Post #189,991
1/12/05 10:19:01 PM
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Thinking about buying a Mini
For $979 you can get a 1.42Ghz mini with 512M RAM, 80G hd, super drive, and wireless kb/mouse,. For approximately $300 you can get a 17" LCD display. $1279 all told. Comes with Quicken, iLife, and a few other things.
For $1672 you can get a 1.8Ghz iMac with 512M RAM, 80G hd, super drive, wireless kb/mouse, and airport card.
Now, for $400 you're getting .4Ghz on a G5 vs. G4 processor, and some faster RAM. I should think for my purposes (machine for wife/son that does word processing, email, web browsing, maybe some DVD creation) this should be sufficient.
Does anyone know the practical speed differences between a G4 and G5 CPU. And can you think of any reason not to go this route?
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #189,997
1/12/05 10:34:56 PM
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One BIG reason...
Availability.
The iMAC is generally available, whereas the Mini won't even be 'til Jan 22.
Dunno if this matters.
The G5s are just starting to get hot... also the G5s are 64-Bit
-- [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg], [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwethey[link|http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134485&cid=11233230|"Microsoft Security" is an even better oxymoron than "Miltary Intelligence"] No matter how much Microsoft supporters whine about how Linux and other operating systems have just as many bugs as their operating systems do, the bottom line is that the serious, gut-wrenching problems happen on Windows, not on Linux, not on Mac OS. -- [link|http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1622086,00.asp|source]
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Post #190,000
1/12/05 10:37:44 PM
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That might be an issue.
But I don't really think I care about the 64-bit thing. It's just a desktop, with light usage patterns. They're using an 800Mhz P3 right now.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #190,006
1/12/05 10:41:38 PM
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The other thing to examine...
Is it really gonna *STAY* thiers?
-- [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg], [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwethey[link|http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134485&cid=11233230|"Microsoft Security" is an even better oxymoron than "Miltary Intelligence"] No matter how much Microsoft supporters whine about how Linux and other operating systems have just as many bugs as their operating systems do, the bottom line is that the serious, gut-wrenching problems happen on Windows, not on Linux, not on Mac OS. -- [link|http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1622086,00.asp|source]
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Post #190,007
1/12/05 10:42:35 PM
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Yep.
Cause if I like it enough I'll convince my wife I need a G5 upstairs... :-D
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #190,010
1/12/05 10:47:11 PM
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one big difference
dragging one between home and work is lighter than a laptop (mine anyway) hotel rooms for dvd and game playing.
regards,
daemon
that way too many Iraqis conceived of free society as little more than a mosh pit with grenades. ANDISHEH NOURAEE
clearwater highschool marching band [link|http://www.chstornadoband.org/|http://www.chstornadoband.org/]
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Post #190,012
1/12/05 10:50:10 PM
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Dragging one what?
An iMac, or a Mini?
An iMac weighs 20 pounds. They aren't that light. A Mini + an LCD display is probably heavier than a laptop too.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #190,014
1/12/05 11:02:31 PM
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thinking about a mini
have keyboard and mouse and vga work supplied, just drag the box back and forth. Most modern hotels have svideo tv's good for games movies and inet. Just need to pack a keyboard and mouse.
regards,
daemon
that way too many Iraqis conceived of free society as little more than a mosh pit with grenades. ANDISHEH NOURAEE
clearwater highschool marching band [link|http://www.chstornadoband.org/|http://www.chstornadoband.org/]
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Post #190,050
1/13/05 10:41:09 AM
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G5 compared with G4
[link|http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn2087.html|PowerPC G5 Performance Primer] I suspect the front side bus will be one of the bigger factors in the performance difference. | Mac mini | iMac G5 1.6 GHz | iMac G5 1.8 GHz | | 167 MHz | 533 MHz | 600 MHz |
Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://spiceware.org/gallery/ArtisticOverpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #190,058
1/13/05 10:59:31 AM
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There are OS optimizations for the G5 too.
[link|http://www.apple.com.au/powermac/|PowerMac G5]: Specially tuned for the G5 processor, Panther provides a seamless transition to 64-bit power with optimized libraries that let today\ufffds applications take advantage of tomorrow\ufffds power. I think the G5 optimizations are supposed to be more extensive with Tiger (10.4). I don't think that the future OS capabilities should be a concern though, not for an inexpensive, lightly-pushed desktop anyway. Cheers, Scott.
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Post #190,060
1/13/05 11:03:44 AM
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Yep
I'm looking forward to seeing what a difference they make with Tiger.
Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://spiceware.org/gallery/ArtisticOverpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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