Help! Should I Wait For A 1.8 GHz Dual Processor

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Dear Insiders,



Help!



I am in a dither. I was all set to place a pre-order for a 1.8 GHz G5 this morning when the rumors about a 1.8 GHz dual processor started to fly. My G3 B&W is getting long in the tooth and the HD is showing signs of sputtering old age. Now's the time to move on. I have a Firewire iBook so I can weather the time 'til the G5 appears at my doorstep.



Questions:



Should I wait (next week, by the rumors, or even longer) until this 1.8 dual processor business shakes out?



Should I go ahead and place an order so, at the least. I am in the pipeline for a G5?



Should I order at the Apple Store (online or at my local dealer) to ensure that if there is a coming change in configurations I have some leverage to upgrade my order to a dual processor if I want to?



Will an Apple reseller allow me to upgrade to a dual after I order the single? I was plannning on doing business with ClubMac to save on my state sales tax. Is that dumb?



Any wise advice or informed opinion is most welcome. Thanks for your time and interest.



Umm! One other question:



I don't do heavy graphics or games etc., just Photoshop Elements stuff, iPhoto and web browsing. How much RAM do I need?



The Lady..

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    a@rona@ron Posts: 201member
    Simple answer:



    If you can wait, wait. If not, don't. I would never make a purchase decision soley on one rumor. 256 MB should do you fine with the G5 or even 512 if you feel like spending money. Just don't buy the extra ram from apple... they are very expensive. Saving sales tax is not dumb, saving money can never be dumb. You can use the saved money on more ram.



    A@ron
  • Reply 2 of 14
    bodhibodhi Posts: 1,424member
    Purchasing advice goes in GD...





  • Reply 3 of 14
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    product announcement usually happens on either Monday or Tuesday....



    Four days won't really kill you
  • Reply 4 of 14
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Dual 1.8? Where'd this rumor come from? The "current" lineup isn't even out yet. Do you really think that Apple's going to make changes to it now? And risk pissing off the people who have been waiting for other configs? No way. There's no validity to this rumor. If there's ever a good time to buy a Mac, it's right after it's announced. You know that you will have at least a little while before it gets old.



    Quote:

    I don't do heavy graphics or games etc., just Photoshop Elements stuff, iPhoto and web browsing. How much RAM do I need?



    The real question is: Do you really need a G5? For the stuff you mentioned, an eMac or iMac could do the job very nicely. As far as RAM goes, though, you get as much as you can. I'm doing pretty well on my 867 G4 powerbook with 640 megs of RAM. I've never once thought the computer was slow.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    I think you would be satisfied with a 1.6 Ghz G5...



    And about 1 Gb ram. (Maybe more, depends on how heavy Photoshopping you intend on doing)
  • Reply 6 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally posted by torifile

    Dual 1.8? Where'd this rumor come from?



    Everywhere it seems... Its a few days old.
  • Reply 7 of 14
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by torifile

    Dual 1.8? Where'd this rumor come from? The "current" lineup isn't even out yet. Do you really think that Apple's going to make changes to it now? And risk pissing off the people who have been waiting for other configs? No way. There's no validity to this rumor. If there's ever a good time to buy a Mac, it's right after it's announced. You know that you will have at least a little while before it gets old.









    You are right this rumor is ridiculous. There is no chance that Apple will piss his customers in this way.



    My advice is buy a G5 1,6 and buy two pairs of DIMMS memory of 256 MB. it will be perfect for your what you want to do, for the next coming years. Upgrade also the nvidia card for the ATI 9600 pro.
  • Reply 8 of 14
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    well if they are having an excess of 1.8's which i would think they have more then 2.0's then id say it would make some amount of sense



    on the other hand why change the shipping...i'd think they'd need to change their pricing scheme also



    i would rather save 200-300 and get dual 1.8 then 2.0



    well i say that but who really knows if i had the option i may be a greedy b@$?@®d and buy the 2.0 just for bragging rights





    by the way...asking about purchasing advice on rumors hardware is always amusing to me
  • Reply 9 of 14
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    My Dual 2.0 is on order... will I switch to Dual 1.8 if offerred? It all depends on 2 things:



    - Price Break

    - Delivery ETA



    If I can save big bucks and get my box a month sooner, I'd consider the downgrade. Main reason I got the 2 GHz box was for Dual CPUs rather than the 2 GHz speed itself.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Powerdoc

    You are right this rumor is ridiculous. There is no chance that Apple will piss his customers in this way.



    Not? Remember the 500 Mhz issue... It wasnt Apple's fault, but they should be able to see that they didnt have enough 500 Mhz chips!
  • Reply 11 of 14
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Xool

    My Dual 2.0 is on order... will I switch to Dual 1.8 if offerred? It all depends on 2 things:



    - Price Break

    - Delivery ETA



    If I can save big bucks and get my box a month sooner, I'd consider the downgrade. Main reason I got the 2 GHz box was for Dual CPUs rather than the 2 GHz speed itself.




    you would down grade 200MHz off each processor just to get it a month sooner? ur crazy haha
  • Reply 12 of 14
    Thanks for all the thoughtful advice. I bit the bullet and ordered a 1.8 Ghz. I know I will love it.
  • Reply 13 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally posted by The Lady Of The Lake

    Thanks for all the thoughtful advice. I bit the bullet and ordered a 1.8 Ghz. I know I will love it.



    Congratulations! You'll definately love it!

    And about the ram issue, you should be pleased with 512 Mb, but if you do some heavy photoshopping and/or have a lot of photo's in iPhoto, then go for 756 or 1024 mb.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    I doubled the ram...I'm snap happy. This will be my sixth Mac and I have never regretted adding more ram on all those Macs. Thanks for the comment.
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