I'm ready to purchase a PM G5 2.5 and...

[jtt]

would like your all's opinions on a few things.

iHave several friends that are teachers and was going to see if they could
get the educational discount for me. is this kosher?

The ram will be purchased thru Crucial at $56.64 a stick x 4 sticks.
iFound a 250 gig internal Maxtor drive on NewEgg for $132.
As for the video card (the Ultra), it appears it can only be purchased thru Apple.
Is this correct?

and iWas thinking about getting a Rosewill 3.5" USB 2.0/IEEE1394a (FireWire400)/IEEE1394b (FireWire800)
Aluminum External Enclosure (very nice looking) for my current 120 gig in my G3.

Thanks and great forum btw!

That's it for now. But iPlan on adding a few extra goodies later down the line.

[miloblithe]

iHave, iFound, iWas?

cute.

[auxplage]

iHave, iFound, iWas?

cute.

so very cute :rolleyes: . . . . :p . . . :)

[auxplage]

would like your all's opinions on a few things.

iHave several friends that are teachers and was going to see if they could
get the educational discount for me. is this kosher?


I personally do not think it is right, and it really is not because your friends will not be the primary user. It is up to you.

[jtt]

Maybe I'll go back and get my Masters. :D
Two years?

[ham_man]

would like your all's opinions on a few things.

iHave several friends that are teachers and was going to see if they could
get the educational discount for me. is this kosher?

I personally wouldn't do it, but I guess it is up to you to do what you think is right...

[auxplage]

Maybe I'll go back and get my Masters. :D
Two years?

One can never have too much education (coming from one who is 16).

[MacNoobie]

mmmm DP 2.5Ghz PM mmmm
I got one a few weeks back with the Ultra and the 30" LCD.. I picked up the whole thing at the Apple store and everyone gave me a dirty "you SOB" look even the employees it seems like.

Anyways I love the PM its definately speedy the OS is great (10.3.8) and the 30" LCD is beautiful though I blew $7,060 with 480 on tax and another 80 for iWork and the system but so far so good. I wanted the PM as my first system (never had a Mac before but used a IIc at school back in the day). I do quite a bit of web work and just odd jobs for people though I'm 23 so I'm still young and I want the PM so I could have it for 3-4 years without any major upgrades though I'm waiting for Tiger to come out.

Anyways great system and the OS just works though if you're coming off a Windows platform you'd have to take a day or two to learn the OS.

[paulypants]

would like your all's opinions on a few things.

iHave several friends that are teachers and was going to see if they could
get the educational discount for me. is this kosher?



Go ahead, it's fine, but just order it yourself through the online edu store.

[FFTT]

There's no problem having your teacher friends ordering your system for you including education discounts on any Apple software you need.

You simply need to fax a teachers photo I.D. and have it shipped to you if you're buying online.

I would hang in there till WWDC in June before making any final decision.

The wait should be well worth it.

[mad jew]

I could get up on my very high horse and tell you that it's a wee bit morally wrong to take advantage of Apple's generous education discounts, buuuuuuut, I'm not gonna! ;)

I'm sure Apple will appreciate the switch one way or the other. :D

Enjoy your PowerMac, they're incredible - but I'm sure you'll find this out for yourself...

[cr2sh]

First, getting a friend to order the machine for you isn't the most honest way of buying a new powermac... but I would exactly blame you. Maybe they decided to buy it for themselves, but decided they didn't like it as soon as the box arrived and decided to sell it to you at cost. Yeh.. maybe they did. :)

Second, 250gb for $132, is okay... but not an exceptional price. If you look around there are better prices out there. I picked up a 160gb two weeks ago for $40, a 250gb a year ago for $85..


Third, the harddrive in your g3 is probably not going exceed the bandwidth limitations of 1394a. Buying a 1394b enclosure is overkill, I realize you have the technology and want to use it, but at this point its pricey luxury that itsn't called for.

[nichos]

Or you could save yourself this moral dilemma and order it from amazon.com, pay no taxes, AND get the $100 rebate (http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002OG6IO.01.RB25.LZZZZZZZ.jpg). Ofcourse, no BTO from amazon.

