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68shelbymustang · Feb 15, 2006, 08:29 PM

I'm to the point I really need to buy a new Mac. My G4 800 has served me well, but is getting super sluggish & I'm ready. I also have an emac 800 G4 that my wife & daughter use for email, web, etc.

I am a graphic deisgner & do a TON of work in Photoshop CS and Indesign. I produce Hi Res billboards using PS resulting in very large files. I also use Acrobat and Illustrator farily heavy. Using classic (or OS9) is also a must for me. I simply refuse to rid myself of some great programs of the past (Typestyler, Graphing programs, and several others). I have many print ads in Pagemaker that are "not so easy" to convert to Indesign. To keep my customers' cost down, I think it would be easier to continue to use these files for some time down the road.

I do not mind at all investing in a new Quad G5. My question is would I see enough difference in productivity to justify the cost. And does a quad help at all with the classic environment?

Would the lowest 2.0 Dual Core G5 loaded up with Ram and Hard Drive space serve my needs just as well? I want the new Mac to last me several good years just as the last one has done.

Any advice would be appreciated.

mduell · Feb 15, 2006, 08:37 PM

A quad doesn't really help with classic much.
The 2.0 or the 2.3 with gobs of RAM would be good for you, but since it sounds like you keep machines pretty long, a quad may not be a bad idea (you can easily add more RAM, upgrading the CPUs may not be possible).

Todd Madson · Feb 15, 2006, 10:05 PM

Let's just say - ANY dual G5 will run classic fast but the faster the machine, the better
that classic will run. I'm running a DP2.5 and I can run my old graphics apps (I still use
old Pagemaker, Quark and Photoshop from pre OS X days because of this). I'm thinking
that yes, you would get good use out of a Quad but perhaps a dual 2.7 might be better
for your purposes.

And yes, you'll notice a difference. I had a G4/400 for SIX YEARS and replaced it last
June and wished I hadn't waited so long. You'll wonder how you did anything!

imitchellg5 · Mar 2, 2006, 08:17 PM

I would get a loaded dual core. While Creative Suite is processor intensive, the Quad's advantage is only really seen under very heavy processor loads, so I would go with a 2.0 or 2.3 dual core.

mountainash · Mar 24, 2006, 11:24 AM

I think a dual core (or even an older dual cpu) would represent better value. Generally you pay a premium for the top model.

The G5 PowerMac won't boot into classic, so you should check that your apps will run under classic on OSX. A decent dealer will let you check this out on a PowerMac G5.