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How much better is a 1GHz Powermac than a 1GHz imac

caveman_uk

caveman_uk

Guest
Original poster
Feb 17, 2003
2,390
1
Hitchin, Herts, UK
The new 1GHz imac w/superdrive is a lot cheaper than a single processor Powermac 1GHz with a superdrive added and a 17inch display. How much better is a 1Ghz powermac than a 1GHz imac. Does the L3 cache count for much? The dual machines are great but even more expensive. I'd be looking a machines with at least half a gig of RAM...
 
Take a look at my post must read for anyone thinking g4 upgrades and you will get a idea if you check out the x bench marks for l3 and non l3 macs. The new architecture has improved the performance but the lack of L3 means it will be a little behind the powermac.
 
Could you tell everybody what it is you would be planning to do with your Mac? This will help people give the best advice according to your needs :)
 
The Power Mac advantages:

* 1MB L3 cache
* 2GB max RAM (vs 1GB)
* 2 optical drives possible
* 4 hard drives possible
* can use larger displays
* USER SERVICEABLE DRIVES! (as the least reliable computer component, this is a big deal to me)
* More useful software bundle (Graphic Converter, OmniGraffle, OmniOutline vs Appleworks. Since I have Office, Appleworks is useless)
* Gb ethernet (vs 100Mb)
* can use better graphics cards

Disadvantages:

* Price
* Noise (not terrible, but much louder than iMac)
* Doesn't look as cool :)
 
"The Power Mac advantages:

* 1MB L3 cache
Biggest difference...

* 2GB max RAM (vs 1GB)
Depends on what you do but a gig should be plenty for most users..

* 2 optical drives possible
Firewire enclosure that can swap IDE drives... problem solved.

* 4 hard drives possible
Cool if you need the room..

* can use larger displays
Cool if you need the viewable area..

* USER SERVICEABLE DRIVES! (as the least reliable computer component, this is a big deal to me)
Have a point there..

* More useful software bundle (Graphic Converter, OmniGraffle, OmniOutline vs Appleworks. Since I have Office, Appleworks is useless)
Eh...no biggie imho

* Gb ethernet (vs 100Mb)
GB ethernet networks are MUCH more expensive and less common. Most home networks are 100 BaseT

* can use better graphics cards"
Cool for gaming but that's what my PC is for :D

iMac advantages
*Price
*Style
*limited portability

All in all it depends on what you wanna do with it. I got the 1Ghz iMac because I am an IST major and wanted to expand myself beyond the PC world. OSX would let me learn Mac OS and Unix in a nice package. Plus let me dabble in video editing...For games and such I use my PC but since I got my iMac I found I do basic things (email, web browsing) on it... It is plenty fast for what I use it for...but if you're going to be doing intensive FCP and using Pro Tools, go DP 1.25 PM
 
Could you tell everybody what it is you would be planning to do with your Mac? This will help people give the best advice according to your need
Click to expand...
Sure. Basically I already have an ibook so that handles web browsing, mail etc. What I'd like a desktop for is I program in C, objective C etc and the ibook screen is a bit small for that... I also like to do a bit of imovie editing and the ibook tends to struggle a bit doing that. So basically I want a desktop with a nice big, bright clear screen, that isn't too slow and isn't too expensive really. I only really need one huge drive - not 4

...sounds like an imac doesn't it:rolleyes: I just wanted to check the imac wasn't too slow compared to the powermac.
 
hmmm... maybe try somewhere like Shaye.... or even somewhere big like MacWarehouse....

Failing that, try the smaller dealers, as you might be able to pick one up....

Also if you'd settle for an ex-store demo, places like Micro Anvika might be able to do you a deal!
 
I'd look for a dual 867 on ebay. It would clobber the iMac 1ghz, and still looks the same as the current Powermacs.

You could get it for about the same price as a new single 1ghz powermac.

I think that would definitely justify getting a DP mac over the iMac. ;-)
 
Originally posted by springscansing
I'd look for a dual 867 on ebay. It would clobber the iMac 1ghz, and still looks the same as the current Powermacs.

You could get it for about the same price as a new single 1ghz powermac.

I think that would definitely justify getting a DP mac over the iMac. ;-)
Click to expand...
Duals are not all they are cracked up to be!See the thread must read g4 upgrades in hardware section and go to the link. Duals are a lot of hype to make up for Motobutts lack of progress. Id take the imac 1 giger!
 
In Xbench interface tests, powermac gets 38 fps refresh while mac gets around 24 fps, that means powermac is around 35% more responsive, faster than imac in aqua interface!
 
Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
Duals are not all they are cracked up to be!See the thread must read g4 upgrades in hardware section and go to the link. Duals are a lot of hype to make up for Motobutts lack of progress. Id take the imac 1 giger!
Click to expand...

Duals ARE all they're cracked up to be when you are doing video and audio editing with software that supports it well. The iMac also has less cache.

The iMac is a consumer machine, the Powermac is professional machine. Obviously you are a consumer, and that's fine, but don't insult my intelligence please.
 
The duals are actually pretty impressive on mundane stuff, too. I've started leaving CPUMonitor up all the time, and I'm impressed on how well most apps thread across both CPU's. I rarely see sustained imbalances across the processors. The performance in multitasking is awesome as well (combination of OS X and 2 CPU's).

I realize the dualie Power Macs are expensive, but I certainly feel I got my money's worth.
 
Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
Duals are not all they are cracked up to be!See the thread must read g4 upgrades in hardware section and go to the link. Duals are a lot of hype to make up for Motobutts lack of progress. Id take the imac 1 giger!
Click to expand...

I disagree. Look at your desktop at the moment, what applications are you running? If you have a duel processor you can run several intensive operations much more efficiently and the machine will be much more responsive. Most benchmarks only consider the machine doing one thing at a time but in reality users run many applications at once. I look forward to duel and quad CPU PPC970s, think of the rendering/photoshop/dv editing performance :)
 
hmmm... maybe try somewhere like Shaye.... or even somewhere big like MacWarehouse....

Failing that, try the smaller dealers, as you might be able to pick one up....

Also if you'd settle for an ex-store demo, places like Micro Anvika might be able to do you a deal!
Click to expand...

Totally amazed I found a cheap (well sort of) Dual 1GHz machine in the UK. In a department store of all places (John Lewis Oxford Street - in the clearance section). Dual 1GHz w/Superdrive for £1350 (£100 less than an otherwise similarly spec'd single 1GHz machine is from the Apple Store). Shame it won't be delivered until the 19th. It was way too heavy to carry down the street and back on the tube (subway):(
 
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