[Blue Velvet]

Maxtor HDs don't get good press on this forum. But Seagates do... :)

[jtt]

Thanks everyone.

Second, 250gb for $132, is okay... but not an exceptional price. If you look around there are better prices out there. I picked up a 160gb two weeks ago for $40, a 250gb a year ago for $85..

Third, the harddrive in your g3 is probably not going exceed the bandwidth limitations of 1394a. Buying a 1394b enclosure is overkill, I realize you have the technology and want to use it, but at this point its pricey luxury that itsn't called for.

Where did you find the prices on those two drives? wow
The 120gb drive in my g3 is a brand new Maxtor *cough*.
Why would the enclosure be overkill? Is FW800 that limited at this point?

As for waiting on the new PM line: they won't ship til the end of the year
and i'm not going (can't) wait that long. or should I wait for the prices to
drop before the announcement of the new g5's? hmmmm

[Little Endian]

[QUOTE=cr2sh
Second, 250gb for $132, is okay... but not an exceptional price. If you look around there are better prices out there. I picked up a 160gb two weeks ago for $40, a 250gb a year ago for $85..

[/QUOTE]

You say you picked up a 250GB Hard drive a year ago for only $85? The lowest price I can find today is still about $100 and that price is usually for less than stellar drives. $85? I don't think so unless you are talking about used stuff or you got lucky and found a great rebate deal.

[keysersoze]

Maxtor HDs don't get good press on this forum. But Seagates do... :)

I have 3 Maxtor drives. They are all great... DiamondMax 10's. I'll vouch for them.

Hitachi... well, that's a different story.
:)

[cr2sh]

Thanks everyone.



Where did you find the prices on those two drives? wow
The 120gb drive in my g3 is a brand new Maxtor *cough*.
Why would the enclosure be overkill? Is FW800 that limited at this point?

As for waiting on the new PM line: they won't ship til the end of the year
and i'm not going (can't) wait that long. or should I wait for the prices to
drop before the announcement of the new g5's? hmmmm

The 160GB WD came from BestBuy, the 250GB WD for $85 came from CircuitCity. These are rebate combination prices... the 160gb 7200 WD (originally $130) had a $60 rebate from WesternDigital and a $30 rebate from bestbuy (if I would have purchased it online I would have also gotten a $10 gift card). It was an insane deal. That's 4gb per dollar!

Here's a link. (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=5524373&productCategoryId=pcmcat33200050001&type=product&tab=6&id=1051826249503)

All of these deals were found on www.techbargains.com, they do a great job of posting this stuff. The best deal they have up now is a 160gb for $60 at OfficeMax. Bleh. If you're patient and persistant you can get much better prices.

[Mord]

i have only had one maxtor drive NOT fail on me (out of four), seagates rule and are dead quiet.

[SpaceMagic]

Ironically Seagate and Maxtor are the same company. Amazing warranties I have found with my Maxtor drives.

Anyway, definitely wait a little while because PowerMacs will be out soon and/or WWDC on the 6th of June. IF you can wait that long, it'll be worth it. Otherwise the 2.5DP is a great machine.

About using an edu discount. It's not really right and I'd only say maybe if you still have your student debt.

[iGary]

I keep completing this:

I'm ready to purchase a PM G5 2.5 and...

I'd like to buy iGary one, too.

In my head.



:eek:

[XIII]

I personally wouldn't do it, but I guess it is up to you to do what you think is right...

Hell, I would!

[cr2sh]

Why would the enclosure be overkill? Is FW800 that limited at this point?

Your 120gb, 7200rpm harddrive has a maximum data transfer rate somewhere around 600Mbps... that's the absolute fastest it can transfer data and it will only do it very short amount of time (0.02 sec with a 2MB cache). The sustained transfer rate will be MUCH lower than that, somewhere around 300Mbps.

Now considering that your 1394a transfers at 400Mbps.... there isn't much need to plop down the extra $100 to get the 800Mbps bandwidth that bravo provides us.

Again.. its your money. You decide!

