Help on getting a Mac for the first time.

[KevinAr18]

I have a friend who needs to get a new computer. He wants a Mac because the program he wants to use only works on the Mac.

Anyways, I have several questions.
1) Is there any places that do comparisons between the latest PC systems and Mac systems to see how they perform? I've looked but could only find either long outdated comparisons or ones that were really of no use (aka only compare one area such as Photoshop or some non-important benchmark).

2) He wants to do Digital Video editing. I would have a general idea what I could get him for the PC (based on price), but for the Mac I'm not sure.
The dual 867 and 1GHZ G4 looked interesting, but I have no idea how well a Mac is able to handle dual processors and thread things. Also, they only have 256 MB of RAM and one uses a Geforce 4 card. If it was a PC system I would recommend 512MB or 1GB if I could get it. BTW, the program is "Final Cut Pro". Any recommendations on a system? He has $1,000 saved so far.

3) Guess this is most important. Is there any cheaper places to get a Mac other than the Apple site. He's eligible for the Educational discount so that helps a little.

 

[jimbopalmer]

1) as final Cut Pro does not work on a PC, no direct comparison is possible

2) OSX (the Current OS) is very good at multiple Threads on multiple CPUs, the older MacOS9 is not as capible in that way.

The hardware RAM Limit is 2 gig of RAM (MacOS9 can only use 1.5 gig of it) For Final Cut Pro I would get as good a video card as I could.

This is a review of the Previous generation G4 Towers with some Final Cut Pro comments

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/dual_1ghz_g4_review.html

Here is some thoughts on 8647 vs 1 gig tower

http://www.barefeats.com/pmddr3.html

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/tips/final_cut_pro3_install.html

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/tips/final_cut_pro_3_tweaks/final_cut_pro_3_tweaks.html

I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[jimbopalmer]

http://a1200.g.akamai.net/7/1200/51...le.com/powermac/pdf/PowerMacG4_TO-082002a.pdf

Page 21 of this fluff peice by Apple has some benchmarks indicating a dual 1.2 Ghz is over 3 times faster than a single 500 Mhz mac, so it is using at least some of the second CPU.

(the 8647 in my first post should be 867 Mhz) I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[KevinAr18]

A comparison that take lots of programs that are available on both platforms would be of help.

What about places to buy?

 

[jimbopalmer]

Not sure I understand the comparison, if he needs final cut pro, How does knowing a 1.2 Ghz Mac is about as fast as a 1.6 Ghz AMD based PC going to help him? it will not run on the AMD or the 2 Ghz P4 (the dual AMD was a winner)

http://www.Barefeats.com/pentium4.html

I think you mentioned Educational Discount, so the college book store where he is a student may be cheapest.

In this review of the last version of the tower, keep the $4000 price of the dual Athlon in mind

http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/2002/07_jul/features/cw_macvspc2.htm

I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[KevinAr18]

Thanks for the links. I'll actually delve through the sites later on Lord willing.
>Not sure I understand the comparison, if he needs final cut pro, How does knowing a 1.2 Ghz Mac is about as fast as a 1.6 Ghz AMD based PC going to help him?
I would have to see if he would be willing to use a different program.

The college bookstore does not sell software or computers. I'm looking for some online sites if possible -- ones that are cheaper than Apple's prices. If there aren't any cheaper prices then I guess it don't matter.

Also, do you know of any other benchmarks? Perhaps of various other areas like some video editing apps? If you know of some benchmark sites that just has Mac (no pc comparison) I could use those as well and just do a manual comparison to PC benchmarks myself.

 

[jimbopalmer]

The last benchmark is on a site called

http://www.digitalvideoediting.com,

I just assumed they were video editing applications, one does not normally have to spend $4000 on a PC just to play games

retailers:

http://www.warehouse.com/apple.asp?sel=powermac&cat=mac&home=mac

http://www.macconnection.com/scripts/productdetail.asp?product_id=305277

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop...330000&w=nav&id=31796334&subcategory=31796334

http://www.clubmac.com/clubmac/families/powermac/default.asp

I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[KevinAr18]

Thanks those links are helpful.
The free 512MB will be of some use if nothing else.

 

[jimbopalmer]

The new 1.2 Ghz are out, If you beleive Apple's hype, they are faster than P4s

"the Power Mac G4 delivers over 18 gigaflops (18 billion floating point operations per second). In application testing*, the dual 1.25 GHz Power Mac G4 performs image editing tasks up to 90 percent faster, MPEG-2 video encoding up to 43 percent faster, and scientific analysis up to 440 percent faster than a 2.53 GHz Pentium 4-based PC.

*Performance tests were based on commonly used operations in Adobe Photoshop 7.0, MPEG-2 encoding using iDVD 2 software and Sonic DVDit Professional Edition and the Ligos encoder, and A/G BLAST and NCBI BLAST software."

The first product tested by a user I have seen actually indicates they keep up with the P4 fine but are no faster.

"Cinema XL Render Test
Here are my results

Dual 1.25 GHZ at Apple's Store in Woodfield Mall(this morning in Chicago)
Rendered in 3minutes 5 secs.

Dual 1.0 GHZ NON DDR (my personal computer)
Rendered in 3minutes 58 secs.

Pentium 2.4 GHZ (my personal computer)
Rendered in 2 minutes 56 secs."

Is it worth $600 to knock 25% off the time spent waiting, only your friend can say. At least the choice to be mac or PC is not strictly a speed issue, it looks like a wash. I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[wags22]

Additional RAM shouldn't be a problem. I just picked up 512 MB for $75 (that's with shipping and tax) at Crucial.com. That's also the ordering online price.

my two cents

 

[macgeneral]

Can speak only to the APPLE EDUCATIONAL discount. If you are buying a brand spanking new mac..maybe worth it. Ultimately resellers seem to drop prices faster. But you'd be sacrificing "cutting edge" technology.

If it were me, I'd simply buy a G4 tower from a reseller and grab a 17" flat panel.

Stoke up the RAM cause the chip install is a brteeze on the tower.

 

[adkmom]

Hi Kev,

Get a teacher to go to Apple's site by Dec. 31st (K-12 grade) & they can score a brand new OS10.2 Jag plus OS9 tossed in for FREE!! If they want to pass it on to you...

PS- ebay for Macs if you want to bypass Apple altogether

PSS- pass on the thing about the free Jag for teachers-- it expires Dec.31st!!! Hurry!

 

[BryanY]

Also, Final Cut Pro costs $1000

Final Cut Express costs $300