Cheap mac desktop, need some feedback.

[194567]

hey,

A couple of months ago I got my first mac, a 2.1 Ghz macbook and I love it.
Only thing is I really need a desktop for video and photo editing with large storage capacity. I have about $600 to spend and I prefer a Powermac G5.
I really like the design too, I know I can buy a new mac mini for the same price but it doesn't have a large storage capacity and no dedicated graphics. reliability is also important. Besides photo and video editing I only do mainstream things like surfing the web and listening to music. So what should I do?

Thanks allot. Greetz.

 

[KingYaba]

With that budget your Macbook will be faster than anything you can purchase.

 

[194567]

If you look it that way it actually a good idea but I really need a massive amount of storage and dedicated graphics. thanks for your reply

 

[velocityg4]

With that budget your Macbook will be faster than anything you can purchase.

I agree. You could add that $600 to the sale price of the Macbook and get a nicely pumped up refurbished Macbook Pro to have dedicated video. Or Max out your Macbooks RAM add a display and a few high capacity external HD's.

Otherwise if you want a G5 I would go for a dual processor 2.0 or better G5 with an AGP slot. Even though the PCI-express is faster not nearly as many of these were sold as AGP models also there are a multitude of AGP G4's so that means there are plenty of new and used PCI and AGP cards for these computers. While many of the Mac PCI-express cards are Mac Pro only, probably because of firmware and CPU architecture differences many expansion card makers just avoid the PCI-e G5.

The main value I would see in the G5 is if you want to run multiple displays or a high speed RAID Array.

 

[194567]

I don't think I'm selling my current macbook because of the portability. And I'm already to the limit with my ram. I don't want to have my personal documents etc, on the road (also a reason for a desktop)
A dual G5 is a good idea but is it possible to get one for something around $600? I already got a screen.

 

[KingYaba]

Yes, you can purchase a G5 for that price. Chances are it will be one of the first or second generations. But I can almost guaruntee you that the G5 purchase will be a machine with stock parts. You kept saying you wanted lots of storage, well, I doubt the $600 G5 PowerMac will come with any hard drive larger than the stock 80 or 160 gig hard drive.

My point is you will need more money to upgrade the drives. Good news is you can have two hard drives and I'm sure 500, 750 and possibly 1 TB drives are available. So that $600 price will turn into $900 and possibly more.

 

[194567]

Ok, thanks for your feedback and cooperation. I'm going for a G5, and will upgrade it later on.

Greetz.