[X4U] PowerMac recommendations

[Neil Laubenthal]

I would be a bit leery of buying a used machine for this; it's  
probably better to buy a new iMac (which will be more powerful by far  
than the G5 and plenty for what you want to do).

As a 'server' for file/print/common iTunes library . . . a mini would  
be more  than powerful enough for what you need . . . so you're really  
talking about how much power you need for Photoshop. Unless you're  
operating on files that are 100's of MB in size . . . an iMac is plenty.

You're actually filling two different needs here.

For the 'server' part . . . what you really need is decently quick  
drives (7200 rpm) and a GB or so of RAM.

For the Photoshop part . . . a  G5 is actually plenty fast for that .  
. . and the iMac is faster.

I would not recommend a Mac Pro for this as it's way overpowered for  
what you need and a lot more expensive.

If you've got external FW drives that you can use for data, backup,  
and Time Machine then there's no reason that the internal  
expandability of the tower is necessary.

If it came down to a used  G5 or a new iMac at roughly the same price  
. . . I think you'll be better served by the new machine. Load it up  
with RAM although check prices from OWC compared to Apple's RAM  
prices. Get the largest 7200 rpm drive you can.

The towers are more 'versatile' . . . but you have to ask yourself if  
the extra versatility provides anything useful to you. You can put  
extra drives in it . . .as well as more RAM. Drive space in FW drives  
is actually better IMO since you can easily move it around and  
although you can put more RAM in a Mac Pro or G5 you can certainly get  
enough in an iMac for your purposes (unless you're really doing high  
end video or extremely large Photoshop files) . . . or unless you're  
either a very high end gamer or you've already got that 40 inch LCD  
monitor laying around:-)







Quoting Matt Gregory <mattgregory33 at gmail.com>:

> 1) Do you think a PowerMac G5 is a good fit?
> 2) Are there any common problems and/or certain models that would be best to
> avoid?
> 3) Is there any particular model that stands out as a "sweet spot" in the
> line?
> 4) Do any particular model(s) include subtle features that really increase
> the bang-for-buck ratio?
> 5) Is there an end-of-life
>
> or
>
> a) Do the standard rules apply? : get the beefiest one you can find/afford.
>
> Thanks,
> matt.
>



-- 

There are only three kinds of stress . . .your basic nuclear stress, cooking
stress, and A$$ho1e stress. The key to relating them is . . . Jello.

neil