Apple Releases New PowerMacs

[aus_dave]

Just wondering what some people opinions are on what would be a better machine

dual 2GHz
upgrade to 1 GB of ram
upgrade to 9800XT

or a base model 2.5GHz
with 512 ram
9600XT etc


(They come to within $30 of each other on the Australian apple store)

It's a tricky decision for sure . In the short term I think the dual 2 with 1 GB of RAM would be my pick, the extra memory would be more useful for day to day performance. You can always upgrade the 2.5 with more RAM later but it all costs money and we pay big $ for this stuff in Australia as it is

Have you priced a 2.5 with 3rd party RAM, might make it a little more bearable?

 

[jragosta]

UH... I am waiting for the new displays to come out before I make a purchase for a display... Currently I only own CRT displays, can you even hook up a CRT display to these new PM's? Or do you have to buy a special cable, or do they come with it? I only see digital display outputs on those graphic cards on the Apple website...

For now I just want to use my CRT until the new displays are released...

Thanks

No problem. There's an adapter, but I believe it comes in the box. You might want to check to make sure.

 

[hotwire132002]

It shipped out this afternoon Fed-Ex Ground!

QUOTE]

Lucky you... I ordered a Dual 2.5Ghz. Ship date? August 2.

HOW CAN I WAIT UNTIL AUGUST 2???

 

[Studio Dweller]

Refurb 2.0 looks good, but...

I'm considering jumping on a refurb Dual 2.0 GHz for $1999, but my concern is the 64MB Radeon 9600 that it comes with as I plan on doing alot of Lightwave work with this machine. I'd love to get this machine and then upgrade the card, but as far as I understand it, all of the various Radeon 9800 cards intrude on the adjacent PCI slot. I can't afford to lose that slot so is there another 128MB card option?

If I were to buy the current Dual 2.0 and get the optional 128MB 9600XT, that would cost me $550 more than the refurb just to get the better video card. I would sooner get the 2.5 GHz, but if I can avoid spending that much, I'd like to.

Any thoughts?

 

[Multimedia]

$2k dual 2GHz G5 refurb is with nVidea GeForce 4MX 64 MB Video

$2k dual 2GHz G5 refurb is with nVidea GeForce 4MX 64 MB Video. I gotta pass.

 

[Studio Dweller]

$2k dual 2GHz G5 refurb is with nVidea GeForce 4MX 64 MB Video. I gotta pass.

I noticed it didn't list what video card it has. Did you call or did I miss it somewhere?

 

[segundo]

$2k dual 2GHz G5 refurb is with nVidea GeForce 4MX 64 MB Video. I gotta pass.

What? The spec for those is an ATI 9600.

 

[Multimedia]

I Called Phone Sales To Discover The Bad News. GeForce 4MX 64 MB Is A Real Bad Card

I noticed it didn't list what video card it has. Did you call or did I miss it somewhere?

I Called Phone Sales To Discover The Bad News. GeForce 4MX 64 MB Is A Real Bad Card. I want Bluetooth module etc anyway. So I will pay a lot more for a dual 2.5 the way I want it. At least I will be temporarily state-of-the-art.

 

[Multimedia]

Phone Sales Said The $2K dual 2 G5's Only Have nVidea GeForce 4 MX 64 MB Cards Inside

What? The spec for those is an ATI 9600.

Phone Sales Said The $2K dual 2 G5's Only Have nVidea GeForce 4 MX 64 MB Cards Inside. That's a deal breaker for me.

 

[LaMerVipere]

AAAAAAAAH, I get all my graduation money in a couple weeks and I will have to pick a computer for college. I don't know if I should get a 15" PowerBook or a G5. It's not like I need the portability, but I do like lounging on the loveseat in the living room watching TV and being online all comfy like I am now. I am going to be needing the power though for a lot of video editing i plan on doing. gah, I hate making these kind of decisions!

 

[jragosta]

AAAAAAAAH, I get all my graduation money in a couple weeks and I will have to pick a computer for college. I don't know if I should get a 15" PowerBook or a G5. It's not like I need the portability, but I do like lounging on the loveseat in the living room watching TV and being online all comfy like I am now. I am going to be needing the power though for a lot of video editing i plan on doing. gah, I hate making these kind of decisions!

