Apple has made advertising history personifying a Mac and a Windows PC in its Mac-versus-PC TV commercials as two guys played by Justin Long and John Hodgman, respectively. But not every Mac user fits the profile projected by Justin Long in the ads. The truth is, there are lots of different types of Mac users. And although it seems the assortment of available Mac models has actually gotten smaller in the last 18 months, there’s an ideal Mac—and an ideal Mac-based setup—for almost any different user type. To narrow down the field of possibilities, we thought long and hard about what people use their Macs for—whether it’s work or play. The Mac setups in the pages that follow offer dream configurations for six user profiles: the creative pro, the mobile blogger, the student, the gamer, the “hip newbie” (because using a Mac makes you hip, even if you don’t know GHz from GB), and the entertainment junkie (because no tech company does a better job offering an elegant, easy-to-use computing platform on which to store, manage, and enjoy audio and video content). No matter your type or your budget, you should find the perfect Mac rig to meet your needs. You’ll also meet three real-live Mac users, none of whom look or act like Justin Long, but all of whom couldn’t live happily without their Macs.
The Creative Pro
You’re a photographer, graphic designer, video editor, or audio engineer by training and trade. The Mac is your trusted apprentice in your creative pursuits, professional and personal.
The Basics.
Unless you need to create on the move (in which case you should consider a 17-inch MacBook Pro), most creative pros will need the performance and upgradeability of a Mac Pro ($2,799 and up, www.apple.com). The configuration we’d recommend starting with is a dual 3GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor, 4GB of RAM, a standard 500GB 7,200-rpm hard drive in bay 1, a 23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display, the 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT graphics card, and an AirPort Extreme card ($5,248 as configured). Leave hard drive bays 2, 3, and 4 empty to start, then add on as your storage needs increase—a solid option is Western Digital’s Caviar line of SATA drives ($229.99 and up, www.wdc.com). Graphics pros will need a photo printer, of course. We like the $549.99 Epson Stylus Photo R1900 (www.epson.com). If you work in Adobe Illustrator CS3 or would just rather use an input device that lets you draw right onscreen, Wacom’s Cintiq 21UX ($1,999, www.wacom.com) puts a gorgeous 21-inch TFT touchscreen display and pressure-sensitive digital pen at your fingertips. 
Finally, to keep the colors you’re seeing on your main display as true as possible, calibrate your monitor with Color Vision’s Spyder3 Elite ($249, spyder.datacolor.com).
If only you could afford the entire family of Apple Cinema HD Displays.
Video pros, you’ll want to juice up your quad-core Mac Pro with as much RAM as you can afford—Crucial’s 4GB Mac Pro RAM kit runs $189.99 (www.crucial.com), and a similar kit from Other World Computing is $195.97—and add beaucoup storage too. And in addition to any specialty hardware required for video work (you’ll no doubt have a full complement of pro-level video-editing software installed), you should save your pennies for a 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display ($1,799, www.apple.com).
Digidesign’s Mbox 2 is as flexible as you wanna be.
On the sound side, audio pros should check out Digidesign’s Mbox 2 audio interface ($495, www.digidesign.com). You’ll also need a microphone—try Samson Audio’s C03U Multi-Pattern USB Studio Condenser Microphone ($224.99, www.samsontech.com).
The Samson Audio C03U mic can plug right into any Mac’s USB port.
To hear your creations, plug in a pair of Sony MDR-7509HD headphones ($265, pro.sony.com) and immerse yourself in aural pleasure.
benet
November 10, 2009 at 7:01pm
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pegasusbsb27
October 12, 2008 at 5:58pm
Yeah...They are expensive in Brazil (Don't ask me why but Apple products here are more expensive than in neighbour Argentina, for exemple!), but never mind...this year was my Apple year! I bought my first iMac 20'' 2,4 GHz and my first iPod 160Gb. Thank God the dolar started to up after my shops!!!
cdnair
September 27, 2008 at 5:16pm
I've noticed that this article seems to be pimping out the Western Digital hard drives quite a bit. I just wanted to make it clear to anyone in the market for an external HD, that, though the value may be there, these are absolutely horrendous machines. If all you're using it for is to plug into a desktop computer and leave it there, you may be alright- if you don't bump the desk... walk around the desk too heavily... blow on it too hard...
I'm a film student and have heard endless horror stories that almost always route back to the failure of their MyBook. Footage for final short film projects, important interviews, footy for demo reels; gone. And this is with proper plug/unplug (power downs, disconnecting from the computer) and transport ever so delicately in the original packaging.
