New Member Question

[Troy]

Hi---

I used to use Reunion many years ago and would like to get the latest version, but need to get a Mac computer (as I understand that is what is required).

Since there is a "fixed income" issue, I was thinking about getting a used one via E-Bay, but need some advice as to what to look for.

There seem to be some reasonably priced (for me) imac g3's; but I don't know what minimum speed or ram or what else I should look for to run Reunion.

Please help.

Thanks.

Troy---

[SGilbert]

If Reunion is all you are interested in, then any Mac will do. Either OS9 or OSX. In reality, though, I would think you'd not like anything slower than 200MHz and 256 Meg ram.

[David G. Kanter]

…I don't know what minimum speed or ram or what else I should look for to run Reunion.Click here to find the system requirements for Reunion 8. (http://www.leisterpro.com/doc/Version8/SysReq8.html)

I, personally, would encourage you to start with a computer that already has OS X (at least 10.3, if not 10.4) and at least 512 MB of RAM. (That amount of RAM is so OS X is comfortable; not because of Reunion.) Until your Family File gets up into the many thousands of people, even the most processor-intensive processes in Reunion (e.g., the periodic, user-initiated, calculation of relationships; the occasional rebuilding of the real-time all-name Index; the creating of an all-relatives chart; etc.) will only take a relatively few seconds with, say, even a 500 MHz machine. (Of course, although your computer will spend more time waiting for you than you will for it, those times when we are waiting for it to finish some process always seem sooo long even if only a few tens of seconds, so get the most processing speed that your wallet will allow.)

As installation of Reunion will take less than 20 MB of space (most of which is for the Manual) and the data file (called a Family File) isn't likely to take even 1 MB until it contains thousands of people, it's likely that any multimedia items (i.e., pictures, movies, sound files) you store on your hard drive will be the driving force with regard to how much of your hard drive is used for your genealogy project. As I'd expect you'd see hard drives on the order of not less than 40 GB, there'll be a lot of space left after the installation of OS X, your other programs, and your other data—unless you already have a very large collection of pictures, movies, etc. Note: The older hard drives—even if large in size—turned at slower speeds than do the newer hard drives so there's a bit better response to reading and writing data from the newer drives, but all things considered, that isn't a significant factor.

Good luck with finding a computer soon.

[johnpritt]

I agree with David's suggestions. If you're looking at second hand models, you have a lot of choice -- starting with iBooks through iMacs and eMacs up to the bigger machines. I would strongly recommend you get as big a hard drive as possible and, as David says, at least 512mb of RAM.
I worked for a long time with just an iBook that had a 10gb hard drive. It was fine until I started taking digital photos and recording music, when the 10gb suddenly looked awfully small! The latest versions of the operating system also take up a lot of room, so bigger is defintely better.
Also consider whether or not you want a CD drive or a DVD drive. The latest version of OSX comes by default on a DVD, for example, and I suppose that this trend will continue on the future. You can always add an external drive later, but it's an additional cost. Make sure that if you get a "humble" second hand Mac that it can write as well as read CDs. Most can, but check.

[DanKilloran]

Since there is a "fixed income" issue, I was thinking about getting a used one via E-Bay, but need some advice as to what to look for.

There seem to be some reasonably priced (for me) imac g3's; but I don't know what minimum speed or ram or what else I should look for to run Reunion.Try
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?family=Promos&siteID=JWU6hEpoB3Q-%2AlXdj0ckSa3JsvECp881Rw

for refurbished, warrantied, Macs. You can get even cheaper ones used, but MAKE SURE THE ONE YOU BUY HAS BOTH BUILT-IN USB AND FIREWIRE. Not because you need them, but because the latest OS, Tiger, requires them or it won't install!

Speed is completely unimportant, unless you are doing movies.

Dan Killoran

[juadro]

Others can comment better on this aspect than I, but, I'll point out that, if you are lured into considering a used laptop, ... the battery in a laptop can be a problem. I have an orange [clamshell] iBook and it can't function without constant connection to its power cord.
Robert Steuer

[Troy]

Thanks for the information and help everyone.

Take care.

Troy---