Purchase question

[djejrejk]

Im about to purchase a desktop but I cannot afford a new mac pro. I was looking at powermac g5's and I found a guy selling a powermac g5 2.5x2 1gb ram and 20' ACD for $1150. Good deal or no?

Because someone will ask, I will the computer for research, some photoshop/indesign, logic 8 (or maybe protools), and light video editing. According to primate labs, the 2.5 g5 just barely out benches the iMac 2.4.

I am also considering an iMac, however I prefer the acd screen and I want some expandibility. Im trying to stay away from a refurb 2.66 as well, however if they drop the price it might be worth it. I need something that will be both powerful and flexible, but I dont need a monster.

 

[panzer06]

Im about to purchase a desktop but I cannot afford a new mac pro. I was looking at powermac g5's and I found a guy selling a powermac g5 2.5x2 1gb ram and 20' ACD for $1150. Good deal or no?

Because someone will ask, I will the computer for research, some photoshop/indesign, logic 8 (or maybe protools), and light video editing. According to primate labs, the 2.5 g5 just barely out benches the iMac 2.4.

I am also considering an iMac, however I prefer the acd screen and I want some expandibility. Im trying to stay away from a refurb 2.66 as well, however if they drop the price it might be worth it. I need something that will be both powerful and flexible, but I dont need a monster.

I think for what you need today the G5 will be fine.

It's the future that concerns me. As we move further away from the G4/G5 era, fewer and fewer updates will be available and no new applications will be written. At some point you will want the functionality offered by a current Mac.

If you believe you can keep this $1150 machine for a couple of years and not really change your application set much, you'll be fine. By then you'll find some low cost used early MacPros in the same price range.

Personally, I'd probably buy the best iMac I could afford and add external disk space if I needed to, all the while saving for the day I could afford the high-end system in the future. A refurb 20 inch iMac can definitely be found in the $1100-$1300 range

Cheers,

 

[jnc]

Get the refurb 2.66. You should have Apple's one year cover with that, and it's a much better machine... I bet without the monitor in the equation this would be a no brainer for you, right? have you seen how affordable 24 inchers are these days?

Grab the Intel when you can, I think you'll appreciate its performance more and it'll last you longer.