powermac g5 and display buiying advice?

[pablodo]

Hi,

I am getting ready to buy a couple of new powermac's and am wanting to survey some opinions on a couple of different things.

1. current dual core vs. refurbished dual processor g5's
i am not needing PCI expansion so PCI-X/PCIe makes no difference to me. I am just looking for the most processing bang for the buck doing print and web design stuff in the Adobe CS2 programs. I know the new mac pros are due soon, but I'd rather not wait until who knows when for Adobe to get universal with CS3, and I am hesitant on rev. a hardware anyways. So are there major performance differences between say a 2.7 or 2.5 dual processor machine vs. a 2.0 or 2.3 ghz dual core machine?

2. Apple Cinema Displays vs. everything else
I love my CRT apple studio displays. But after holding out for a long time I am thinking it's time to turn over to LCD's. I have one in my office, and older 17" Apple, which I think looks pretty good despite its age. Any thoughts on LCD's by apple or others for someone in the design field who is worried about color accuracy, contrast, good viewing angles, etc.? People say the Dells are nearly the same as the Apples? I think on the high end I would be going with an Apple Cinema Display, so things like Eizo ColorEdge's and Lacie LCDs are out of my range. I'm mainly trying to figure out if something a couple hundred dollars cheaper will be comparbale to an Apple display.

thanks for all your thoughts.

 

[Xander562]

i'm not sure about your first questoin, youre a bit unclear. however, about displays, Dell, is a VERY good display manufacturer. Plus that are WAY cheaper than Apples. Unless you want the case to match your new PowerMac, i dont see why not to go with Dell. I've heard nothing but good things about them.

 

[pablodo]

clarification

My question is, is there a large difference in performance between the current model G5's and older model ones. Meaning, aside from the improved PCI bus, does a new dual core 2.0 or 2.3ghz g5 have any distinct advantadges over a dual processor 2.5 or 2.7ghz.

It seems like i can get a refurbished 2.5 or 2.7 for the same as the newer ones so I am wondering if that extra few Mhz in processing power makes a difference in the long run.

 

[ouphe]

I agree that Dell makes some very high quality LCD monitors for the buck. If you catch them at the right time, you can get a widescreen 20" for around $340-360.
As for the G5 question, I can tell you that it's what you put in the machine that makes the difference, as far as the graphic design software I use goes (I put the entire CS2 suite, the Macromedia (well...now Adobe) professional suite, Aperture, Final Cut Pro, etc etc etc to good use, and I'm working on a Dual Processor 2.0 G5. At one of my former jobs, I did similar work on a 2.7 dualie with results that were underwhelming. The difference was that my G5 has 3 gigs of RAM whereas the one at work had only 2. I also upped my graphics card and bought two widescreen 20" monitors (the Dells I mentioned above).
Soooo, yeah. I think you will be very happy with whatever setup you get for quite sometime, but if you are looking to do some hardcore graphic design work, I would say save the couple-hundred dollars from buying a slightly smaller (processor-wise) machine and pump it into your memory, graphics/video card and monitors.

Good luck, and have fun!

-Colin