G4 Dual 1.0 vs. G5 Single G5 1.8Ghz - which is the better deal?

The G5. Buying another G4 makes little sense as you already have a G4.

Scrufff said:

true, but this G4 has dual processors, more memory and a much newer OS. Nothing like the G4 i have now.

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Simply looking at benchmarks would tell you that the G5 runs circles around the G4, in addition to a newer logic board allowing more recent (relatively) upgrades.

First off that's WAY too much money for either system.

I got my dual-core G5 for $288 on ebay and they gave me a refund of $30 since the optical drive didn't work correctly. I'd check them out as they have a few more G5s up for auction, http://shop.ebay.com/intechraparts-...t=0&_trksid=p3911.m270.l1313&_odkw=&_osacat=0.


But the G5 would be faster since it uses faster hard drives as well as memory. The frontside bus is also way faster. You'd also be able to upgrade to at least 4gb(8gb if you get the model with 8 memory slots).

Honestly I'd only take a G4 or G5 if is was free. Any, and I do mean any, working Mac w/an intel chip will be a significantly better buy than that G4 or G5.


Lethal

LethalWolfe said:

Honestly I'd only take a G4 or G5 if is was free. Any, and I do mean any, working Mac w/an intel chip will be a significantly better buy than that G4 or G5.


Lethal

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I could live with either if I'm on a budget and I don't do much other than word processing, internet, etc.

Go with the G5. Not only is it newer, it has a faster Graphics architecture - which gives it advantages in OS X 10.5. It will also have an easier to upgrade HD (SATA over IDE - SATA is faster) and also has a better selection of ports (more USBs being the main advantage).

chrismacguy said:

Go with the G5. Not only is it newer, it has a faster Graphics architecture - which gives it advantages in OS X 10.5.

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That really depends, many of the low end cards used for the G5 were absolute crap. I wouldn't expect them to drive a GUI, much less a professional graphic-intensive application.

The G5 can be upgraded with the NVIDIA 6800 Ultra, which is still a very capable card.
With the G4 you're stuck with ATI 9800Pro.

Even a single 1.6 G5 was faster than a dual 1.42 G4. The 4.7x faster system bus, on-chip cache, higher ram capacity, SATA hard drive and 2x faster AGP had a lot to do with it.

since when was the SINGLE g5 1.6 or 1.8 faster then the dual g4 1,42 ??
the dual g4 1.42 did run circles around the single 1.6 and 1.8 ,
the dual g4's have still double the cores and a fast level3 cache ,
and if you read test and user reviews from that time, they all sound like that

the only thing that speaks for buying a single g5 powermac is eventually the alloy case if you like it



here a old thread about it
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/292208/

and i had a imac g5 1.8 to play around and at the same time a eMac g4 1.42 and i was more then disappointed about the speed of the g5 , both run tiger (i dont like leopard ), the only g5 i had that could outperform the g4 of the eMac was the powermac g5 quad 2.5 , the dual g5 2.0 was just a bit bit faster but not really noticeable and certainly not to justify to spend the extra money

MacHamster68 said:

since when was the SINGLE g5 1.6 or 1.8 faster then the dual g4 1,42 ??

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Since June 23, 2003.

the dual g4's have still double the cores and a fast level3 cache ,

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Doesn't matter. The G5 is a completely different architecture that runs rings around a G4 mhz for mhz.

both run tiger (i dont like leopard )

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There is your problem, a G5 needs leopard to perform at its best.

the only g5 i had that could outperform the g4 of the eMac was the powermac g5 quad 2.5

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You're smoking some magic dust to think that!

eMac (USB 2.0) PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.42 GHz (1 core)= 762
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors) PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.42 GHz (2 cores)= 1199
Power Mac G5 PowerPC G5 (970) 1.6 GHz (1 core)= 946
Power Mac G5 PowerPC G5 (970) 1.8 GHz (1 core)= 1063
Power Mac G5 PowerPC G5 (970) 1.8 GHz (2 cores)= 1550
Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) PowerPC G5 (970MP) 2.5 GHz (4 cores)= 3281

Geekbench only takes into account CPU and memory. The G5 models have SATA drives vs PATA/100 of the G4, which makes a large difference in performance on its own.

The G4 was a limited and inefficient processor that was years past obsolescence when the G5 was introduced. Its like comparing a CoreDuo against a Core i7 today.

Scrufff said:

G4 mac mirror doors 1.0 dual processors 80g hard drive 1.75 of ram, running 10.5.6 and keyboard and mouse - $250

vs.

G5 single, 1.8Ghz with 2 GB RAM with 10.4, Geforce 5200 Graphics Card, 300g hard drive - $350

Mind you i'm unemployed and looking for a inexpensive computer to replace my very slow and outdated G4 quicksilver 733MHz, 512mb SDRAM, running the ancient OS X 10.3.9. I'll use the computer for just regular stuff, internet, light graphics, word processing, regular stuff etc.

Newbie here, so be kind ;-)

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Did you consider an used Core2Duo Mini ?
Similar price, better performance

Techhie said:

Simply looking at benchmarks would tell you that the G5 runs circles around the G4, in addition to a newer logic board allowing more recent (relatively) upgrades.

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Puls the bus is, what, 10X the speed of the G4? Go with the G5, the only reason to buy a G4 is cheap price or a need to be able to run in OS9...