iMac or Mac Pro

[RogerS]

Here's the dilemma. My G4 is starting to get a bit long in the tooth and so seriously need to start thinking about a replacement.

Thing is which one to go for? I really have a hankering for a Mac Pro since it offers the capability of future proofing compared to the iMac. Over the lifetime of the G4, I've added more memory, a DVD burner and a second hard drive. The performance (especially at the top end is also better (2x or so) than the iMac. But the price :? Even buying secondhand you're still looking at best part of £1400-1500.

So what do other Apple users have?

 

[kityuser]

So what do other Apple users have?

empty wallet :?

Biggest question has to be what are you intending on using it for?

Steve

 

[RogerS]

:lol: There's the rub. At the moment only web stuff, very little photography, no 3D, no iMovie .....but I might do in the future...some audio processing of MP3 ...but only trimming recordings down to length. So an iMac would probably suffice...but then on the other hand... :?

 

[milkman]

I moved from a G4 tower to a MacBook Pro and its ace. You can hook it up to your old monitor if you need xtra screen area, its quiet and I can shift into the kitchen when my wife's working at home.
It has been more than enough for the photography, homevideo, CAD and publishing I do.
Only criticism is the keyboard. Get dropped letters all the time. My wife's MacBook has a much nicer keyboard, but this laptop is a year or two old so things might have changed.

 

[kityuser]

I'd suggest either a macbook (pro or normal) or an imac.

Unless you are doing serious number crunching the tower would be an overkill.

of course theres the mini as well, worth considering.....

Steve

 

[RogerS]

The MacBook Pro is out if the equation as disc size is too small ..I also need a couple of firewire ports and so need to check that out. Maybe an iMac...certainly cheaper than the Mac Pro and as it looks as if I've spent my pennies on something very big and very heavy, I may have to go down that route. Must check the connectivity as currently I have one external drive connected as my SuperDuper backup and a second drive as Time Machine backup.[/b]

mini? You jest :wink:

 

[Blister]

I am happy with my IMac

does what I want it to do 8)

 

[kityuser]

The MacBook Pro is out if the equation as disc size is too small ..I also need a couple of firewire ports and so need to check that out. Maybe an iMac...certainly cheaper than the Mac Pro and as it looks as if I've spent my pennies on something very big and very heavy, I may have to go down that route. Must check the connectivity as currently I have one external drive connected as my SuperDuper backup and a second drive as Time Machine backup.[/b]

mini? You jest :wink:

my mini is the bees knees!!!

My suggestion would be iMac , best you can afford

Steve

 

[slemishwoodcrafts]

yea, i'd go for the the iMac. IMO the Mac Pro is really only necessary for high demand video/music/photo editing. The level of spec you can get with an iMac is very good, for the money you would pay for a bog standard Mac Pro.


michael

 

[Gower]

:lol: There's the rub. At the moment only web stuff, very little photography, no 3D, no iMovie .....but I might do in the future...some audio processing of MP3 ...but only trimming recordings down to length. So an iMac would probably suffice...but then on the other hand... :?

I think you've already made up your mind Roger and you want us to assuage your guilt.

Cheers,
Jim

 

[BigShot]

I really really really REALLY don't want to kick off the usual fanboy mud-slinging here...
...but is there a particular reason you're after a mac?

If price is an issue I might be more tempted to go with a Windows or Linux based laptop. (Personally I'd lean towards Linux)
The main issue I have with Apple gear is the price, you do get some bloody good hardware and the OS works pretty well seamlessly with it which isn't to be sniffed at, but it really is pricey stuff. I have a few gripes with the OS but that's such a personal thing it isn't even worth mentioning what I dislike about it here.

Web stuff, mp3 editing of the kind you describe and photography would all be well within the reach of any machine.

If you're used to using MacOS and want to stick with that then go right ahead and get an Apple, but if you're open to change you could save a good amount of money going with a non-apple and bunging Linux (or Windows if you've got an irrational fear of Linux - which isn't unusual) and still get a pretty decent new toy.

Me? I'd love a Mac, though I'm more taken with Linux than either Windows or MacOS. In fact - I'm still trying to persuade my sister to let me have her old Mac - no joy yet though.

 

[RogerS]

I really really really REALLY don't want to kick off the usual fanboy mud-slinging here...
...but is there a particular reason you're after a mac?

.........

Shall I tell him or will you :wink:

I'm a hardened Macophile from when they first came out. Where I worked, I persuaded them to buy the new Mac for use in the office. A couple of years later I moved to a different subsidiary using Wordstar and no GUI. I thought my hands had been cut off! I've endured with PCs for a living - as in IT. I prefer the Mac and like the seamless software and I like the build quality. I don't like to have to worry about viruses etc. Nuff said !

Too old to start fussing about Linux. I've had an unopened copy of SuSE Linux sitting on my bookshelf for...ooh..10 years?

