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Better G5 customization places?

K

Keith Purfield

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 19, 2003
137
0
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
I'm looking to buy a G5 now (well, still debating between that and the PowerBook), but I can't quite get it down to my bare needs.

What I'd like is:

1.8GHz G5
Combo Drive
80GB hard drive (preferably a 40GB hard drive to save money)
512MB RAM
No 56k modem

And the rest is just basic stuff.

The Apple Store has a minimum of 160GB hard drive space for a 1.8GHz. I don't need this much, at all. I'd be fine with 40GB, and I'd save quite a lot with it.

Does anyone know places where I could customize a G5 to this specification?

Thanks in advance,
Keith
 
Re: Better G5 customization places?

Originally posted by Keith Purfield
I'm looking to buy a G5 now (well, still debating between that and the PowerBook), but I can't quite get it down to my bare needs.

What I'd like is:

1.8GHz G5
Combo Drive
80GB hard drive (preferably a 40GB hard drive to save money)
512MB RAM
No 56k modem

And the rest is just basic stuff.

The Apple Store has a minimum of 160GB hard drive space for a 1.8GHz. I don't need this much, at all. I'd be fine with 40GB, and I'd save quite a lot with it.

Does anyone know places where I could customize a G5 to this specification?

Thanks in advance,
Keith
Click to expand...



Is the size of the hard drive going to make that much of a difference? How much are you looking to save?
 
Well, if I could change the 160GB to an 80GB, I'd save $125, so that's about $1.56 per gigabyte. So if you multiply that by 40 (GB), that's $62.50, add that to $125, than that's $187.50 that I'd save, and that'd make a big difference.

It would bring the price of the G5 I'd like down to $1982.5.

And since I don't have a job (though I'll probably have to get one if I want a G5), the more money I save, the better.

*sigh* Or does anyone know an education store that sells to high school students? I don't know any college people that could help me out, and I'm not friends with any teachers.
 
Originally posted by Keith Purfield
Well, if I could change the 160GB to an 80GB, I'd save $125, so that's about $1.56 per gigabyte. So if you multiply that by 40 (GB), that's $62.50, add that to $125, than that's $187.50 that I'd save, and that'd make a big difference.

It would bring the price of the G5 I'd like down to $1982.5.

And since I don't have a job (though I'll probably have to get one if I want a G5), the more money I save, the better.

*sigh* Or does anyone know an education store that sells to high school students? I don't know any college people that could help me out, and I'm not friends with any teachers.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... I am sure someone can prove me wrong but I've never seen a 40GB Serial ATA HD. Only 80GB and above. I think to get something lower than 80GB means you'll have to get the 1.6.

This is like asking us if you can get a Porshce 911 with a Dodge neon's engine. If Apple doesn't make it that way, you don't have a chance of getting one that way. I know it stinks but go with the 80GB, it will help with the resale of the Mac down the road when everyone's got 160's standard.

Also you can't NOT opt for the modem as it's built in to the MOBO.

MacBoyX
 
I can't even get an 80GB on the 1.8GHz model. Apple doesn't have it as an option.

Also, you can opt the modem out (that is an option), although it only saves $29.

Bah. I guess I'll just get the 12" PowerBook.
 
Re: Better G5 customization places?

Originally posted by Keith Purfield
I'm looking to buy a G5 now (well, still debating between that and the PowerBook), but I can't quite get it down to my bare needs.

What I'd like is:

1.8GHz G5
Combo Drive
80GB hard drive (preferably a 40GB hard drive to save money)
512MB RAM
No 56k modem

And the rest is just basic stuff.

The Apple Store has a minimum of 160GB hard drive space for a 1.8GHz. I don't need this much, at all. I'd be fine with 40GB, and I'd save quite a lot with it.

Does anyone know places where I could customize a G5 to this specification?

Thanks in advance,
Keith
Click to expand...
If you are looking for those specs why not go out and get a dual 1.25ghz G4? You can get a combo drive, 512 mb ram, and take out the modem :)

Or you could always just buy the model with the 160 gb drive, remove it and slap in a 40 gb, and then sell the old 160 gb drive on ebay or to powermax or something ;)
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Apple's Education prices *do* apply to high schools, don't they?

Edit: Here's the link. Just click where it says "Find your K-12 School."
 
Yeah, Highschool students qualify for education discounts.

By the way, there is a 36 GB SATA drive on clearance at the compusa close to me. so they do exist.
 
High school students do NOT qualify for a discount unless they are accepted to a university...then they do. k-12 part applies to teachers and staff of such institutions.

"Who is Eligible To Purchase
The following education individuals are eligible to purchase through the Apple Store for Education individuals:


Employee of public or private K-12 institutions in the United States
School Board members who are currently serving as elected or appointed members
PTA or PTO executives currently serving as elected or appointed officers
Qualified homeschools
Employee of a public or private, profit or non-profit preschool
 
Originally posted by Keith Purfield
I can't even get an 80GB on the 1.8GHz model. Apple doesn't have it as an option.

Also, you can opt the modem out (that is an option), although it only saves $29.

Bah. I guess I'll just get the 12" PowerBook.
Click to expand...

Wha...? You're going to get an totally different machine just because you can't buy it with a small hard drive? Strange.

If you want a stripped down machine and don't want dual processors, why don't you just get the 1.6 Ghz model? Then you can strip the Superdrive and modem and bring it down to $1770. It's pretty much the same thing unless you need a lot of RAM (only 4 slots vs. 8) or want to use high performance PCI-X cards. Yeah, it "only" has dual channel DDR333 instead of dual channel DDR400, but that is still a lot of memory bandwidth, plus the RAM is somewhat cheaper ($134 for a 1 GB DIMM vs. $166 for a 1 GB DIMM, at least on PriceWatch).
 
Hm. I'd like the PCI-X and faster RAM, incase I ever get into video editing and the such.

But I can't really afford a 1.8GHz, even after stripping it down. Although I just remembered that my friend's mom is a teacher, but she's fighting with her mom, so I don't know if she could get her mom to abuse the Education discount for me.

And then I'd have to get a job and all.

I hate decisions. Why can't I just wake up with a lot of money?!
 
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