Topic awaiting preservation: G5 vs. G4? (Page 1 of 1)

Before I go back to school, I'd like to purchase a new computer. I've always wanted to try an Apple so thats the direction I'm leaning in. I have about $2,500 to spend. Heres what I'm looking at:

? 1.6GHz PowerPC G5
? 800MHz frontside bus
? 512K L2 cache
? 256MB DDR333 128-bit SDRAM
? Expandable to 4GB SDRAM
? 80GB Serial ATA
? SuperDrive
? Three PCI Slots
? NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
? 64MB DDR video memory
? Apple Studio Display (17" flat panel)
- Approx. $2,698.00

-or-

? 1.25GHz w/ 1MB L3 Cache
? 256MB DDR333 SDRAM (PC2700) -1 DIMM
? 80GB Ultra ATA drive
? Optical 1 - Apple SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
? Optical 2 - None
? ATI Radeon 9000 Pro dual-display w/64MB DDR
? Apple Studio Display (17" flat panel)
- Approx. $2,198.00

-or-

? 867MHz PowerPC G4 w/ 1MB L3
? 256MB SDRAM - 1 SO DIMM
? 40GB Ultra ATA drive
? Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
? Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
? 15.2-inch TFT Display
? Powerbook
- Approx. $1,999.00

While it sounds very silly, part of what appeals to me about the Apple is how cool it looks. I love the Powerbook, but I'm curious how it performs. I've used it in the Apple Store by me and it seems fine, but is it worth the money? Does the G5 have such a huge advantage over the G4 to warrent me spending the extra money? Will I be able to tell the difference?

Thanks for your help!

It depends on what you'll be mainly using the computer for. From what I've heard, the G5 is a whole new creature, and it's a 64-bit chip, whereas most desktop chips are 32-bit.

You can probably expect a jump in performace with the G5, if you plan on running some very high intensity applications (3D modeling, DV editing, etc). Then again, if you're just doing schoolwork and stuff, the G4 is still a pretty powerful chip, a bit older, but cheaper.

I'm going to be using it for school work and web design. I don't mind spending the extra money if its going to be well worth it, but if its going to be barely noticable I might as well go with the cheaper of the two.

^^^^ What he said.

Note also, however.. G4's ain't that shoddy for the above mentioned activities either. But if you gotta have the best, fastest, or are just plain impatient.. G5.

[edit: doh, slipped yer post in right before I did..]

For web design, G4 is plenty fine, spare yourself the pain in the wallet. Maybe use the leftover to buy a lil extra RAM or something, scanner, printer, whatever.

[This message has been edited by Xel (edited 08-04-2003).]

G4.... *shudders*

I wouldent touch a G4 with a cattle prod....

no wait... i would, WOO! ZAP ZAP! HEH

Go wit dah 5, hands down.

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I'm going to be using it for school work and web design

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Seriously though, I still don't think that kind of work warrants G5 power.

Save yourself the cash, seib.

I wouldn't even touch a mac with a 10 foot barge pole.

if you're set on getting a mac i'd personally go for the g5, tho you may not need it at the moment it can't hurt to have the extra power (and $2700, if you can stretch it, will get you a g5 and a 17" cinema display). same thing goes if i bought a pc, i don't really NEED much more than something around a 1.5 gig cpu (who really does?) but i'd definitely go for a 2gig+ cpu just to have the extra power.

plus, i gotta agree, the new g5's are just sweet. i will say this tho, having had a good bit of cross-platform experience, i'd much rather design on a mac but develop on a pc.

chris


KAIROSinteractive

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$2700, if you can stretch it, will get you a g5 and a 17" cinema display

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And imagine how much PC you could buy with that! The mind absolutely reels.

...sigh. Guess I'm a troll now. Sorry guys, I know you had such high expectations for me.

Cell 1250 :: alanmacdougall.com :: Illustrator tips

[This message has been edited by Perfect Thunder (edited 08-05-2003).]

$2700? In aussie terms that's about $4600...I could get something absolutley sweet for that! I'm talking 21" display, 500gig of HD, 3 gig+ CPU, 2 gig of ram...woah...I wish I had that kind of money!

But that's ONLY if I got a PC (which I always would, can't stand Macs). You can't customise a mac that much....that I know of at least

[This message has been edited by Skaarjj (edited 08-05-2003).]

it is expensive, no question, and that's why i don't own one right now, i can upgrade my pc for far less and get up to some decent performance. so why a mac? well, for one most high end design shops use them, so from an experience factor learning the platform is almost a must if you want to be a designer. print bureaus like working with mac files much more than pc files as well, not that there's really a big difference. macs also play really nicely with dv cams and digital cameras and are your best choice for doing high end video work without investing a lot in a video hardware solution. the ease of use also comes into play, they are more friendly than pc's and quicker to do a lot of little things with, and for some that's a major plus.

chris


KAIROSinteractive

You're entirely right about the video aspect. You can trick out a PC for high-end video, obviously, but if you're looking for good performance with a relatively low outlay and hassle, Macs are a good way to go for that. On the other hand, my roommate will tell you about trying to use Avid on a Powerbook -- apparently even with OSX, it crashed on a regular basis for him. That's just hearsay, though, so don't ask me to defend the claim.

quote:

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the ease of use also comes into play, they are more friendly than pc's and quicker to do a lot of little things with

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That's two different claims. Macs are a bit easier to learn if you don't know anything about computers to begin with, but for any moderately experienced user (like anyone in the Asylum), neither the Mac OS nor Windows offers much difficulty. And when it comes to "quicker to do a lot of little things," it's a matter of preference. Each OS facilitates a different type of work. If you like to have your hands off your mouse, for instance, never ever get a Mac. Windows (and Linux, if we're talking PCs in general) is much more keyboard-friendly. On the other hand, if you like using your mouse a lot, and you want a greater number of useful mouse tricks, the Mac OS is for you.