[Mord]

Ironically Seagate and Maxtor are the same company. Amazing warranties I have found with my Maxtor drives.

in what way shape or form are they the same company?

[jtt]

Your 120gb, 7200rpm harddrive has a maximum data transfer rate somewhere around 600Mbps... that's the absolute fastest it can transfer data and it will only do it very short amount of time (0.02 sec with a 2MB cache). The sustained transfer rate will be MUCH lower than that, somewhere around 300Mbps.

Now considering that your 1394a transfers at 400Mbps.... there isn't much need to plop down the extra $100 to get the 800Mbps bandwidth that bravo provides us.

Again.. its your money. You decide!

What kind of drive would you recommend for that particular enclosure?
I want to build this thing right and use it to its full potential - high end video,
a lot of hi res photoshop work and print layouts (Indesign).

What other goodies would you recommend to add on?

[cr2sh]

What kind of drive would you recommend for that particular enclosure?
I want to build this thing right and use it to its full potential - high end video,
a lot of hi res photoshop work and print layouts (Indesign).

What other goodies would you recommend to add on?

If you insist on using an IDE based external drive go with keysersoze's recomendation of Maxtor Diamondmax 10 (16mb cache). A 7200rpm drive available in large sizes than can sustain a transfer rate above that above that of 1394a. They're pretty cheap (200GB for $100) and represent probably the best speed/dollar value.

If you're willing to scrap the external harddrive idea, go for a WD Raptor 10,000rpm SATA drive. Fast as all hell... the 74GB goes for ~$200 and has a 5 year warranty.

I googled that enclosure and it does look cool... I can understand you want to use it. I'm not sure if they offer a SATA interface version or not... might be worth looking for.

[dubbz]

I have 3 Maxtor drives. They are all great... DiamondMax 10's. I'll vouch for them.

Hitachi... well, that's a different story.
:)

What? I have a 200gig Hitachi 7K250 and I love it. Never had any problems with it. As for Seagate... well, that's a different story ;)
But next time I'm buying I'm getting a Western Digital. I have a 120gig IDE drive (the SE one with 8mb cache) that's been running practically 24/7 since I bought it (around the time they were new, and 120gb was big). Even dropped it on the floor a few times. Still running without problems. :)

As for your PM purchase. I don't see any problems with using someone elses edu discount. I'm sure Apple's still making a nice profit. On the other hand, I'll hate you for it since I whouldn't afford it, even with the edu discount (or the ADC discount for that matter). :p

[jtt]

If you insist on using an IDE based external drive go with keysersoze's recomendation of Maxtor Diamondmax 10 (16mb cache). A 7200rpm drive available in large sizes than can sustain a transfer rate above that above that of 1394a. They're pretty cheap (200GB for $100) and represent probably the best speed/dollar value.

If you're willing to scrap the external harddrive idea, go for a WD Raptor 10,000rpm SATA drive. Fast as all hell... the 74GB goes for ~$200 and has a 5 year warranty.

I googled that enclosure and it does look cool... I can understand you want to use it. I'm not sure if they offer a SATA interface version or not... might be worth looking for.

I see where you going with that now. *duh* Basically, I don't want to transfer
all of that data and want to keep the drive. But I do want to be able to use
the FW800 on another external. But have both in those particular separate enclosures
(two total). I wasn't very clear in my explanation. sorry. Maybe I
overlooked the fact that it isn't SATA and just saw the 1394b and how cool it looked.
Could you recommend another enclosure that is better suited for my needs?
Will any SATA internal drive be the way to go? as long as it is SATA? I need (at least) three drives.

I think i'm going to just keep the drives when they get filled up and shelve them,
then put a new drive in the case, until BRDs hit the market. That's what a lot
of video guys are doing now.

[cr2sh]

Could you recommend another enclosure that is better suited for my needs?
Will any SATA internal drive be the way to go? as long as it is SATA? I need (at least) three drives.

To be honest, I don't know. I can't recommend a 1394B SATA enclosure, I've never owned (for longer than a week) one.

