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Newbie desktop what-to-buy thread

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fuzzynavo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 13, 2004
107
0
CA
OK guys, sorry to give out another what to buy thread, but I'm relatively new to the Mac community. I've been using a 12" pb for the past 2 years and decided it may be time to sell it and move up to a desktop since I don't need portability that much anymore.

The question is: my university sells the older dual 2.0 powermac (rev b/June 2004 I believe?) for $1600-$100 apple discount = $1500. Also available is the newest rev dual 2.0 for $1700-$100 = $1600. For that $100 extra you get a double-layer superdrive, and a slightly better gpu. But I've heard the older rev has better expandability. I don't foresee myself really using the PCI-X slots or maxing out the RAM anytime in the near future, but is it a good trade off for the $100 difference?

Also, I know that for someone with my needs, a powermac is overkill, (I'm more in the iMac audience), but I have a nice lcd and would prefer not to have an all-in-one. I've looked into the Mac mini, and though it probably can do everything I need it to at the moment (office, web, itunes, iphoto, light gaming, light 3d apps), I'm worried that it's not very future-proof and in a year I would be regretting my decision. I can rationalize buying a PM if it will last me 4 or 5 years (which it probably would).

Anyone have any addt'l advice? Thanks in advance.
 
I'm a bit slanted in my view since I just got one of them puppies!

Best bang for the buck IMHO!

After all you're getting a FULLY expandable dual G5 PowerMac
for less than the price of a single processor G4 Powerbook.

Go for it while you can still find one at that price.!
 
I'd go for the old dual 2.0. The dual layer isn't that great at this time. Those discs are like $5 a piece. By the time those things get affordable, you probably will be able to pick up a new dual layer burner for cheap.
 
Your PB looks fairly new. How about a nice iCurve, apple keyboard/mouse, and a display? This way you have the best of both words (screen space/power/portability). Just an idea!
 
I would go for the rev B PowerMac G5 becuase of the expandibility. But if you do not forsee the need to expand your RAM past 4GB or the need for pci-x expansion slots (as you have said), then go for the new dual 2GHz PowerMac G5. $1,600 for a new dual 2GHz PowerMac G5, go for it, you will have no regrets! :D
 
Thanks for the replies, it seems as both decisions aren't bad one's. I'll call the student store on Tuesday and ask if the old PM is still in stock. If it is...the fingers are itching...

I have also considered keeping my current setup, trying to restrain myself from possibly wandering into buyer's remorse in plopping down all that cash for a PM. I just graduated and I'm hoping to go to grad school. But this summer I'm working in an internship that will give me a comfortable amount of spending money. Decisions, decisions. :eek:
 
I'll second the suggestion buy an iCurve or similar stand, along with a keyboard/mouse (BT?), and hook that 12" PB up to your LCD. I understand your issue though. That's a great price for the old dual 2GHz PM.
 
macbaseball said:
Do you do any video editing? If not the option of getting an iCurve sounds much better to me, along with a 20 inch display. You'll end up saving like 800+ too.
Click to expand...

Nah, its an older PowerBook.

I reccomend the newer Dual 2.0 PowerMac because for $100, you get a little better machine. But if you intend to add 5 or more GB of RAM :eek: :eek: :eek: (i doubt you will) then go for the older one.

SO I SAY:

Get The Newer Dual 2.0 PowerMac While It Stays At That Price!
 
Older G5. You won't miss the dual-layer DVD burning, and the $100 that you save can be spent on a video card or RAM. I'd get at least 1 GB of RAM with that G5... 2x512MB. The nice thing with more RAM slots is you can get the same RAM for cheaper-- 2x512 doesn't make you worry about your RAM slots as much as the other G5 would. Heck, go for 4x256 if you want, you have the space :p
 
Keep in mind that Optical Drives, GPU cards and SATA Hard Drives
are all things you can add or change later.

The older Rev B 2.0 G5 has the Pro motherboard, FULL 8GB RAM expandability and faster 100Mhz PCI-X graphics inputs.

The Rev C 2.0 G5 has the Prosumer 1.8 dual motherboard.
4 GB RAM and 33MHz PCI

If you want your Tower as future proof as affordable.

Then the Rev B 2.0 really is the better choice.
 
Yeah, you can always upgrade the drives and video card. And RAM, of course. You'll probably want to in the future anyway. But the current dual 2.0 isn't bad if you like it as is. For an extra ~$200 or so you can add 2x 1GB sticks for a total of 2.5GB. But with the old one you do get the PCI-X and extra RAM slots, which you may want if you plan on upgrading much in a few years. If you plan on upgrading the DVD burner, hard drive, and to a Radeon 9600XT or X800 anyway eventually, the old dual is the obvious choice.

Personally, I'm waiting for the next single G5 PowerMac. I'm hoping it'll be at least 2GHz, and coming out soon. That may be your best bet if you can wait awhile.
 
solvs said:
Yeah, you can always upgrade the drives and video card. And RAM, of course. You'll probably want to in the future anyway. But the current dual 2.0 isn't bad if you like it as is. For an extra ~$200 or so you can add 2x 1GB sticks for a total of 2.5GB. But with the old one you do get the PCI-X and extra RAM slots, which you may want if you plan on upgrading much in a few years. If you plan on upgrading the DVD burner, hard drive, and to a Radeon 9600XT or X800 anyway eventually, the old dual is the obvious choice.

Personally, I'm waiting for the next single G5 PowerMac. I'm hoping it'll be at least 2GHz, and coming out soon. That may be your best bet if you can wait awhile.
Click to expand...


Can the new dual support the geforce 6800 or X800 with its non-PCI-X slots? Are there any video cards that take advantage of PCI-X at this moment? I know in the pc world, PCIe is getting pretty popular...
 
fuzzynavo said:
Does this mean that the new dual can't support the 9600XT or X800 with its non-PCI-X slots? Though I doubt i need more than 4 gb ram, I'm pretty sure I would like to update my vid card at least once.
Click to expand...

No, the video cards (GPUs) are of the AGP variety, and have nothing to do with PCI/PCI-X.
 
JasonL said:
No, the video cards (GPUs) are of the AGP variety, and have nothing to do with PCI/PCI-X.
Click to expand...

Ah, thanks for the clarification, I have my slots mixed up. :D
 
fuzzynavo said:
Ah, thanks for the clarification, I have my slots mixed up. :D
Click to expand...
You're thinking of PCI-Express. That's the next gen video card slot, like AGP is now. So far it hasn't been shown to be much better than AGP 8x, but it's still new, and it's got a little more headroom to grow. PCI-X is the next gen PCI slot. Also fairly new. Is somewhat backwards compatible with certain types of newer PCI devices, but also not really that popular yet. For now, PCI is fine (especially for those who rarely upgrade their Macs past RAM and drives) and PCI-Express hasn't made it to any Mac yet, so your stuck with AGP. But like I said, that's fine for now since you can put an X800 or 6800 in it.
 
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