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Power Mac G5 or wait for Intel?

S

stepheneasley

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 24, 2006
3
0
Austin, Texas
Friends -

Please help a Forum Newbie. It's been two years since I "Switched," and I am a true Mac Fanboy. The Powerbook G4 1.5 GHz w/1 gig of RAM has served me well, but I am trying to help out some young bands by mixing live and demo tapes on Pro Tools and maybe a little video action on Final Cut Express HD. The Powerbook G4 can drag at times, and I've got those new resource intensive tasks. I can afford the 2.5 Quad Power Mac G5 (lucky me - wife is sharing her bonus!), but I am worried that the switch to Intel will bring something much better REAL soon. In the immortal words of the Clash ("the only band that matters"), "Should I stay or should I go"???
Thanks for all your opinions!
Steve
 
stepheneasley said:
Friends -

Please help a Forum Newbie. It's been two years since I "Switched," and I am a true Mac Fanboy. The Powerbook G4 1.5 GHz w/1 gig of RAM has served me well, but I am trying to help out some young bands by mixing live and demo tapes on Pro Tools and maybe a little video action on Final Cut Express HD. The Powerbook G4 can drag at times, and I've got those new resource intensive tasks. I can afford the 2.5 Quad Power Mac G5 (lucky me - wife is sharing her bonus!), but I am worried that the switch to Intel will bring something much better REAL soon. In the immortal words of the Clash ("the only band that matters"), "Should I stay or should I go"???
Thanks for all your opinions!
Steve
Click to expand...

Personally I would wait for the intel Powermac (or MacPro or w/e they call the damn thing)... I'm not sure how much faster/when it will be released but with intel being the future to Apple computers I would wait for the intel
 
While intel is the way of the future, a Power Mac G5 Quad is a power house computer that will last you a long time. I would not hesitate to purchase a Quad- they are fast, expandable, and reliable.
 
I have the Quad-Core G5 right now and it runs great. I would buy one if you need it now and want the speed. The intel Powermac's will have some first rev issues as all first gen products have. So if you want to wait..I guess do, but the Quad G5 is still a great system and will last for a few years.

Also if you do buy a Quad, I would buy an open box one to save on the cost...
 
ipacmm said:
The intel Powermac's will have some first rev issues as all first gen products have.
Click to expand...

A good reason to buy something thats "tried and true".

ipacmm said:
Also if you do buy a Quad, I would buy an open box one to save on the cost...
Click to expand...

Not a bad idea.
With the saved cash you could buy some more RAM. :)
 
i'd say the Quad. it's undetermined at this point if the Mac Pro will be anywhere close to the same league as the G5.

it'll be good when everything heads over to 64-bit, plus it's a workstation for "the rest of us." at least people who don't mind shelling out $2999.

or do what i'm doing, wait it out till 10.5 and Vista are out. i'm debating a switch right now. :D

it'd be funny if Sony goes PowerPC and gets M$ to port Vista over. haha. very unlikely.
 
The Quad is a very powerful, but very limited machine.

there simply isn't enough software for it to make it worthwhile.

Entry level Intel Powermac and the top level Graphic card option will make me a very happy man.
 
combatcolin said:
The Quad is a very powerful, but very limited machine.

there simply isn't enough software for it to make it worthwhile.

Entry level Intel Powermac and the top level Graphic card option will make me a very happy man.
Click to expand...
Woah woah woah... You're saying that the Powermac G5 does not have enough software for it... but the Intel Powermac does?

First of all, it's going to be quite a long time until all PPC software is made Universal. And until that happens, there will be more software available for the G5.

And to the original poster, I would highly recommend a G5. Universal software guarantees that it will work on your machine, and you'll be safe in knowing that your machine won't be plagued with all the problems a Rev A has. And believe me, if there is any hardware modification from revision to revision that will cause problems, a processor changeover is it.
 
i'm waiting...for the price to drop

personally, i would buy a quad ppc right now. i have a dual g4 and a dual 2.0 g5 and love them both. if the g4 didn't sound like a wind tunnel, i would love it even more! therefore, i'm just saving my duckets for when the intel models are announced so i can buy a (hopefully) discounted quad G5. given apple's support and hardware specs, it will last for years. i find my dualy 2.0 G5 with 3.5 GBs of RAM to be fast and rock solid (knock on wood 3 times for good luck) so anything above that, will be icing on the cake.

that said, you can't lose in any way. it's a mac...not a pc. you win regardless.
BUT, if you helping bands now and think you can make some cash....buy it now :)
 
For what you need there is no real reason to wait. All of the applications you want are available now for PPC and all of them will run great on any Power Mac. Why not just buy it now, and keep using it until you actually need to upgrade?

Sometimes I really do get the feeling that people think as soon as a Intel pro desktop is released all of the software they are currently using is going to stop working.

I have a Power Mac Dual G5 here and it works fantastically and has for the last 18 months why would I even consider upgrading when this machine is too fast for me?

I think we all need to remember how quick the G5 actually is.
 
pdpfilms said:
Woah woah woah... You're saying that the Powermac G5 does not have enough software for it... but the Intel Powermac does?

