Manuel Mejia Jr
- 2002.05.09
Back on April 1, 2002, Low End Mac
issued its annual April Fool's page.
This page espoused the great virtues of several pre-PPC Macs. Based
on my experience and my reading of the April Fool's articles, I
came to a very basic conclusion. When purchasing a computer, the
buyer needs to make an assessment of what the output will be.
What is the definition of output? Output is the end product of
your work. Output can be a printed essay, a spreadsheet, a letter,
or a brochure. Brochure types of output can be further subdivided
into a black and white drawing, a grayscale drawing, a color
graphic, or a photographic image. Output can also be a sent of
CD-ROMs containing music, pictures, video clip movies, or other
software that was downloaded from the Internet. Output can even be
the adrenaline rush from playing a video game.
If you are just into fun and games, go get an Xbox or equivalent
machine. Those machines are dedicated to the task.
If the output is more practical, then the decision becomes more
complex. To ease the decision making process, figure out what are
the peripherals that needed in addition to the computer. These
peripherals often determine what type of computer you purchase.
If a user buys just a standard black toner laser printer, color
printing is probably not an issue. The user is interested in mostly
text printouts. For text only printouts, 
the end user can use a very low-end Mac. A
$17 Mac Plus connected to a
refurbished LaserWriter II can print out the most professional of
documents and even line drawings. There is no need to buy an iMac for this type of output.
In contrast, any type of graphical or audio work requires a
state-of-the-art Mac. Given the advent of megabyte sized downloads
and complex software and files, a low-end Mac can have a hard time
generating that class of output. For example, many people who want
to do video clips or download MP3s are going to be fortunate if
they can find software that is compatible to a lower end Mac.
Assuming this is not a problem, a slow processor will often negate
any benefit of using a old Mac. Some end users may want their
output in a few minutes rather than several hours.
In conclusion, choosing a Mac, be it is a Quadra or a flat panel iMac, depends more on output
than on things like looks, the sales pitch, or the number of Ben
Franklins that are being allocated for purchase.
And if the Mac selected is a low-end one, the Chinese environmental movement may
even thank you.
