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P4 3.0GHZ User and wants to make a switch Macworld

N

nyprospect

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 3, 2004
451
0
:) Hi Im a p4 3.0ghz user my specs are
p4 intel 3.0ghz 512ddr
nvidia fx 5200 128ddr
sound blaster live ls
asus motherboard
.Im not a heavy gamer or do much graphic design.i still want a mac that would come close to this machine i have with out having to end up broke and depressed.I saw the line of powerbooks and ibooks.I also saw the beautiful g5(security guard almost had to mase me to get me out of the mac section.) i saw the imacs as well also beautiful.i read a few articals on switching over.some say pc's have more softwear.but the mac as less virus's or none.What made me want to switch was they look much more sexier than a pc.Im afraid i rambled on to long.Im sorry about that.Please help.Also my budget is around 1999 i also dont know if i can fit the g5 in the place where i have my mid tower its 17 inches high and the g5 is about 20.1. anyway im open for suggestions.make me make the switch.or not ;)
 
Unless you are a hardcore gamer a Mac is the right choice! They have programs to cover everything and many are cheaper (many free) and run much better than PC programs. Like Digital Photography iPhoto (Photoshop also runs better on a mac than a PC), Video: iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, iTunes in combination with GarageBand is the best in Digital music, and many other smaller apps.

P.S. Awsome UNIX BASE!!!

For more info see:

http://www.apple.com/switch/whyswitch/

http://www.apple.com/switch/questions/

Here are so many reasons to switch!
 
Depending on when you're looking to switch, I'd suggest the iMac...it seems perfect for everything you're looking for.

The only problem with it now is that it's severly overdue for an update- but if you can wait for them to upgrade it (should be hopefully soon) it'd probably be your best bet. For now though- at least until they do update it, I see no reason to get one when you can get an eMac for half the price (and same speed processor).
 
Good advice.I really want a g5 i want to have the option of upgrading also.imacs are great looking,but the options for upgrading are limited.how about the powermac g4 desktop (mirrored)whats your take on those
 
Do you need a new monitor as well?

One thing you didn't tell us is whether you need a new monitor.

If you have a good monitor then this would probably eliminate the iMacs. While they're sexy looking, the way Apple "mates" the expensive monitor to an older motherboard is a major drawback (at least until the line is updated).

So if you have a monitor, spend the monitor savings on a nice G5 model. Also, you can buy a KVM switcher and use the same keyboard/mouse/monitor on them both if you'll be keeping the old Win unit.
 
Oh wow you are right.I have a sony 17 inch monitor with dvi .but i might sell this monitor on ebay. i was thinking imac or pb
 
Give iBooks a glance

While I like Powerbooks, the sweet spot in Apple's lineup now is their iBook. For $1300 you get almost everything the PB has, and the $700 you save can be put aside to be used on your next upgrade Powerbook in 2005.

Also, even the cheap new iBooks have 32 MB dedicated video RAM - enough to drive your Sony as a second monitor when you're at your desk. The stock unit will only allow mirroring, but you can use a software hack to enable monitor spanning.

Of course you can span monitors with a PB as well.
 
If that's the system you are switching from, you are gonna have to buy a G5 to be happy with the performance I think
 
Chaszmyr said:
If that's the system you are switching from, you are gonna have to buy a G5 to be happy with the performance I think
Click to expand...

Yeah I'd agree. Going from a 3GHz Pentium 4 down to a 1.25GHz G4 or slower will be a real disappointment. Before the speed-zealots jump down my throat, I'm not saying that, for example, a 17" iMac or a 15" PowerBook will be *absolutely* slow. But they will both unquestionably be slower than a 3GHz Pentium 4.

You might want to consider waiting until the Apple WWDC in July to see what (if any) G5 updates are released. We will hopefully see faster G5s being released, which will also have the effect of reducing the price of current model G5 systems as dealers try and clear old stock. As Chaszmyr mentioned, a G5-based system is going to be much closer to (or faster than) the level of performance you are currently used to with your current Pentium 4 system. No-one wants to spend hard earned cash on a system slower than the one they currently own.
 
Yeah you are probably right.i started off with a webtv :eek: in 1998 and gradually made to a laptop p 120mhz compaq :eek: and so on and so then a amd rig then to this.i crave speed and stability also im big on how a pc looks on the ouside and how the gui is .the mac os is quite sexy.i noticed lots of fashion designers and photogophers around here in nyc use macs.but some are switching to pc from a mac.i guess its the economy.but im really itching(figurtivley speaking)to try a mac but i cant afford to keep them both. im wondering if they will ever make a g5 notebook.now that will be something.
 
I would like to add how helpful you all have been.it is not offten you come across a site and you go through the trouble of registering and they actually help you.i registerd for a pc only forum and ran into this .Example:
Well macs suck or you get, well nvidia is so weak and who ever owns one is to.
This forum is the best i have been in and it has been very very informative.im impetuous so if you all would have said get a imac i would have :eek: .but ill wait for updates on the g5.thank you for your valuable input.very classy.just like those mac computers
 
nyprospect - I too agree that you should wait a bit to see what happens this summer, in terms of the G5 development. If anywhere, anywhere at all sells the SP 1.8G5, I would pick that right away. The 1.6G5 is that much slower, uses slower memory (ddr 333 vs. ddr 400 of 1.8G5), and well is not worth the price. The 1.8 is, however.

Still, before buying something, you should try out various systems, either in store or from friends who have pBooks/eMac/PMacs.
 
Hopefully we'll see iMac updates later this June (along with PMac and display updates)... G5 in a portable? I'm sure we'll see it eventually, but I wouldn't hold my breath until then. Especially since they just updated both laptop lines- I wouldn't expect any updates now until at least Jan- and who knows if they'll be G5's even then.
 
nyprospect said:
Yeah you are probably right.i started off with a webtv :eek: in 1998 and gradually made to a laptop p 120mhz compaq :eek: and so on and so then a amd rig then to this.i crave speed and stability also im big on how a pc looks on the ouside and how the gui is .the mac os is quite sexy.i noticed lots of fashion designers and photogophers around here in nyc use macs.but some are switching to pc from a mac.i guess its the economy.but im really itching(figurtivley speaking)to try a mac but i cant afford to keep them both. im wondering if they will ever make a g5 notebook.now that will be something.
Click to expand...

If you're a speed freak, then barring some massive shake-up of the entire Macintosh lineup at WWDC, a PowerMac G5 is the only way to go. The single CPU models are nice, but the real performance boosts over the G4-based systems come with the dual CPU systems (ie: dual 1.8GHz and dual 2.0GHz models). As many others on this forum will tell you, you could be waiting a loooong time for a G5-based PowerBook to arrive.

Keep saving your money for another 6 weeks or so, and watch carefully what happens between now and the World Wide Developer's Conference at the end of June. With luck, we'll see some big upgrades to the PowerMac G5 line. If not big speed improvements, then Apple often has other tricks up its sleeve to refresh a product line...things like increasing standard equipment specifications (eg: 8x SuperDrives, more RAM as standard, larger hard drives, newer graphics cards), or by making previously mid-range systems the new entry level (eg: replacing the single 1.6GHz model with a single 1.8GHz model, or dual 1.6GHz CPUs for example), as well as sometimes pulling out the good old fashioned price cuts. Before anyone jumps on me, I'm only hypothesizing...but I think the chances of something happening to the PowerMac G5 lineup at WWDC are good, and it doesn't necessarily have to be CPU upgrades (although that would be nice).

So...stick it out for a while. You could potentially save yourself some money, get extra equipment as standard, or get a faster CPU...or all of the above, within the next 6-8 weeks.
 
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