mini 1.25 to Powermac 1.6 upgrade?

[Nomad]

ok, so that seems like an obvious yes answer. but i would like to know what kind of gains i should expect.

i mainly use my mini for web surfing and paper writing right now. but this summer when im not in school i plan on taking many trips with my digital rebel, and doing photo editing, etc.

also, being forced into using 1 monitor is driving me crazy.

im curious about the powermac 1.6ghz's performance vs the 1.8, an the newer ones, upgradeability, and i also have found that i can get one for about 1100$ in really nice shape.

would it be worth it to get the 1.6 powermac, and then sell off my mini?

 

[cluthz]

ok, so that seems like an obvious yes answer. but i would like to know what kind of gains i should expect.

i mainly use my mini for web surfing and paper writing right now. but this summer when im not in school i plan on taking many trips with my digital rebel, and doing photo editing, etc.

also, being forced into using 1 monitor is driving me crazy.

im curious about the powermac 1.6ghz's performance vs the 1.8, an the newer ones, upgradeability, and i also have found that i can get one for about 1100$ in really nice shape.

would it be worth it to get the 1.6 powermac, and then sell off my mini?

I neither have a mini og a PM G5, but i have a powerbook 1.33Ghz and a iMac G5 1.8GHz.

Webbrowsing and Office use is only slightly faster on the iMacG5.
Harddisk intensive stuff is much faster on the iMacG5 ( i have a 250GB (7200rpm 8mb cache) disk in the iMac, and a 60GB (4200 rpm) in the Powerbook)

Photo editing is not disk intensive (unless you work with enourmus photos), but Photshop is G5 accelerated.

 

[BillHarrison]

ok, so that seems like an obvious yes answer. but i would like to know what kind of gains i should expect.

i mainly use my mini for web surfing and paper writing right now. but this summer when im not in school i plan on taking many trips with my digital rebel, and doing photo editing, etc.

also, being forced into using 1 monitor is driving me crazy.

im curious about the powermac 1.6ghz's performance vs the 1.8, an the newer ones, upgradeability, and i also have found that i can get one for about 1100$ in really nice shape.

would it be worth it to get the 1.6 powermac, and then sell off my mini?

Well, as said above, outside of faster disk performance, the inprovement will hardly be worth the money. If you need the upgradeability of the powermac, then by all means, you should go for it. But, the 1.25ghz G4 is a speedy processor, and a 1.6ghz G5 is not exactly a speed demon. The G4 is somewhat more efficeint than the G5, and I have seen benches with slower G4's matching faster G5's. But, in general, the G5 WILL be faster. Just not by alot, especially the 1.6.

If you need the G5, I would recommend holding off a little longer, and getting atleast a 1.8ghz DUAL processor. Not alot more money, and you will be much happier with the upgrade!

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

Make sure your Mini has some decent ram in it not the stock 256 and it should do everything you need plus its easy to move and silent. Now if you are going to become a pro- or are a hardcore gamer then you may want to move up the tier but you arent going to get much from going 1.25-1.6. The expansion is what you gain with that powermac but remember faster and less expensive technology is allways just around the corner and so are newer iMacs and Powermacs in the next couple of months.

 

[Nomad]

thanks for all of the info!

thats exactly what i needed to hear, and i will keep my mini untill i can swing a REAL powermac.

maby a larger screen than a 17" will help me. on my pc i have 2 monitors, the mini is limited to one. i feel so constricted.

oh well, you guys are right though. thanks.

 

[zimtheinvader]

Make sure your Mini has some decent ram in it not the stock 256 and it should do everything you need plus its easy to move and silent. Now if you are going to become a pro- or are a hardcore gamer then you may want to move up the tier but you arent going to get much from going 1.25-1.6.

Lol, if you're going to become a hardcore gamer, may I reccomend getting a PC rather than a Powermac of any flavor!!

$1199PM=Doom3(hq)@<15fps, um, Marathon. $1199PC=Doom3(max)@>50fps, HL2, BF Modern Combat, ect.

 

[Nomad]

oh no, i have a power house of a PC (athlon64-3200+ radeon 9800 pro. etc etc.) so i dont need the thing for gaming, trust me.

i got the mini because i have always been curious about macintosh, and how they worked. now i want to have a mac as my main rig! i figured that this 1.6 powermac would give me dual monitors, an upgrade path, and more hard disk space. plus it seems that even older macs can still hold their own, so i wont be needing to upgrade beyong this 1.6 rig for a long time.

after it is all said and done, i'd sell the mini, since i wouldnt need it anymore. the cost after getting the g5 would only be 700$ or so.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

I neither have a mini og a PM G5, but i have a powerbook 1.33Ghz and a iMac G5 1.8GHz.

Webbrowsing and Office use is only slightly faster on the iMacG5.
Harddisk intensive stuff is much faster on the iMacG5 ( i have a 250GB (7200rpm 8mb cache) disk in the iMac, and a 60GB (4200 rpm) in the Powerbook)

Photo editing is not disk intensive (unless you work with enourmus photos), but Photshop is G5 accelerated.

I will second on HDD speed. I have a eMac 1.25 that runs circles around my PB 12" 1ghz, mostly due to the HDD.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Given the costs of the Mac mini, I might wait for the next revision and run two systems. And during the down times, you can give them up for the folding@home effort here on MR.

 

[Nomad]

i see there is now a dual 1.8 g5 on ebay, it looks like it will go for considderably less than normal, since it has some mainboard damage.

apparently there was a spill through the front of the case, and it got the ram slots.

the #1 and #2 slots apparently work, the #3 and #4 slots have been removed

you can still mount 2 gigs of ram, but i have never heard of a main board surviving such an indicent. can this possibly be a functioning g5? can you even do this?

i wont need more than 2 gigs of ram (i wont spend the $ for more than that!). do you think i should considder this mac? the possibility for "brain damage" is high i think...

 

[vieoray]

i have a 1.25 ghz eMac and a 1.6 ghz iMac. i have to tell you, despite what others have said, i can tell a huge difference. the eMac has 1 GB ram, while the iMac has 768 mb. the iMac is faster at everything i throw at it (safari/email/normal internet stuff, iPhoto, photoshop, iTunes, garageband, and iMovie mostly.)

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

i see there is now a dual 1.8 g5 on ebay, it looks like it will go for considderably less than normal, since it has some mainboard damage.

apparently there was a spill through the front of the case, and it got the ram slots.

the #1 and #2 slots apparently work, the #3 and #4 slots have been removed

you can still mount 2 gigs of ram, but i have never heard of a main board surviving such an indicent. can this possibly be a functioning g5? can you even do this?

i wont need more than 2 gigs of ram (i wont spend the $ for more than that!). do you think i should considder this mac? the possibility for "brain damage" is high i think...

eBay means buy t your own risk in my book in these cases. Unless you can get it for a $100 plus shipping.