[piece]

I'm asking this on behalf of a friend, as I don't know much about Macs, but have a good knowledge of computer hardware.

Anyway... my friend is looking to purchase a Mac primarily for the use of Final Cut Pro. Her options, as constrained by Australian prices, are a single processor G5 or a dual processor G4. I don't know the speeds of the processors, only that the machines have comparable price tags. Which machine would be best for Final Cut Pro? The G5 or the dual G4?

Googling has informed me that a single processor G5 is better than a single processor G4, ditto for dual configurations. This doesn't come as a surprise, nor is it terribly helpful in these circumstances.

Searching through this forum seems to indicate that a single processor G5 might be the way to go, as multitasking is not (as far as I understand) a big priority. The reasoning behind this is that the increased bus bandwidth allows for more effective CPU utilisation, and would be of distinct advantage in an application such as Final Cut Pro.

Any and all assistance is appreciated.

[jeffs7364]

I don't know about FCP being MP aware or not, but some of the newest numbers I saw this morning on bare feats showed that the MP G4's more than held their own against the new SP G5's (beat the crap out of 'em for the most part) for dual aware applications. I was thinking which to go for too these days and it's looking like more and more that dual is the way to go--either G4 on the cheap or G5 for the long haul. My last mac was the SP 1Ghz which replaced a DP800. Let me tell you there wasn't any comparison...I wished for that DP800 back all the while. I think for video, the dual may be the best option--some of the video users out there may have more to help you out.

[Cipher13]

Dual processors will greatly benefit Final Cut Pro. I do not know whether the advantage of the dual processors will be offset by the slow bus speed, compared to the G5.

[Hydra]

Check out the 2-pop boards - they have some very preliminary results of rendering tests and the single 1.6 G5 was about dead even with the previous top of the line dual 1.42 G4. I know it is just one test but FCP is Apple's baby and if they can't make the G5 sing with FCP then nobody can. This test falls in line with FCP RT DV script which rates the G5 1.6 one notch above the dual 1.42. Rendering on FCP is most definately MP aware and if the single G5 is capable of holding its own against a fast dual G4 then it should be faster overall. The thing that amazed me was the G5 only had 256MB RAM - on my dual G4 FCP would crawl with so little.

http://www.2-pop.com/ubbthreads/

-Jerry C.

[piece]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I'll recommend that my friend get a G5 as it will have better overall performance and is close enough to a DP G4 in FCP that its hard to justify getting the older technology even though it is dual processor. The architectural limitations of the G4 throttle its performance so much in comparison to the sheer bandwidth present within the G5 architecture.