Sell it on eBay and get like a Mac mini, as all the money you WILL spend on this machine (hard drive, RAM) will be like $100, and selling it could get you another $100 at LEAST... thats $200 towards a Mac mini... And if you sell the display and use your current display, its almost free...
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YES!! I've made the SWITCH...back (and i need advice)
- Thread starter FF_productions
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wouldn't a g4 (dual or single processor over 1 ghz) tower do the job? I know it will probably cost more but I'd like to upgrade it in the future, unlike the mac mini where you can upgrade barely anything...I really don't want a mac mini...
Since you already have a nice monitor, I would go for at least a dual 1.8
G5 used/refurb to give you some degree of future resistance.
I've seen professional video production faciltiies using a dual 1.8 with
external RAID storage and no complaints.
You can buy one now Apple Certified for $1499-$1599 depending on built in storage or go for a dual 2.0 Rev B G5 for $1649 and have all the benefits
of the current Pro motherboard.
G5 used/refurb to give you some degree of future resistance.
I've seen professional video production faciltiies using a dual 1.8 with
external RAID storage and no complaints.
You can buy one now Apple Certified for $1499-$1599 depending on built in storage or go for a dual 2.0 Rev B G5 for $1649 and have all the benefits
of the current Pro motherboard.
my problem is the budget..I need to go under 1000, maybe next year I'll go g5, or maybe intel in the future...I didn't expect the g3 to be so outdated (well its 6 years old, should have seen it coming)..For now I'm planning on gettin a g4 or just a plain fast tower under 1000 on ebay...It should run final cut pro just fine and last me a couple of years (maybe). Don't worry, I'm never switching back to windows (though im using one to type this out, but the g3 is too old for wireless adapter, i need osX).
I looked at SmallDog and DVwarehouse and both are asking waaay too much for the dual G4 towers.
You can do light video editing using, Final Cut Express, iMovie or iDVD with a mini or an eMac well within your budget as long as you get a SuperDrive model.
Personally I would go this route or just save up a bit longer until you can afford something in a G5 processor.
You can do light video editing using, Final Cut Express, iMovie or iDVD with a mini or an eMac well within your budget as long as you get a SuperDrive model.
Personally I would go this route or just save up a bit longer until you can afford something in a G5 processor.
ebay's got some dual g4's for 1000 on the dot and the single processors in the 800 dollar range--I'll give the emac thought, but not the mini
Lot's of good suggestions already.FF_productions said:
If you want to run X, agree with others about more RAM and HD space.
However, as others have suggested, getting a MacMini would be more cost effective.
With the MacMini, you get:
- Tiger
- iLife
- Much faster and quieter system.
- Must smaller and lighter as well.
- DVI (in case you want to use a digital montior in the future)
- Can upgrade to a Superdrive model (recommended)
- USB and Firewire built in.
- Can get Blue Tooth and WiFi if you want.
...and since Apple has switched to X, more future apps.
Plus, the G3 B&W is no longer supported, and since it is old, you have a higher risk of things going bad with it. Most Macs easily last 10 years. But ya never know. Power supplies go bad. Motherboards go bad. With a new MacMini you will be under warranty.
Having said all that, if you have a lot of software for OS 9, then maybe the G3 B&W is a better solution.
The G3 B&W can boot directly to OS 9 vice only being able to run OS 9 in Classic mode on the MacMini. It is for this reason, that I am currently keeping my Quicksilver 2002 (PowerMac G4/933).
Good luck in your decision.
Sushi
This might really help with your decision.
http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio
Final Cut Studio System Requirements
Macintosh computer with a PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) or G5 processor; HD features require 1GHz or faster single or dual processor; authoring of HD DVDs requires a PowerPC G5 processor.
