Mac Help on Specs...

[Elze]

If you're interested in sound editing, Pro Tools is the way to go. If you use Pro Tools 9 onwards, you're safe. But for Pro Tools 8 or any earlier versions, you'd need to invest in an Mbox that you use with headphones so I won't recommend that. You can use Audio Hijack to get sounds from the internet(using safari) too.

I hope you didn't pay for extra ram and went for the basic package. While it's probably cheaper to buy extra ram from a company like Dell, Mac overcharges for their ram sticks. It'll be cheaper for you to purchase them outside and install them yourself. It's fairly easy to do and the Apple website shows you how to. And well, if you already did, I guess it'll still be good to know how to replace your ram sticks if they get damaged.

If you're interested in mac-specific software, igarage could be nifty for simple sound editing, and imovie will work for when you're too lazy to use Final Cut. If you're interested in stopmotion animation or just want to do a funny gif with your hands, try Frame Thief, which works great with Photo Booth. Also, if you need to use windows applications on your mac and am thinking of getting a bootcamp for it, I'd suggest Parallels 7. Seems to be the one with the least problems so far. But do be careful, for Macs with any form of bootcamp installed tend to run slower than without, even when you don't have the windows platform running.

In terms of display, the Mac actually has a ridiculously bright screen that grows on you after a while. So if you're doing something that you intend to print out, always keep in mind that the printed copy will turn out a lot duller. Also, get a huge hard disk so that you can use the Time Machine function in case you need access to old files that you accidentally delete.

Oh ya, and don't bother with a macbook. The macbook doesn't use an external graphics card. Basically, graphics run faster on a mac because of this function, but it only pertains to the macbook pro and imac, not for the macbook or macbook air. Specs wise, the iMac and the Macbook pro are both competitively close if you consider spec and portability, so it depends on whether mobility is an issue (since the Macbook pro costs more). For the iMac, I think only the smaller 21" one has came out with a newer version in the last couple of years. The 27" one is the same model released from 2009 if I'm not wrong, which is why I'm still waiting to see if a new model will be released.

That said, I'm no expert and this is coming purely from experience and some sniffing around IT forums, so don't take my word for it but go do some research too.
My mac bk pro is dying on me and I'm currently torn between getting an imac or a laptop from the Asus G series. OTL
Sorry for hijacking your thread but, if anyone has info to share on the Asus G series please do!
Have fun with your Mac!

[Obscura]

Edit: Another thing is... any Mac specific issues I should know regarding Ren'py?... It's better to know about those things before I mess up and break things...

The only thing I can tell (I don't have a PC to compare) is that when I open up RenPy, there is this weird thing that happens when I push the icon is that it just "sits" there, and you have to push it twice for RenPy to truly open (as well as any game you play on a Mac.)

Though it seems you've probably discovered this by now judging by the date of your post. And who knows, maybe it's just my computer.

Hope you enjoy your Mac. I really like most Apple products but I feel like their hardware--not software--has failed me more often than the PCs I used to have lying around. So backup diligently.

The other two things I can't stand about Apple (aside from being quite satisfied with everything else):
1) Lack of ability to customize simple OS things (godforbid you want to enlarge the font size of ical, for example)
2) The legions of Mac cultists whose sole mission in life seems to be telling you how perfect the products are, how visionary Steve Jobs was for picking the font size, and why in god's name would you want to change something like ical's font size...it's already perfect...and your eyes must be bad.
(I'm almost quoting here.)

Sorry, rant over. *Fans self.*

Sorry, ranting here. Anyways, have fun.