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Which is faster: iMac 1.25 or PB 1.33?

V

Vanilla

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 19, 2002
589
0
Atlanta, GA
Hi
I am interested to know what is the performance difference between these two systems:

A 1.25ghz 17" G4 iMac with a 7200rpm HD and 1GB of Ram
A 1.33ghz 17" PB with a 4200rpm HD and 1GB Ram

I currently own an old iMac and am seeking to upgrade. I had considered a 15" PB but have been put off somewhat by the quality control issues around it. In addition I have come to the conclusion that screen real estate is more important to me than pure portability as I will mainly be working from home.

On occasion it would be nice to be able to bring my system with me to my offices but its not an overriding concern as I could equally transfer my Photoshop/Office files to my existing ThinkPad and work off it in my offices windows environment.

So it boils down to money and performance. The former issue casused me to knock the G5 Powermac on the head as an option and so I am left with either a 17" iMac or a 17" PB.

Thing is I cannot get my head round which one to plump for. The PB has the addition of L2 cache and a slightly faster chip but although I believe L2 is missing from the iMac it does have a significantly faster HD and I am unsure what takes priority in terms of performance.

Does anyone have some thoughts on this?
Vanilla
 
Re: Which is faster: iMac 1.25 or PB 1.33?

Originally posted by Vanilla
So it boils down to money and performance. The former issue casused me to knock the G5 Powermac on the head as an option and so I am left with either a 17" iMac or a 17" PB.
Click to expand...
I don't follow, money is an issue, so you knocked the G5 on the head, yet you are considering a 17" PB which costs (stock, only 512MB RAM) £2,399, you can get the dual 2GHz G5 stock for £2,299 :confused: What you're saying doesn't make sense.

edit: or you could get the dual 1.8GHz (better value IMO) and have £500 left for a nice LCD screen :)
 
Re: Re: Which is faster: iMac 1.25 or PB 1.33?

Originally posted by edesignuk
I don't follow, money is an issue, so you knocked the G5 on the head, yet you are considering a 17" PB which costs (stock, only 512MB RAM) £2,399, you can get the dual 2GHz G5 stock for £2,299 :confused: What you're saying doesn't make sense.

edit: or you could get the dual 1.8GHz (better value IMO) and have £500 left for a nice LCD screen :)
Click to expand...

Hmmm I'm confused as well! When I looked at the G5 I automatically went for the dual 2ghz. Once I added 1GB ram, bluetooth, extreme and an LCD screen it got a little scary so I switched back to the iMac and then thought what about the PB? I have around £2500 to play with. I hadn't considered the dual 1.8. In your opinion is the 1.8 a good choice then?

Vanilla
 
First things first, do NOT get RAM from Apple, it is a HUGE rip-off!

Here's what I'do:

£2013 - Dual 1.8GHz G5 Stock + Bluetooth + AirPort Extreme

£56 - Another 512MB DDR from Crucial.

That's a total of £2069, which still leaves you with £431 of your budget for a nice LCD/CRT (NOT Apple, also expensive).

edit: LCD's at dabs.com, there are loads of options for someone with a budget of £430 to spend.
 
You've also neglected to consider the G5 1.6Ghz machine which is cheaper than the dual G5's and is single cpu (which is easier comparison to the iMac and PB).
 
Originally posted by zeebee
You've also neglected to consider the G5 1.6Ghz machine which is cheaper than the dual G5's and is single cpu (which is easier comparison to the iMac and PB).
Click to expand...
But he has a £2,500 budget, he's better to get the best he can afford. The dual 1.8Ghz will kick the single 1.6GHz in to next week!
 
edesignuk
Thank you for your advice, it has really helped to clarify my thoughts.
Having started with a choice between an imac or a PB I'm now leaning towards the Dual 1.8 as you have suggested.
cheers and thanks again.
Vanilla
 
Yeah, that dual 1.8 G5 would be really incredible and going for the non Apple upgrades really knocks down the price. As far as which is faster between the iMac and the PowerBook, I'd have to go with the PowerBook, though, it has the more advanced G4 with better cache and a higher clock speed and a better graphics processor. The only limiting factor is the HD, but that is only noticable with heavy HD use and even plugging in an external FW HD would give the PowerBook a huge jolt of speed.
 
