My friend wants to switch but...

pey/coy-otepey/coy-ote
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I would appreciate your help on this. My friend has a home studio, and would like to know if he can meet his needs and stay close as possible to the price of a PC. I've just about got him convinced to switch. He wont give me a budget just sez he needs the best price I can find. My advice if he could afford it would be go with a new G5 1.6 (of course). But I'm guessing he'll have to go used G4? What should I tell him?



What is the Mac equvalent of this machine?



2GHz processor w/ 256 FSB and 512 L2 cache

2GB DDR ram

dual head video card 64X

GB ethernet card

24 96 - stereo audio card

24 96 - 8 chanel audio card

DVD player

24X CDRW

floppy

3 - 100GB hard drives





Thanks - jp

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    I'll say go for the 1.8 G5. It has more RAM slots (which you NEED since RAM must be installed in pairs), PCI-X, and more standard RAM so you won't have to chuck out a couple of worthless 128 MB modules.



    The stock model runs $2400 and comes with a pair of 256 MB modules installed. Add two more 256 MB and two 512 MB modules and you get a total of 2 GB for about $300 ($50 for each 256MB and $100 for each 512MB, from Crucial).



    That makes $2700. Upgrade the horrible GeForce FX5200 to a Radeon 9600 for just $50 and you're up to $2750. They're both 64 MB dual-head cards, the Radeon is just much much better.



    Gigabit ethernet is built in. Still $2750.



    I have no idea about the sound card. I'll just leave it out for now. I do know the G5 has optical and analog audio input and output.



    If he doesn't want/need a Superdrive, he can remove it and get a Combo drive instead (32x CD-R speed) for $200. That brings the price down to $2550.



    It comes with a 160 GB hard drive as standard equipment, and a second Serial ATA bus for adding another. A 160 GB Seagate Serial ATA hard drive is $160 from NewEgg, so the price is now $2710 (which gets him 320 GB of storage instead of 300 GB).



    If he has a Mac, he won't need a floppy drive, but if he must he can get a USB floppy for probably $20 or something. $2730.



    So... $2730 + price of a sound card. Seems like a pretty sweet setup to me!



    EDIT: I think I'll add prices for the 1.6 GHz as well.



    $2000 stock. Add $125 to upgrade from the 80 GB hard drive to the 160 GB hard drive. Now $2125.



    Subtract $200 to downgrade the Superdrive to a combo. Now it's $1975.



    Add $50 to upgrade the GPU to the Radeon 9600. Now it's $2025.



    Subtract an even $25 for chucking the two 128 MB RAM modules. $2000.



    Add $400 for four 512 MB modules. $2400.



    Add $160 for a second 160 GB S-ATA hard drive, and another $20 for a USB floppy drive.



    The total comes to $2580 + price of a sound card. I think it's worth it to move up to the 1.8 GHz. Faster, non-crippled motherboard, and less hassle on his end (no selling of RAM chips or anything). And it's only $150 more.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    i won't try to add to luca's good post, but I will say that if you know someone in education, you can save another couple hundred bucks.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    pey/coy-otepey/coy-ote Posts: 73member
    Thanks very much. I think it's sound advice going with a new G5, I think it's a good value as well. But he's gonna look at a low buck build your own PC for comparison. This is what threw me. He does not yet know the value of owning a Mac, he's just now willing to give one a try.



    What about this?



    ? PM G4 1 GHz, 256 on-chip L2 cache @ 1:1 processor speed, 1 MB L3 DDR SDRAM cache, 133 MHz FSB, GigE built-in, CDRW/DVDROM combo, 60GB HD, 4x AGP Nvidia GeForce4MX 64MB DDR SDRAM (dual head) = $949 (Apple refurb w/full 1 year warranty)



    ? 2x Western Digital 7200 RPM 120GB hard drives (for a total of 300GB in all 3 drives) = $188 (shipped)



    ? 2 GB PC2100 (266 MHz) DDR SDRAM (4x 512MB @ $63 ea) = $252

    sell the 256 it came with for $32, final cost $220 (shipped)



    ? SmartDisk Tri-media reader (floppy/SmartMedia/CompactFlash) = $6

    (who uses floppies any more?)

    -----

    TOTAL (without PRO audio cards) $1395 + some tax on the G4
  • Reply 4 of 6
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    That seems like a decent setup, but I'd definitely suggest going dual if he's going to get a G4. If you get a dual 1.25 GHz G4 from the Apple Store, it's $1600 ($1400 refurbished) as a base price instead of $950, but it'll be significantly faster. If he can't afford the G5 then I think he should definitely go for a dualie. If he can't get a dual 1.25 GHz, maybe even look for a dual 867 MHz or 1.0 GHz, as either of those will outperform a single 1.0 GHz. Of course, it all depends on how much power he really needs.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    saabmp3saabmp3 Posts: 52member
    One way I always like to think about the prices of expensive computers compared to speed is if it's going to make you money. If he can't afford a dual to get his work done faster then he does need it. An example would be if he makes 400 an hour doing work (reasonable for some professions). If he can save 30 minutes a day of time waiting for his computer, that's 200 bucks a day. After 10 days, you've saved up enough money for a faster computer. If he's just getting this thing as a hobby or for fun, then he's got all the time in the world. Hell, even a 400 will do the work for him, but he'll end up sitting around for a long time.



    This is exactly why I'm not upgrading my 667 PB. Sure, I could use the extra speed, but I don't make enough an hour working on this thing to justify the cost of a faster machine (I only make 20-40 an hour working for fun on this thing).



    Get what I mean? If he needs the faster computer, he can afford it, if he can't afford it, he doesn't need it.



    BEN
  • Reply 6 of 6
    pey/coy-otepey/coy-ote Posts: 73member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by saabmp3

    One way I always like to think about the prices of expensive computers compared to speed is if it's going to make you money. If he can't afford a dual to get his work done faster then he does need it. An example would be if he makes 400 an hour doing work (reasonable for some professions). If he can save 30 minutes a day of time waiting for his computer, that's 200 bucks a day. After 10 days, you've saved up enough money for a faster computer. If he's just getting this thing as a hobby or for fun, then he's got all the time in the world. Hell, even a 400 will do the work for him, but he'll end up sitting around for a long time.



    This is exactly why I'm not upgrading my 667 PB. Sure, I could use the extra speed, but I don't make enough an hour working on this thing to justify the cost of a faster machine (I only make 20-40 an hour working for fun on this thing).





    Get what I mean? If he needs the faster computer, he can afford it, if he can't afford it, he doesn't need it.



    BEN



    I understand your logic here, butt this guy is not able to profit financially from the work he will use the Mac for. He is an artist. (With a small business and a family.)



    I don't think any of the sound apps are optimized for DP's. I know X is supposed to be, but frankly I also haven't seen any speed tests to indicate that the difference in cost is justified at this price level. ? Especially when the older DP G4's are priced above the single processor G5's



    If you need a low cost workhorse of a system it seems to be very difficult to go with a new Mac. And, older seems iffy too. This is not just about finding him a "deal" though. I was hoping that someone could help me determine the What is the Mac equivalent to what he's looking for, because if a 1GHZ G4 isn't gonna cut it next to a 2GhzBillyBox I don't need to waste this guy's time, or risk turning him off Macs forever.



    I edited the reference to cost out of the first post, sorry for not being more clear on that. Again, thanx.
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