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HSbulldawg · Oct 22, 2007, 12:49 AM

I don't have a very big fund to drop on a new system right now. I currently have a G4 Quicksilver 933mhz, and happy with it. Would upgrading it to Newer Technology MAXPower G4/7447A Dual 1.... (MAXG47D1600) at OWC
be worth it? Or should I go mid to high end G5 or a Mac Mini? I would like to keep all cost under $800. What could I expect to pay for a mid range G5 these days? I do light to moderate photoshop work, light gaming and light to moderate video encoding and alot of web browsing. Wasn't sure if that $400 upgrade to the dual 1.6ghz was worth it.

Thanks

zacharykrannert · Oct 22, 2007, 03:12 PM

i would personally want to get off the G4 and G5 and get an intel processor. i would grab a mini if thats what your budget can handle

Big Mac · Oct 22, 2007, 04:02 PM

It really depends on what you want to do and what your hardware requirements are. An Intel mini may make more sense like the previous poster pointed out, but then again it may not. Can you give us some additional details?

HSbulldawg · Oct 22, 2007, 04:50 PM

Well, the G4 was one of the big reasons I really liked the Mac years ago. I can't see paying $2,600 for a intel PM when my wife just bought a smokin intel Dell laptop for a grand and it does everything, 2gig memory, 160gig HD, 2ghz core duo processor, etc. My quicksilver does what I like nicely (which i stated above), but could always use a bit extra speed and power, but the extra speed and power boost isn't worth over $800 to me right now. So a Mac mini will beat out the dual G5 in pretty much all areas? Doubt I could find a dual G5 under $700-800??

bowwowman · Oct 23, 2007, 08:06 AM

Well, is your G4 otherwise maxed out ? If not, then....

Maxing da ram would be (and always is) the least expensive but most effective way to improve performance.

Next would be having/getting some big fast hard drives, possibly even SATA ones with a controller card. These are significantly faster than IDE drives and about the same or less cost right now. Since you do Photoshop work, having a second drive to use as a scratch disk will give you a good speed boost there also. Another lesser known fact is that most SATA cards take over the I/O bus control functions from the CPU, freeing up some processing cycles for other tasks, giving you another bit of performance increase as opposed to using IDE drives & the mobo controller........

Also, keeping your system caches, temp files, log files, fonts and plists clean & lean will optimize things from a software/OS side of things, which will help as well. Be certain that you have at least 10-20% of the HD empty, since OS X uses this space as Virtual memory and will slow down considerably if it becomes cramped.......

To go from a 933 to a DUAL 1.6 would yield considerable raw speed increases, but for less $$ than that upgrade card will cost, you could easily do ALL of the above things 1st and see if it improves things enough to satisfy your needs. If not, then you could get the upgrade & still have spent less than $800

Of course these upgrade steps are only valid if you plan on keeping this machine for a while and have no plans to switch to an macintel anytime soon................

HSbulldawg · Oct 23, 2007, 06:10 PM

While were on that subject, were is the best place to get about another gig of RAM? Crucial is the only place I know of that's good, but are there any others that are as good and cheaper?

bowwowman · Oct 24, 2007, 07:22 PM

take your pick......online or off, just be sure to get 2x 512mb PC-133 SDRAM, 168pin, 8ns or faster.
macsales.com & datamemorysystems.com are 2 really good places that I have bought several TB's of ram from over the past 8 yrs or so...............just shop around for the best price, mac compatibility & lifetime replacement guarentees.....

SierraDragon · 01:38 PM

Wait! New MPs are overdue and the Mac landscape including pricing at all levels will change. Most expect mid-November, NLT Mac Expo January. We may even see new Minis. After the new boxes shake out then optimizing a new lower-end box can best be discussed.

IMO upgrading older legacy-architecture boxes is generally unwise when all apps are developing for MacIntel now, and what one gets for the money new keeps improving. One the face of it today I would recommend a Mini for your described needs, but wait!

Buying RAM I recommend against discounters like NewEgg. Find the latest Performance Upgrades, Firewire and USB Hard Drives, SATA, Memory, Laptop Battery, and more at OWC has always been good and they provide excellent presales tech support. However since your budget is limited and your box is working now I would not put any $ into the existing old box, even for RAM. I would wait, saving it all to move to MacIntel and then add RAM to the new MacIntel box. Note that performance on MacIntel will demand more RAM than you are accustomed to on G4.

-Allen Wicks

P.S. In addition to a C2D Macbook Pro I also use a G4 tower daily and I am waiting...

P.P.S. On a (very general) historical basis immediately after Mac Expo SF in early January is about the best time to buy new hardware.

Podolsky · Oct 31, 2007, 09:29 PM

Great advice was given, I have nothing major to add except that i recently bought a refured Mac Pro and it cam with 2 extra gigs of ram - all tolled, I saved $700 off what the same exact machine would have been as a BTO. So, I would just point you towards the refurbed intel-based Mac Pros. If the Mac Pros are indeed being updated, expect a lot of inventory to hit this the refurbed link (The Apple Store (U.S.)) at the Apple Store.

ninahagen · 01:22 AM

Within the link Podolsky provided, there is a sweet deal on a nice Mini at $679:

The Apple Store (U.S.) - Refurbished Mac mini 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Max out the RAM with OWC or Crucial...

...and you have about $800 spent on a machine which will blow away your current machine, and run rings around all G5s except loaded 2.5 Quads, and it will even edge those in many areas. I mean the improvement from your current machine will be simply breathtaking.

SierraDragon · Nov 2, 2007, 11:34 AM

Yup, refurbs are a great idea (except IMO for displays, which deteriorate with age). Whenever I buy Macs I first look to see if a refurb is available that meets the specific application.

-Allen Wicks