Originally posted by Counterfit
ed, I want to know RIGHT NOW who that is in your 'tar!
Click to expand...
haha, I'm thinking maybe I should post a thread dedicated to it, every day I get PM's or emails asking who it is, no ones ever paid any attention to my 'tar before now :eek: :D

The person you want to google for (and I know you will ;)), is Keira Knightley
smilie_drool.gif
 
Originally posted by edesignuk
But he has a £2,500 budget, he's better to get the best he can afford. The dual 1.8Ghz will kick the single 1.6GHz in to next week!
Click to expand...

About the 'best he can afford' part.
dollar for dollar, or should I say pound for pound, PC's still out run the Mac's.

2,500pounds (I don't know how to get the symbol:() is approximatly $6000AUD. Do you have any idea what kind of PC you can pick up for that money.
 
Originally posted by manitoubalck
About the 'best he can afford' part.
dollar for dollar, or should I say pound for pound, PC's still out run the Mac's.

2,500pounds (I don't know how to get the symbol:() is approximatly $6000AUD. Do you have any idea what kind of PC you can pick up for that money.
Click to expand...
Yes I do know what you could get for that kind of money in the PC world, and honestly I think the dual G5 sould hold its own. That's besides the fact he didn't ask if he should by a Mac or a PC, he asked about a Mac, and I advised
wtf.gif
...and quite well I think :D
 
Vanilla,
I totally agree with edesignuk; I think he's given you very good advice! (Right down to the LCD). That will be one sweet set up.
 
WAIT BEFORE YOU BUY! The new G5s will be out soon! If you can possibly live with your old iMac for just a few more weeks, do it! You will get more for your money if you wait... maybe even a Dual 2.3ghz for the same price as the Dual 1.8ghz. Thats a 500mhz increase (per processor) for the same price.
 
Yes I know he want's a mac, I just couldn't justify spending $6000 on a computer at this time or at any time in the forseable future.

He'll do you know I can build a system four under $1000AUD that will whipe the 1.6G5's arse.
 
Originally posted by crazzyeddie
WAIT BEFORE YOU BUY! The new G5s will be out soon! If you can possibly live with your old iMac for just a few more weeks, do it! You will get more for your money if you wait... maybe even a Dual 2.3ghz for the same price as the Dual 1.8ghz. Thats a 500mhz increase (per processor) for the same price.
Click to expand...

I agree completely. Vanilla, the 24th of January is the Mac's 20'th anniversary. Most rumor sites point to the end of this month as a probable "new product/update" introdution. It'll be either new Power Macs, or new iMacs, both of which will give you more for your money. I know, I know, one can always be waiting for "the next big upgrade" and be stuck waiting forever, but I think in this case you will do yourself a huge favor by waiting a few weeks. Trust me, you don't want to be kicking yourself later on...

Good luck!
 
I also find that just wating tillthe new product is out is good. that way, uoi buy it right away, and you have the longest life for it with it being the latest and greatest. I did that with my powerbook 17, still feel i have the best, even though its 1.0ghz
AK
 
Hi all
Just to provide an update, I am going to go for the dual 1.8 with Formac 17" and have decided to wait until the end of the month before purchasing, in the hope that I can either purchase the machine for a cheaper price or buy a higher specced one for the same price.

As for why not purchase a PC, yeah I guess you could get a fast PC for less. But can you honestly say that after two-three years of heavy, daily usage that PC will still be as fast and as stable as when you first bought it? Well actually, having personal experience of working on a windows platform I can tell you this is a rhetorical question ;)

I am paying a premium for speed, long term stability, incredible OS, unbeatable intuitive software package and sheer style, which in my opinion is well worth every penny.

Maybe next year I can add a G5 PB :)
Thanks again for all the advice.
Vanilla
 
Ahh.. the PC vs Mac price point comparison..

Its only true for the iMac. Power books are extremely low cost laptop compared with PCs of the SAME quality (so no Dell), xserve are dirty cheap, eMac you pay a premium for the screen, same with iMac. So the price of mac is very good compared to pcs when you take into account that you have to PAY for software and all macs come with better than average HD, RAM and have FW across the line.

Anyways, I will have to agree, the DP 1.8 + LCD is the best bang for the pound. Formac screen are excellent and you are going to love it!
 
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