Dual G5 vs intel imac?

christopherlee1 · Dec 7, 2006

Hey everyone, I have very little experience with mac computer but I'm interested in purchasing one. I could not by any means afford a mac pro at this time but I am able to get a dual 2 ghz G5 for about the same price as an intel imac. I want a machine that will run fnal cut pro very well. Assuming they both have a gig of ram which would you say would be the better buy? Lets assume I will not need more than one monitor.

Thanks a bunch!

christopherlee1 · Dec 7, 2006

?

????

:spook: :bushman: :yinyang: :radioacti :headphone :bone:

:bomb: :dive:

surfwax95 · Dec 7, 2006

PowerMac.

christopherlee1 · Dec 7, 2006

:black: Could you elaborate a bit more about why?

Thanks

Zoolook · Dec 7, 2006

The benchmarks would suggest otherwise.

http://www.creativemac.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=38816

Looks like Intel is significantly stronger in most tests. C2D will be even better.

christopherlee1 · Dec 7, 2006

Ah, So that would seem to be a much better buy and a space saver. Any one else?

surfwax95 · Dec 7, 2006

We're not speaking in terms of processor speeds, are we?

"which do you think would be the better buy?"

I chose PowerMac due to it's customization potential. Video card can be upgraded, RAM capacity is greater, HDDs can be swapped/added/replaced, PCI slots galore, all very easy to do. If you're going to run Final Cut, you're going to want as much RAM as you can get. iMacs max out at 2-3Gb depending on the model. Their video card is also pretty weak compared to some of the cards you can get for a PowerMac.

The largest hard drive you can get on an iMac is 500Gb (correct me if I'm wrong, I didn't check the newest ones), whereas with a PowerMac, you can have up to 1.5TB internal using SATA.

I stand by my "PowerMac" post.

dtravis7 · Dec 7, 2006

I agree if you would to upgrade something down the road, but from a purely GUT performance standpoint, the Intel Macs are better, quite a bit better except where the Application is NOT Universal as yet.

Zoolook · Dec 7, 2006

surfwax95 said:
We're not speaking in terms of processor speeds, are we?

"which do you think would be the better buy?"

I chose PowerMac due to it's customization potential. Video card can be upgraded, RAM capacity is greater, HDDs can be swapped/added/replaced, PCI slots galore, all very easy to do. If you're going to run Final Cut, you're going to want as much RAM as you can get. iMacs max out at 2-3Gb depending on the model. Their video card is also pretty weak compared to some of the cards you can get for a PowerMac.

The largest hard drive you can get on an iMac is 500Gb (correct me if I'm wrong, I didn't check the newest ones), whereas with a PowerMac, you can have up to 1.5TB internal using SATA.

I stand by my "PowerMac" post.

Fair enough and great points. It does depend on what the user is going to do with the machine. I agree that you get better upgrade potential.

The original poster said something about 2 machines being the same price, I assumed a 1.5TB HDD array is probbably not what he had in mind.

Anyway, a top end iMac gets you 3gigs of RAM, 750GB of HDD space, a 2.33ghz C2D (which will be a LOT faster than a twin G5, you get a nVidia 7600GT, which is pretty powerful.

surfwax95 · Dec 7, 2006

After spending a few minutes trying to spec out a PowerMac G5, I end up with a more powerful machine at a similar price, but then I have to price the monitor!

Zoolook's right, an iMac may be a better choice for you. Especially if you're going for the lower price point, rather than the customization. Plus, there's always Firewire externals if you run out of storage space!

mr g5 · Dec 7, 2006

well what kind of editing are you doing. Alot of heavy final cut users have 4+ gigs of RAM and dual monitors.

the imac will be much faster though
http://www.macspeedzone.com/html/hardware/machine/performance_in_the_raw/06/11-5b.shtml

christopherlee1 · Dec 8, 2006

Thanks for all of your input! I would like to do some pretty heavy editing but at present I'm pretty new to final cut. I can always attach another monitor to the Imac as well if I need the dual capabilities. I will decide in a few days what to purchase.

Thanks again

mr g5 · Dec 8, 2006

Can you connect another monitor to the imac? I wonder if you can upgrade processors on the g5 like the g4?

imacmatt09 · Dec 8, 2006

mr g5 said:
Can you connect another monitor to the imac? I wonder if you can upgrade processors on the g5 like the g4?

Yes you can add another moniter up to a 23" cinema display. No you cant upgrade processers. I think its possible to overclock them though.. Im not sure though..

surfwax95 · Dec 11, 2006

mr g5 said:
Can you connect another monitor to the imac? I wonder if you can upgrade processors on the g5 like the g4?

Yes, you can connect another monitor to the iMac.

You can't upgrade G5s as of yet, but you couldn't upgrade the G4s when they were relatively new, either. We'll have to wait and see if someone comes out with an upgrade kit.

baggss · Dec 13, 2006

It is unlikely we will see any G5 upgrades, simply due to the Bus speed issues on the G5 machines.

Dual G5 vs intel imac?

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