 

[kityuser]

I really really really REALLY don't want to kick off the usual fanboy mud-slinging here...
...but is there a particular reason you're after a mac?

.........

Shall I tell him or will you :wink:

I'm a hardened Macophile from when they first came out. Where I worked, I persuaded them to buy the new Mac for use in the office. A couple of years later I moved to a different subsidiary using Wordstar and no GUI. I thought my hands had been cut off! I've endured with PCs for a living - as in IT. I prefer the Mac and like the seamless software and I like the build quality. I don't like to have to worry about viruses etc. Nuff said !

Too old to start fussing about Linux. I've had an unopened copy of SuSE Linux sitting on my bookshelf for...ooh..10 years?

things have moved on in ten years!!, grab a liveimage and have a play, 700meg download and a 20p blank cd, nothing to loose as you don't have to install it and it can be run straight from the disk, give it a try, you'll be surprised.

what most people DON'T do is compare the same quality LCDs with the apple products, both Imacs and macbooks have very good (expensive) quality displays which you won't get on a £300 dell laptop. To most people this won't be an issue, but its bloody annoying when people (generally on IT forums) state that apple hardware is expensive and then compare apples with oranges.

cash at the ready, Imac would be the way to go, then you can even play with linux and windows in a VM machine.

one tip is that apple ram is expensive, 3rd party upgrades are the way to go.....
(or so I've found in the past)


Steve

 

[BigShot]

Haha - Roger, when I said "If you're used to MacOS" I didn't think you'd be quite THAT used to it.

That said, and don't take any of this as anti-mac, cos I'm not, but it's worth a mention...

I first used openSuSE at 10.1 or 2 and the difference between that and 10.3 was stark to say the least. 11.0 was even more impressive.
I used Linux (or was it Unix - I can't remember now) when I made a brief attempt at enduring the crushing boredom of a university computer science degree and bloody hated it. Now though, things are very different.

I can't imagine I'd have been too keen on the idea of dropping the GUI either to be honest. Text interfaces really can knock spots off a GUI at SOME things, but even then I like my mouse and clicky things on a screen! Haha.

I'd agree with Kityuser, even if just for fun you might want to have a play with a Linux live disk. http://software.opensuse.org has the (now fairly mature) 11.1 available as a live disk, and there's a chance the PowerPC one will work on some of your Apple hardware.
If you have a half decent PC around, try the Gnome version of the LiveCD as it's probably a bit closer to MacOS - KDE is a bit more windows-esque (the underlying operating system is identical in both).

As kityuser said, you might be surprised.

Whatever happens, good luck with your next Mac, I can't imagine you'll be changing now but you never know, Linux is pretty sweet these days (and has the same non-issue with viruses as the Mac does too).


I'd agree too that most PCs come with mega low resolution screens when compared to Macs. I upgraded my laptop (17" widescreen) to a 1920x1200 when I bought it and the clarity is mind-blowing. It did bump the price up a fair bit though. I had a few funny moments when Mac die-hards tried to mock me for having a PC and then their jaws dropped when I fired it up to show them. I'm not a fanboy for either side, but I do enjoy making the zealots look silly when they say stupid things.

I've gotta stop thinking about this now though - not only do I need to get back to work, but I'm getting green with envy - I'd love a new mac right now!

 

[kityuser]

but I'm getting green with envy - I'd love a new mac right now!

so would I, lucky git.

I spend my entire life (it seems) limping old kit on, infact I even end up getting other peoples cast offs when they buy new kit, and most of the time even the cast offs are better than what I`m currently using.

just goes to show you can still run a system on a budget. (even macs )


Steve

 

[RogerS]

Useful trip out this morning. Abandonig my principles I popped into PC World and took a look at the iMac. SWMBO has a 20" iMac and I'd thought that I needed to have the bigger screen. But after looking at the 24" screen, it does seem a bit 'in your face'.

 

[RogerS]

More research. Listened to other views on the Mac forums and so decision made.

24" iMac especially as it can display 1080p HD quite nicely. There's a nice refurb jobbie on the Apple store so will have a decko at that.

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. Oh...can't wait to open the box and breathe in that lovely 'new Apple' smell :lol:

 

[Gower]

Well done Roger. Decision made. Reading the various posts has made me want to try a Mac just to find out what you folk are on about. Having used PC's since the 8086 days and DOS, maybe I've left it a bit late. What do you think a 2nd. hand iMac of reasonable spec should set me back and where, apart from Ebay, should I look.? Just a thought.
Cheers,
Jim

 

[RogerS]

Hi Jim

All depends on what you want it for. And your budget! There's this one on ebay at the moment...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/APPLE-IMAC-IN...s_CV?hash=item45edb99358&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

[BigShot]

Gower
Be prepared for a very different way of working.

Whenever I sit at a Mac I get a feeling like when you try to write with the wrong hand or drive a left hand drive car or something.

You've got to get way outside the "windows" mindset to get on with MacOS.