(sigh) Anyway, now we had the inevitable Mac vs. PC talk. But really, the thread title is about selecting a Mac. So I apologize for getting off topic. Let's return the thread just to Macs, shall we?

Cell 1250 :: alanmacdougall.com :: Illustrator tips

I hate mac mice with a flaming passion.

That 64 bit cpu (built by ibm) with up to 8 Gigs of memory sounds quite amazing though....

How does the G5 acctually perform?

I may be completly wrong here, but I always thought that OS X was a 32-bit operating system and well, using a 64-bit CPU to run 32-bit software is a dead waste of money. From everything I've read about 32-bit vs 64-bit computing, 64-bit processors that can run 32-bit programs do so through some form of emulation which will slow things down. Sure the CPU is probably more than fast enough to handle this slight slow down, but untill you have a 64-bit OS and 64-bit software to run it on, what's the point?

By the time you get around to upgrading to 64-bit software that 64-bit processor will most likely be outdated.

Quite simply, using a 64-bit processor with 32-bit software is completly pointless. But I could be wrong, OS X may be a 64-bit OS but I doubt it. I could also be wrong about the slow down issue as most of the articles I've read have been about the PC, more specifically AMD's new 64-bit processor.

Although, if you already have a rather speedy desktop PC I'd get the powerbook. Simply because it's portable.

PT: Why is your room mate trying to run avid on a Mac! If he wants to do stuff with avid he should have a dedicated suutio. Final Cut Pro and the off-the-shelf firewire support is where the Mac really kills the PC in terms of one-box-does-it-all video editing.

Izz: I hear yah, but that's why we all love USB. I actually keep a three button wheel mouse in my bag when I'm at University, simply because my productivity drops to near zero when using a single button mouse. Oh and I love the dual-drive feature that macs have, plug 2 mice (mouses) into the puter and you can have two people working on the one program. Works really well for group final cut pro editing once you and the other editor get use to working togther.

[This message has been edited by Dracusis (edited 08-05-2003).]

PT: I have doubts about your keyboard-friendly comment... My mac is about as keyboard friendly as I could imagine... what exactly are you doing with your keyboard that you can't on a Mac? (curiousity speaking, no sarcasm there.)

I do love my non-apple mouse though... Logitech 3 button + clickable scroll wheel.. Yum.

Drac: I think Apple is making "Panther" (the next stage in OSX I guess..?) a 64 bit OS... and I guess that helps out a lot despite the applications it's running not being 64-bit.. I dunno the whole scoop, but I think regardless there isn't a whole lot to worry about in the speed department.

Oh, and cool, I never knew about the FCP dual mouse thing Good to know. (Especially since I just got it!) Are there actually 2 cursors on the screen, or do you simply both control the one cursor?

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PT: Why is your room mate trying to run avid on a Mac! If he wants to do stuff with avid he should have a dedicated suutio. Final Cut Pro and the off-the-shelf firewire support is where the Mac really kills the PC in terms of one-box-does-it-all video editing.

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EXACTLY what i was going to say as far as the 64 bit argument, the apple site says that unlike pc's the g5 will run both 32 and 64-bit OS's and OSX will continue to be "enhanced" to take advantage of the g5's capabilities. speedwise, i'll believe NASA's tests which put the top-of-the-line G5 dead-even with a p4 2.6ghz, a BIG improvement over previous results.

PT, i agree on the "ease of use" observation, it can definitely go either way.

chris


KAIROSinteractive

quote:

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PT: Why is your room mate trying to run avid on a Mac! If he wants to do stuff with avid he should have a dedicated suutio. Final Cut Pro and the off-the-shelf firewire support is where the Mac really kills the PC in terms of one-box-does-it-all video editing.

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Doh, I had my software mixed up. It actually was Final Cut Pro he was using, and was getting frequent crashes. (And lest you say "bah, Final Cut Pro on OSX doesn't crash," remember that I didn't actually see it, I just heard him constantly complaining about it.) Now he uses Avid on a high-end PC and has no trouble.

As for the keyboard issue, there are two universal PC things that Macs don't have -- first, the combination of Home, End, Shift and Control keys makes it possible to select text very easily from the keyboard. Take a random system dialog box in the Mac OS, put your cursor at the beginning of it, and hit Command-Shift-End to select it all, and nothing will happen.

Second, in PC and Linux environments, every menu of most programs has a "mnemonic" letter. Hold the Alt key and press the mnemonic, and the menu opens. Then, you can navigate it with the keyboard, or hit the mnemonic of any menu item to activate that menu item. There are many Photoshop tasks, for instance, that don't have a keyboard shortcut in the Mac OS, but I can access them with a few swift keystrokes on the PC side.

These are minor gadgets, but the perceived speed and ease of better keyboard control is enough for me.

Cell 1250 :: alanmacdougall.com :: Illustrator tips