"gswerner2002" <gswerner2002@...> wrote: >I'm looking at the new Macs and wondering if the construction is >completely controlled by them and if any and/or all variations are also >distributed by them. By variation, I mean less powerful compared to >more powerful. >I've only had experince with PC's and have built many for myself and >others through the years and the gathering of parts has been as easy as >walking through a computer parts shop and deciding how powerful I need >it to be. >All reference to Mac's has been as completely assembled units and my >curiousity leads me to ask how far into the future the hardware that's >incorporated with the units will go. Also, is the hardware different >from that of a PC. Ex.. motherboard, processor, etc.. Apple outsources constuction of Mac desktops and laptops to the same companies in Taiwan and China that major PC distibutors like Dell and HP use. They are made from the same hard drives, DVD drives,RAM,Video cards, display hardware as PCs and even some chipset components like Firewire/hypertransport are derived from the PC side of the business. Some of their monitors use some non-standard connectors (ie not DVI) but there are usually some third party parts to connect them to PCs and to connect PC monitors to Macs. The Mac motherboards themselves and the designs of the cases etc are specced by Apple and are not interchangable with PC parts at all. Power supply units likewise. If you need to replace these out of warranty you will not be looking at PC hardware prices (eg Mobo for $100) - not even close. There are no variations or second sources for Apple compatible hardware besides the range of models at different price/performance points that Apple sells. Apple has often hobbled the lower end models by stripping out CPU caches etc to create performance differentials between high and low end models. If you buy a Mac you will have little or no CPU upgrade options unless you can perhaps get a third party CPU upgrade kit at some later stage - I don't know if any such things have been marketted for the G5 series. If something goes wrong with your Mac you will be getting it fixed by Apple because they are the sole source of many spares except for things like the drives, the mouse and perhaps monitors and video cards too. If you are a DIY kind of guy the Mac is not really made with you in mind - it is designed more for people who want to buy an appliance and never break open the case except perhaps to admire the insides ;-).