I am looking to buy either a Dual 2.5 or 2.0 this week, but I'm not sure if the extra expense of the 2.5 is worth it, given what I will be doing with the machine. I will primarily be using it to edit home movies (mini DV) using FCE and burn them to DVD using DVDSP, fix photos with Photoshop Elements, and the usual word processing, spreadsheet, internet stuff as well. I am not a gamer at all, but I don't want to skimp on the GPU since I've heard that future versions of OSX will rely more heavily on the GPU.
I have just enough money to purchase a Dual 2.5 with 1GB RAM, 250GB HD, airport, and internal bluetooth. I will also be upgrading the Superdrive with an internal Pioneer DVR-108 dual-layer DVD burner.
Alternatively, I can purchase a Dual 2.0, upgrade to 3GB RAM (Crucial), 250GB HD, the Radeon 9600XT, airport, bluetooth, and the Pioneer DVR-108--all for roughly the same as the Dual 2.5 above.
Whichever one I get, my wife won't let me buy another computer for a minimum of 5 years, so it will have to last at least that long.
My questions are:
1. All other things being equal, is it better to have a Dual 2.5 with 1GB RAM, or a Dual 2.0 with 3GB RAM, especially for video work (FCE, DVDSP)?
2. Is the Radeon 9600XT with 128MB RAM a good enough graphics card given that I don't play games at all? Or should I seriously be considering stepping up to the 9800XT?
Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
I have just enough money to purchase a Dual 2.5 with 1GB RAM, 250GB HD, airport, and internal bluetooth. I will also be upgrading the Superdrive with an internal Pioneer DVR-108 dual-layer DVD burner.
Alternatively, I can purchase a Dual 2.0, upgrade to 3GB RAM (Crucial), 250GB HD, the Radeon 9600XT, airport, bluetooth, and the Pioneer DVR-108--all for roughly the same as the Dual 2.5 above.
Whichever one I get, my wife won't let me buy another computer for a minimum of 5 years, so it will have to last at least that long.
My questions are:
1. All other things being equal, is it better to have a Dual 2.5 with 1GB RAM, or a Dual 2.0 with 3GB RAM, especially for video work (FCE, DVDSP)?
2. Is the Radeon 9600XT with 128MB RAM a good enough graphics card given that I don't play games at all? Or should I seriously be considering stepping up to the 9800XT?
Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
