Advice sought from Macintosh Users re IMac G5 vs. Power Mac G5

[Craig Alan]

If render times are not an issue for you then almost any mac will do. However points to consider are: you need to put your media files on a different drive than the boot drive. With an imac that means an external drive. the graphic card that comes with an imac might be less than ideal. the maximum amount of ram is less with an imac. and yes dual helps with speed. I’d try the imac first to see if you are happy with the amount of screen space when you open up all those fcp windows.

OSX 10.3.8; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; FCP 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000; write professionally for a variety of media

[Jeff Carpenter]

Make sure you buy the new version of the iMac with 128 MB of video RAM. (The first version had 64.) And buy two 1-GB sticks of RAM from somewhere else (like crucial.com) and put it in yourself. And get a firewire drive and only edit DV.

If you can do all of that then an iMac will serve you well. Yes, there are downsides but the bottom line is this: It will be a lot better than your current Mac and you’ve been getting by with that, right?

OR…here’s a plan “C” you haven’t thought about yet. The “cheaper Powermac” plan:
Go to Apple.com and click on the “Store” tab. Scroll down and look for the big red “SAVE” tag on the right of the page. Scroll down to find the Powermac that says “Power Mac G5 Dual 2GHz SuperDrive – Apple Certified” for $1,799. Then get 2 GB of RAM from crucial.com ($287) and skip the LCD screen for a good old CRT. (Look around for a 19″ flat-screen CRT. Let’s say $250.) Then get a 300 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA drive from Maxtor ($250) and put that in at the same time you add the RAM in. (Use that drive as your media drive.)

So that all comes to $2,586. Maybe that’s in your price range…maybe not…but it’s cheaper than buying a souped-up brand-new-Powermac. It’s a bit more expensive than an iMac, but it will be a better machine. And when you get a little more money next year you can buy another 2-GB of RAM for your birthday. The price I figured here would give you 2.5 GB of RAM for now and the machine can take up to 8 GB if you’re so inclined. And feel free to get an LCD if you want, I’m just trying to show you the cheapest method to get a pretty sweet machine. You can build it up as much as you want above that. (If you do get a CRT, make sure to set your prefrences to turn it off whenever you leave…they’re power hogs, but they can save you a lot of cash if you can put up with the size.)

[Scaramouche]

Craig and Jeff:

Thanks!

I already have a Maxtor 200GB Firewire Drive.

I can easily get more memory installed cheaply through the university where I work and being on the Board of the bookstore get a great price
on memory.

I’m thinking of the iMac G5 latest edition, 20″ monitor, with 2 GB of extra memory. This will cost me about $1800 plus tax.

The Power Mac with a 20″ monitor will run me over $3000, more than I can easily afford.

Mark

[Steve Connor]

I’m working from home on my 20″ i-Mac at the moment and it’s absolutely fine with DV, renders are slow but if you’re not bothered by that it does tha job well.

Steve Connor
Cardinal HD

[Mitchji]

Hi,

You should be able to get a Dual G5 and a 20″ Dell monitor for about $2,000. It will be much faster and more expandable. Here is a comparison of the Dell 24″ vs the Apple 23″ (not the 20″ but does give you an idea that Dell monitors are pretty good):
https://www.barefeats.com/lcd.html

Here are a coupld of recent deals on refurbed (full waranty) Dual G5’s (Exercom doesn’t have sales tax unless you live in Utah):
https://dealmac.com/categories/Computer/Apple-Systems/Power-Macs/44.html

Refurbished PowerMac G5/1.8GHz for $1,299, Dual for $1,499 shipped
ExperCom has stock of the factory-refurbished Apple PowerMac G5/1.8GHz Dual desktop with 256MB RAM, 80GB hard drive, and SuperDrive for $1,499 plus one cent shipping.

Refurbished PowerMac G5/2GHz Dual for $1,649 shipped
The factory-refurbished Apple PowerMac G5/2GHz Dual desktop with 512MB RAM, 160GB hard drive, and SuperDrive again costs $1,649 direct from The Apple Store.

If you watch Dealmac for coupons and sales you can get a Dell 20″ Ultrasharp for about $450. This is comparable in quality to the Apple 20″.
Watch the main page and check the archive periodically:
https://dealmac.com/categories/Computer/Peripherals/Monitors/Flat-Panel-LCDs/76_11.html

Don’t even think about getting the extra ram from Apple. Crucial.com is just as good and a lot cheaper.

Best Wishes,

Mitch