If you're going to be doing much video editing, I'd get the dual G5 - no question.

If you NEEDED portability, that would be a different story.

 

[dopefiend]

AAAAAAAAH, I get all my graduation money in a couple weeks and I will have to pick a computer for college. I don't know if I should get a 15" PowerBook or a G5. It's not like I need the portability, but I do like lounging on the loveseat in the living room watching TV and being online all comfy like I am now. I am going to be needing the power though for a lot of video editing i plan on doing. gah, I hate making these kind of decisions!

Like jragosta said, if you need the power, get the desktop.

BUT if you want to be confortable doing reports on a bed or in front of the TV or sitting out in the student lounge, get the powerbook.

I met my girlfriend while on my laptop She saw me messing around with Poser 5 and was curious

 

[DeepIn2U]

Why Mac is the Ultimate Decision.

Where do we start?

5. You're going to spend time assembling and testing and if something goes wrong, you get 10 vendors all pointing fingers at each other.
6. You're going to pay shipping 10 times on all those components while the PowerMac is shipped free.


"Still pissed about the new G5 1.8"

Jragosta said it best. Point #5 is the true reason any sensible human being (animals just consume in high numbers) purchases a Mac. and note that point #6 is actually in tandem with #5 above when it comes to out-of-warranty support. once that happens you cannot get support again, nada, "End of line Dilinger!"

With Mac you can renew and acquire another Warranty EVEN if your original had expired - at least here in Canada which in the USA i'm sure is also possible.

When you buy a tool that resembles fine art you want it to be built to last and the sum of all its components fully supported
! And life is further extended.

PS I keep hearing that Linux is free, just like BSD, yet thats just the source code & compiler. If I want support in order to troubleshoot errors or for a person like myself that cannot work my way in and outta most problems Linux/Unix in an administrative "terminal" kind of way I'm stuck! Just like purchasing several parts from different source to assemble a Frankenstein. I you want good support on Linux you must purchase Suse or Mandrake or RedHat!

"Microsoft leads to encryptic errors, encryptic errors leads to blue screen, blue screen leads to suffering!"

 

[iriejedi]

Worth Wait

Well - I figure I've waited since Jan - what is another month and a half

It shipped out this afternoon Fed-Ex Ground!

QUOTE]

Lucky you... I ordered a Dual 2.5Ghz. Ship date? August 2.

HOW CAN I WAIT UNTIL AUGUST 2???

 

[dr.Zoidberg]

get both....

AAAAAAAAH, I get all my graduation money in a couple weeks and I will have to pick a computer for college. I don't know if I should get a 15" PowerBook or a G5. It's not like I need the portability, but I do like lounging on the loveseat in the living room watching TV and being online all comfy like I am now. I am going to be needing the power though for a lot of video editing i plan on doing. gah, I hate making these kind of decisions!

Get a refurb for 1799...and a refurb ibook, they are on the store for low end like $700.....thats both power and portability....

 

[humara]

$2k dual 2GHz G5 refurb is with nVidea GeForce 4MX 64 MB Video. I gotta pass.

LOL. phone sales. that cracks me up. here's the line item from the order i placed.

REFRB G5DP2.0/512MB400/160/SD/R9600/-USA

unless r9600 means geforce 4mx, i'd think you got hold of a phone sales person that didn't know what they were talking about. no way, a phone sales person that didn't know what they're talking about? that can't be right. lol. why would apple take out a video card and look for some old card to put in. that is just wrong. although, maybe he was saying that to get you to spend more money for one of the new machines. hmmmm.

 

[Studio Dweller]

Phone Sales Said The $2K dual 2 G5's Only Have nVidea GeForce 4 MX 64 MB Cards Inside. That's a deal breaker for me.

A deal breaker indeed. No wonder they don't list it.

 

[Multimedia]

I Called Back And A Different Salesman Says It's 9600. But He Talked Me Out Of It.

LOL. phone sales. that cracks me up. here's the line item from the order i placed.

REFRB G5DP2.0/512MB400/160/SD/R9600/-USA

unless r9600 means geforce 4mx, i'd think you got hold of a phone sales person that didn't know what they were talking about. no way, a phone sales person that didn't know what they're talking about? that can't be right. lol. why would apple take out a video card and look for some old card to put in. that is just wrong. although, maybe he was saying that to get you to spend more money for one of the new machines. hmmmm.

