used G5 Powermac value?

[Philberttheduck]

i was looking to buy a used g5 for video editing and as much as i want a mac pro, i just don't have the money. so i'm looking to get a g5 but i want to know what value is a g5 dual 2.0 3.5GB ram 300GB+160 used (is it worth $649). and please avoid replying with "if it's too good to be true, than it is" because i'm really new to buying used and never paid attn to g5 values.

 

[iToaster]

It might be a little low, but I'd say it's a realistic price. Though, I see your signature, and all the Macs you have listed there would be loads faster that a G5. The Power Mac averages 1671 in benchmarks for it's model while the MacBook Pro in your sig averages 2882.

 

[Genghis Khan]

If you want to value a mac for video editing

http://www.primatelabs.ca/blog/2008/06/mac-performance-june-2008/

check the geek bench scores against the price...



but as stated above, you're current macs are already faster

also note, all intel macs are faster than all but the very last editions of the g5 powermacs



my recommendation: if you need more power, buy an iMac...the 2.66 or 2.8 will be MUCH faster than the G5's, and significantly faster than you're MBP

 

[KingYaba]

http://www.primatelabs.ca/blog/2008/06/mac-performance-june-2008/

The quad G5 ranks right up there. Impressive.

 

[dmw007]

A Power Mac G5 for that price with those specs is reasonable. However, I am going to have to chime in with everyone else and recommend that you either A) using your existing MacBook Pro to do the editing or B) consider upgrading your iMac Core Duo to one of the new models.

The PowerPC G5 was a great chip back in its day, and still offers plenty of power for many users, but the Core 2 Duo is faster yet.

 

[MacBoobsPro]

My RevA MacBook 1.8 with 2GB ram transcodes videos twice as fast (sometimes quicker) as my PMG5 dual 1.8 with 2GB ram.

 

[jywv8]

For the sake of comparison, I just sold my G5 (rev A) on craigslist for $800 (computer only -- no keyboard, mouse or monitor). It was Dual 2 GHz, 2.5 GB RAM, 500 + 400 GB hard drives. The one you mention has more RAM but about half the HD space.

I'd say that $650 is a reasonable price. You may just have a motivated buyer. It took me 2 months to sell mine in Chicago, and I was getting ready to unload it for less.

 

[194567]

check out http://www.mac2sell.net I don't know if it is accurate but I always used it as a guide line.

 

[Philberttheduck]

thanks for all the input. i didn't know that the mac pro was going for that low a price. my friend still uses his but it's got like 8gb or ram so i figured that the powermac was better for handling video editing. i forgot to mention in the beginning that the powermac was for my brother. he just got a new camera and was looking to get into macs for editing, so this isn't really a NEED more than a want.

with all your input taken into consideration, is it a good idea to get a used iMac 2.66/2.8 like genghis khan suggested to edit videos? or should we wait for the next gen mac pro and purchase a used 2 duo core/quad core mac pro (current gen now) at a lower price? for the mac pro, is the 2 dual core better than one quad core? the budget is around 1600, is that reasonable with the mac pro scenario?

 

[mdgolom]

The price, to me, seems really good. I sold my old Dual G5 2.0 (3GB ram, more HD) for $1100 on eBay in January of this year. It sold with the Buy Me Now within 1Hr of being listed, so what you're being offered sounds reasonable.