PC user buying a Mac

Hi all...just wanted you to know that I am a PC user for over 10 years and now I am wanting to buy into a Mac. I need to know is it a good deal to buy a PowerMac G4 or is it to old? I am wanting it to run with Photoshop CS2 since I am into graphics and also will use it to process my RAW photos. I saw where the new is a G5...is it better to get a G5 or will a G4 be alright for what I am needing? Any help will be greatly appreciated since I am new to or will be new to using a Mac.

Thanks,
Dooglla

Well, if you're running Photoshop CS2, go with the PowerMac. Photoshop, if loaded onto an iMac Intel, needs Rosetta-a program to run PowerPC apps on and Intel Mac-to run. And, the reports with Rosetta and CS2 are not good. Supposedly, Photoshop runs REALLY slow. So, if you want to switch to Mac, get the PowerMac for CS2.

But if you're just between G5 and G4, go G5. You'll get better speed, plus I heard somewhere that G4 chips overheat easily.

BlindingLights said:

Well, if you're running Photoshop CS2, go with the PowerMac. Photoshop, if loaded onto an iMac Intel, needs Rosetta-a program to run PowerPC apps on and Intel Mac-to run. And, the reports with Rosetta and CS2 are not good. Supposedly, Photoshop runs REALLY slow. So, if you want to switch to Mac, get the PowerMac for CS2.

But if you're just between G5 and G4, go G5. You'll get better speed, plus I heard somewhere that G4 chips overheat easily.

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Thanks for the reply. Would this be a good buy for me to use with photoshop?

Mac 17"G5

G4 chips overheat? Not that I have heard of... Adobe CS2 Standard Suite (Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator) run great on both Macs in my sig.

The 17" iMac will work lovely with CS2, just make sure you have at very least 512MB or better still 1GB.

Vicky

lil said:

G4 chips overheat? Not that I have heard of... Adobe CS2 Standard Suite (Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator) run great on both Macs in my sig.

The 17" iMac will work lovely with CS2, just make sure you have at very least 512MB or better still 1GB.

Vicky

Click to expand...

I can back up Vicky's experience with G4/Adobe products. In additional, more ram is always good and I would recommend at least the 1 GB for Adobe.

G4s don't overheat per-se, but my G4 iBook will get pretty darn hot sitting on my lap and I know that PBs will too.

Thanks everyone...I appreciate the help alot. Don't want to get something and then wish I had got the other one since I am new to this...Mac that is.

Ok...which is better...the Imac G5 or the powermac G5? The powermac I would have to have a monitor with but, the Imac can I add 2 or more Harddrives to it...also can you have a cd and dvd burner on it? I've only seen pictures is why I'm asking...and I want this to last for awhile.

Ok the PowerMac G5 is more powerful but more expensive.

The iMac can only take one internal SATA hard drive, and all models have a Superdrive for Dual Layer DVD Burning, DVD±R/RW, CD-R/RW—everything basically.

The PowerMac also has the same burning support but space for 2 SATA hard drives. It can only take one optical (5.25") drive.

You can add extra hard drives and optical drives externally to both.

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As an aside, my PowerBook G4 has never run that hot, but I never run games or anything on it. Just InDesign, Photoshop and the usual array of stuff and it's always ran pretty cool on my lap with full performance set. Guess I'm just not pushing it quite as hard!

Vicky

Thanks...I'm looking into this one to purchase:

G5 1.8 Ghz
17 inch LCD 756 MB Ram
64 MB graphics
80 Gig hdd
10/100 mbit Ethernet

That will work very nicely. In time you may want to up the RAM and maybe even the hard disk but for the kind of work you want to do, sounds like a very good machine to do it with.

Vicky

Just wanted to say thanks lil for all your help...much appreciated.

Did you already purchase it? The reason I ask is because it seems like people talk as if the new Intel Macs won't ever have Adobe-native software available for them. Is it something you could wait for? If so, then my personal recommendation would be getting one of the new Intel Macs. You may have to wait up to a year for Adobe to release a Universal version, but I mean, if you can do everything on your PC now, there's no reason why you couldn't continue to do so while waiting for Adobe to release the Universal Binary version of their software. I know it may sound ludicrous right, buying some nice hardware only to wait for native programs to be released for it, but IMO, it's just as ludicrous, if not more ludicrous to buy an older PowerPC version solely based on the fact that Adobe products are currently written for that machine and not the new generation of Macs.

If you can wait, don't lock yourself in. Just my $.02.

I just now understood what you were saying. You are right...maybe I should get the newer one and wait. But, it is a hard thing to do. ahahahaha