First of all, it's going to be quite a long time until all PPC software is made Universal. And until that happens, there will be more software available for the G5.

And to the original poster, I would highly recommend a G5. Universal software guarantees that it will work on your machine, and you'll be safe in knowing that your machine won't be plagued with all the problems a Rev A has. And believe me, if there is any hardware modification from revision to revision that will cause problems, a processor changeover is it.
Click to expand...

Um, Quad?

FAntastic machine matched only by the fantastic amount of software pokery needed to get the full horsepower.

Sort of like a genius who can't tie his own shoe laces, very useful at some things but not going to re-tile your bathroom.

PPC is now the past, Intel is the future.

As i said before, entry level Intel Powermac with the top option grahics card and of course at least a GB of RAM.

Bought of course with the Edu option and if in the UK with an Egg money card.
 
We don't know when the intel powermacs will be out; it could be 6 months.

We don't know how fast they will be; they could be only the speed of the quad or slower.

We don't know when universal versions of pro apps will be out; could be a year.

All of this adds up to buying the quad, which is just about the fastest computer on the market right now and will give you years and years of fantastic service.
 
go for the quad
emthup.gif


intel is going to have their hands full trying to make something that can beat that, and when they do, good luck with rosetta until all the apps you need are universal(and still not optimized probably)

it's going to be atleast a year until any intel powermac replacement will become a truly viable alternative to the quad.
 
I Disagree.

The list of binarys is growing much quicker than expected, and the only real stumbling block is Photoshop.

According to the buyers guide, which is always a best - but informed guess, we are 128 days into the current Powermac with a product cycle of 194 days.

Or in other words, we are closer to the next Powermac upgrade than we are since the release of the current model.

Of course, if you absolutly need a Powermac then there is really no option, but if you have the luxury of a little time then you will be rewarded with a superior machine.

I can wait, but others may not be able to.

Such is life.
 
You have no idea when the Intel Pro machine announcement is coming (other than sometime this year) and then no idea how long it takes to actually ship. Buy whatever's available now or be prepared to wait six months.
 
I prefer my iMac to my Quad-G5 any day of the week. I honestly can't believe anyone would debate buying PPC anymore. That's almost as dumb as buying a new car that doesn't also run on E-85.
 
E-85 and new Mac

First, E-85 is still only runnable in very few cars, and by the time E-85 fuel stations are widely available, the first Gen cars may have been driven to the scrap heap ( knackered yard ). This is the case of those who purchased HDTV RCA Monitors in 1996 and live in Denver where HDTV is still not being broadcasted due to some litigious jerks to this day!

On that note, My Quad G5 is on it's way. From what little I have seen in performance, and other issues on the first Gen iMacs and MacBook Pros, I decided to spend my money on a tried and true platform. If history is any indication, it will be about two years before all of the software issues have been resolved between the two platforms, rendering Rosetta obsolete, as well as an Intel Machine that will toast the current G5Q.

With the workload I have with my current Dual G4, I cannot wait 2 year for another machine, and I am not that excite to find out what new bugs await in the Universal version of Final Cut Studio.

This is my opinion, and my actions are based on this.

Max.

P.S. I will most likely buy a intelMacMini when available for testing my Universal binaries.

Max.
 
tristan said:
You have no idea when the Intel Pro machine announcement is coming (other than sometime this year) and then no idea how long it takes to actually ship. Buy whatever's available now or be prepared to wait six months.
Click to expand...

6 months is fine by me.
 
combatcolin said:
6 months is fine by me.
Click to expand...

dude, what is your problem? you've made your position quite clear already. maybe you're fine with waiting, but some people may be unable/unwilling to wait. we have nothing but guesses as to when the intel powermac will come, and we have nothing but guesses as to how powerful it will be. regardless of how many universal apps there may be, it is going to be some time before alot of software is truly optimized for intel.

on the other hand, we do know how powerful the G5 and in particular, the quad are, and most software is still optimized for ppc. for the casual user, it may be in their best interest to wait it out, but for pro's who make a living off of what they do on their computer, they need something they can count on, not take an unwarrented gamble on when the new machines come out, how well they perform, how much they cost, and when software will be universal, and when software will be optimised etc...
 
io_burn said:
Hahaha... wow, yeah, HDTV is totally just a fad. :rolleyes:

Hope you enjoy your Quad G5, I can't wait to get rid of mine for an Intel powerhouse.
Click to expand...


No need to be rude... The point I was trying to make was that you can buy new technology too soon and at a point where you never can realize it's true power.

If you want tit-for tat, you are fool thinking the first Intel Mac Pros will blow the doors off the G5 Quad. A G4 has so many handicaps against an Intel chip. The G5 does not.

Max.
 
You're obviously an expert on the matter. I go from work with my Quad G5 to Home to my Intel iMac. Speeds in universal applications are identical, if not slightly faster on the iMac. Do you have a Dual Core Intel machine and a Quad Core G5 machine to compare on a daily basis? :rolleyes:
 
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