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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Mac Computers Pros/Cons
Heidi Huber, Photographer
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Livermore | CA | USA | Posted: 7:02 PM on 03.15.06 |
| ->> I own a Powerbook G4, and am considering purchasing another Mac, but which route should I go? Mac mini, iMac, iMac G5, Power Mac G5, iBook (G4) (not going to consider the MacBook Pro until the bugs are all fixed). What are the pros/cons of each computer and any suggestions what I should consider? |
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Chris Preovolos, Photographer
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Stamford | CT | United States | Posted: 7:27 PM on 03.15.06 |
->> It really depends on your needs.
My roommate has a 20" iMac and I really like it. I have done light editing and photoshop on it and it handles it fine. That being said, I also like the PowerMac G5 I use at the paper and I can't live without my 12"Powerbook. I was also considering getting a Mini to use as a server for shared music and web surfing as my PPC G4 is getting old and the fan noise is driving me nuts. The only one that is really realistically upgradable is the G5 tower though, and not having a Superdrive in the 12" iBook is a big drawback. So it's really a personal preference, they are all pretty cool. |
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Monty Rand, Photographer
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Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 7:54 PM on 03.15.06 |
| ->> Heidi, what bugs are you refering to on the Macbook Pro? Myself and 3 others have them and none of us have any issues or have heard of any. |
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Saul Loeb, Photographer
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Phoenix | AZ | USA | Posted: 8:02 PM on 03.15.06 |
->> I just got a Macbook Pro also and have no problems with it at all (other than the fact that you could fry an egg on it and it occasionally moos. Yes. Moos. Like a cow.)
And Photoshop is running pretty fast - much faster than I was anticipating and far quicker than the Dell laptop I'm coming from. |
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Rick Rowell, Photographer
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Canoga Park | CA | Usa | Posted: 8:05 PM on 03.15.06 |
| ->> If you can, you should wait a few months for the bugs to be worked out on the new Intel duo chips. Then buy the second generation dual processer Mac with these chips. By then the software fixes should be in to work with this chip and the Mac's should screem with speed. It will probably cost around 3,000 to 3,500 with all the bells and whistles. The Intel chips are so much faster that I think it's better to wait and see how the whole thing shakes out. In the meantime your Powerbook G4 is no snail. |
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Dirk Dewachter, Photographer
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Playa Del Rey | CA | USA | Posted: 8:11 PM on 03.15.06 |
->> Heidi
I added a dual core 2.7 G5 to my line of PC computers and added 4GB of ram to it and it is awesome. Having worked on PC's for 12 plus years (including the dos years) I found the transition to Mac fairly easy and I would seriously look at the powermac G5 with at least a 23" display you'll love it for years to come. |
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Monty Rand, Photographer
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Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 8:13 PM on 03.15.06 |
| ->> What bugs? |
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Rick Rowell, Photographer
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Canoga Park | CA | Usa | Posted: 8:33 PM on 03.15.06 |
| ->> Well, I could be wrong on this one. But their always seems to be some problems with new releases of processer chips as well as software. It's just been a rule of mine not to buy version 1.0 of anything. But hey, maybe they got it right the first time. |
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Heidi Huber, Photographer
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Livermore | CA | USA | Posted: 8:36 PM on 03.15.06 |
->> Monty,
I believe the link is below on why I am going to wait on the MacBook Pro.
Plus my Powerbook is not even a year old yet, and I am considering a computer with a larger display for everyday work, while my laptop to use in the field.
http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=18920 |
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Jim Colburn, Photographer
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Omaha | NE | USA | Posted: 9:07 PM on 03.15.06 |
->> Never buy version one of anything. Wait for everyone else to de-bug the Macbook Pro.
Try to find a new (or New Old Stock as they say in guitar land) Powerbook G4 with a 15in screen. I picked one up (with 1.5Gb RAM) for $2000. Or go for the 14 inch iBook (my daughter has one and it rocks aside from the smaller screen and greater heft. |
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Michael Hickey, Photographer
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Kokomo | IN | United States | Posted: 9:55 PM on 03.15.06 |
->> I for one would buy the MacBook Pro, all of the bugs will be fixed with software updates and you have a warranty on the machine if something is wrong with the chip. If you can stand to wait then sure wait, but if you have to buy it now, don't buy something that's already obsolete.
That's my thoughts. |
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Michael Burns, Photographer
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San Mateo | Ca | USA | Posted: 11:42 PM on 03.15.06 |
| ->> Depending the usage you need and how much you can afford to buy. Mac Mini is great but not powerful enough to use all the photo work that you might need to work with. iMac G5 or iMac intel's wonderful powerful enough to do lot of your photo work. I've used iMac G5 here at home, my personal 15" powerbook and iMac intel at work including G5 towers. It works great. The intel based macs are limited due to some softwares have not been updated/revised to run with the new intel emulators. Yet they still would work but not as effectively as native imacs. |
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Monty Rand, Photographer
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Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 6:45 AM on 03.16.06 |
->> OK, there are no real bugs , just people assuming there will be because, well, it's version one. That clears it up for me.
Normally I agree with this thinking, but I also research what I'm buying and with anything version 1 to version 5 there's always the potential for problems. I just haven't found any and I'm enjoying the overall speed of this fast machine. Native Binary apps or not,this thing screams conpared to my iBook and my G5 desktop. Maybe it's not for everyone, but I've found this to be the best computer I've bought in a long time as far as speed and overall satisfaction. Even PS CS2 runs fast on it which was a great surprise based on the rumors I heard about it being slow. |
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Monty Rand, Photographer
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Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 7:08 AM on 03.16.06 |
| ->> Heidi, I to was a little put off about buying one after I read that same info., but you have to rememeber that info is 2 months old and was written without any real world experiences with the machine as it wasn't even shipping at that point. I've seen no drawbacks to having this machine over my iBook. The only thing some may complain about is the abscence of a phone jack, but to me that wasn't an issue. My card reader works with it, Photo Mechanic works with it and PS CS2 works better than my iBook. The built in iSight, bluetooth and airport extreme are all very cool and the hard drive size is greet (100gb). |
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David Seelig, Photographer
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Hailey | ID | USA | Posted: 12:54 PM on 03.16.06 |
| ->> How many people would bne out of work if they had not bought a canon eos 1d and waited for a mk11 ??? |
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David Stluka, Photographer
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Madison | WI | USA | Posted: 1:56 PM on 03.16.06 |
->> Heidi,
Sounds like you already have a nice machine. My powerbook has lasted 3.5 years so far and it's still going. It's not quite as fast as the new computers, but, does everything I need it to do for my business. I have a dual 800 G4 that I bought used to use as a homebased machine. Having an additonal machine is a nice complimant with a laptop. I used my laptop as my main machine for over 2 years... but, it's nice to have an additional machine.
You may consider buying a used mac. I picked up my dual 800 for $300. It included 1.5gb of ram and a 64mb video card to power my 23 inch monitor. It sure beats shelling out over $1000 for something new.
David |
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Kirby Yau, Photographer
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El Cajon | CA | USA | Posted: 2:37 PM on 03.16.06 |
| ->> Heidi, it sounds more like you just need to get an external monitor and a few external hard drives. Having two macs can be a pain (syncing address books, email,software licensing issues, etc) and most of the time unessecary. If you don't need the speed, isight, remote. I would just invest in a monitor and save yourself some cash and hassle of maintaining two computers. |
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