Not quite a switcher, but on the verge and need some advice...

Hello all

I'm currently on the verge of paying £1k for the first lot of equipment and software for my project/home studio.

I currently have a PC of these credentials: 3.4GHz P4 Hyper Threading and 1024Mb (RAM). It's running XP Pro.

I want to know how much I'll have to spend on, say, a refurbed iMac for the machine to be at least as fast etc as my current PC. I mean, I have a budget of about £700 for the Mac if necessary (this will take the total of the studio up to £1700) but if I'd need to spend £k's then I may as well stick with my PC for now - obviously, if I am spending £400-£500 on Cubase 4/Reason 3, I need to be thinking about what platform will be more beneficial to me in the long-run!

Thanks. I really appreciate your thoughts and opinions on this - it's a lot of money so I need to be sure.

Richard

The Mac Minis have a faster processor, although I'd recommend upgrading them to 1Gb. The hard drives are slightly slower than the one probably in your PC, but you'd save money being able to keep the same screen, keyboard and mouse.


1.66Ghz Intel Core Duo
512MB memory
60GB hard drive1
Ready to ship: 24hrs
Free Shipping
£399.00
(£339.57 ex VAT)

1.83Ghz Intel Core Duo
512MB memory
80GB hard drive1
Ready to ship: 24hrs
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£529.00
(£450.21 ex VAT)



The iMac has a faster SATA hard drive and faster Core2 processors:

17"
512MB memory (I'd upgrade to 1Gb)
160GB hard drive1
24x Combo drive
Intel GMA 950 graphics
Ready to ship: 24hrs
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£679.00
(£577.87 ex VAT

20"
1GB memory
250GB hard drive1
8x DL SuperDrive
ATI Radeon X1600 graphics
Ready to ship: 24hrs
Free Shipping
£999.00
(£850.21 ex VAT)

Thanks Alexis.

Can I just confirm that the Core 2 processor is actually faster than my current P4?

Thanks

Let me first say, after 4 months now, still love my MacBook Pro (MBP) and would not consider trading it even for a $4-5000 Alienware notebook with Vista (XP, maybe, but unlikely).

If you are doing video encoding on your PC, have a look at a thread I posted some time back giving a comparison of my desktop machine (XP) and MBP running DVD shrink here.
My desktop has same specs as yours. XP Pro, 3.4Ghz, 1GB Ram top of the line Corsair, equivalent video card and I keep it tweaked and running top notch. If you are looking for raw speed (as in how long it takes) for any type of encoding, you will not be happy getting rid of your PC and replacing it with a MacMini or an Apple notebook. I also bought a 20" iMac for the kid same day I bought my MBP. Guess I really should try the same on his machine to get a comparison for the desktops, but he lives 4 hours away and don't know anyone else with a Mac.

Post back after you have checked out the comparison and can give you some of my thoughts on why the MBP is so slow for this particular task.

Hi, a little factoid / conventional wisdom that should be of value: a Core 2 Duo GHz is roughly equal to 1.4 PIV GHz. So, a 2.33 GHz iMac, the fastest you can get, is roughly equivalent to a 2.33* 1.4 = 3.26 GHz PIV. So, the 2.33 iMac will be pretty close on a core by core basis, and of course it has TWO cores while your PIV only has one. My recommendation: the 2.33 GHz iMac; treat yourself to some luxury and go for the 24". You will love it.