Currently have a PB G4 12" rev b, looking to also get a Power Mac. I mostly use my computer for web/email, iphoto/ps elements, some idvd, no gaming. How much of a useful life do you guys think a MDD dual 867 has left in it? Would it feel at least as fast as my current PB?
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dual 867 mdd still a good buy?
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Lord Blackadder
macrumors P6
That isn't a bad price - my Dual 533 was $650 shipped from a reseller back in October, so the private sale price might have dipped to $550.
Apart from games you probably won't see a huge difference between it and your PB - Having 2 CPUs helps for stuff like Garage Band and iDVD, but not for games.
Are you planning to put more money into upgrading the tower down the road? That is what really makes them useful, since you can put in fast SATA hard drives, better video cards and a CPU upgrade.
Apart from games you probably won't see a huge difference between it and your PB - Having 2 CPUs helps for stuff like Garage Band and iDVD, but not for games.
Are you planning to put more money into upgrading the tower down the road? That is what really makes them useful, since you can put in fast SATA hard drives, better video cards and a CPU upgrade.
Our MDD dual 867 is Great
Especially for the kinds of things you'll use it for. Ours has 1.5GB RAM and bigger hard disks, but only a Radeon 9000, and I use it for VectorWorks, AdobeCS, Final Cut, DVD Studio, DreamWeaver, etc.etc.etc.
Runs OSX very smoothly. Remember that RAM will make a difference in your performance. PC2100 is cheap now, so get some extra.
Especially for the kinds of things you'll use it for. Ours has 1.5GB RAM and bigger hard disks, but only a Radeon 9000, and I use it for VectorWorks, AdobeCS, Final Cut, DVD Studio, DreamWeaver, etc.etc.etc.
Runs OSX very smoothly. Remember that RAM will make a difference in your performance. PC2100 is cheap now, so get some extra.
Of the various macs I've worked on both at home and at work this has been my least favorite for one simple reason. Noise. This may not be a problem for you, but I feel obliged to point it out to anyone who may not be aware of the issue. Have a look here. http://g4noise.com/
Lord Blackadder said:
I would definitely add at least 1 gig of ram, and I also have a pair of 160GB drives and a pioneer dvr-106 that I could rob from my pc. A video card upgrade would be down the road, but it definitely not out of the question.
How would the raw performance of this system compare to the 1.42 mac mini?
cluthz
macrumors 68040
With new 160GB hds and 1+GB ram you'll have a machine that has:
1. Twice as fast disk performance (altleast) than the mini. 4x the current max capacity of the mini.
2. Similar CPU performance with apps that support dual cpus
3. Videocard performance is similar, but the MDD has twice the VRAM and supports TWO monitors (i suppose the MDD has a radeon 9000?)
The MDDs has 2x256k L2 cache and 2x1MB L3 cache, which is MUCH better than 512K L2 (which the mini has)
If you want to have 1gb ram in the mini you'll have to pay ~$200-$400 extra...
1GB ram for a MDD should be ~$120-$200.
Pros for the mini:
1. much more quiet than the "windtunnel" MDD..
2. Single CPU performance is much better.
1. Twice as fast disk performance (altleast) than the mini. 4x the current max capacity of the mini.
2. Similar CPU performance with apps that support dual cpus
3. Videocard performance is similar, but the MDD has twice the VRAM and supports TWO monitors (i suppose the MDD has a radeon 9000?)
The MDDs has 2x256k L2 cache and 2x1MB L3 cache, which is MUCH better than 512K L2 (which the mini has)
If you want to have 1gb ram in the mini you'll have to pay ~$200-$400 extra...
1GB ram for a MDD should be ~$120-$200.
Pros for the mini:
1. much more quiet than the "windtunnel" MDD..
2. Single CPU performance is much better.
I use my Dual 867 MDD every single day for:
- Final Cut Pro
- After Effects
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- InDesign
- GarageBand
and much more. It works great for me everyday - very stable and never a hiccup. I am also the owner of a 12" Rev C PB and my MDD will outperform it anyday. Granted it does have 1.75 gb of ram in it and the PB is only running on 768 - however the MDD is my main work horse and never lets me down. Just to give you a comparison that was close to home.
And the MDD will support 2 monitors, I'm looking at 2 apple 17" displays right now.
- Final Cut Pro
- After Effects
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- InDesign
- GarageBand
and much more. It works great for me everyday - very stable and never a hiccup. I am also the owner of a 12" Rev C PB and my MDD will outperform it anyday. Granted it does have 1.75 gb of ram in it and the PB is only running on 768 - however the MDD is my main work horse and never lets me down. Just to give you a comparison that was close to home.
And the MDD will support 2 monitors, I'm looking at 2 apple 17" displays right now.
Jaffa Cake
macrumors Core
My situation is pretty much the same. The Dual 867 MDD I use at work has happily chugged through Photoshop, Illustrator et al for the past two-and-a-half years with no major problems. As railthinner points out though, they are a bit on the noisy side compared to other Macs. In a busy studio it's not an issue but if you were to have it in a quiet room at home it may bother you. But it's a good machine and should serve you well!raddsigns said: