DP G4 1.43 or DP G5 1.8

[corbin_a2]

A friend of mine is into making movies w/ final cut and some graphic design work as well. Anyhow he was about to drop $2450 (standard DP1.8 G5 with 256 ram and 250mb hard disk) plus $250 more for an extra 1.5 gig of memory. Then he got the opportunity to get a used DP G4 1.43 w/ 2 gig of ram and 160mb hard disk for the price of $1900.

So what is the better deal? The G4 is top of the line in every respect and would save him $550 towards a 20” display, but is it too old for the price?

[ChrisFromCanada]

Tough decision. The thing to keep in mind is that the G5 will last longer because it is 64bit and is a faster computer. Also remember it will be years before we start seeing G4 to G5 upgrades.

And remember G4's are adequite, but G5's scream.

[cpjakes]

The G5 all the way. There will NEVER be any G4-to-G5 upgrades, it would mean replacing the motherboard, RAM, etc. Way too much for a processor upgrade. At this point, the G5 will last longer and keep your friend from wanting to buy a new machine in three or four years instead of one or two.

While I personally wouldn't buy the high end line of any machine (I don't think the price/performance holds up on the high end PowerMac) I wouldn't buy old technology unless it was significantly cheaper. $550 isn't worth it, at least to me.

cpjakes