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Worth Buying a Quad in 2013?

Goftrey

Goftrey

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 20, 2011
1,853
75
Wales, UK
BACKGROUND
Hey everyone. I am a proud owner of a late 2008 aluminium MacBook. I bought it only a few months ago at a fantastic price & have/do enjoy using it on a daily basis - usually hooked up to my 20" Cinema Display. I was offered nearly double the money I paid for it (£450) yesterday & am finding it hard to resist.

My 'secondary' machine is a little Min-ITX Core 2 Duo system with a 6570 that I do all my gaming on. It's a nice little machine for what it is & has run every game I've tested on it, but it's no powerhouse.

OPTION #1: MAC PRO
I could take the money from the MacBook, sell the Mini-ITX system (minus the 6570 - which has plug & play support in Lion+) & buy a pretty spec'd up 2006/7 Mac Pro & a couple of hard drives. This would be an absolute beast of a system & would also double up as a gaming rig. In this situation though I'd be without a laptop (for the time being anyway).

OPTION #2: QUAD G5 & POWERBOOK G4
Although the Pro would be the sensible option in terms of practicality & support & my head is screaming ''go with the Pro!''... The PowerPC machines are crying out to me. There's just something special about them, they have this amazing character that the (4) Intel Macs I've owned just lack. And I believe it's a much better situation to be in if you have a couple of slower, older machines that you really enjoy using than if you have one faster, newer machine that you don't enjoy as much. In this situation I would sell the MacBook, but keep the Mini-ITX PC, and buy myself a spec'd up quad G5 & a spec'd up PowerBook G4.

To add to this notion - I'm not a massive fan of OS X past Snow Leopard anyway so the 'features' found in Lion or Mountain Lion would not be of any use to me.

Having been a PowerPC user up until only November I am fully aware of the limitations of buying a 7 year old machine & am fully aware of the workarounds I'd have to undergo.

What are your thoughts? I'd especially like current quad owners' opinions on their machine & how it performs up against something like an early Mac Pro.

Thanks!
 
eyoungren

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,793
26,883
Well, all I can say is PowerPC isn't dead yet.

My work G5 took a power spike over the weekend. I came in Monday to find out that the logicboard got fried. But I still have two newspapers, ads and a special section to get out this week. So, my preplanned emergency backup plan was kicked in and my 17" 1.67Ghz DLSD PowerBook G4 has been handling the load this week. As I am typing this it's connected to a USB 2.0 hub with two drives (from the G5) and a burner and an external DVI monitor as a secondary display. I have all my normal apps up and am doing everything I normally do on my G5 using my PB - just a tad bit slower is all. Because of Apple, this is entirely possible - with all of my settings from my G5.

By 5pm tomorrow everything will be out - on time.

My point is that the MP may be calling you, but both the G5 and the PowerBook you are looking at are still capable. So, my vote would be for those.

Postscript – I now have a new G5 at home (free) with a burned out logicboard. $50-80 on eBay will get me a new logicboard. Everything else is fine. And, come Monday, I get to integrate a 2010 2.8Ghz Quad-core Intel Mac Pro into the work network.
 
Nameci

Nameci

macrumors 68000
Oct 29, 2010
1,944
12
The Philippines...
As much as i would like to recommend to you a powerpc quad, I would suggest against it. Go for the mac pro.

I love my quad, I have nothing against it. I would not say that the original MP though is a better machine but with the later ones the PPC quad was just left behind.

If you happen to decide on the MP, don't bother with the 06 up to 08.
 
M

monkeybagel

macrumors 65816
Jul 24, 2011
1,141
61
United States
I would say you are a little too far behind the curve at this point to be investing in these as main machines. If it is something you want to tinker with in your spare time, that's one thing, but if you plan on using it for work or really entertainment, they both would be limited.

Unfortunately, the world is leaving them behind at a fairly rapid pace at this point.

If you get satisfaction out of just "making" stuff work for your needs, that's one thing, but I am not sure I would purchase two of them (tower and notebook) if that was the case.
 
rabidz7

rabidz7

macrumors 65816
Jun 24, 2012
1,205
3
Ohio
I recommend the quad. Although some things are outdated, Leopard is still very capable. It can playback 1080p videos in quicktime with zero lag (make sure you download youtube videos), unlike what some suggest.
I got my quad on new years 2012. Make sure you do not install linux, it seems to have bricked it and now will not boot from a 10.5 DVD.
 
Goftrey

Goftrey

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 20, 2011
1,853
75
Wales, UK
Okay guys, thanks for the input - I was swaying towards the quads as they are going for a very decent price over here at the moment & would do everything I would want it to do... Then I came across this. A 2.66GHz 2006/7 ''Mac Pro G5'' - with a picture of a PowerMac G5. I clicked on the listing out of curiousity more than anything & to my delight, it was actually described as a 2.66GHz Pro w/ pictures matching the description. I sent the seller a message just to be on the safe side & he responded confirming this.

Now I've just got to hope the Parcelforce employees decide against playing rugby while in transit.

...And due to the incredible price of the Pro I will also be able to buy a top of the line PowerBook, to keep my PowerPC OCD under control :)

----------------

UPDATE: Just picked up a top of the line 1.67GHz, 128MB 9700 15" PowerBook G4. Have had one before of the exact spec and was really impressed at the speed so it should be great for browsing, music, college work etc.

And this is all from the original funds from the MacBook! I haven't even touched the mini-ITX system. Although it will go on eBay as it's now redundant, it'll give me a bit of spare cash in hand to tinker & tweak these two new Macs.
 
Last edited:
I

ihuman:D

macrumors 6502a
Jul 11, 2012
925
1
Ireland
rabidz7 said:
I recommend the quad. Although some things are outdated, Leopard is still very capable. It can playback 1080p videos in quicktime with zero lag (make sure you download youtube videos), unlike what some suggest.
I got my quad on new years 2012. Make sure you do not install linux, it seems to have bricked it and now will not boot from a 10.5 DVD.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: That's your fault. There's many successful installs of Linux and judging by your past you probably messed it up yourself.
 
Lil Chillbil

Lil Chillbil

macrumors 65816
Jan 30, 2012
1,322
99
California
Goftrey said:
Okay guys, thanks for the input - I was swaying towards the quads as they are going for a very decent price over here at the moment & would do everything I would want it to do... Then I came across this. A 2.66GHz 2006/7 ''Mac Pro G5'' - with a picture of a PowerMac G5. I clicked on the listing out of curiousity more than anything & to my delight, it was actually described as a 2.66GHz Pro w/ pictures matching the description. I sent the seller a message just to be on the safe side & he responded confirming this.

Now I've just got to hope the Parcelforce employees decide against playing rugby while in transit.

...And due to the incredible price of the Pro I will also be able to buy a top of the line PowerBook, to keep my PowerPC OCD under control :)
Click to expand...

Can't wait to see it on your channel Niall


A mac pro should be lighting fast compared to what your used to. and you can easily get 2-5 more years of work out of them
 
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