.5GHz Faster make a difference

[yoyo5280]

I am going into highschool soon and I am hoping for a new computer to replace my 1.25GHz Combo drive 1GB RAM Mac mini with a laptop. I enjoy video editing so I want something with good performance, but I don't have much money to spend and I doubt my parents would wana drop a thousand on a new laptop so my question is...

Saying I got good sats grades and all that would a
15" Powerbook G4 1.5GHz
1.5 GB of Ram
$800
really be worth it? Would it be a big performance difference compared to my current G4 mini?

 

[Tallest Skil]

You mean .25 Ghz faster, right? No, you shouldn't notice it.

 

[iBlue]

I don't think it would be enough of a difference to be worth the money. You may be better off getting a newer refurb macbook. They are a bit better at allocating memory and you would notice the speed increase.

 

[yoyo5280]

Oops! Sorry yes I do...

So basically I wana look around for maybe a used macbook or something. Damn, I was really hoping to have a 15"

 

[deputy_doofy]

I am going into highschool soon and I am hoping for a new computer to replace my 1.25GHz Combo drive 1GB RAM Mac mini with a laptop. I enjoy video editing so I want something with good performance, but I don't have much money to spend and I doubt my parents would wana drop a thousand on a new laptop so my question is...

Saying I got good sats grades and all that would a
15" Powerbook G4 1.5GHz
1.5 GB of Ram
$800
really be worth it? Would it be a big performance difference compared to my current G4 mini?

I'm going to say no. I never noticed a difference between my PBG4 (1GHz) and other people's 1.5GHz versions of the Powerbook. The reality is, all the G4s at 1GHz and higher get choked on a 133 or 166 MHz front-sude bus anyway. Go for extra RAM, if you can.

 

[iBlue]

Oops! Sorry yes I do...

So basically I wana look around for maybe a used macbook or something. Damn, I was really hoping to have a 15"

Maybe you can get an inexpensive monitor as well (17" are pretty darn cheap) for your desk work.

 

[motulist]

That mhz jump won't make much of a difference. If you really wanna speed up your video editing then there's a much cheaper way for you to get a significant boost in performance - get a fast external hard drive. Video is a very disk intensive task, and the speed difference between a laptop's built in hard drive speed versus a fast external disk should theoretically give you a boost in performance. It won't necessarily speed up all tasks though, for instance rendering video effects probably wouldn't be sped up at all.

 

[msheldrick]

i'd say your main problem in the mac mini is the X3100 in it, are you using iMovie, Final Cut or Something else?

 

[LouisBlack]

i'd say your main problem in the mac mini is the X3100 in it, are you using iMovie, Final Cut or Something else?

The old Mac Mini G4 used a discreet graphics card - no onboard graphics in the Power PC range.

I would defintely recommend grabbing a refurb Macbook. I know the 13 inch screen sounds small but the resolution is pretty high so it 'feels' much bigger than say my 15" TiBook. And as was said, if it really is a problem when you are editing, grab a large monitor.

The speed difference between even a Core Duo Macbook and your Mini will be huge... really huge... about 12 hours difference in ripping a DVD to h.264. Although I would say try to go for a Santa Rosa one with the option of 4GB RAM further down the line.