512MB of physical RAM; HD features require 1GB of RAM or more (2GB recommended)
Mac OS X v10.3.9 or Mac OS X v10.4 (or later); Core Image Units and 16- and 32-bit float rendering in Motion 2 require Mac OS X v10.4 or later
Display with at least 1024 x 768 resolution
QuickTime 7 (or later)
DVD drive required for installation
DLT drive recommended for transporting projects on tape to a replicator (suggested for DVD-9 projects)
AGP Quartz Extreme graphics card
Motion 2 requires the standard graphics card found on any Power Mac G5 or iMac G5, a 1.25GHz or faster PowerBook G4 or a 1.25GHz or faster flat-panel iMac. Any of the following graphics cards is highly recommended: NVIDIA GeForce FX 6800 Ultra DDL, NVIDIA GeForce FX 6800 GT DDL (NV40), ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (RV M11), ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (R350) or ATI Radeon 9800 XT (R360).
4GB of disk space required to install all applications; additional 41GB required to install all optional templates, loops, content and tutorials (may be installed on separate disks)
Playback of HD DVDs authored in DVD Studio Pro 4 requires a PowerPC G5 processor, Mac OS X v10.4 and Apple DVD Player 4.6 (or later)
http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio
Final Cut Studio System Requirements
Macintosh computer with a PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) or G5 processor; HD features require 1GHz or faster single or dual processor; authoring of HD DVDs requires a PowerPC G5 processor.
512MB of physical RAM; HD features require 1GB of RAM or more (2GB recommended)
Mac OS X v10.3.9 or Mac OS X v10.4 (or later); Core Image Units and 16- and 32-bit float rendering in Motion 2 require Mac OS X v10.4 or later
Display with at least 1024 x 768 resolution
QuickTime 7 (or later)
DVD drive required for installation
DLT drive recommended for transporting projects on tape to a replicator (suggested for DVD-9 projects)
AGP Quartz Extreme graphics card
Motion 2 requires the standard graphics card found on any Power Mac G5 or iMac G5, a 1.25GHz or faster PowerBook G4 or a 1.25GHz or faster flat-panel iMac. Any of the following graphics cards is highly recommended: NVIDIA GeForce FX 6800 Ultra DDL, NVIDIA GeForce FX 6800 GT DDL (NV40), ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (RV M11), ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (R350) or ATI Radeon 9800 XT (R360).
4GB of disk space required to install all applications; additional 41GB required to install all optional templates, loops, content and tutorials (may be installed on separate disks)
Playback of HD DVDs authored in DVD Studio Pro 4 requires a PowerPC G5 processor, Mac OS X v10.4 and Apple DVD Player 4.6 (or later)
If you want to go the upgrade route, you can get a Sonnet Tech Encore/ZIP G4:FF_productions said:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/encore.html
The problem with upgrading the CPU, it that the rest of the computer is still what it was.
Sushi
i was just on the final cut website!! Im interested in a dual 867 mhz g4 tower, should it do the job? For what I've seen on ebay, the ram is 768 mb's to over 1.5 gb's of ram...Thanks for the advice everybody..The dual 1.4 ghz tower still is too expensive, 1000 dollars is the most i can/will spend...I'd get the Mac Mini in a second, but I wanna use the computer for editing video in fcp, as everyone knows, hence the reason i ditched premiere pro and came Back to the mac...
sushi said:
thats true, but i'll probably upgrade things like the graphics card, minor stuff... In a year or 2, I'll get a new machine, for now, a g4 tower will be my starting EDITING machine
You're still going to need OS 10.4 Tiger to support HD content and the Application itself runs $699 education.
None of us here want to see you make an expensive mistake.
IF.. you can find a DUAL 1.25 GHz G4 for under $1000, then you're probably O.K, but looking at the FCP5 system requirements really indicates that you should hang in there and wait till you can afford a G5 .
I really think you'll be much happier in the long run.
None of us here want to see you make an expensive mistake.
IF.. you can find a DUAL 1.25 GHz G4 for under $1000, then you're probably O.K, but looking at the FCP5 system requirements really indicates that you should hang in there and wait till you can afford a G5 .
I really think you'll be much happier in the long run.
yeah of course i don't want to get ripped off, im probably getting final cut pro 4 , and not final cut studio (or Fcp 5)..If I can find a good deal on a mac, I'll get it..for now I wait.
