Another newbie with a question
Hi all, I'm looking to get back into a Mac. Back in the day my dad worked for Motorola and he would bring home the old LC model Mac's every once and a while, so a Mac was the first computer I ever used. When it was time to head off to college for some stupid reason I bought myself an HP laptop which was an absolute nightmare, so I moved on to an HP desktop which isn't bad. Now I'm looking to get back to my roots and be different, everyone I know uses Windows machines and we have 3 at the house.
So anyway I have been looking at G5 desktops and have a question about ghz ratings. What I need to know is how the ghz rating differs between Apple and Windows machines, for example my PC is rated at 2.8 ghz, what would be the Apple equivilant to that?
I'll be using the computer for gaming, web surfing, and I'd like to get into some photography and maybe making some music. I did search but didn't really find anything that answered my question. Thanks in advance!
So anyway I have been looking at G5 desktops and have a question about ghz ratings. What I need to know is how the ghz rating differs between Apple and Windows machines, for example my PC is rated at 2.8 ghz, what would be the Apple equivilant to that?
I'll be using the computer for gaming, web surfing, and I'd like to get into some photography and maybe making some music. I did search but didn't really find anything that answered my question. Thanks in advance!
Comments
As for gaming, if you are looking at Windows games, G5s wll not run those. G5s do not run Bootcamp or Parallels, so Windows is out of the question. I am not qualified to discuss Mac-specific games as I do not play games at all.
Cheers
As for gaming, if you are looking at Windows games, G5s wll not run those. G5s do not run Bootcamp or Parallels, so Windows is out of the question.
I second that. If gaming is part of your planned use, you should try going with an intel based Mac so that you can continue to play Windows-only games. Even a MacBookPro holds its own against G5s.
http://www.creativemac.com/articles/...e.jsp?id=38816
Thanks guys. Most of the g5s i have been looking at have intel processors, does that still mean that it cant run boot camp? If not besides the macbooks which macs can run windows?
To be clear, those are Mac Pros. The G5 is a PowerPC processor that is very different from the x86-64 architecture that most pro computers now use, including the Mac Pro. So basically, they are the same as Windows computers.
Do make sure that when you compare computers that you remember that the Mac Pro has two dual core Xeon processors, meaning that basically has four processors. One dual-core processor at 2.83 GHz is still much faster than a Pentium 4 at a higher gigahertz. The gigahertz myth is very dangerous, and it's not necessarily true.
Check out the Mac Pro page.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...7819&rd=1&rd=1
those are some that I am looking at, I forgot to specify that I am looking for a g5 desktop. Thanks for all the help!
wow, I didn't even realize that, I need to pay more attention. I have a few more I'm watiching that have intel processors. I think I have an idea of what I will get, I will probably wait until after Christmas to get one. Thanks for all the help I really appreciate it!
for that price you should just shell out and get a current iMac. the 17" one or the 20" one will beat the pants off either of the ones you were looking at earlier. also, both of them are pretty customizable (when you order them) because you have a lot of choices (even a processor speed boost). they arnt too far off the used powermac price range you were looking at earlier so just get one of these, they are great machines and they will be able to run windows under boot camp and handle just about anything you throw at it
So anyway I have been looking at G5 desktops and have a question about ghz ratings. What I need to know is how the ghz rating differs between Apple and Windows machines, for example my PC is rated at 2.8 ghz, what would be the Apple equivilant to that?
Yeah as mentioned, forget about PowerMac G5s. Pretty much everything worth discussing CPU wise is IntelCore2Duo for dekstop (Conroe) and IntelCore2Duo for mobile (Merom). So it's pretty much an Apples-to-Apples or Oranges-to-Oranges comparisons between PCs and Macs. Dell is still trying to palm off Pentium-4/ Pentium-D based systems which are pretty much worthless at this stage for anything below "enthusiast/ prosumer/ pro" use.
I'll be using the computer for gaming, web surfing, and I'd like to get into some photography and maybe making some music. I did search but didn't really find anything that answered my question. Thanks in advance!
The iMac 17" 1GB RAM with ATI x1600 128mb VRAM will be good. It will be powerful enough for the latest PC games at "medium" settings, if you are not a hardcore gamer, it will be fine. And all you other interests, the iMac will be nice.
Otherwise iMac 20", upgrade settings when ordering to 1GB or 2GB, make sure the graphics card is ATI x1600 256mb VRAM. It will be sweet.
If you're going Mac Pro QuadXeon, that's not quite worthwhile for what you want to do, unless you're a hardcore gamer in which case either go with a Mac Mini or 17" iMac and then build your own PC rig for tinkering/ overclocking/ gaming/ boasting, etc. etc.
Welcome back to Mac. Use Bootcamp to set up a Windows partition so you can dual boot. Then use Parallels to access that partition in OS X without having to dual boot. (You have to dual boot for PC games, but other than that running Windows in a separate "window" while still in Mac OS X is cool.)
For almost all you want to use it, you could even just get by with Mac games Mac applications and not worry about Windows at all. For music you can start with GarageBand (included free with iLife'06 which comes with all new Macs) and then from there there's various more pro/ prosumer applications that work well, eg. Logic/ Reason/ AbletonLive... Logic being very complex in my opinion, AbletonLive is building a solid reputation. A bit expensive though like the other pro/ prosumer music apps.
Oh, with the iMacs is there a way to hook up another screen? couldn't find anything on the Mac site. I can try and search this site later.
Wow, you guys rock! I'll have to look into the imac's then. I really appreciate your help in stearing me the right direction, I can't wait to get back to Mac!
Oh, with the iMacs is there a way to hook up another screen? couldn't find anything on the Mac site. I can try and search this site later.
yeah, you can do desktop extension, but i don't think you can just use a different monitor as a replacement