Mac opinions

[Pedini]

Hey geepeepeeps -

I know that some of you have a lot to say about Macs, so I thought I'd get your advice on something. My work computer (G5 tower) died almost two weeks ago and the repair dudes I took it to FINALLY have a diagnosis, my logic board needs to be replaced. The repair work is just expensive enough that my boss said I should just get a new machine.

Now, my first thought is to get a Mac Pro tower. But, that is $3k+ and does not improve my display size problem (I need a bigger one or a 2nd one). I bought a 24" iMac for my own use not long ago and it works great. It seems to have all of the power I need to run graphics programs including After Effects. I have forgotten the benefits of a tower, aside from the ease of replacing RAM or drives. Why else would I stick with a tower?

And I've never had a laptop but it has been suggested that I buy a powerbook and I'm just not sure it is the right solution. I'd rather keep my files online like with Dropbox and just switch back and forth from two desktops. Does anyone here work with large graphic files from a powerbook?

[andydiesel]

the towers will hold more ram

that is the main reason when i can afford a new mac tower i will get one. i run so many apps at a time and with operating systems using more and more ram i want the ability to have more than 4 gigs of ram.

i do love my imac though.

[perkins]

If your iMac is working out fine, seems like you'd be safe to hang with that for a while and spend your money on hookers & crack instead.

I'm still using my old G4 & will be looking to buy a new Mac soon, so I'll be watching this thread for suggestions as well. I'll bet Geoff has some good advice.

[Pedini]

the towers will hold more ram

that is the main reason when i can afford a new mac tower i will get one. i run so many apps at a time and with operating systems using more and more ram i want the ability to have more than 4 gigs of ram.

i do love my imac though.

Considering I was running on 1.5 gigs of RAM on the old tower, I think I should be ok with 4

[macthulhu]

Towers also offer you the ability to upgrade your video card... which is useful for AE (sort of) and Motion, but not for Final Cut which uses system RAM instead. If you're doing lots of video, 4Gb will eventually be a limitation.

[andydiesel]

Considering I was running on 1.5 gigs of RAM on the old tower, I think I should be ok with 4

you should up it to 4 or more, it's pretty cheap from the right places. you will be stoked.

i wil say that i run at the same time:
ichat
firefox
quickbooks
indesign
illustrator
photoshop
acrobat
mac calander
itunes
parallels (usually)
mac mail
word

it does tend to eat up the ram with that much crap open, especially if i have files open in all the adobe apps.

[MrBlonde7]

jesus christ andy. I'm surprised your shit doesn't catch fire.

[andydiesel]

but with all that said above, my 24" imac handles it very well.

i just worry about the next time apple does a huge OS upgrade, with each new OS it seems to eat up more and more ram.

[macthulhu]

If you're feeling brave, you could always poke around on Google to find out how to cram a normal ATX motherboard in the G5 case and build a Hackintosh. Theoretically, you can build something comparable to a MacPro for about $1200. You'll want to wear your best pocket protector though... it's not for the faint of heart.

[adamturman]

I've got a G5 tower here at work with a 23" cinema display, it's great.

At home, I have a 15" Mac Book Pro, it's great too.

I don't notice much of a difference with performance from machine to machine with big files. The big difference is the monitor. 23" is a lot more room to work with.

Get the Big iMac with fries and a shake.