</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by phobic:
<strong>Just saw this upgrade -> <a href="http://www.sonnettech.com/osxpromo/default.html" target="_blank">http://www.sonnettech.com/osxpromo/default.html</a>
what do you think? is it worth it? or do you think it a better deal to buy maybe a used B&W G3 ( probly cost about the same as the upgrade)figuring I would also have to add a usb/firewire pci card to the 7300. oh yea and a better video card too. Is there a pci video card that will support quartz extreme
?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Hi Phobic,
It really depends on what you have invested in your current Mac (ie memory, peripherals, etc). Even if you did purchase a B&W, it would not support QE, either, since it requires at a minimum and AGP Mac, and a Radeon card. Either way you go (upgrading current, or buying a B&W G3), if your main use of your computer is internet, email, and word processing, then you should be fine.
Your link went to the main sonnet page, so not sure what the promotion was, but you can get either a G3 or G4 card for your current machine for between $99 to $299. You can either get separate cards for USB and FW for around $25-$30 EACH, OR SOMETIMES even find a combo card for around $30 (usually a little more). If you bought a B&W, chances are you would probably need to upgrade the memory... then you would have to install all of your software, upgrade the operating system (maybe), and tweak it to your satisfaction...
SO as you can see, there are pros and cons either way. I'd tend to stick with what I had and upgrade modestly, then when the time was right, do a full blown upgrade to a machine that supports my needs (you mentioned QE and jaguar). So instead of putting a lot into an upgrade, upgrade modestly and save for a new machine.
IMHO
dave