Which Powermac should I buy? Switching from PC

[DjEboy]

I'm thinking about switching to a mac from a windows PC. I was hoping to get some advice on which Powermac to buy.

I dont want a powerbook, because I already have a thinkpad t40 that I need for work, most of our applications will not work on a mac.

What I want to use the mac for:
Office Applicatons, Web, e-mail, itunes, imovie, and garage band, photoshop. I want to get into music editing and possilby video editing (FinalCut). I also want to hook my turntables up to the mac and import mixes and then remix. Nothing profesional just as a hobby.

So I'm not quite sure of all the programs that I would want to use. Any suggestions here would be helpfull as well.

I was really looking at the two 1.8ghz models the single and the dual and I would upgrade the ram to at least 1.5-2gb. I would also most likely want to upgrade my 17" crt to 20" LCD.

Thanks

 

[Blue Velvet]

...and I would upgrade the ram to at least 1.5-2gb.

All sounds good to me (I would go for the dual 1.8 myself), but remember that RAM in the G5 PMs goes in in pairs.

So with the stock 2 x 256 sticks, adding 2 x 512 gives you 1.5 total, and adding 4 x 512 brings it up to 2.5gb.

The consensus here (and from my personal experience) is to buy the RAM and install it yourself as Apple-provided RAM is over-priced. But get it from a reputable dealer that specifies it for your model of Mac rather than choosing it yourself. I prefer Crucial RAM but that's a contentious issue around here...

If you want to get into video or audio it may be worth bumping up the size of the installed HD and/or getting another internal SATA HD to supplement your HD capacity -- gotta have room for all your stuff.

Also, give some thought to backing up your data (external FW HD perhaps) and getting Toast with Jam with its additional Audio CD burning capabilities.

 

[feakbeak]

I've never owned a PowerMac so I'll leave that one to those with more experience with that line.

As for 20" LCDs though I just recently did quite a bit of looking around. IMO, the Apple LCDs are overpriced for what you get. I ended up purchasing the Dell 2001FP and I am very pleased with it. I've had it for about six weeks now - puts my old CRT to shame. You can get the 2001FP (4:3) or 2005FPW (16:10) for somewhere in the low $500's if you wait for a deal and use an online coupon. I got my 2001FP for $529. Great bang for your buck with the Dell panels. MR members often post deals on the Dell LCDs when they come around. Good luck with your purchase.

 

[MacNoobie]

I can honestly say that I'm in the same boat as you when picking out a PowerMac. I'm mostly waiting for OS 10.4 "Tiger" to come out before making my final decision on buying a PowerMac though I'm looking at the 2-2.5Ghz ranges just because aside from web, emailing, itunes I'd be doing Photoshop, illustrator, Final Cut Pro, Motion, and DVD Studio Pro stuff for family videos and all the High Definition video editing I want to get into.

My only dilemma seems to be to wait around till June and see if they update the PowerMac's to 2.8 or 3Ghz or to just buy something around April (when Tiger hopefully comes out) and go with learning that.

I'm a PC user always have always been it seems like but the more I get to see what Apple is doing with their hardware and software it made me realize that I see people doing stuff on their Macs that I dream of being able to do on the PC and I've just finally realized that it really cant be done so well on the PC.

As far as you I'd definitely stick with a Dual 1.8 GHz PowerMac minimum, the Dual CPU's definitely have the advantage over a single 1.8 GHz G5 especially with stuff like Final Cut Pro and I assume Photoshop as well. There are also rumors that a new PowerMac will be out sometime by June or when ever the WWDC is expected to come and considering the PowerMac's haven’t had an update in 9 months I think its long over due, hell they might bump up the 1.8 to a 2.0 or 2.2 possibly for the same price. I'm stuck in the boat on if I should wait for the new PowerMac's or just to pick up a Dual 2.5 and Tiger and all the goodies and just play with it and maybe make some money off it.

Anyways good luck with picking out a Mac and like I mentioned above I'd definitely pay the extra $ and get a Dual CPU system, you never know you might pickup Final Cut Pro down the road (don’t pick up the current ones yet there’s rumors of a new Final Cut Pro, Motion, Shake, DVD Studio Pro coming out) and you might get into high def videos and find a single CPU limiting.

Hope this helps a fellow PC switcher out

Thomas Z

 

[eXan]

I recommend that you should wait ~2-3 weeks for Tiger to come out and then decide which one 2 buy. Right now I recomment Dual 1.8 with Radeon 9600XT (the standart card sucks )

And yes, get a 3rd party RAM

 

[FFTT]

I'd wait to see what the next Power Mac revision offers.

If the existing models still suite your needs, then you should be able to get a great price on the 2.0 dually.

The 1.8 dually only offers 4GB RAM and PCI.

The 2.0 is much more upgradable and has PCI-X

The NEW revision should offer PCI-e and Dual core processing.

We should all know much more within the next 90 days.