Please Help! I need quality advice about buying my new G5. Here's the deal-I somehow talked my dad into getting me a G5 for my graduation present and to seal the deal I need to figure out all the right components that I need and then give my dad a price and hope that he still says yes. I am a video editor and am looking to get programs such as final cut pro, avid express, and of course I want my G5 to be big enough, fast enough, etc. to be able to use these programs along with others such as photoshop, image ready, and dvd studio pro. So any and all advice that you folks out there have on what I need to be able to happily and easily use these programs would be much appreciated. Thanks! Stacy.
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Need Help buying G5
- Thread starter ssoler
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I don't know if you know the recent news, but if you're getting one anyway..
Go for the cheapest DUAL CHIP model (currently the Dual 2.0GHz).
Upgrade the RAM to AT LEAST 1GB and remember to budget for a screen (a 23" screen or even just a couple of 20"s should be good)
Also think of upgrading the video card and Hard Drive -250GB should be good.
Try to get a throw-in of an iPod of some kind. When the purchase is this big, it hardly makes a difference!
I would recommend AppleCare (cheap for PowerMac G5s and the screen is included for free!). This guarantees your Mac a lifetime of 3 years.
Enjoy, they are still great machines despite recent news (of Apple moving to intel CPUs if you didn't know)
EDIT: Also get bluetooth & airport - you never know!
Go for the cheapest DUAL CHIP model (currently the Dual 2.0GHz).
Upgrade the RAM to AT LEAST 1GB and remember to budget for a screen (a 23" screen or even just a couple of 20"s should be good)
Also think of upgrading the video card and Hard Drive -250GB should be good.
Try to get a throw-in of an iPod of some kind. When the purchase is this big, it hardly makes a difference!
I would recommend AppleCare (cheap for PowerMac G5s and the screen is included for free!). This guarantees your Mac a lifetime of 3 years.
Enjoy, they are still great machines despite recent news (of Apple moving to intel CPUs if you didn't know)
EDIT: Also get bluetooth & airport - you never know!
Powermac is the way to go, ignore the Intel stuff cause it just dont matter now. Video editing and pro's need powermacs for a myrid of reasons.Stay away from G4, its my advice and yes i have a PC Alienware 
, A Powermac and Macmini. and a old imac 500 Enjoy
, A Powermac and Macmini. and a old imac 500 Enjoy 
Dont Hurt Me said:Powermac is the way to go, ignore the Intel stuff cause it just dont matter now. Video editing and pro's need powermacs for a myrid of reasons.Stay away from G4, its my advice and yes i have a PC Alienware
Doesn't the intel stuff kind of matter? I mean aren't there gonna be tons of G5 powermacs with a really low sellable value in 2-3 years?
Apple and PowerPC will be together for years, trust me. This Intel stuff wont matter to anyone except for developers for a long time. A Powermac is the best video editing machine you can get its why hollywood uses them. My Advice is set your budget, then focus on a powermac with a display, even crt if you must because they are cheap and still outperform those Lcds. A Dual G5 if you can and if not still a PowerMac. Fact is they just keep going and going and going...................
2 Years for the transition and then what is a new machine going to do that todays cant?.........Apple has a supply problem and a advancement problem on the cpu front. As far as today goes you will be video editing on that thing for years,,,,,,,,and pretty much anything else unless you want to run windblows. The Pro's use powermacs when it comes to editing video. enough said. But if you want to Play Doom 3.............just kidding.believo said:
Dont Hurt Me said:2 Years for the transition and then what is a new machine going to do that todays cant?.........Apple has a supply problem and a advancement problem on the cpu front. As far as today goes you will be video editing on that thing for years,,,,,,,,and pretty much anything else unless you want to run windblows. The Pro's use powermacs when it comes to editing video. enough said. But if you want to Play Doom 3.............just kidding.
yeah, maybe i'm a pessimist. It just seems like no one will want to buy my used powermac in 3 years when there's intelmacs on the market. All technology is a terrible investment anyways i guess
You're right of course that Powermacs do keep on running.
I think its important to understand the massive emphasis that Steve Jobs placed on UNIVERSAL binary - meaning that he wants cross platfrom support from the developers.
After this what I thought to be terrible news, I went and put my mac on ebay, and had a play around trying to be productive on a much faster (Over TWICE the speed) Windows based system. It's just impossible. I don't know whether the system was tired or what, but it seemed to be slowing down at inexcusable moments, unresponsive and downright unreliable. Just having to wait for Cubase SX to install for 30 minutes where it literally takes 6-7 on my slower mac is unbeliable.
The point here is that your Powermac will be supported long after you've parted with it and purchased an upgrade. Your software will come on Universal Binary disks, and if not, be supported by Rosetta when you do upgrade.
Go for it: The heart and soul of a Mac really IS the OS
I think its important to understand the massive emphasis that Steve Jobs placed on UNIVERSAL binary - meaning that he wants cross platfrom support from the developers.
After this what I thought to be terrible news, I went and put my mac on ebay, and had a play around trying to be productive on a much faster (Over TWICE the speed) Windows based system. It's just impossible. I don't know whether the system was tired or what, but it seemed to be slowing down at inexcusable moments, unresponsive and downright unreliable. Just having to wait for Cubase SX to install for 30 minutes where it literally takes 6-7 on my slower mac is unbeliable.
The point here is that your Powermac will be supported long after you've parted with it and purchased an upgrade. Your software will come on Universal Binary disks, and if not, be supported by Rosetta when you do upgrade.
Go for it: The heart and soul of a Mac really IS the OS
believo said:
Nah, I don't buy this low resale idea when the new mactels are introduced. A lot of people are very comfortable with them and they're very solid. Look at G3s, people are still buying them, especially iBooks. Businesses that have invested in G5s will keep them the longest and may even buy used ones. Ok, so the mini sort of lowered the resale of the old iMacs but they still have value and high end machines are much more likely to keep their value than low end ones are.
Also, I'm beginning to agree with those who think the Powerbooks will be the first to be upgraded so that means the G5s will probably be late to early 2007 before they switch 'em.