New Power Mac Recommends?

[marategr]

i've got to upgrade from my bondi blue g3 to ?

i want to run final cut pro,
photoshop,
burn dvd's,
possibly some audio production software too.

i've been told that, to save money, getting a used dual processor G4 is a good way to go. The prices on craigslist for one of them machines makes that idea tempting. However, nothing is as good as going new.

when i price new macs on apple.com, i wind up with a $3k+ machine before adding in the monitor. So.... I have a bunch of questions.

What do you suggest G4 vs G5? Which machine would you suggest in the G5 range? What would be your recommendation for the amount of ram or upgrading of the video card? How much hard drive should i have internal? Does it matter how much internal HD i have if i have a fire wire external HD?

I will eventually be editing on this machine, mostly my own independent stuff, but i would like to set up for the future, in case my projects grow.


thanks

 

[witeshark]

My own thoughts of what to get if I had your motives would be to start with G5 yeah bite the bullit cause the CPU is the hardest to upgrade and you will need it for editing. RAM is crucial! So as much as you can afford - you can always play the bargaining game and likely get a stick or to thrown in. If you can go with dual, do it - but make sure your software is designed to exploit that sweet bit rate! Don't wanna run 32 bit editing stuff on a 128 bit system! Oh. and about the hard drive, the internal doesn't need to be the biggest if you're gonna do a lot of external drive storage - good point

 

[Chamorro]

i've been told that, to save money, getting a used dual processor G4 is a good way to go. The prices on craigslist for one of them machines makes that idea tempting. However, nothing is as good as going new.

when i price new macs on apple.com, i wind up with a $3k+ machine before adding in the monitor. So.... I have a bunch of questions.

What do you suggest G4 vs G5? Which machine would you suggest in the G5 range? What would be your recommendation for the amount of ram or upgrading of the video card? How much hard drive should i have internal? Does it matter how much internal HD i have if i have a fire wire external HD?

I will eventually be editing on this machine, mostly my own independent stuff, but i would like to set up for the future, in case my projects grow.


thanks

You'll save money short-term buying a Dual G4 (you'll need at least a dual IMO), but if you can swing a DUAL G5, do it. I think the Dual G4 will be a little better than a single G5 for you.

Don't get a G4 and expect to be able to upgrade it to a G5 later....it'll need a new mobo/lobo in addition to the new processor, and most mfrs. probably won't spend that kind of money.

One other factor: if your projects grow, will your budget grow as well? Meaning, save money now using a Dual G4, save up and get a dual G5 later down the road (they'll be much more powerful then, too).