I would skip the 133/IDE stuff and go straight to 150/SATA for at least the primary drives. I don't think there's a problem with a 300GB IDE drive stuck in the back somewhere for dead files... but I wouldn't consider it for the primary or scratch.

Again, Western Digital Raptors 74GB (or smaller) at 10k rpm... dreamy. I'm not sure why you HAVE to go to an external enclsoure... I'd stick them all inside the machine (or are there limitations to the g5 case that I'm ignoring?).

EDIT:

You know.. honestly. I'd probably just operate with better file management if I were in your shoes. I'd run Raptors for open projects and system (internal) and then go the cheap IDE route for cold storage 1394A external enclsoure. Run high speed internal drives and when you're done with a project.,.. transfer them over to an IDE drive for backup. I think... :)

Oh by the way...

Circuit City.com has the Western Digital 250GB hard drive 7200RPM 8MB Cache for $79.99 after $100 rebate. Free shipping.

Here. (http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Western-Digital-Internal-Hard-Drive-WD2500JBRTL-/sem/rpsm/oid/70860/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do)

:D

[CanadaRAM]

Ironically Seagate and Maxtor are the same company.
WTF you talkin' about? Maxtor bought Quantum in 2000. Old, old news.

JTT, while visions of all these prices are dancing in your head, be sure that you are getting a Serial ATA (SATA) for internal. SATA's usually cost more than Parallel ATA (IDE) drives and don't go on sale as often. A second SATA internal is a good idea for your G5.

At this point there's little reason to go with SATA/Firewire or external SATA
for an external drive. Your idea of putting your IDE Maxtor in an external case is good. You aren't planning to use that for primary storage -- if you have another internal SATA, transfer the G3 data to it for faster performance, then use the external Firewire as a backup drive or transportable drive.

When you are pricing hard drives, be careful about the warranty you are getting. Retail Seagate drives should come with a 5 year warranty. OEM (barebones) drives may come with less. And the cheapest drives will be "pulls" from system manufacturers which may have no warranty from the drive manufacturer at all. Get it in writing.
It's worth $20 for the drive with the extra warranty. All drives fail, the only question is "when?"

Hitachi is another story
Is this personal experience, or are you merely dredging up the 4 year old IBM Deskstar 75GXP story?

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

[CanadaRAM]

To be honest, I don't know. I can't recommend a 1394B SATA enclosure, I've never owned (for longer than a week) one.

I would skip the 133/IDE stuff and go straight to 150/SATA for at least the primary drives. Again, Western Digital Raptors 74GB (or smaller) at 10k rpm... dreamy. I'm not sure why you HAVE to go to an external enclsoure... I'd stick them all inside

Circuit City.com has the Western Digital 250GB hard drive 7200RPM 8MB Cache for $79.99 after $100 rebate. Free shipping.

Here. (http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Western-Digital-Internal-Hard-Drive-WD2500JBRTL-/sem/rpsm/oid/70860/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do)


It's a G5 tower, remember? SATA drive only internally, and room for only one additional hard drive. No choice in the matter.

That WD250 at CC is a Parallel ATA drive, it has a limp 1 year warranty, which they offer to extend to 2 years for $15 more.

Honestly: You are going to put all of your computer life on a drive and you really want to go with the cheapest unit??

[jtt]

Thanks sooooo much everybody.

Okay. Here's what i'm considering after reading up on all these options:

• 74gb Raptor for the primary
• 250gb SATA internal- probably the stock model
• 250 gb Maxtor Diamondmax 10 for the external
- either put my 120 drive files on that external or have it as a "cold" 4th drive.

Do I have a decent combo with this selection?

This was a lot of fun research today, and the Tiger announcement to boot.
Then this was posted : http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=119912

I knew that might be a problem down the line, but not TWO YEARS!
Looks like maybe the 2.0 dp machine is the way to go now.

Coming from a g3 to any g5 is going to be mind boggling performance wise.
Hell, I probably wouldn't even notice a difference between the two of them
at this point.

