specs over time so this pc won’t rot.
kareem_nasser wroteMy PC that i want budget is about 1200$:
MB: X58 (INTEL chipset)
CPU: Intel Core i7 2.66 (920)
Physical RAM: between 4GB to 6 GB DDR3
Graphics card: NVIDIA GT 260 with 1 GB GDDR3 (or ATI HD 5000 series)
HDD: 1 TB
Disc Drive: DVD-RAM 22x light scribe (LG)
Screen: LCD preferably Samsung 17’’
PSU: 500W

Note: This is a general view of the specs if other products which can be replaced but with same performance it is OK. Also I will update these specs over time so this pc won’t rot.
I can easily hit 2500$ with that... how ?

MB Gigabyte UD4P ( add 180$)
Case thermaltake ( add 200$ )
Power Supply 800watts ( around 215$)
Samsung 23" ( 350$)
-------------------------------------------
Im not asking much am I ?
Kassem, I suggest you go to an apple authorized reseller and play around a bit with the computer (checkout iStyle on Bliss street, any Virgin branch, or The Mac Shop; ABC achrafieh).
OK ok , I went to Interlink, microtechstore, Quantum and Apple store @ Virgin, trying to find an available unit to buy ( I-MAC core i5)... What surprised me the most is that these products have been recalled because of faulty/defected units !! WTF ? The only reason I want to get a MAC maybe its because the extensive tests the manufacture performs from hardware to software. I couldn't really believe it and thought that it's maybe because of product being currently out of stock so they want the customer to wait for them...

But here you go, it's all on the internet http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/2/6/apple-pays-27-inch-imac-owners-defective-says-everything-fine-now/2/


It has been confirmed units were defective and Apple paying a 15% refund but that's for sure not in Lebanon.

Some people reported that the problem has been solved with firmware updates but for some other the prob is still there....

How can I know if the unit I want to purchase is defective or not? we all know how it works in Lebanon..

This could be a deal breaker as Apple has not identified the serial number of the machines affected... New batch has no problem with the display or graphic card, but again it's not possible to identify the unit before buying it. any advice guys?

BTW, the original price is 2650$+VAT but I got a 5% discount ( for students, although im not, but my sister is ) so the final price is 2700$ including VAT. Good deal for me as a customized desktop with same specs with a 27" LCD core i5 750, ATI 4850, 1TB, BT,IR,WIFI-n/wireless keyboard mouse will cost around 2100$.
You get a one year international warranty with your Apple product. It is the reseller's duty to replace your unit or they'll have to deal with Cupertino.
samer wroteYou get a one year international warranty with your Apple product. It is the reseller's duty to replace your unit or they'll have to deal with Cupertino.
Samer, do you know who's the dealer in Lebanon? or we just have resellers ?

One other question, is it possible to format everything and install only windows 7? ( not gonna do it but just out of curiosity)

Thanks.
Kareem wroteOne other question, is it possible to format everything and install only windows 7? ( not gonna do it but just out of curiosity)
I did that on my Macbook but windows Vista.
rolf wrote
Kareem wroteOne other question, is it possible to format everything and install only windows 7? ( not gonna do it but just out of curiosity)
I did that on my Macbook but windows Vista.
Ok then no limitation from the BIOS side etc... because I am planning to install a 160GB SSD and 1TB USB storage so for 160GBs of space I don't think dual boot is a good idea.
Kassem wrote
Kareem wrote
Kassem wrote@ Kareem: check this out HP TouchSmart 600 Quad

LINK 1
LINK 2
Surtout pas ca hein ?

i'd rather buy an Acer! I had horrible experience with HP products and I have a faulty DV9000 HP laptop next to me they asked me to have a look at it, it's not booting, Beeeeep beep beep, bios warning and error code : Video card fried... this is the 2nd time they replace the board....

And the HP display is really nothing close to Sony or Apple one.

But thanks.
I am connected from a dv9000 right now! I bought it like a 18 months ago and I've NEVER had one single problem with it! It's still in great condition and I'm so happy with it. Of course, Sony Vaio is probably the leading company of the industry, so you might as well check out their L Series. They have good stuff going on.
Asus and Toshiba are the most reliable laptop makers, and netbooks have a 20 percent higher failure rate than laptops, according to a Nov. 17 study from SquareTrade, an electronics warranty provider that analyzed the failure rates of more than 30,000 new laptops covered by its warranty plan.

The report arrives just in time for the holiday shopping season, and offers an overview of laptop failure rates, failure rates caused by accidents versus malfunctions and netbook failure rates compared to those of laptops.

Shoppers and list-makers may be interested to learn that Asus and Toshiba notebooks had three-year failure rates below 16 percent. Sony placed third, with a 16.8 percent three-year failure rate, followed by Apple (17.4 percent), Dell (18.3 percent) and Lenovo (21.5). Acer and Gateway came in just under 24 percent, and Hewlett-Packard, which is the world’s largest producer of PCs, came in last, with a 25.6 percent failure rate over three years.
The number of HP laptops that failed after two years was approximately the equivalent of the three-year failure rates for Asus and Toshiba laptops.



Source http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Asus-Toshiba-Have-Lowest-Failure-Rates-Says-Study-488979/


Must say, consider yourself lucky !