For myself

[yoshiii]

Now this post is about computers for myself.

I dont have so much money but I need a new mac. I have a pismo g3 400 but it just died. I need something to hold me over until May, fast. My choices are Powermac g4(450, or 500) ungrade the processor and the video card or get a later g4 733-1ghz or a mac mini. If I get the 450-500 g4 it will cost less than $500 to upgrade it to a 1ghz+ with new harddrive and video card. I will use it for photoshop, illustrator, 2d animation program that is not ported for the new intel processor(it only requires g3-g4 400mzh+) and hopefully garage band or Maudio.

What are peoples suggestions? I only have about $500 to spend maybe $6-700 if I push it. Oh I can buy a new ac card for my pismo and it should work and than maybe get the daystar upgrade card for it. Is that a good choice or the other choices?

Help please

 

[jimthorn]

Well, I'd say for the money why not pick up the mac mini? But that's assuming you already have access to a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Otherwise, it's plenty fast enough to get you by for a while and you shouldn't have any trouble reselling it in a few months on eBay.

 

[generik]

I think you can still get the iBook at $800 from Amazon..

 

[yoshiii]

So would the mac mini be better than the other g4 options including the MMD and Quicksilvers?

 

[iEdd]

I recommend a mini. It should last at least 3 years. Or that's what I'd expect... For anything dual processor or dual core I'd expect 5-6 years life though.

 

[generik]

So would the mac mini be better than the other g4 options including the MMD and Quicksilvers?

The Mini has a "current" G4 processor at 1.5Ghz, the quicksilvers are pretty old, even though they are dual processors.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

For anything dual processor or dual core I'd expect 5-6 years life though.

I reckon the Mac comunity may well be in for a shock. Yes the last gen Powermac G4s could hold their own against the G5s but in the PC world things have been moving much much quicker. This is one of the reasons why Apple's been left behind so much. A new mac could very well feel quite slow in two to three years time, no matter how many cores its got.

Three years ago the fastest AMD processor was an Athlon XP 3000+.
Now its the dual cored FX60 which is hugely faster with a much higher bus speed, graphics technology etc.