Would you advise buying a G5 now?

[dingdongbubble]

Would you advise that I go ad buy a cheap G5 Mac like a Power Mac especially that I can expand it in the future?

I wont be gaming or doing any heavy multitasking. I think any G5 would be good enough for me.

But considering Intel's performance, would you say that I should rather save, say $1000, and get a low end or mid Intel Mac? I mean you can get a PowerMac G5 1.6/1.8 Ghz and same HDD/memory etc for the same price as a Mac Mini.

So in this case what would be better going for a low end, say iMac, or high end but old G5?

 

[72930]

If you're looking for a good price, and are willing to wait, I would wait until the next iMac update (probably ~October) and get the iMac that is out now as a refurb machine.

 

[dingdongbubble]

And

The PowerMacs do not have good graphic cards and if I might need one in the future then I might be in trouble.

But The G5s have WAY better expandibilty, e.g, a cheap PowerMac is up on ebay and it has 3.5GB RAM.

Intel Macs currently have better support and smaller features like Universal Binry, Bluetooth and possible processor upgrades(Mac Mini to C2D).

 

[grafikat]

I love my G5. It is my graphics workhorse. A refurb will get you farther on your dollar if you need to save $$

 

[dingdongbubble]

ACtualy

I want to switch over to a Mac from a PC and I want acheap system so that if anything goes wrong then it wont be a big problem. Also I really feel good when I buy a system for low $$$ which used to be a luxury a lil time back (like Power Macs).

 

[gikku]

what would be better going for a low end, say iMac, or high end but old G5?

do both! get an iMac G5.

 

[flopticalcube]

If you have PPC software like CS2 or Office '04 then the G5 is still better…but for how much longer?

 

[dingdongbubble]

Simple

Which one would you prefer, a used Mac Mini plus extra upgrades(RAM and C2d later on) Intel 950GM
OR
PowerMac 2x1.6Ghz Fx5200

Which one would have better overall performance?

 

[dingdongbubble]

Not high end

Oh yeah and I am not a high end user just a basic user guy. I am learning Dreamweaver and using it at a very low level.

 

[flopticalcube]

They are both about the same now, CPU-wise and graphics wise. The PPC may have a slight edge in the CPU for now. No question which one will be more powerful with the C2D.

 

[apfhex]

If you really think you will take advantage of the expandability of a PowerMac, go for that, be keep in mind that whatever upgrades are out now are probably the best they're going to get for it — i.e. there probably won't be any new video cards supported beyond what exists now. OTOH if you got an iMac things like the video card aren't upgradeable anyway. Things like hard drives and DVD/HDDVD/Bluray drives can be added externally. RAM limits probably won't be an issue if you're not a heavy user.

If you have PPC versions of your software and don't intend to upgrade to UB/Intel versions soon, the G5 might be better.

Something like an Intel iMac would be much more compact, elegant, quieter and, if you don't already have one, give you a very good LCD too! I would definitely take that into consideration.

 

[tristan]

Why do you want to expand it? Just for the graphics card?

i think Apple's going to release new desktops soon - I would wait and see what the new iMac and Mac Pro systems look like.

 

[dingdongbubble]

Fascinating...

Its quite fascinating to see how a small inexpensive computer can be faster than a pro level computer that people used to crave about.

Anyways so now I think ti comes own to:

If I want expandibilty for the future then PowerMac
If I want to go for the future proofing and a maximum of 3GB RAM then iMac.

 

[tristan]

I definitely recommend getting the old models as refurbs. I just bought a MBP CD myself a week ago for about 40% less than the original price it sold for a year ago at retail. It's technically two models back, but its great for me - maybe even overkill. My old PBG4 was handling my primary apps, Word, Excel, Mail, and Safari, just fine.

However, you have to be very sure about what your future needs are going to be and realistic about the machine's expected life span. Even if your G5 is "expandable" that doesn't mean its going to have a long lifespan. You can't upgrade the MB or CPU, and most of the other components are old or getting there. (OK, maybe you can upgrade the CPU but you'll pay a fortune for two more G5s that probably aren't much faster.)

It's hard to say what the best value is now because Apple is due to update the desktop line in July or August, and I don't know your specific needs. Your choice is really between the early Intel iMac and Mac Pros, and the late G5 iMac and PowerMac. The G5s are cheaper but will have a much shorter useful lifespan. 32-bit Intel will be supported long after the G5, I'm sure.

It's hard to recommend the Mac Mini right now because it has an old CPU, doesn't have a real video card, has a RAM ceiling of 2GB, and is still relatively expensive compared to its more advanced brethren. But if it gets updated, maybe the new model will be great, and the old model will get a nice price cut, and that would change the value equation.

Hope that helps... good luck!

 

[DealMinded]

Its quite fascinating to see how a small inexpensive computer can be faster than a pro level computer that people used to crave about.

Then again, I have calculators faster than pro level computers that people used to crave about.