Best way to buy a G5 2 giger

[Grokgod]

Ok, I am having a hell of a time trying to figure out what G5 to buy and how.
Or worse yet the usual WAIT,, for the various issues to evolve.

But considering that the 2.5's are barely shipping.
I think that a 2 goger is the best way to go right now.

But here is the option.

I can buy an educational 2.5 $2,299.
I also found a refurb for $2,099

They are both the same, the trick is that I ofcourse want to get a better graphics card, and ram.

What method will save me time and money and STRESS?

I was comparing these two calcualtions.
Any additional info or corrections is appreciated!!

ok the EDU
2299. base
315. 9800 xt
90. 250 HD
135. 1 gig ram
71. airport
2910. total

refurb
2099.
309. 9800 pro
249. crucial 1.5 ram total
269. EXHD 250 gigs
71. airport
2997. total

Now on the refurb I get a little more ram and Hd space.
But i plan to also UP both of those as I go along.

I think that I am missing something here, though?
It just doesnt seem right!

Also are there better ATI cards coming? If so then I can make due with the stock card and get the much better one a bit later. That could be a consideration.

Also are Refurbished models, units that have had big trouble?
And is there stress related issues with buying a refurb?
I perfer to pay then stress!

I would like to hear anyones ideas on this.

Mucho thanks!

Also who thinks that there will be new units coming this christmas making the 2.0 cheaper but still great, although not! if they cripple the BUS speed!
That would be bad and makes me think that I should be now because I am not too HOT on liquid cooled models!

Oh OH ! : I almost forgot!! I read on a few theads here that some refurbs come with uhh extras, that is a gamble of course but heh heh something to think about!

[Makosuke]

Ok, here's at least a few tips. One thing I'm not clear on is the exact configuration of the refurb, but I'm assuming it's a stock machine and you can't upgrade it, unlike a BTO edu order from the Apple store.

That said, I'm not quite getting the same numbers as you here:

ok the EDU
2299. base
315. 9800 xt
90. 250 HD
135. 1 gig ram
71. airport
2910. total

refurb
2099.
309. 9800 pro
249. crucial 1.5 ram total
269. EXHD 250 gigs
71. airport
2997. total
First of all, I'm not sure about your price for the 9800 pro for the refurb; I assume that's from Buy.com, which sells the 4X AGP version designed for older G4s, not the 8X AGP version for the G5. Not even sure if the 4X AGP version will work in the G5, though it might. You can, on the other hand, sell the stock card to offset the price a bit.

Second, assuming the refurb comes with 512MB RAM stock, it'll only cost you $196 to go to 1.5GB from Crucial; remember that RAM must be added in pairs, so you'll be buying two 512MB sticks, not one 1GB stick. (Incidentally, if you want you can also save yourself a bit of money on the extra RAM in the BTO if you buy it from Crucial--the only advantage of going with 1GB direct from Apple is that you get two 512MB sticks instead of 2 256MB sticks, which'll increase your available total without having to pull the stock sticks, though I doubt you're in danger of feelilng cramped with the remaining six slots. This is what I did--keep the 512 stock and added four 512 sticks from Crucial for 2.5GB total.)

Third, $270 seems pricey for another 250GB of hard drive space. A much cheaper option would be to just get a second internal SATA drive from somewhere like ZipZoomFly or NewEgg; you should be able to buy a speedy 250GB Hitachi drive for under $150, or even one of the wicked-fast 300GB Maxtors with the 16MB buffer for around $200 (though frankly, I'm skeptical about the longevity of Maxtor drives). If you really want the storage to be external, a $140 250GB drive plus a ~$50 FW400 case would be almost as fast as spending the extra for a FW800 kit.

Were you to go with the internal drive option, you've now got $400 to spend before your refurb is the same price as the edu BTO with less RAM and one less HD. You could spend that on a 9800 Pro, and come in $40 under the BTO price (though you'd have a slightly slower graphics card than the 9800XT--only a couple of percent according to BareFeats), buy a 6800GT, and come in at $50 over (which would be almost identical to what you'd spend if you put a 6800GT on the BTO), or save your money for the probably-soon-to-be-released X800 from ATI.

Alternately, if you want the absolute maximum in performace, you can fork out the extra $100 for the 6800 Ultra, which is significantly faster than any ATI card currently available for the Mac (maybe even faster than the X800--not sure). I don't know how much faster it is than the GT, since that's not out quite yet.

Anyway, were it me, I'd probably go cheap and get the refurb. It also has the advantages that it'll ship immediately, and it's probably already had any kinks worked out after whoever returned it, if there was anything wrong with it to begin with. I've bought many Apple refurbs, and had very few issues (no more than with brand new machines).

That's only true if it's an APPLE refurb, though--if not, no warranty and you can't add Applecare later, so I'd stick to the Edu BTO.
Have fun buying--it's a fast computer!

[Grokgod]

Thanks for the help

the insight was very useful

But all the refurbished g5"s were sold ! :(

[nospleen]

They will probably have some more up on Monday or Tuesday. I look at the refurb site every few days and they alwasy seem to pop back up.