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SpoonEK2 · Oct 9, 2003, 11:39 PM

My story so far:

I ordered a dual boot G4 1.25 dual processor on 9/24 and had an OOB date of 10/8. Expecting the machine to get here on time, I ordered 1.5GB of Crucial PC2700 RAM to install in the machine after I receive it. Low and behold, at 5p.m. yesterday, I received an email from Apple saying that my machine will ship OOB 10/23! So I called and they let me cancel (which obviously means that my CTO G4 hadn't even begun production!) and I told the sales guy that I would reorder to take advantage of the Panther Up-to-Date program. The rep said that even though my G4 hadn't shipped yet, I would not be eligible for the $20 upgrade because I ordered on 9/24. He told me my options were to reorder or buy Panther for $129. So I cancelled.

My plans were to make a FCE/FCP box with 2 WD1200JB harddrives for media and 2GB of RAM. I had the drives and (most of) the RAM and even bought a 19" Mitsu CRT thinking the machine would show up in time. Now, my dilemma is if I should just reorder the G4, or wait until Panther is out and order a 1.8 G5 sometime in November. If I do that, I'd have to sell one of my Western Digitals, exchange my RAM, get a firewire enclosue for the other Western Digital, and buy a SATA drive. On top of that, it would be a more expensive machine. So as my first post, I'm asking what I should do.

As a side note, do you think Apple will ship all new systems (including the G4's) with Panther starting Oct. 24? If that's the case, I might as well wait on reordering the G4 if that's what the decision comes down to...

Andy

idyll · Oct 9, 2003, 11:54 PM

It's a choice you have to make.

Benchmarks show that the 1.8 G5 is 10 seconds ahead of the dual G4 in some instances and does even better in others. If you're going to be working in FCP those seconds will turn into minutes (or hours

). Final Cut Pro 4 is optimized for the G5 so you'll get better results overall than you would on a G4.

Benchmarks
http://www.barefeats.com/pentium4.html

Whether those seconds, minutes, or whatever they may be are worth the extra $$$ is up to you. Another thing to keep in mind is that the G5 would outlast the G4, no matter what. So if you're buying for the future, might as well get the G5.

Disgruntled Head of C-3PO · Oct 10, 2003, 12:08 AM

Never mind the 10% faster, the G5 is cooler and sexier, quieter, plus newer. Get the G5.

rhogue islander · Oct 10, 2003, 08:24 AM

I think that in most instances the Dual G4 will beat the single G5's during cpu intensive tasks in FCP, which is heavily optimized for dual processors.

You also have already purchased ram and parallel ATA drives which will not work in a G5. Not to mention that you can fit more (4 vs 2) drives in the G4 case.

I would go here and consider one of these ready to go G4's. They have quite a few different configurations : http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x...g101/wag10001/

awcopus · Oct 10, 2003, 08:44 AM

Literally played with Final Cut Pro 4 on a 1.8 G5 yesterday, and own a dual 1.4.

1. The speed of rendering in the app feels slightly faster, but only slightly. What does not feel faster on the G5 is doing anything else in the Finder or in other apps while the G5 is tackling an FCP render. The dual is a much better option.

2. If you're a video editor, being on the bleeding edge is less important to you than working with a rock solid stable and reliable system. The G4 offers that. The G5 isn't quite there yet according to the guru at B&H and people posting at lafcpug.org.

I say go for the dual G4 at the best price you can find. Smalldog is where I bought mine and I was very happy with the purchase.

Let Apple iron out compatibility issues with the G5 running Panther running FCP apps and jump on a G5 12-18 months from now.

MacNStein · Oct 10, 2003, 11:04 AM

Originally posted by SpoonEK2:
My story so far:

I ordered a dual boot G4 1.25 dual processor on 9/24 and had an OOB date of 10/8. Expecting the machine to get here on time, I ordered 1.5GB of Crucial PC2700 RAM to install in the machine after I receive it. Low and behold, at 5p.m. yesterday, I received an email from Apple saying that my machine will ship OOB 10/23! So I called and they let me cancel (which obviously means that my CTO G4 hadn't even begun production!) and I told the sales guy that I would reorder to take advantage of the Panther Up-to-Date program. The rep said that even though my G4 hadn't shipped yet, I would not be eligible for the $20 upgrade because I ordered on 9/24. He told me my options were to reorder or buy Panther for $129. So I cancelled.

My plans were to make a FCE/FCP box with 2 WD1200JB harddrives for media and 2GB of RAM. I had the drives and (most of) the RAM and even bought a 19" Mitsu CRT thinking the machine would show up in time. Now, my dilemma is if I should just reorder the G4, or wait until Panther is out and order a 1.8 G5 sometime in November. If I do that, I'd have to sell one of my Western Digitals, exchange my RAM, get a firewire enclosue for the other Western Digital, and buy a SATA drive. On top of that, it would be a more expensive machine. So as my first post, I'm asking what I should do.

As a side note, do you think Apple will ship all new systems (including the G4's) with Panther starting Oct. 24? If that's the case, I might as well wait on reordering the G4 if that's what the decision comes down to...

Andy

I got a dual 1.42 for an awesome price and am absolutely thrilled with it. I'd much rather have it over any single CPU G5. Currently I'm sitting back waiting for the dual 3-3.5GHz machines next year.

The Placid Casual · Oct 10, 2003, 11:18 AM

G5, even for nothing else other than future resale value...

Having used both, I'd go for the G5 in a heart beat.

Peace,

Marc

SalBaker · Oct 10, 2003, 12:02 PM

Originally posted by awcopus:
2. If you're a video editor, being on the bleeding edge is less important to you than working with a rock solid stable and reliable system. The G4 offers that. The G5 isn't quite there yet according to the guru at B&H and people posting at lafcpug.org.

I don't think this is quite fair. I went to lafcpug.org and found that the very few G5 posts I could find reported problems that were not determined to be G5 specific. Some forum members stated they had the same problem on their G4 with FCP 4. Plus there are more serious reports of problems with FCP on G4's, so I wouldn't use this to state that "the G5 isn't quite there yet."

scottiB · Oct 10, 2003, 12:43 PM

It's a tough call. While I agree that a DP 1.42 G4 currently equals and/or tops a 1.6 or 1.8 G5 in certain tasks emphasizing dual processors, most of the test I've seen haven't been with the G5 (or G4) running Panther nor a G5-optimized version of FCP--which is undestandable.

Bare Feats has posted this disclaimer:

Meanwhile, here's some data on the speed increase that OS X "Panther" (10.3) will provide G5 owners once it's released. We ran Xbench 1.1 on a G5 1.8GHz with 10.3 beta build 7B49. Compared to 10.2.7 "Jaguar"....
....CPU score increased 40%
....Thread score increased 44%
....Memory score increased 38%

Will the G4 gain as much? We don't know but will post results when we get them.

Now, there's every possibility that a DP G4 will gain performance, as well, with 10.3, but will it be as much? Will a G5-enhanced FCP release provide more speed?

I guess I'm saying (and probably murking up the decision further), we pretty much know how fast a G4 is, but we haven't seen, yet, what a G5 (either SP or DP) can do.