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adamfilip

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 13, 2003
841
1
burlington, Ontario canada
Im considering purchasing a new Single process 1.25 ghz Powermac its a great deal. i currenty have a 1.4ghz Athlon running XP pro

would the 1.25 G4 be a downgrade in terms of speed?
 

tjwett

macrumors 68000
May 6, 2002
1,880
0
Brooklyn, NYC
a 1.25 G4 running Jaugar would most likely be as fast or faster than your current machine. depends on the task at had i guess. it might lack some of the video specs you're used to with gamiong etc. but it might be an upgrade in usability, eye candy, furniture, etc. depends on how much you like Windows and how much you care about the looks of a computer. i'd prob try to make a trade for your machine plus a little cash. just a suggestion.
 

Kwyjibo

macrumors 68040
Nov 5, 2002
3,809
0
Ok I went from a p4 1.6ghz, 512mb w/ xp to a 800mhz iBook with 384mb and for me the performace difference is not that noticeable.

If I were to compare load time for my standard stuff
iChat, Safari and Mail

compared to Aim, Opera and Outlook express

I would say that the Mac does these things faster. There are a few reasons for this...on the pc I had to run NAV because things pop up on there alot. If you look at the apps iTunes loads about the same as musicmatch...slower than winamp obviously. Photoshop elements 2(mac) loads faster than photoshop 5.5....i don't do detailed work that much so i can't compare working rates but the PC usually got that stuff doen faster sadly.

this is gonna sound weird but things in osx feel snappier ....you see the icon jumping... and it only jumps for a few seconds but in windows if theres no splash screen you might wait for the whole app to load. Dreamweaver was about the same on both platforms. These are my observations I hope they help. I think youll love the dualg4 and once your on the mac you won't even be comparing it to windows so the speed you worry about now won't matter as much....think of the people that run jaguar on 300mhz g3's and still sing mac praises....no one running xp on 300mhz brags about their computer trust me :)


and panther feels even faster and smoother...clock how long it takes to switch users in XP and i'll do in like a fourth of the time
 

solvs

macrumors 603
Jun 25, 2002
5,684
1
LaLaLand, CA
Originally posted by Kwyjibo
and panther feels even faster and smoother...

Panther will be fast indeed.

Depends on how much RAM and what type of video card you had, but a 1.25 G4 will generally wipe the floor with a similarly clocked PC. Intel or AMD. I had a 1.3GHz AMD, and used a 1.6GHz P4 at work (which was VERY slow, BTW). Decent anount of RAM, okay video card. An 867MHz Tower was WAY faster.

If you have at least a 64MB video card (ATI 9000+ over nVidia MX, if you can) and MAX out the RAM with a third party and your machine will scream. Though it does depend on what you'll use it for, generally it will feel much faster than your old machine.

And if you're anything like me, you'll prefer OS X over XP. Much nicer, especially the interface. Just tweak it a little, and remove the eye candy.
 

adamfilip

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 13, 2003
841
1
burlington, Ontario canada
would it be worth it to get this machine or wait
and possibly get a low end g5.. the g5 will be much more.
not sure if i would need the extra speed or not..
i mean i want all the speed i can afford.. but im not sure if its worth it right now.
 

solvs

macrumors 603
Jun 25, 2002
5,684
1
LaLaLand, CA
If you can wait, and can tolerate Windows for awhile, you can wait. But if you want something now, a 1.25 with lots of RAM (and harvested parts from your PC if you want to keep your drives and all) will be fine.

If speed is no big deal, buy now and you'll be happy for quite some time. Keep your Athlon for awhile to get comfortable. When you can afford it later, buy something faster. Or buy the 1.6 G5 if you want the latest tech. It is quieter, but the new 1.25 G4 isn't THAT loud. And it isn't that slow either.

Buy from someone other than Apple (unless you want to configure it, have an education discount, or want to pick it up at an AppleStore), and you might get some freebies and deals. MacSolutions has some good deals, $39 for 512 MB RAM, cheap AppleCare, cheap shipping, sometimes no tax. PowerMax has some good deals, too, especially on used and refurbs. Plus it's in Oregon, so no tax.

Just think of it this way though, the longer you have to wait for a new machine, the longer you're without that new Mac. If you buy now, you'll be happy now.

To answer your original question, the 1.25 GHz G4 CPU is much faster than a 1.4 GHz Athlon CPU.
 
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