I need a fast Mac

[Lycanthrope]

Hi all

So, I currently have an iMac G5 from end 2005 - I think the final model just before the Intel switch and I love it but I do find it struggles a bit for performance. Actually I bought it for my wife and it's our first Mac and I would not consider moving back to Windows. But, like I said, I sometimes find things a bit sluggish and I'm often having to archive stuff off due to lack of disc space.

I've have therefore liberated some funds to buy myself a new Mac and release the current iMac solely for the wife - she onmy surfs and emails so if I reinstall from scratch without all the garbage it will fly for that. The question is, what do I get for myself. I'm really thinking of a Mac Pro (hence the post in this part of the forum) because I want my machine to be blindingly quick. I'm not particularly doing anything intensive - OK, occassionally I'm rendering and burning DVD's but on the whole it's normal use - surfing, email, listening to iTunes, messenger etc. I'm also running SETI at home too.

On top of this I do want to start using the new machine for music - I want to get a midi keyboard and start to compose and produce, this also led me to believe that a Mac Pro is the way to go as I can stash extra disk inside.

I think I've made the decision to wait until the Mac Pro upgrade comes, maybe for Leopard too depending on the timing but then I'll be faced with the 2core, 4core decision as well. It's quite mind-boggling... Do 4 cores translate into faster performance etc. It's really not all that clear to me.

Once I've decided this, then perhaps we can discuss what monitor to get

I've read lots of threads but didn't see one that really gave me an answer. I guess the basic question is will a Mac Pro blow my socks off with performance?

 

[TBi]

I've read lots of threads but didn't see one that really gave me an answer. I guess the basic question is will a Mac Pro blow my socks off with performance?

If the Mac Pro doesn't knock your socks off then you'll have a hard time finding anything that will.

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

An iMac G5 is sluggish???

For the stuff you mentioned, it shouldn't be sluggish. I use a 4 year old G4 to edit massive RAW files in Lightroom, render videos, and record audio all with no issues.... Surfing and less should require... Little or no processing power of your G5. I might suggest try upgrading the RAM in your iMac... as 512 is a bit low if you're running Tiger.

 

[Lycanthrope]

If the Mac Pro doesn't knock your socks off then you'll have a hard time finding anything that will.

Sure but I read a lot that you need specific software to take advantage of the hyperthreading and blah blah blah - is it not the case that just running normal applications you also get advantage from the two processors etc.

Sorry if these are very basic questions...

 

[netdog]

4 cores seems to really benefit the Pro apps more than anything else.

If you want to blow the dough, the Mac Pro is great, but honestly an iMac C2D or a Mini once they upgrade it to C2D and Santa Rosa with x3000 graphics will be way more than zippy for your tasks. Music does not make these things break a sweat. Just get LOTS of RAM for any Mac and plenty of disk space.

Under such conditions, an iMac or C2D Mini (when they appear) will be a racehorse for your needs for a number of years to come.

But hey, if you want the Pro, go for it.

 

[risc]

Sure but I read a lot that you need specific software to take advantage of the hyperthreading and blah blah blah - is it not the case that just running normal applications you also get advantage from the two processors etc.

Sorry if these are very basic questions...

Specific apps must be multi-threaded to take advantage of more than 1 CPU core. Having said that OS X is a multi-threaded OS so it will throw off different apps to different cores. So yes you may see faster apps if you have the right ones, and the OS will mutlitask better for you the more cores you have.

Having said that I think the Mac Pro is over kill for what you want, but hey it's your money buy what you want.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

The Mac Pro will blow your socks off. Heck, even the "old" G5 towers get me excited in terms of performance.

 

[BigPrince]

My iMac g5 rules .

 

[Lycanthrope]

Well I have 1GB of RAM but I get the spinning beachball quite a lot - iPhoto and Mail are perhaps the worst culprits, iTunes too - OK, I have 16000 photos and 120GB or music files and 5000 emails, perhaps that's what it doesn't like.

Anyway, I'm very demanding

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Anyway, I'm very demanding

Well, I have a creaky old (heavily upgraded) G4 tower with about 3500 music files and 4000 photos. Never really had a problem beachballing with those. I use my laptop for work so the tower is just for games, surfing and multimedia stuff. Maybe you just need a little cleanup with Onyx or something similar?

Also, if your hard drive has less then 10% free space you will see slowdowns until you free up space.