[the future]

Before you buy, I would wait for NAB (next week) ThinkSecret claim Apple may introduce new G5 towers there: http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0504g5.html

And AppleInsider reports there will be a "special event" held by Apple at NAB: http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=993

So maybe you could get a quad system (2x dual core) G5 for the same money that would buy you a DP 2.5 today... :eek:

[jtt]

So maybe you could get a quad system (2x dual core) G5 for the same money that would buy you a DP 2.5 today... :eek:

I thought about waiting but don't they usually not ship til the fall or something?
I remember how pissed everyone was that ordered the 2.5 right away and had to wait
months on end while some folks were getting theirs in a week or two that ordered later.

The drama continues! :confused:

[the future]

For new products shipping times vary, sometimes they are available right away, sometimes a little later. Waiting for months for a PowerMac is very rare and only happened with the 2.5 models because IBM screwed up and couldn't deliver enough of them.

Anyways, if there is a delay between announcement and shipping, it's usually for the high-end model; as a mid-end G5 tower would probably be absolutely fine for you (or most people), I'd still wait and see until NAB – and then order as soon as possible when the Apple Store is back up... :)

[cr2sh]

It's a G5 tower, remember? SATA drive only internally, and room for only one additional hard drive. No choice in the matter.

That WD250 at CC is a Parallel ATA drive, it has a limp 1 year warranty, which they offer to extend to 2 years for $15 more.

Honestly: You are going to put all of your computer life on a drive and you really want to go with the cheapest unit??

Check it out. Insurance.

and when you're done with a project.,.. transfer them over to an IDE drive for backup. I think... :)

You're right in as far as that burning backup DVD's weekly, or ghosting weekly, or something else.... has to be included...

You seem to imply though that if he spends more on a drive, gets a top of the line waranty.. that maybe he can skip this step... which I think is false. You can't store critical files in one location... and that fact doesn't waiver on whether it's a cheap drive or an expensive one.


On a side note, that big freakin' case and only two drives?! I'd clearly forgotten... :p

[vtprinz]

I thought about waiting but don't they usually not ship til the fall or something?
I remember how pissed everyone was that ordered the 2.5 right away and had to wait
months on end while some folks were getting theirs in a week or two that ordered later.

The drama continues! :confused:

Everyone keeps throwing this around and honestly i don't think it will happen. There were extenuating circumstances surrounding the dual 2.5, and I'm sure Apple lost a lot of sales due to the long delay. They're going to do whatever they can to keep the delay to a minimum.

If there DOES happen to be a long shipping delay, you could always get the current dual 2.5 refurbed for a few hundred less than it is now. So you benefit either way by waiting until the new ones come out.

[jtt]

" If there DOES happen to be a long shipping delay, you could always get the current dual 2.5 refurbed for a few hundred less than it is now. So you benefit either way by waiting until the new ones come out"

What is Refurbed exactly? I thought it meant: returned, fixed and then resold.

[vtprinz]

" If there DOES happen to be a long shipping delay, you could always get the current dual 2.5 refurbed for a few hundred less than it is now. So you benefit either way by waiting until the new ones come out"

What is Refurbed exactly? I thought it meant: returned, fixed and then resold.

That's essentially what it is. That or there was a factory default, was patched up and then put up for sale. Most of the time you won't be able to tell the difference between a brand new machine or a refurb. I've heard countless amounts of praise for the apple refurbs, and I wouldn't hesitate to go that route.

I've also heard mention that sometimes Apple will put normal stock into the refurb page to get rid of them, but I don't know if it's true.

[jtt]

That's essentially what it is. That or there was a factory default, was patched up and then put up for sale. Most of the time you won't be able to tell the difference between a brand new machine or a refurb. I've heard countless amounts of praise for the apple refurbs, and I wouldn't hesitate to go that route.

I've also heard mention that sometimes Apple will put normal stock into the refurb page to get rid of them, but I don't know if it's true.

That's what I thought. A friend of mine that does audio bought one last year and it was JUNK.
He ended up returning it thinking all the 2.5's were that way
and went back to his g4 finding out later that wasn't the case.

I'll wait til next week then! http://unclejere.com/jtt/Animated%20gif's/bananna2.gif