Power Mac G5 or wait for Intel?

[combatcolin]

What is it with the Damed Quad and Mac fans?

it costs the same as a medium sized island compleate with heliport, water desalination plant, solar panals, sat comminication system and staff!



Im just amazed that people think that the Quad is a suitable computer for them?



Quick test?

Do you have a secret underground bunker and a pesky British agent who keeps on pestering you about "world domination plans?

NO?

Then the Quad is not for you.



Calmed down now.



(Of course if you win the lottery...)

 

[maxvamp]

What is it with the Damed Quad and Mac fans?

it costs the same as a medium sized island compleate with heliport, water desalination plant, solar panals, sat comminication system and staff!



Im just amazed that people think that the Quad is a suitable computer for them?



Quick test?

Do you have a secret underground bunker and a pesky British agent who keeps on pestering you about "world domination plans?

NO?

Then the Quad is not for you.



Calmed down now.



(Of course if you win the lottery...)

Pinky... Are you thinking what what I'm thinking???

I think so Brain, but how did they get all those intel chips in that one little box?



Max.

 

[whaley]

What is it with the Damed Quad and Mac fans?



Quick test?

Do you have a secret underground bunker and a pesky British agent who keeps on pestering you about "world domination plans?

Why yes, world domination was on my mind.... ....
actually, I tend to hold a computer waaaay too long. My last purchase was a Revision A G3 (born in 97 I think.) I think buying from the top of the line isn't a bad idea if you are going to hold it a while.

 

[maxvamp]

Just got the Quad tonight..

OMG... This thing runs faster than a shaved Ape!!!

For the record:
PM G5 Quad
512 Mem ( more on the way )
150 GB Raptor 10k Drive ( boot )
400 GB Caviar (WorkSpace)
NVidia 7800
BlueTooth - Airport
Rest is standard, already had the 2405 from DELL.

I await my copy of Final Cut Studio, and expect my eyes to roll back in my head from the speed....

My previous workhorses are a Dual G4 1.4, PM DA, Dual XEON 3 GHZ w/9800 Pro, and a AMD64 3000+. All respectable machines.. but this one takes the cake by far.

Here is to another 5 years!!!

Max.

 

[spercharged69]

Here is to another 5 years!!!

lol right.

 

[maxvamp]

lol right.

Ok, when will they stop making pro software for this beast? Is this the last version of Final Cut Studio?

I will be using this for Production work and development. Tell me oh great one when I will not be able to do these tasks...


Max.

P.S. What ever happened to those benchmarks we talked about. I really want to see how much faster Motion is on your iMac...

Max.

 

[spercharged69]

Five years out of ANY machine is optimistic, much less a machine which is already deprecated with an out of date and inferior processor architecture...

The only thing a 5 year old 733Mhz G4 PowerMac is good for is installing Ubuntu and scrolling RSS feeds over the Phosphor xscreensaver.

 

[maxvamp]

1/2 Agree...

Actually, I am replacing my primary PM DA 733 with this machine. while my DA is very useful, I have to admit that it has a Radeon 9800 in it and a Dual 1.4 upgrade card in it.

On the flip side, I cannot agree with your assesment of its usefulness if it were still stock.

A good friend of mine to this day is still doing PhotoShop work on PM 867 and is ***still** very productive. I am using a B&W PM as a subversion repository, general file and print server and a Web Site test bed to test some of the PHP stuff I work on.

I guess it comes down to how best you can make use of your money when you buy one of these machines. Some of us are able to make these machine produce revenue even after 5 years...... That is the point of a Pro series machine...right?

Max.

 

[combatcolin]

Five years out of ANY machine is optimistic, much less a machine which is already deprecated with an out of date and inferior processor architecture...

The only thing a 5 year old 733Mhz G4 PowerMac is good for is installing Ubuntu and scrolling RSS feeds over the Phosphor xscreensaver.

I would consider this spec to be quite useable today.

Of course not for cutting edge gaming, but max the RAm and a decent GPU card and i would be happy with this spec.

 

[truz]

If I were to buy a PowerMac I would be waiting for the MacPro (intel powermac). Using an Intel processor I'm sure they will go with a Dual Xeon Dual core processor giving you what? 8 processors? 3.0ghz+x8, 24.0Ghz processor power! mmmmm tasty

MacPro
Dual Xeon Dual Core 3.0Ghz (24.0Ghz)
5GB Memory
4x250GB Raid5 hard drive(s)
ATI x2000 512mb Video

this system just makes my heart fail.