 

[devilot]

Well I have 1GB of RAM...

More RAM.

That said, I have a Rev. B iMac G5 2.0GHz 1GB RAM and it's certainly not sluggish, but my MB 2.0GHZ C2D puts it to shame.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

More RAM.

Probably not a bad idea - I've gotten by fine with 1GB of PC133, but 2GB of faster RAM in your iMac should make a noticable difference.

 

[Shadow]

More RAM.

I disagree. 1GB of RAM for music, surfing, email, etc is more than enough. I know people who use Cinema 4D on a Mac Mini with 512MB RAM.

To the OP: I'd try running OnyX and MainMenu, see if that speeds it up.

 

[devilot]

My comment was slightly tongue-in-cheek, note the winking smiley. I said it 'cause I was waiting for someone else to say it. If you read the rest of my post, you'll see that I have the same iMac and RAM configuration as the OP and am totally fine w/ it. Even when I run Photoshop 7.

 

[ppnkg]

iMac G5? Sluggish? what do you mean?


well, if you can afford a macpro, then you should buy one. Who wouldn't?

 

[Shadow]

My comment was slightly tongue-in-cheek, note the winking smiley. I said it 'cause I was waiting for someone else to say it. If you read the rest of my post, you'll see that I have the same iMac and RAM configuration as the OP and am totally fine w/ it. Even when I run Photoshop 7.

Oops, slight lack of judgment there...

iMac G5? Sluggish? what do you mean?


well, if you can afford a macpro, then you should buy one. Who wouldn't?

Me. I need a portable!

 

[Lycanthrope]

iMac G5? Sluggish? what do you mean?


well, if you can afford a macpro, then you should buy one. Who wouldn't?

Opening Mail takes some time, spinning beachball etc.

I've sold some stuff to fund a new computer and I want something where I don't expect to be complaining about performance. The question really is whether 2 seperate processors means twice as good or whether it's a law of diminishing returns...

 

[devilot]

Opening Mail takes some time...

Take a look at this thread.

 

[Peace]

I've run a lot of tests and my iMac C2D 2.33 w/2 gigs RAM and X1600 w/256 VRAM outperforms my old dual 2.3 G5 everytime..Time to switch to Intel.

 

[psycoswimmer]

Take a look at this thread.

I didn't see that, but I'm gonna try that right now. Mail does seem slow sometimes.

To the OP: I really think you'd be find with a Core 2 Duo iMac. If you want to spend the money, go with the 24" and upgraded graphics card & RAM.

Edit: Just finished the Mail hack, and that is much faster!

 

[netdog]

Well I have 1GB of RAM but I get the spinning beachball quite a lot - iPhoto and Mail are perhaps the worst culprits, iTunes too - OK, I have 16000 photos and 120GB or music files and 5000 emails, perhaps that's what it doesn't like.

Anyway, I'm very demanding

You probably don't have enough free disk space.

 

[Lycanthrope]

To the OP: I really think you'd be find with a Core 2 Duo iMac. If you want to spend the money, go with the 24" and upgraded graphics card & RAM.

OK but surely a Mac Pro will be quicker, right? And quicker for longer, by that I mean it will still be fast in 5 years time and will be easier to upgrade anyway.

I'll see if I can archive some stuff to liberate disk space also... But regardless I will buy a new Mac

 

[psycoswimmer]

OK but surely a Mac Pro will be quicker, right? And quicker for longer, by that I mean it will still be fast in 5 years time and will be easier to upgrade anyway.

I'll see if I can archive some stuff to liberate disk space also... But regardless I will buy a new Mac

It seems like you aren't going to settle for anything less than a Mac Pro. Therefore, I'll suggest the Mac Pro so that you would be happy. After all, it's your computer that you're buying, not ours.

 

[iBenzin]

If you want the fastest mac you can get.. then theres only one thing you can do. buy the fastest mac you can get.

 

[Lycanthrope]

It seems like you aren't going to settle for anything less than a Mac Pro. Therefore, I'll suggest the Mac Pro so that you would be happy. After all, it's your computer that you're buying, not ours.

Weeeelllllll maybe but before I splash out €3k(ish) that I'm not going to be dissappointed - I see a lot of posts here with very specific benchmarks for CS2/3 being better with a dual G5 or a quad Pro but some kind of affirmation that a Mac Pro for an average user would be an incredible experience would be nice