[MiniMac]

Would any of these applications benefit significantly from a dual 1.25 PowerMac vs a single 1.25 PowerMac?

I know that FCP and Photoshop are geared for a dual processor setup...just curious about the OSX apps.

Also, would any benefit derive from the DVD burning process itself?

[DeathMan]

iDVD could be burning in the background on one CPU, and you can be doing something else in the foreground.

iMovie could be rendering transitions, and you could be creating your background for your DVD in photoshop, or making your menus in iDVD.

I'd say you'd benefit, yeah.

[Hydra]

I believe iMovie supports MP but I could be wrong. iDVD encoding is most definitely sped up with another processor. iPhoto seems far more responsive on my dual 800 than my bro's iMac 1 GHz. As far as iDVD burning, I think it gives you additional headroom to do other things while burning a DVD as stated above by DeathMan. I have never just let my computer sit there and burn a DVD and not do anything else. I'm usually surfing or listening to iTunes or the like and after burning 3-4 dozen DVD's in the last 2 years or so I have only ever made ONE coaster.

On a side note a friend of mine with a very nice and expensive 2.8 GHz P4 SONY VAIO has burned THREE working DVD's and over a dozen coasters - he owns a dual PowerMac now


-Jerry C.

[Macpilot]

Originally posted by MiniMac:
Would any of these applications benefit significantly from a dual 1.25 PowerMac vs a single 1.25 PowerMac?

I didn't know they made a 1.25 SP PowerMac?

If they do, the answer is yes. I had a dual 867 and it was very fast. You would probably notice the difference only when multitasking between several apps.

I am not sure that any of those apps utililize the Velocity engine in the G4 or take advantage of Duallies, but OS X would surely take advantage of the duallies and you would notice this when multitasking big time.

There are great deals now on the previous gen PowerMacs.

[proton]

Originally posted by MiniMac:
Also, would any benefit derive from the DVD burning process itself?

The DVD burning process (after the DVD is encoded) is limited by the speed of your DVD burner, not your CPU.

- proton

[MiniMac]

Originally posted by Macpilot:
I didn't know they made a 1.25 SP PowerMac?

If they do, the answer is yes. I had a dual 867 and it was very fast. You would probably notice the difference only when multitasking between several apps.

I am not sure that any of those apps utililize the Velocity engine in the G4 or take advantage of Duallies, but OS X would surely take advantage of the duallies and you would notice this when multitasking big time.

There are great deals now on the previous gen PowerMacs.

I actually have one of the 1.25 singles on order right now and I have been considering changing it to a dual 1.25 but I am wondering if that really would be overkill for my needs.

These applications are as about as intense as I'll ever get and I really don't multitask to any huge degree. As a rule I usually have mail and iCal open in the background while surfing or working in iPhoto and that's about the extent of it (sometimes I'll be listening to iTunes). Once in a while when the creative mood hits I'll open up Photoshop.

It's another $300.00 to go dual, which is one hesitation, and the other is that I still read about issues with fan noise and instability problems with the duals.

Any comments/advice is more than welcome!

[Cadaver]

Originally posted by MiniMac:
I actually have one of the 1.25 singles on order right now and I have been considering changing it to a dual 1.25 but I am wondering if that really would be overkill for my needs.

These applications are as about as intense as I'll ever get and I really don't multitask to any huge degree. As a rule I usually have mail and iCal open in the background while surfing or working in iPhoto and that's about the extent of it (sometimes I'll be listening to iTunes). Once in a while when the creative mood hits I'll open up Photoshop.

It's another $300.00 to go dual, which is one hesitation, and the other is that I still read about issues with fan noise and instability problems with the duals.

Any comments/advice is more than welcome!

While dual processor systems generate more heat, I don't think there are any stability issues with Apple's single- vs. dual-processor systems. My G4 Dual 800MHz crashed a grand total of twice in the 2 years I had it.