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Better system - Powermac G5 vs. iMac 2.8 C2D

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Icarus73

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 8, 2007
159
38
So my friend and I are soon going to be roommates in minneapolis going to school for music production and recording. He has a PowerMac G5 dual 2.0ghz with 5 gigs of ram (4x1gb + 4x256mb). I will soon have the new alum imac 2.8ghz C2D with 4 gigs of RAM.

I dont know much about what dual processors does for you, or how intel chips match up to ppc chips, but which setup would you rather have. (assume no upgrades are done to any system at anytime. only the specs given.)
 
CanadaRAM

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
Oct 11, 2004
12,417
6
On the Left Coast - Victoria BC Canada
Depends entirely on the software you are running.

If you are trying to run vintage OSX software that has to run under Rosetta, the G5 will spank the iMac. Of course, the intel iMac won't run Classic and OS9 programs at all.

But for most programs that are Intel native, including the iApps and Adobe CS3, the iMac is going to win pulling away.

For a few programs like ProTools, it's no contest because they are not compatible yet with 10.5 so the iMac is high and dry
 
Chundles

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
CanadaRAM said:
Depends entirely on the software you are running.

If you are trying to run vintage OSX software that has to run under Rosetta, the G5 will spank the iMac. Of course, the intel iMac won't run Classic and OS9 programs at all.

But for most programs that are Intel native, including the iApps and Adobe CS3, the iMac is going to win pulling away.

For a few programs like ProTools, it's no contest because they are not compatible yet with 10.5 so the iMac is high and dry
Click to expand...

The current verion of ProTools is compatible with 10.5.1 on the Mac Pro, not sure on the other machines - digidesign has more info Here.

The iMac will spank the PowerMac in most things, especially if it's Intel native. Hell, for Intel native stuff my MacBook would beat most PowerMacs...
 
I

Icarus73

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 8, 2007
159
38
alright, sounding good for me so far.

Aside from Safari, iWork, iLife occasionally and other basics, the only pro app we'll be running is Pro Tools. (perhaps Logic or garageband here and there.) So I'm glad mine shouldn't disappoint.

We did a session on Pro Tools with his setup today. Flawless. I loved it. I was afraid he'd have a huge advantage with 5gb of RAM vs. my 4gb. Apparently not though.



Oh, and pro tools le is supposed to be compatible with leopard in the iMac in just a month or two, so that's not really a concern for me. Some users have even reported it working for them without any compatibility update.
 
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