 

[maxvamp]

If I were to buy a PowerMac I would be waiting for the MacPro (intel powermac). Using an Intel processor I'm sure they will go with a Dual Xeon Dual core processor giving you what? 8 processors? 3.0ghz+x8, 24.0Ghz processor power! mmmmm tasty

MacPro
Dual Xeon Dual Core 3.0Ghz (24.0Ghz)
5GB Memory
4x250GB Raid5 hard drive(s)
ATI x2000 512mb Video

this system just makes my heart fail.

I don't see such a system beating a Dual Core Dual Processor G5 system.
First, Intel has announced that the processor slated for the first Mac Pro systems won't top 2.5 GHz. Second, 2+2 == 4 !8, third, there will still be many PhotoShop and FCP plug-ins that have not been ported to Intel, so they are not going to work ( had this problem when moving from Photoshop on OS9 to PhotoShop on OS X )

Finally, a machine does not nessesarily get incrmentally fast just because you add more processors. Much of the time the Quad G5 I just got will act as a single G5 Powermac. But, when I have several programs running using quite a bit of processing power, then the extra processing capacity kicks in and prevents the machine from slowing down. Likewise for programs designed to use multiple processors. Most are not. This is the real Achillies heal of the iMac Duo. Word just ain't going to go any faster on two processors....


All in all, a Mac Pro Purchased this year is going to have compatiability problems for the first three years.. Rosetta does have limitations...

I don't see this as a good thing..

Max.

 

[combatcolin]

More programs are moving towards multi CPu and multi core aware.

The situation is much better than in the old OS 9 dual cpu days.

And Dual Core and Dual CPU really shines when asked to run multiple programs at the same time.

Where the Quad excels.

(See, im not totally anti Quad!)

 

[maxvamp]

More programs are moving towards multi CPu and multi core aware.

The situation is much better than in the old OS 9 dual cpu days.

And Dual Core and Dual CPU really shines when asked to run multiple programs at the same time.

Where the Quad excels.

(See, im not totally anti Quad!)

You just aren't as much fun when we agree

I'd like to buy another argument please.....

A real argument would be if you need a quad over a dual. This was a tough, tough decision for me. I tend to bog my dual G4, and that is what convinced me, but this is not the norm.

This argument would work for the Intel platform as well as the G5 platform.

Max.

 

[dont24]

I'm kind of in the same boat. Currently have a Mac mini. Does everything I need it to do. Kids need a Mac in their room. Was leaning towards getting the new Intel mini. The more I thought about it today, the more I don't like it. Next option for me is a tower. Don't care for the all-in-one iMac. Trying to decide if I should pull the trigger now on a PM or wait for Intel. Either one will exceed my needs.

 

[asencif]

How so?

Five years out of ANY machine is optimistic, much less a machine which is already deprecated with an out of date and inferior processor architecture...

Why do people believe the G5 is an inferior architecture? What does Intel have out right now that beats it? Just becuase it doesn't fit on a laptop, runs hot, and Apple has dumped it, does not mean is any less powerful. It's the best 64-Bit chip out there used to build clusters and perform high calculations by many labs. The whole Olympics graphics was run on a PMG5 and Xserve/XSAN network.

 

[generik]

Woah woah woah... You're saying that the Powermac G5 does not have enough software for it... but the Intel Powermac does?

Yes, the Powermac G5 does not have enough software for it for a switcher.

Windows Vista (and the world of Windows applications), enough said.

 

[maxvamp]

Yes, the Powermac G5 does not have enough software for it for a switcher.

Windows Vista (and the world of Windows applications), enough said.

You do realize you just switched arguments...right???

Not touching that one with a 10 meter pole...

Max.

 

[truz]

you have 2+2 processors plus 2+2 cores giving a total of 8 processor power 800% cpu uages.

I don't see such a system beating a Dual Core Dual Processor G5 system.
First, Intel has announced that the processor slated for the first Mac Pro systems won't top 2.5 GHz. Second, 2+2 == 4 !8, third, there will still be many PhotoShop and FCP plug-ins that have not been ported to Intel, so they are not going to work ( had this problem when moving from Photoshop on OS9 to PhotoShop on OS X )

Finally, a machine does not nessesarily get incrmentally fast just because you add more processors. Much of the time the Quad G5 I just got will act as a single G5 Powermac. But, when I have several programs running using quite a bit of processing power, then the extra processing capacity kicks in and prevents the machine from slowing down. Likewise for programs designed to use multiple processors. Most are not. This is the real Achillies heal of the iMac Duo. Word just ain't going to go any faster on two processors....


All in all, a Mac Pro Purchased this year is going to have compatiability problems for the first three years.. Rosetta does have limitations...

I don't see this as a good thing..

Max.

