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About to take the big G5 plunge, how does this system look?
Been getting by with a Mini for the past 10 months but want to step up to something with more power. Would like to have graphics card previews with Boris Red, try out Motion, actually burn DVDs rather than send mpegs to my PC, and so on.
I was looking to buy from Expercom.com and get a dual core 2.3 G5 with AppleCare for $2599. I’ll also add the 7800 GT card for another $350. Tax and shipping waived I believe. For RAM I’ll buy either 1 x 2gig RAM from Other World Computing for $168 or buy 2 of these packages for 4 total gigs. Apparently, Barefeats likes this RAM. I’ll be running FCP 4.5 Suite, but will probably upgrade when and if FCP 6 comes out.
Here’s my logic, the Quad sounds nice, but it’s $800 more. Could buy a nice mic with that money and the mic will never get outdated. Also, with the switch to Intel, I didn’t want to go all out, but rather buy something that will last me a year, possibly two. Of course I could wait for the Intel G5s (they’ll probably have a different name by then), but that’s more waiting w/o a definite end, the Intel Macs might be buggy to begin with, and I’ve got a lot of other software (a lot of it academic and probably not upgradable) I’d probably have to replace when that change comes. I’ve read about the issues with FCP and Motion with the PCIe G5s, but it seems like the hack takes care of that. Also, hopefully a new version of FCP will come out soon. Studio with STP seems like a major move in the right direction in so far as being a complete don’t have to leave the associated software to complete a project kind of thing. Hopefully the next version will continue that and the new attention to audio. In the meantime, it would be FCP 4.5 Suite for me.
So, I was wondering,
1- Is Expercom a well respected company and a good choice?
2- Is there and kind of obvious flaw in my logic that will cost me hours pulling my hair out or make me feel like I wasted a few thousand dollars later down the line? My confidence in the PCIe FCP 4.5 hack/fix for example.
Sorry for the long post, but for me this is a big purchase and despite my research I still consider myself a Mac newbie. Thanks ahead of time for any help! -
3 Replies
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[mus man] “2- Is there and kind of obvious flaw in my logic that will cost me hours pulling my hair out or make me feel like I wasted a few thousand dollars later down the line? My confidence in the PCIe FCP 4.5 hack/fix for example.”
I wouldn’t trust any hack/fix if I’m earning money with my system. If you’re going through the trouble to upgrade your system, I would upgrade to FCP 5 since that system will run rings around FCP 4.5 on that system.
Waiting for FCP 6 will probably mean lots of headaches until that happens. But it’s your call. FWIW, I purchased the Mac Mini with the DVD Burner and the thing rocks as a stand alone DVD burning station.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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As far as Exper.com goes, I trust them fully.
I’d purchased many items from them online over the past couple of years and then realized that their store was about two miles away from my house here in Salt Lake.
I bought a mini from them last year that, like Walter, pretty much does nothing but encode DVDs. It’s not the fastest machine in the world, but it’s a lot faster than tying up my edit system.
I also had a Quad machine on order from them for my new FCP system (I’m still on an Avid right now), but I ended up buying a dual 2.7 so I could still purchase all the items, drives and cards I’d already researched before the quads were announced.
Tim
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Just wanted to thank you both for the help, I appreciate it. If the Mini had a DVD burner, I might wait a little longer. But, oh well. I originally bought it for my Mom and I couldn’t justify a DVD burner for someone who doesn’t even know how to use a mouse.
Anyway, thank you both for the help!
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