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Yet another person needing buying advice

J

jpine

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 15, 2007
393
71
Hi Guys (and Gals),

I've been very happy plugging along with my quadcore G5, but the need for an Intel machine is now inescapable because of iOS app development. My major apps are PS CS5 and the (rare) occasional Motion, AE, and Lightwave 3D. I really don't care about Lion as I will stay with SL for the foreseeable future. I'm on a limited budget and want to stay with the Pro series for various reasons. From my reading here, it looks like the 2009 SP is the sweet spot for price and performance. I'm wondering if I can get away with the computer in this link or something like it. I would up the RAM considerably as well as adding an ATI 4870 if the latter is possible. What do you think? Powermax will actually give me more in trade-in than the eBay and Craigslist going price for my G5 if I were to sell it outright.

http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/c-u72415
 
Definitely pass on that machine. It is literally the weakest Pro ever made, and while you might get a good deal selling your G5 to powermax, they will rip you off pretty hard buying one. Check ebay or CL and you'll get a lot more machine for your money.
 
alust2013 said:
Definitely pass on that machine. It is literally the weakest Pro ever made, and while you might get a good deal selling your G5 to powermax, they will rip you off pretty hard buying one. Check ebay or CL and you'll get a lot more machine for your money.
Click to expand...

I kinda thought so. Thanks for confirming my suspicion. Just one more thing: How can I tell if a machine on eBay or CL is a 2009 model?
 
For those after a used machine that hope to use it for more than a year or so, I wouldn't recommend getting anything older than a 2008 model as it was the first to use EFI64 based firmware (allows for newer nVidia graphics cards to be used, and will also allow the user to continue to upgrade the OS once OS X goes K64 exclusively).

Granted, I realize the OP isn't all that interested in Lion, but this will also affect drivers I suspect, as they'll go to 64 bit only in the near future (would accompany the loss of K32 support).

Just a better machine for any long term use by allowing upgrades for a longer period of time.
 
Thanks to all who have responded. I think I'll limp along with my G5 and my old Intel notebook for the iOS development stuff and save a little more for a refurb. The biggest draw to Powermax was the $700.00 for my G5 and the fact that they don't charge sales tax. In the long run, I think I'm better off buying a refurb from Apple. Again, thanks!
 
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