 

[Tastannin]

I'm gonna jump in and ask - I have a side business converting VHS to DVD for several clients, via iMovie/iDVD - very simple, basic cuts and some menus. The faster I can do it, the more $ I make. Right now I'm doing this on a G5 1.6 tower. I'm thinking of getting an Apple refurb dual 2.7 G5. Would this make sense? I'm estimating this will make my renders roughly 1.5 to 2x faster. Or should I just stick it out and wait for an Intel Mac Pro to rear its head? I usually render one job every evening, overnight, but on the weekends I 'd like to do a couple of jobs, and if the 2.7 dual will help me do that faster, I think it's worth it. As much as I'd love a Quad, I probably couldn't afford one right now (or should I save up for one, rather than the 2.7 dual?).

TIA for your advice!

 

[asencif]

I'm gonna jump in and ask - I have a side business converting VHS to DVD for several clients, via iMovie/iDVD - very simple, basic cuts and some menus. The faster I can do it, the more $ I make. Right now I'm doing this on a G5 1.6 tower. I'm thinking of getting an Apple refurb dual 2.7 G5. Would this make sense? I'm estimating this will make my renders roughly 1.5 to 2x faster. Or should I just stick it out and wait for an Intel Mac Pro to rear its head? I usually render one job every evening, overnight, but on the weekends I 'd like to do a couple of jobs, and if the 2.7 dual will help me do that faster, I think it's worth it. As much as I'd love a Quad, I probably couldn't afford one right now (or should I save up for one, rather than the 2.7 dual?).

TIA for your advice!

If you can definitely make some more cash immediately then I would buy now. Having the opportunity to increase your business immediately is something to take advantage ASAP. Of course when the Intel PM comes out it will probably by amazing...OMG all over the boards, but that's then. It won't make the 2.7 or the Quad stop working. They will still be powerful systems. Plus you would have made a lot of money with the PM G5 buying it now then less waiting for Intel.

 

[combatcolin]

I'm gonna jump in and ask - I have a side business converting VHS to DVD for several clients, via iMovie/iDVD - very simple, basic cuts and some menus. The faster I can do it, the more $ I make. Right now I'm doing this on a G5 1.6 tower. I'm thinking of getting an Apple refurb dual 2.7 G5. Would this make sense? I'm estimating this will make my renders roughly 1.5 to 2x faster. Or should I just stick it out and wait for an Intel Mac Pro to rear its head? I usually render one job every evening, overnight, but on the weekends I 'd like to do a couple of jobs, and if the 2.7 dual will help me do that faster, I think it's worth it. As much as I'd love a Quad, I probably couldn't afford one right now (or should I save up for one, rather than the 2.7 dual?).

TIA for your advice!

Be serious.

From a buisness point of view do you REALLY need to it or are you justifying a new toy?

Save the money and wait, if not for a new computer but in case something goes wrong and you need the cash quickly.

How about some more RAM, a lot lot cheaper and you will see immediate results.

 

[shayesky]

I am in the same boat. trying to decide if I should sell this Rev A
DP 2.0 and get a Quad. I am a video professional, and do a lot
of work in HDV, so the speed would be sweet. I have a feeling if the
new Intel towers don't live up to the hype, quad prices are going to make
a jump in the resale market. ha, I am actually going to the apple store
today, I may leave my CC at home.

 

[combatcolin]

How much RAM do you have?

and what would be the cost of maxing the RAM as opposed to selling your DP 2Ghz and buying a Quad or Intel PM?

 

[asencif]

I am in the same boat. trying to decide if I should sell this Rev A
DP 2.0 and get a Quad. I am a video professional, and do a lot
of work in HDV, so the speed would be sweet. I have a feeling if the
new Intel towers don't live up to the hype, quad prices are going to make
a jump in the resale market. ha, I am actually going to the apple store
today, I may leave my CC at home.

Well since you have a DP 2.0 then you can get around 1500 and make up a 1600 difference to get the Quad. Not sure how much more work you'll get done with the Quad opposed to the DP. See if the 1600 is going to bring you a lot more with the Quad speed.

As for the other guy, adding more RAM to a Powerbook G4 is not going to make leaps and bounds difference. Yes people are great at getting projects done with low end equipment, but if you need to pump out work at a rapid pace and not work on a 6 month project then the Quad is great. You're are getting money back faster than you would using you're current system. Yes in a business you have to think about saving money, but if the expenditure will double or triple your revenue then it's worth it.

 

[shayesky]

to answer your question, my dp 2.0 has 3gb of ram in it. i will probably
add some more and hang onto it. My wedding clients are not asking
for HD, so I will be editing SD for a while longer. And, that 1600 is off
a little, I would need RAM, so figure in 2K total to upgrade. I like my
money being in my pocket, and not on my CCs. I will hang tight with my
dp2.0 for another year and see how things shake out.