Forums | MacLife

mainstay · 2006-01-12 9:28 am

I need to upgrade my G4 and wonder if it makes sense to get a G5 or Intel Mac. I mostly use Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, QuickBooks, Pagemaker... the old G4 will remain to run the legacy applications--I'll return it to booting in OS9 only. I know software needs to be updated to work on the Intel machines that is a few months away at best. Will applications run (slowly at least) on, say, the Intel iMac?? Slow on that may be faster than 300 mhz on a G4...

comments??

mainstay

VegasACF · 2006-01-12 12:01 pm

It is my understanding that Rosetta will allow PPC-native applications run on the Intel machines. However I have read that if you're a pro-level user you'll find things such as Photoshop will run too slowly in Rosetta to be of use. If you're a consumer-level user you'll be okay.

Dlwilson · 2006-01-12 1:50 pm

Too slowly...nah..did you see how fast it ran those actions in cs2 during the Keynote speech..by no means a dual g5 but decent. I wonder id that action is downloadable somewhere.....hmmm...

mainstay · 2006-01-12 2:38 pm

Well with 300mhz G4 now, I think Rosetta wil be faster than what I have....but I am only guessing. I suppose I should wait a few weeks to see what people are saying who actually are using the intel iMacs.

mainstay

D'Eyncourt · 2006-01-12 2:49 pm

I suggest that if you need to buy now (or very soon) and the new Mac will be a production machine (that is, one that will be earning you money), then you should side with caution and get a G5. Any new system is almost bound to have problems, and the Intel switch is a larger change than most of the previous Mac changes.

If you can wait for a while (6 months?) or will be content to use your old G4 while experimenting with your new machine, you might try the MacIntel instead. Waiting will allow others to find any major bugs or other problems (and, with any luck, allow the software manufacturers to fix them).

Warin · 2006-01-12 5:39 pm

the prof I work for just spent 8K Canadian on a quad core G5. neither of us have any worries about it's long term (2+ years) performance, and felt that waiting for a MacIntel Powermac would hinder our productivity in the mean time.

If you are thinking about buying a G5 iMac versus waiting for an Intel iMac, I'd wait for the Intel. If oyu are looking for a Powermac, buy the G5 now. YMMV.

Zalgren · 2006-01-12 6:22 pm

My suggestion is to go the way of caution if this is for your income. If you are tinkering and just want the leading edge the intel iMac would be cool.

Personally I would go with the tried and true for the time.

MacBoy4139 · 2006-01-13 9:21 am

Dlwilson wrote:
Too slowly...nah..did you see how fast it ran those actions in cs2 during the Keynote speech..by no means a dual g5 but decent. I wonder id that action is downloadable somewhere.....hmmm...

First off, I would like to know what resolution that was at. Working with a 72 dpi file is a much different thing than working with a 300 dpi file.

Second, the actions that were done were not as complex as previous demos. Convenient if you ask me.

I would wait until Macworld does some real testing.

Dlwilson · 2006-01-13 12:17 pm

true...

wavelayer · 2006-01-22 10:07 pm

When OS X came out, I stayed with OS9 for a long while, for professional reasons (until 10.2 arrived). I'll be doing the same with the PPC to Intel switch. Hope that helps a bit.

Zander · 2006-01-23 10:27 am

D'Eyncourt wrote:
I suggest that if you need to buy now (or very soon) and the new Mac will be a production machine (that is, one that will be earning you money), then you should side with caution and get a G5. Any new system is almost bound to have problems, and the Intel switch is a larger change than most of the previous Mac changes.

If you can wait for a while (6 months?) or will be content to use your old G4 while experimenting with your new machine, you might try the MacIntel instead. Waiting will allow others to find any major bugs or other problems (and, with any luck, allow the software manufacturers to fix them).

What he said.

MacBoy4139 · 2006-01-23 3:23 pm

Dlwilson wrote:
true...

Macworld has the results. 50% speed of a G5 running Rosetta. I would really like to know what resolution Steve was running it at. Probably at 72 dpi.

Hell my PB can chew through 72 dpi faster than that.

cipote10 · 2006-01-23 8:55 pm

I'm in that dilemma myself...

Based on what i've read, true, the intel is faster but THERE's NO SOFTWARE AVAILABLE YET - except for Apple's...

Unless of course, you want to run Rosetta, which will bring the intel's perfomance down to about the same speed as the G5.

There's no question that Intel is the maching to buy but not yet....

I'd recommend that you wait until the software is out (who knows, the intel tower might be out by then!) -- that's what I'm doing....

Cipote10;)

P.S. I'd like to also echo on some of the previous comments...I bought an iMac when they were first released and I deeply regret doing so...wait until all the bugs have been worked out...

Last edited by cipote10 (2006-01-23 8:58 pm)

MacBoy4139 · 2006-01-24 8:17 am

Rosetta on the same machine gives 50% performance of a G5.

Forums | MacLife

#1 2006-01-12 9:28 am

buy G5 or Intel Mac?

#2 2006-01-12 12:01 pm

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

#3 2006-01-12 1:50 pm

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

#4 2006-01-12 2:38 pm

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

#5 2006-01-12 2:49 pm

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

#6 2006-01-12 5:39 pm

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

#7 2006-01-12 6:22 pm

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

#8 2006-01-13 9:21 am

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

Dlwilson wrote:

#9 2006-01-13 12:17 pm

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

#10 2006-01-22 10:07 pm

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

#11 2006-01-23 10:27 am

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

D'Eyncourt wrote:

#12 2006-01-23 3:23 pm

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

Dlwilson wrote:

#13 2006-01-23 8:55 pm

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

#14 2006-01-24 8:17 am

Re: buy G5 or Intel Mac?

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