mac performance.

[womoma]

Hi.

Im thinking about getting a second hand mac. Ive been using a Windows laptop.

I saw an ad for a powermac 1.8ghz g5 aswell as a g5 imac 1.8ghz.

Would there be many advantages of getting the powermac over the imac?

Thanks.

[Scotrick]

well, it depends on your needs, the iMac has a built-in screen, and is somewhat 'portable,'

but if power and expandability are your main requirements, then the PowerMac is the way to go... you can more RAM, another hard drive, and of course, have a much wider choice of audio cards, as the PowerMac has slots for cards, while the iMac will only have the USB and firewire ports...

[CrownRoyal]

Hi.

Im thinking about getting a second hand mac. Ive been using a Windows laptop.

I saw an ad for a powermac 1.8ghz g5 aswell as a g5 imac 1.8ghz.

Would there be many advantages of getting the powermac over the imac?

Thanks.

Typically, the PowerMac (desktop) with the same CPU are slightly faster. Probably not noticable, though. They'll typically cost more, too. The advantage is the expansion slots that you get and the space for an extra internal drive. You might find a Gigabit Ethernet in the PowerMac (not likely but you never know with it being second-hand). The iMac is an all-in-one with those advantages/disadvantages. I use a 1.8Ghz iMac with external drives. I use both the Firewire and the USB ports and have no trouble at all. I use both a MBox 2 and a MOTU 828MkII. Both work great.

But why change? What does the Mac offer you that a nicer PC wouldn't? Personally, I'd build a nice PC if I was going to "do things over". You get a lot of horsepower for less money.

Cheers!

[womoma]

Hi.

Thanks both of you for posting. Very helpfull and informative.

I havent decided to go mac just yet. Its just something I was considering. Im not 100% sure of the pros and cons, but I have read a few times that it is quite a lot more stable than xp.

I do like the imac g5 but sometimes wonder about how it would perform with a good few tracks in cubase and reason rewired, probably fine.
But would be a worthwhile long-term investment, possibly not.

Im selling my laptop and will be replacing it with something. Ill never use a laptop again, at least not unless I really have to!

I found a nice powerfull PC configuration from www.komplett.ie which I will most likely be buying, if anyone buys my laptop off me! So far no interest!

I was also considering an AC-1 from Carillon, or a nice "cube" style jobby from red submarine.

[CrownRoyal]

Hi.

Thanks both of you for posting. Very helpfull and informative.

I havent decided to go mac just yet. Its just something I was considering. Im not 100% sure of the pros and cons, but I have read a few times that it is quite a lot more stable than xp.

I do like the imac g5 but sometimes wonder about how it would perform with a good few tracks in cubase and reason rewired, probably fine.
But would be a worthwhile long-term investment, possibly not.

Im selling my laptop and will be replacing it with something. Ill never use a laptop again, at least not unless I really have to!

I found a nice powerfull PC configuration from www.komplett.ie which I will most likely be buying, if anyone buys my laptop off me! So far no interest!

I was also considering an AC-1 from Carillon, or a nice "cube" style jobby from red submarine.

Oh, one thing that I was just thinking about when you mentioned selling. Macs typically have a higher resale value. It's shocking what you can sell a Mac on eBay for. I sold my son's eMac after using for 8 months for 200 less than I paid for it. I doubt you can lease a Mac for that kind of money. The downside is that you have to pay more for a used Mac. Whether that's a consideration is up to you. Be objective about it and you'll make the right decision. The most important thing is, as an artist, that you're making music. Speaking of which, I'm out of here! I have some tweakin' to do.

Cheers!