New or old Mac?

[andyjamesnelson]

Hey,

Right now I own a 1.25gig 15inch Powerbook with 1gig of ram.

I have had the laptop for what must be nearly 4 years.

I can say that its had its problems but in general I've loved it.

I mostly use Photoshop and Music production tools such as Logic.

I have found that the PB can often be slow with Photoshop and when I am trying to use my Wacom tablet there is often a noticable delay between my strokes and on the on screen strokes as such.

What I want is a more fluid graphics and audio production computer so I am looking to buy a desktop.

I can say right out that I cannot afford a Macpro.

I could maybe stretch to a new 20inch Imac but I don't want a glossy screen (not so good for print proofing etc) so I think i would consider an older white Imac model.

Still I have just been looking around on Ebay and I notice that G5 towers seem to go for very little!

I am wondering if maybe this is my best bet?

I am on a very limitied budget but I would love a power computer.

Surely a G5 tower is going to kick the crap out of my old G4 Powerbook?

It would be a shame that I couldn't run all the new intel only applications and games and things or boot windows (I would like that for some web applications) like the new Macs can but at the same time it would cost me far less.

How do G5 towers stand up to IMacs in general?

Please let me know if you have any good advice for me,

Thanks for your time.

Andy.

 

[I'm a Mac]

Do not buy any computer with a powerpc chip. It might be faster than your g4, but it won't last long/ soon won't be able to run the latest software. If you want to save a lot of money, try buying an old intel imac on ebay, but for the most part, any intel chip should be better than a powerpc.

 

[andyjamesnelson]

Hey,

Yeah I know what you mean that some applications won't work in a while,

Still I have been using this G4 for years and years now and I can run pretty much everything.

I am not sure i buy into the worry that computers go out of date.

If I can install Photoshop, Logic and final cut onto the machine I can use it for years to come under that config and without paying out a ton of cash for a new Intel based Mac.

Surely there are a lot of very happy G5 users out there who are still using their machines productively. I mean I am doing all right with a G4 Powerbook.

I guess what i want to know is how a G5 tower will differ from a G4 Poerbook and in turn how well a G5 tower would stand up to a baseline Intel Imac...


Andy.

 

[I'm a Mac]

I'm sure a G5 tower will be better than your G4, although I'm not sure how much better, but I still think that an intel chip still beats the G5 tower. Also, why would you want to use a tower? it's huge, plus all of those wires? The iMac is an easier solution.