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imac vs. powermac vs. notebook

T

thehuggernaut

macrumors newbie
Original poster
hey all.
my pc laptop finally just died and it's time for me to get a mac. i'm a film student entering my senior year, so video editing is pretty important to me. i don't really have a lot of money (being a college student is always strapping) so anything i can save on would be a plus. my question is: which mac do i get?
i was thinking the new imac 17 2.0ghz, but i'm not sure if that would be enough computer for me. i'd love to get another notebook, but i don't think the power is there and for a reasonable powerbook it's probably a little out of my price range. so i was also considering a low end powermac (i have a couple 17" crt's lying around). any advice? thanks
Adam
 
The Power Mac Dual 1.8 GHz Refurb is a steal at $1499 minus what ever you can get off for your education discount. That will be great for video editing with a couple gigs of RAM. The dual processors will out preform single processors any day for video editing. I would go that route, as you will get the most for your money.
 
do any of those come with tiger? i'm not sure i get an edu discount on the refurb stuff either. hmm. that seems like a good deal though. also, they have the 1.8ghz imac 20inch for 1399. that seems like a steal to me because i'd have to up the ram anyway. good idea/bad idea?
 
The iMac is a deal right now. The base model (17", 1.8GHz, 512MB RAM, ATI Radeon 9600 w/128MB RAM, Combo drive) is only $1200.
 
I suggest that you get a dual 1.8. It will sertainly outperform a single 1.8 or 2 GHz iMac! Just get large HD and more RAM and you're set! 🙂
 
I am a teacher now, used to go to film school, and now I enjoy iMovie and iDVD as a serious hobby. I want to get the Production Suite someday. So, I was in the same boat as you recently, needing a new computer, but not knowing which one. I decided with the refurbished G5 dual 2.0 instead of the new 2.0 or 2.3 because I was considering cost and upgrade factors.

The new 2.0 was out because it uses inferior components, like a smaller area for additional RAM.

The new 2.3 was out because of cost.

However, if you can afford it, I'd get the new 2.3 now because of the iPod deal. You can sell it to use towards RAM.
 
well, the dual 2.3 is almost twice what i was looking to spend. if i could get a refurb at a good deal i'd do it, but right now it's looking as though the imac is more in my price range.

would it even be worth my time to get the imac? or is it not going to be enough computer for me?
 
Add another vote to the powermac! It's definately teh way to go for any intensive editing and will be much faster than any imac. Plus, it will save you some cash later when you're looking to upgrade too. The imac's more of a one-time thing - once it's outdated it's gone. The powermac, however, just keeps going and going and going and going and going..........I imagine longetivity would be of great value to you, especially as a student. The powermac should save you more money and time in the long run.
 
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