Part number F9032LL/A ? I Called Back And A Different Salesman Says It's 9600. But He Talked Me Out Of It. He convinced me I need all the power I can get for my video editing aspirations.

 

[zimv20]

i wonder if the "subject to agency approval" bit is referring to a US agency, one that supervises the export of supercomputers

 

[Borg3of5]

Interesting

i wonder if the "subject to agency approval" bit is referring to a US agency, one that supervises the export of supercomputers

Usually citizens of, or anyone living in Cuba, Libya (don't know about now), Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and one or two other 'enemy' countries were NOT allowed from buying and importing certain technologies. If I'm not mistaken Australia has never been even close to making this short list. This is interesting, as Australia is just a stone's throw away from the Phillipines, and Indonesia, hot-beds of Al-Qaida supporters, and other 'groups' we wouldn't want certain tech items from showing up in.

 

[zimv20]

If I'm not mistaken Australia has never been even close to making this short list.

there's certain technologies that US firms aren't allowed to export at all, not just to certain countries. not certain if the 2.5 g5s qualify, just throwing it out there as a possibility.

 

[Bigheadache]

i wonder if the "subject to agency approval" bit is referring to a US agency, one that supervises the export of supercomputers

Talk about making a big deal out of nothing. The most likely reason for this is that the 2.5 doesn't have compliance or certification for the electrical system (whatever Design standard its called) or electrical emissions or whatever. This may be because it uses a different power supply.

As if it would be restricted due to supercomputers!! If that were true they better restrict those Opteron 250s as well.

 

[afields]

Heres a link for video of steve's "promise". Not trying to complain or anything, just thought you guys would like to see it. 3ghz thingy

 

[MarkCollette]

Now that the new G5's have come out what would I get for a dual 450 with 1.12 gigs of ram, pci scsi card, and 330 gigs of hd? Curious as I am looking to upgrade my slowest machine? Could also leave FCP 3.0/DVD 2.0/PS 6/AE prod 5.0 on it. thanks

mT

Probably not much, so let me help you out. If you pay shipping, then I'll take it off your hands for free.

*crosses fingers*

 

[thatwendigo]

4 gigs is enough for me to i agree, but the going on and on with fx5200 makes me think of another agenda.

Please, DHM, share this "agenda" with us. What possible purpose is there in the retention of the 5200 Ultra, other than cost-saving in an already expennsive system?

PCI express is coming period. we know that and since Apples marketshare is now 2% i feel it(PCI-X) will be going the way of ADC

Because, you know, Apple's the only manufacturer that uses PCI-X. There aren't a whole, masssive slew of OEMs and specialty shops that produce workstations that use PCI-Xa and PCI-Xb...

Anyways as you mass produce something costs usually come down and in the electronics world this is evident with under $200 9800s while in our mac world apple wants $350 for a new 9800xt in a new Powermac?

Dealtime

ATI RADEON 9800 XT $429-999
ASUS Radeon 9800 XT $329-499
Creative Labs Radeon 9800 XT $445
ATI Sapphire Radeon 9800 XT $594
Celestica Radeon 9800 XT Gold Ediition $419-458
Power Calor Radeon 9800 XT $399-559
VisionTek Xstacy Radeon 9800 XT $495-948​

Sub $200 9800XTs? I think not. Apple charges only a little bit more than Dell does for the same card, and you have the choice of powered ADC and unpowered DVI, unlike the PC version. The difference in cost? Apple charges $300, Dell charges $220.

AAAAAAAAH, I get all my graduation money in a couple weeks and I will have to pick a computer for college. I don't know if I should get a 15" PowerBook or a G5. It's not like I need the portability, but I do like lounging on the loveseat in the living room watching TV and being online all comfy like I am now. I am going to be needing the power though for a lot of video editing i plan on doing. gah, I hate making these kind of decisions!

If you don't know what to get, then you have no clear idea what you're doing. Video editing demands all the power that you can get for the task, and so the choice is painfully clear. If you just want a toy to lounge around with, then get an iBook. If you're doing DV and graphics work, buy the highest G5 tower you can.

This is not a hard decision at all.