Quad, dual core? Can't wait for Macintel

[beyarecords]

Wait until someone like Bare Feats publishes some performance results to see if the quad is worth it.

Agreed!

 

[killmoms]

I noticed you mentioned- FCP4.1

THEN DO NOT GET A NEW MAC, quad dual core whatever.

I just got my new 2.3 dual core today and after installing FCP 4 found out the horror of it all. the new macs do not work with FCP 4.5 or earlier. you have to run fcp 5, or you don't run anything. it totally sucks. hope you haven't ordered yet. the older g5s will work (new ones use PCI Express which FCP 4.5 and earlier do not support)

Thank you for mentioning this, it's critical, so I'll repeat it in annoyingly large type:

If you have to run FCP4 or 4.5, DO NOT BUY THE QUAD OR ANY OTHER DUAL-CORE POWERMAC!

Final Cut Pro 4 and 4.5 require an AGP graphics card to run, and since the new machines utilize PCI Express, it won't start. You must have Final Cut Pro 5 on these machines.

 

[mashinhead]

The G5 will be the last machine in the mac lineup to be updated. So i'm thinking late fall, at the earliest. if that helps. Plus its not bad to have a PowerPC based system for a while since the software transition will be slow.

 

[~Shard~]

The G5 will be the last machine in the mac lineup to be updated.

The G5 isn't a machine, it's a processor.

I'll assume you meant the PowerMac. And yes, the PowerMac will not be going Intel until 2007, adopting Woodcrest.

 

[egrissom]

If you have to run FCP4 or 4.5, DO NOT BUY THE QUAD OR ANY OTHER DUAL-CORE POWERMAC!

In another thread on this site- Monyx - pointed me toward a quick fix that allows older versions of FCP to work with the new PCI Express cards. This isn't an official Apple update, but the hack does work well.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@1007.FqbiatcoSBf.3@.68bc8dcd

Since its just a matter of changing one line from AGP to PCI, apple should really just release something via software update.

 

[DaftUnion]

Seriously, just buy the quad, that machine is a beast, and should easily last 5 + years. 16gb of ram? 4 processors...all pci architecture! That thing is so far ahead of it's time you'll be just fine with it for a long time.

 

[Zoowatch]

i second that ^^^^

Quad is a dream machine and if u have the money it's a great machine to buy.

Everything it has is really ahead of its time and there's plenty of room to expand for the next 4 years.

The only things it could have done better maybe a newer type of SATA connection + room for additional optical drive.

Also, as long as Apple don't declare PowerPC "RIP" and release a version Mac OS X in 2010 which only run on Intel machines, the Quad you're going to buy today will still powerful enough to run most applications of that time.