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ryarber · Aug 9, 2003, 04:59 PM

I currently have an iMac 17" at work and am doing a lot of stuff with iMovie.

I'm going to replace my Dell at home with a mac so that I can do my video editing at home on a mac. I might move to Final Cut Express eventually on the new machine if I can try it and I like it.

I'd like to go with more power than I can get in an iMac because the effects and transitions take a while to apply on my 1GHz iMac, and I already have an external 200GB LaCie hard drive attached. I'd like to have the ability to increase internal storage on a new machine.

I'm considering a dual G4 PowerMac, and a single 1.8 G5. Any thoughts?

What about monitors? I've heard people say lately that apple's studio monitors have been outdone by other companies recently and maybe I should consider getting another brand of monitor.

Thanks in advance.

Jeebs · Aug 9, 2003, 05:13 PM

I'd go with the G5 1.8 and an Apple 20" display. I have a 20" Formac 2010 monitor, but I think the Apple displays have a better picture for less money.

Superchicken · Aug 9, 2003, 05:15 PM

1.8Ghz would be more than fine for DV. I wouldn't recommend the Power Mac G4s, they're simply not future proof any more.
As for displays, yeah the big major advantage of getting an Apple Display used to be you over payed but at least they looked cool like your tower, now they look weird with a tower so I'd go with somethingby samsung if I were you... or a sony or something else.

Jeebs · Aug 9, 2003, 05:17 PM

... also, the dual G4 now sells for $3,274.00!

derekn · Aug 9, 2003, 05:22 PM

The G5 is nice and will be very speedy for video editing, but you'll need a lot of space. The G5 only has the two serial ata bays whereas the PowerMac has 4 3.5 inch ATA bays. If you're willing to just work with external hard drives a G5 should be okay, if you'd prefer all internal though, G4.

I'd be tempted to get the G5 too, but I know the video editing takes up a lot of space. One step forward and another step or two backwards in that regard with the G5.

The dual 1.2Ghz G4 is only $1600 now I believe.

DBvader · Aug 9, 2003, 05:26 PM

i own a Dual G4, and its a great machine. But, if i were in your position, i would really look into the G5. honestly, without any optimizations in the OS, its already running great. imagine what were going to see in the future, when more and more apps are optimized for the processor. personally, i wouldnt want to get anything a gen behind, so if you have the money get the G5.

ryarber · Aug 9, 2003, 05:41 PM

Originally posted by derekn:
The G5 is nice and will be very speedy for video editing, but you'll need a lot of space. The G5 only has the two serial ata bays whereas the PowerMac has 4 3.5 inch ATA bays. If you're willing to just work with external hard drives a G5 should be okay, if you'd prefer all internal though, G4.

I'd be tempted to get the G5 too, but I know the video editing takes up a lot of space. One step forward and another step or two backwards in that regard with the G5.

The dual 1.2Ghz G4 is only $1600 now I believe.

The Dual G4 has gone down. You can get a dual 1.25 that boots Mac OS 9 for $1272.15 plus 512 MB Ram and a free Piece of $#!+ printer from Mac Warehouse. But that only has a 80GB HD and a combo drive. You can get a Dual 1.42 with a superdrive, Radeon 9000, and 120GB HD for $2400 plus the 512MB RAM and the POS printer.

That is comparable to the single 1.8 G5. They also have the 20" apple monitor now with some free speakers including a subwoofer.

It really doesn't make any difference to me the look of the tower versus the look of the monitor. My desk has a place to put a tower in it and the tower won't be out where you can see it. The only thing that will be visible will be the monitor.