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I need help making a choice!! PLEASE!!

D

drewdespair

macrumors member
Original poster
May 25, 2003
48
0
Buffalo NY
Hello Everyone,

I don't know if this is the exact place I should post this, so if it isn't I appologize.

I want to trade my iBook in for something a little more powerfull.. I don't ever use the portability of the iBook, I have it hooked up into a External Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor.

I have gotten 2 offers, and I don't know which way to go. Please help.

Option one:

My iBook for a 800mhz FP iMac with 512MB RAM and Superdrive, and 60 GB HDD. (Top Model of last year I belive)

or

My iBook + $200 for a PowerMac G4 867 with 256MB RAM, Super Drive, Geforce2MX 32MB Video, and 60GB Drive.

And I know you're going to tell me to wait until WWDC and all that, but I'm not too concerned with that right now.

All help is appreciated it!

--Drew
 
Assuming you can keep your monitor and all that, go for the Quicksilver and invest the $200 in getting more RAM for it.

I can think of only a couple of reasons to go for the iMac:

a) You prefer the design of the iMac or if you like the flat-panel screen of the iMac and your external monitor isn't a LCD
b) There is some great software on the iMac that you would find incredibly useful.

Frankly, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it because you're getting an insanely great deal either way. The person offering this to you must need the portability in a bad way.
 
yes sir.. They seem to need the portibillity in a way I cant fathom. Theyre both going into college I guess, so its nessicary for them.

I don't think theres any special software involved. I always like the Quicksilvers, but the iMacs are cool as hell.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear in the first post, I need to give the QuickSilver guy my iBook plus $200 dollars (or a Cobalt Qube2, which is worth about $200)

Thanks for the input!!

Drew
 
sell the ibook,wait till after wwdc then do your thing whatever it may be. If it where i and didnt need portability a 1gig minimum machine sold at a good price after Apple announces the 970. I find my powermac800 single with geforce3 lacks the speed i need. But with the powermac you can allways upgrade and you WILL want the speed sooner or later. In the future you could go out and make that 867 a single 1.4 with an upgrade. Sell the ibook and finance a new imac or powermac.( after WWDC ) only then will you be in Apple Heaven.
 
I just wanted to say that i have had alot of friends who did buy iMacs, and now they are angry because they cant upgrade anything in them (except RAM). So they are stuck in the dark ages because of this $200 - $400 mistake.
 
I would keep the iBook for now and upgrade to a potential 2nd generation entry level G5 970 whenever they come out... be patient and be proud of your nice ibook... ask yourself what you use it for and if you really need a (by monday) obsolete desktop... my advice: STAY WITH THE iBOOK for now

vSpacken
 
Why all the iMac downing here? I have a FP iMac 800mhz with 512 ram, and I really like it alot. Unless you forsee a need for much expandablitiy, (dont forget, you can add ram and airport to the iMac, plus you can get external HDs and things), save to 200 bucks and get the iMac.

Just my opinion.
 
I know I know, wait to see if the 970s come out... But the fact of the matter is, I could never afford a PowerMac new, EVER. I think Im going to go for the Power Mac I think. My main reason being Video Potental. Plus I can upgrade the processor, which means I will *most likely* be able to upgrade it to a 970 Processor, if you could upgrade the G3s to G4.. Do they use the same data path (64bit)?

Thanks for the help everyone!!!


Drew
 
Originally posted by drewdespair
... Plus I can upgrade the processor, which means I will *most likely* be able to upgrade it to a 970 Processor, if you could upgrade the G3s to G4.. Do they use the same data path (64bit)?
Click to expand...

No, no, and no lol The G4 was just a G3 with some extras, nothing like a new processor by a long shot. The G4 WILL NOT be upgradable to 970. Even if you could, it would be so slow it wouldnt matter. However, you will be able to upgrade to whatever G4 is made, including Dual 1.42. Plus the video cards, DVD-RW, RAM, hard drives, whatever can be added.
 
Originally posted by crazzyeddie
No, no, and no lol The G4 was just a G3 with some extras, nothing like a new processor by a long shot. The G4 WILL NOT be upgradable to 970. Even if you could, it would be so slow it wouldnt matter. However, you will be able to upgrade to whatever G4 is made, including Dual 1.42. Plus the video cards, DVD-RW, RAM, hard drives, whatever can be added.
Click to expand...

Whooops, My bad :)

Thanks for the info.. I use my ibook primarilly as a desktop, and I do run Photoshop on it, along with Macromedia Studio MX (I don't think they use Altivec, but I know PS does) So the G4 QS should give me the extra horsepower I need. Espically if I can drop a dual 1.42 in that bad boy. Couldn't do that with the iMac!

Thanks alot!!!

--Drew
 
On a different note, anyone that wants to trade a ibook 800ish for a iMac 800, PM me, I'll hook you up with his email.

Cheers!
--Drew
 
powermac for sure. give him a extra $50
these can be upgraded forever. you might need the free new fan/heatsink.
you have an os9 bootable version this should get you an extra $100 or so when you sell down the road is this a dual also anyway you have L3 cache and that will help and dual monitor i think.
 
imac upgrade hacks?

has anyone come up with a hack to allow a diff video card in the imac, or cpu upgrade, i know it can do monitor spanning.
i understand why apple soldered the cpu down. but now with powermacs having the 970, maybe they can reverse that, or at least give it L3 cache.
or maybe allow for video card upgrades. at least one of these so i can play games like doom etc.
 
never say never

Originally posted by crazzyeddie
No, no, and no lol The G4 was just a G3 with some extras, nothing like a new processor by a long shot. The G4 WILL NOT be upgradable to 970. Even if you could, it would be so slow it wouldnt matter. However, you will be able to upgrade to whatever G4 is made, including Dual 1.42. Plus the video cards, DVD-RW, RAM, hard drives, whatever can be added.
Click to expand...

every time a new cpu is introduced, someone says the old can never be upgraded or they cant bypass the slow memory and buss limits, while sometimes true they have allways come out with upgrades to the latest processor for almost all pci based powermacs, took them 4 years on the agp g4s a year on the blue and white and sometimes its better and cheaper and faster to just buy new,
but never say never to sonnet and powerlogix they have upgrades the allow a sawtooth g4 to hang with a dual 1.42, it might not be worth it though i think its $1000 and you still have AGP2x.
but one of them may find a way to bypass that slow buss with a unique scheme like putting ddr400 slots directly on the cpu/heatsink with a seprate bus bypassing the native buss and giving you a full 1GHZ buss.
of course you would loose your memeory have to buy ddr 400 and the buss would slow to a crawl (133MNHZ)when ever it needs to access the hard drive pci, firewire etc.
and it would probably cost as much as new, so why.
just wishful thinking, with very slight possibilities,
but hey never say never
i thought apple would stay in a g4 rutt forever, look at them now.
now will the cpu upgrades stay there for long
who knows?
 
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