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SHOULD i keep my MDD DUAL? or get an intel iMac??

P

poolin1243

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 7, 2005
301
0
Kansas City,MO/Milwaukee, WI
Hey all-

heres the specs on my MDD
Dual 1.4 MDD
1.25 ram
Nvidia GeForce 4Ti 128mb
2 80GB HD, 1 160GB (i would pull the 160 out)
Superdrive
ComboDrive
secondary ethernet card
added card with 4 usb2.0, 2 fw400
its a mint condition machine.

i use photoshop, photomechanic, iView media pro, iPhoto, Aperture(only on my powerbook right now), and the usual putzing apps(ichat, aim, yahoo, safari, etc)

PHOTOSHOP being the biggest thing, and aperture, and such,

would i be better off staying with this machine, or ponying up for a imac core duo 20incher???

any help would be appreciated.

or..wait..? wiat for a revision b?? whens that? or powermac??

thanks!
 
Id wait

I'd wait until we see what the Intel PM's are like to gauge. If they're too expensive or the software still isn't binary - buy a Quad or 2.7 :D
 
Wait, your machine's fine. I wouldn't expect an intel machine to run much better at this point.
 
You still have a very capable machine and I would keep on using it unless you are finding major slowdowns while using it. If not, why buy a new computer? Most people have WAY too much computer for the majority of their uses. Many only use a computer to surf the web and send emails and occasionally put some photos up and maybe edit them a little. Point is that only power users who push the machine need the cutting edge machines. And your machine is still pretty darn powerful for your uses.
 
oh i know its powerful....
just that sometimes the gpu or the processor makes it choppy when adjusting sliders in DPP or adobe camera raw, and im doing alot of my workflow in that. Also, i want aperture on my desktop machine, rather than on my powerbook...
 
poolin1243 said:
oh i know its powerful....
just that sometimes the gpu or the processor makes it choppy when adjusting sliders in DPP or adobe camera raw, and im doing alot of my workflow in that. Also, i want aperture on my desktop machine, rather than on my powerbook...
Click to expand...

Why not just upgrade your video card then, instead of your entire computer? Dual 1.4GHz G4's are still pretty powerful. A used Radeon 9800 Pro can be gotten for under $100 these days and flashed to Mac pretty easily, which would allow you to run Aperture and anything else that requires Core Image.
 
DOACleric said:
Why not just upgrade your video card then, instead of your entire computer? Dual 1.4GHz G4's are still pretty powerful. A used Radeon 9800 Pro can be gotten for under $100 these days and flashed to Mac pretty easily, which would allow you to run Aperture and anything else that requires Core Image.
Click to expand...



tell me more about this, please...


i too have a system, that is very very similar to the original poster's, i have almost a TB of storage in mine though, and have three screen's (although i'll probably get rid of one as it's making things slow in terms of dashboard and expose etc).

i was thinking i'd wait for the intel desktops, so that's also what i would recommend to the OP, especially if there's a way to run Aperture on these dual G4s (mine's a dual 1.25Ghz, the last of the OS9 bootables).

personally i wouldn't recommend getting a quad G5, hang onto the G4, it's still quick, even for heavy PS work. get another stick of RAM though, it'll help.




ok, just saw the post about flashing ^^^ thanks
 
evoluzione said:
tell me more about this, please...
Click to expand...


Flashing isn't all that difficult, although it does take some reading up on, and requires either a PC with an AGP slot, or another mac so you can remote desktop (VNC) to it.

Don't bother getting anything slower than a Radeon 9800, especially if you want to run Aperture. They are still great cards, and run very cheap, especially if you buy a used one (under $100). For more info on flashing, check out the forums on www.strangedogs.com - they have all the info you'd ever need.
 
Hold off and get a new PowerMac when you are ready, that way the computer has a chance of lasting as long as the one you currently have via upgrades and the like....:cool:
 
I bought a 17" Intel iMac to replace my Dual 1Ghz MDD. It was a nice replacement, and I get extended desktop with my monitor from the MDD.

The iMac had better specs than my MDD in all areas except HD space and amount or RAM (which I will soon buy) and I miss my extra hard drive. I guess I'll just get a FW400 hard drive. I don't really care about expandability because I hardly expanded my MDD. I like my iMac replacement. My desk just looks like two monitors now and it wows everyone who drops by.

I am a graphic designer and have been designing for a couple years now and running Photoshop in Rosetta is okay with the base RAM, but just for lo-res work. It takes a long time to start up, but it goes faster as you use it more. You really need to upgrade the RAM if you want to run Photoshop in Rosetta.

But I'm a college student on a budget, otherwise I'd get a G5 PowerMac or wait for the Intel Mac Pros. Make sure to get an Intel Mac because those are the future and will last longer...
 
hmm
all of these options intrigue me

i am a.
worried about the resale value of the MDD...and if i keep waiting, will it go down...and also

if i were to hold on to the MDD...i would just be pooring money into a half-ass card?

i dont know..im torn.

when are the powermacs out?
 
Stick with your MDD, it is going to be a while until Adobe Makes their Apps Universal along with all the other developers. It is very early in the transition to intel, I would not recomend jumping ship this early even before an Intel Powermac comes out.
 
I love my iMac and all, but I would consider it a downgrade to go from your system to an intel iMac. I am still not convinced this "dual-core" jargon is really as good as dual-processors (even tho I've seen people say Dual 1.8ghz iMac already).

*EDIT* Yeah I just went and checked out some dual-core benchmarks and they are usually better performing or right around the same speed as a comparable clock speed. I am dumb, haha.

Stick with the MDD until the new Powermacs. You can get through the wait, just don't frequent the photo galleries of people's slick new computers on here that often ;)
 
well, i "downgraded" from a dual 2.0 G5 PM with 2.5GB ram (only the 9600 pro card, though) and i'm terribly happy with my intel iMac. the finder and normal day to day stuff is faster on my imac than the PM...rosetta apps run slower, obviously, but not so slow that i find it cumbersome.

IF you plan on doing tons of rendering work via PS your powermac will be a bit faster and you might want to keep it...but if you're willing to give up some PS speed for great speed all-around, the imac isn't a bad way to go.

i agree with other posters that your machine is still a fantastic one...but i'm quite pleased with my imac. the longer you wait the less you'll get for your PM...but maybe you can also start saving for the intel powermac, whenever that's coming...
 
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