I can strongly recommend LaCie drives myself. Yes, you may pay a bit more, but you do get what you pay for, and sometimes can find some great deals on certain models. Bought one a year ago and have been known to cram it, cables and all, into the bottom of my backpack and go. Needless to say it's got a few surface scratches, but it's given me no problems whatsoever.
nightshrill
September 27, 2008 at 1:54pm
Mr. Reeee, I think you are a tad confused about the overall point of my and others comments. I, at least, was not arguing against the overall price of a mac (although I feel as though I could make an argument against it, as I can build a custom pc for about 800 dollars that compares equally or better to an iMac). The point is that the editors of MacLife for whatever reason put a computer that is more than 1,000 dollars in category recommended for "Starving Students", which is absurd in its own way. As Brendan had also mentioned, pc magazines do this all the time to, if you're a starving student the only thing I'd recommend aside from possibly a real "budget" pc is go build one yourself on the cheap. Yes it'll be underpowered (for example, an intel pentium dual-core processor, not a core2duo) but it'll serve the average user well.
Mr. Reeee
September 27, 2008 at 8:57am
Why complain about the cost of a new Mac, when you can buy a used machine?
You can get a 1 or 2 generation old Mac for 1/2 (or less) the cost of a new machine. If it needs more RAM, that can be bought and installed easily.Macs hold their value well and remain useful years longer than your typical generic Dell or HP DOSBox running Windows.
I generally sell my Macs on craigslist when they're 1 1/2 to 2 years old.
I'm happy, because I've paid for half my new Mac.
The person who buys it is happy, because they get a good, well cared for machine for half price.
It's a win-win!
gmsquires
September 26, 2008 at 3:05pm
Yes depending on what "your" budget is will determine what you can afford and what kind of pc you will be able to get. If you are stuck for something under $500 then you may be rather limited and have to settle for a rather udner powered no name brand unless you can find a refurb or used machine. As to the Macmini not having a fan, it does have a fan and it has a temp sensor to activate the fan only when needed. I have a mini and have been very happy with it. It is generally over the $500 amount unless you can get a refurb and if you add memory it boosts the price. A bare bones system adding in Ubuntu linux may be an option depending on if the video card will work with it.
njdevilsfan
September 26, 2008 at 1:19pm
i agree completely hopefully apples new products or updates on oct 14 send the price back a few hundred dollars
Brendan Bartholomew
September 26, 2008 at 12:47pm
Nightshrill, I feel you dude. For what it's worth, the Windows PC-oriented magazines and sites are just as guilty when it comes to having some sort of gross disconnect between what they imagine we can afford and what we can actually afford. I could maybe afford a bit more if I had a dime for every time I've paged through some PC publication whose cover story was something to the effect of "We Build up a Blazing Budget Bare-Bones Kit that won't Break the Bank!" or "How Low is the Low End? We Look at Eight Entry-Level Laptops that Won't Loot Your Life's Savings!" or maybe "Fiscally Frugal Frag-Fests with Five Affordable Form Factors to Prevent your Piggy Bank from being Pwned!" If I'm foolhardy enough to delve into these articles in search of any kind of bottom line, I will inevitably find myself in a state of shock when confronted with the jaw-dropping price of what they're calling a "budget" system. I seem to recall more than one of these publications recently pitting "affordable" mini-towers from Dell, HP, Lenovo, and all the usual companies against each other in order to determine whether any of them were really adequate for meeting a computing dilettante's basic needs. Affordable to them meant computers that cost at least $650, with most of them retailing for around $850 or more. At that just-under-a-thousand-dollars (!) price point, they tend to conclude, you can, in fact, purchase a system for your grandmother that will be up to the task of meeting her basic e-mailing and Web browsing needs. At which point I want to reach into the page or through the Internet so I can grab the editors by their shoulders, shake them vigorously, and shout in their faces, "HELLLOOOO, Earth calling! Down here in the real world, a budget PC is that loss leader in the Office Depot ad that's $299 after the alleged rebate! It's that refurbished, de-branded HP mini-tower that Geeks.com is selling for under $200 with no OS but a dual core processor and plenty of expansion slots! That's what a cheap PC looks like out here in the real world, and if it's gonna cost $850, it had better be equipped to perform sexual favors for its owner, or it'd better be a fully loaded Mac Mini!" Both would be good, but the Mini has no internal fan, and you wouldn't want it to overheat, you know? But.... I digress...
nightshrill
September 26, 2008 at 5:15am
I know that this is clearly a mac publication/website, however I think it is worthwhile to point out as a "starving student" who happens to work + go to school full-time that blowing 1,099 dollars on a computer is not "budget" what-so-ever, especially compared to Asus' epc (or however they spell it), or even your standard run-of-the-mill dell/hp/toshiba, sure you don't get as nice hardware with any of those options but it is by fear cheaper than 1,099 dollars. I think to call this the "starving student" option is absurd. If you're a starving student get a cheap laptop and slap linux on it.
