G5 help??

[nickmeister]

Hi all, have looked at buying the powermac g4 1.25ghz which I think I will be sufficient to run my music production programs with enough processor power. I have enquired about this particular model and found that most places are stocking primarily G5's. Does this mean the g4's are being phased out slightly to make a bigger way for G5's? I have looked at the G5 and it looks impressive to say the least! The 1.6 ghz looks awesome and I'm thinking of stretching the extra pound to buy one.
Can anyone tell me the main differences apart from processor power of the two?
Also will this come with a keyboard and mouse because I have just bought a pro keyboard and mouse on ebay and wondered if I had wasted my money??
Have looked at some 12 month interest free deals with a local apple stockist which I think is my best bet. Anyone offer any advice in this field too?

Thanks!

 

[jrv3034]

Hi all, have looked at buying the powermac g4 1.25ghz which I think I will be sufficient to run my music production programs with enough processor power. I have enquired about this particular model and found that most places are stocking primarily G5's. Does this mean the g4's are being phased out slightly to make a bigger way for G5's?

Yes, the Power Mac G4 is being phased out. Apple is trying to sell only G5 PMs at this point, but they feel they have to sell the G4 because it's OS9 compatible.

Can anyone tell me the main differences apart from processor power of the two?

Between the single 1.25 G4 and the 1.6 G5 there should be a world of a diference. Not just in processor speed, but the G5 uses faster RAM (and up to 4GB of it, too!), a better video card (I think?), bigger frontside bus, and also has FireWire and USB2 ports on the front of the machine, which may be useful for music production. The G4 doesn't have USB2 or FW800. Plus the G5 is much more quiet than the G4, and is 64bit, which means it'll be more future-proof.

Also will this come with a keyboard and mouse because I have just bought a pro keyboard and mouse on ebay and wondered if I had wasted my money??

Sell the Keyboard and mouse on eBay. Both the G4 and the G5 Power Macs come with keyboard and mouse.

Have looked at some 12 month interest free deals with a local apple stockist which I think is my best bet. Anyone offer any advice in this field too?

I think right now your best bet is to wait 2 more weeks. Rumors abound of Power Mac updates, which mean the current ones will drop in price significantly as soon as new ones are released. Hold off until the updates, and then decide which one to get. By that point, the single 1.6 G5 might cost as little as the current 1.25 G4, and you get much more machine for the money.

Here's a comparison of the two. I added the Superdrive to the G4 to make it more even. Hope this helps!

 

[nickmeister]

g5 help??

thanks so much for your help!!
I wonder if this applies to UK customers? cos I know you guys get all the mac news first being in the US.
Think I will wait around a little while though I am just itching to get my hands on a new piece of kit!
Apple macs have been around here for a while but I think it's only recently here that people are waking up to the beast!
We always follow the american way in the end!

 

[jrv3034]

I didn't realise you're not in the US. Of course the pricing would be different in the UK, so keep that in mind.

One question: You say you'll be running music production programs. Which ones? If you mean something like GarageBand, then you should be fine with the G4, but if you've got Logic or ProTools, then you need some serious hardware to run it right.

I don't know what kind of budget you have, but you might be well served by a dual processsor G4. You can still get those at Apple.com, for about the price of the single 1.6 G5. If it's a music program that benefits from the second processor, it might be worth a look. But I'd still recommend to hold off until new PowerMacs are released.

 

[nickmeister]

g5 help??

yeah I'm running cubase and reason music programs. Quite similar to logic, to be honest I wanna get a piece of kit which is up to date, capable of running everything smoothly and will last me a long time. I think the idea of getting the G5 as swung it for me.
I will be buying from a local apple dealer which I think is a better option. I bought my ibook 3 years ago from pc world (uk retailer) Although I am covered under a care plan I took with them, they seem forever clueless about macs and the machine is sent away somewhere else anyway. (eg repair, diagnostics) They're after sales co-operation was appauling anyway.
Anyway the apple dealer seems to offer the best deal for me anyway.
What do you think?