Recommendations for a future purchase

The Memory Hole

The Memory Hole

Ingsoc
Hello.
I am thinking about purchasing a new Mac, however, I am not sure what to purchase. I was wondering if a high-end G4 is better or equivalent to a low-end G5. Also, does anyone know if the Power Mac G4 has USB 2.0... or does it have an earlier version of USB?

These are the specifications of the Macs I am considering. I really want to know which would give me more for my money. Should I purchase a Power Mac G4 with the following specifications:
Dual 1.25GHz
1GB RAM
160GB HD
SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium (128MB DDR)
for $2,124

or should I purchase a Power Mac G5 with the following specifications:
Dual 1.8GHz
512 RAM
160GB HD
SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL
for $2,674 (!).

Thanks for your help, and if you need anymore information, please let me know.

Just so you know, I will primarily be using this computer for school work, video and photo editing, and maybe a few games (Halo and BF 1942 especially) here and there.
 
Either one would suit you fine. The G4 comes with 2 USB 1.1 (12 MBits)ports. The G5 comes with 3 USB 2.0 (480 Mbps).

The G5 comes with 24-bit optical digital audio in & out and analog audio in & out.

The G4 comes with 16 bit stereo mini jack for sound in and 2 - 24 bit stereo audio out jacks.

With this in mind you should buy the one that fits your need for your video projects.

Remember that those prices do not include a monitor.
 
I suggest you look to the G5. The options you have set the G5 up with are MORE than worth $550 in the long run. More ram is always good, but you can add more ram afterwards from other suppliers, and they do not have the high prices of genuine "apple" ram. Check out the apple website on the G5, i believe they have a comparison of a g5 and a g4 (along with some PCs) in stuff like video processing.
 
You will definitely notice more speed increase from RAM than the processor, when comparing the two computers, so I would recommend the G4 unless you absolutely have to have the newest computer out there. You can upgrade your PCI card in the G4 to 24 bit (I think), and it's cheaper to start… :)
 
I don't think the price for the Dual G4 is correct. For my taste it's way too expensive. You can get much cheaper ones with the same features. However, when you compare these given systems the G5 is definitely the better choice. I am very sure it will suit your needs for gaming as well. And as Natobasso mentioned: you should increase the ram after the purchase (which is always cheaper). It's like you bought a Ferrari with 15inch wheels and tiny tires..
 
So, you'll save $500 with the G4. Think of all the things you can do with that money, like buy a better monitor, buy an X-Box (better for games than a G5 anyway), go on vacation, etc., etc.
 
Personally, I would go for the G5....right now, even the lowest model is dual processor, so if you are doing lot of multimedia stuff and maybe some gaming on the side you won't notice your system bogging down as much since the tasks are divied up amongst the two processors (assuming the apps have the support for the dual processors....most applications on the Mac nowadays try and make use of the SMP on current Macs).

Other than the processors and their 64-bit goodness, you will also get USB 2.0, FireWire 800, Serial ATA, and a much faster system bus than with the G4. (I have a friend who wasn't able to use an entire 250 GB ATA-133 hard drive on his 867 Quicksilver G4 since his built-in controller was only ATA-66. He had to go and spend $$ on an ATA-133 controller card.)
 
I thank you all for your ideas and recommendations. Although the money I could save with a G4, I think I am going to get the G5, and then eventually just max out the RAM.

Thanks again for your suggestions.
 
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