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View Full Version : which would you choose? (new PowerBook v. older dual G4, audio editing)


meepzork
2005-08-23, 17:42
ok this might be a stupid question but hopefully it isnt.

pure performance comparison. im not worried about portability, or aesthetics. basically just "running (insert program here) on A vs B":
powerbook g4 1.67 with 2gb ram
vs
powermac g4 dual 867 with 2gb ram

times are tough and im probably gonna try selling my powerbook to generate some much needed funds, but i might be able to pick up this powermac from my work cheap because its just gathering dust since the "artist" they bought the computer for quit.

fyi im into audio recording/editing(logic exp, garageband..), but im interested in an all around comparison.

thanks for the input

meepzork
2005-08-23, 19:05
37 views and no one has any information or at least an opinion?

scrouds
2005-08-23, 21:38
don't forget you'll need a monitor for the PowerMac :p :p :p :p :p

i think that qualifies as "any" information.

Brad
2005-08-23, 23:42
There is no additional information probably because this is in the wrong forum and has a horribly vague title that does nothing to attract the right users for good responses. :p

We have one here called Purchasing Advice for which this would fit perfectly.

Moving and renaming... please be a little more thoughtful before starting new threads.

DMBand0026
2005-08-23, 23:46
Well, generally you can assume that the dual 867 will give you around the same performance of that 1.6. However, you have to take some things into account. The FSB may not be as high on the 867s, there is some data shuffling that takes place between the two processors, and not all apps will be able to take advantage of a dual processor setup.

Your dual 867 machine will end up running closer to a 1.4ghz speed for some things, but slower for the things that can't take advantage of dual processors. If you need the funds that bad, you'll be just fine going with the dual processor setup, but if it's not that big of a deal, stick with the PowerBook.

Bottom line is that the PowerMac isn't a slouch, not by any stretch of the imagination, especially with 2 gigs of RAM.

Mac+
2005-08-24, 00:40
According to MacTracker the System bus is the same @133MHz for both machines. I'd expect the HD speed to be quicker on the PM DP 867 (presume this is the Mirrored Drive Doors model) with stock speed of 7200rpm as opposed to 4200rpm on the TiPB.

Also, for music apps able to make use of dual processors, the 867 offers that benefit as well.

One more thing - I know that you said $ were tight, but if you keep the PM, you have greater RAM expandability - plus (somebody correct me if I'm wrong) the G4PM uses DDR RAM, whilst the 867 PB uses SDRAM.

Another one more thing - that G4(MDD)PM had the nickname "Wind Tunnel" ... she's a noisy one apparently. :\

meepzork
2005-08-24, 01:23
thank you all for the responses.

brad: i already own a powerbook. this is not purchase advice, this is an inquiry about a technical performance comparison. also i tried to change the title twice and it never took.

dmband0026: thanks for the information. unfortunately i do really need the funds and selling this guy (maxed ram and only 2 months old) should do the trick pretty easily.

mac+: thanks as well for the help. you make a good point about the hdd. the stock on the pbook is supposed to be 5400, but either way the bump to 7200 would definitely help the audio apps. according to a site i just looked at, the pbook and pmac both max out at 2gb ram, however the pmac is pc2100 ddr and the pbook is pc2700 ddr. and yes she is noisy......

all in all it looks like i wasnt completely crazy to compare the two and thats good enough for me.

Mac+
2005-08-24, 08:56
:o D'oh ... I see where I goofed up. In my comparison of RAM, I checked a PB 867MHz machine (which does use SDRAM) instead of a PB 1.67GHz machine - so, yes, the G4PM and the PB you currently own both use DDR.

Apologies for the slip up. :|

meepzork
2005-08-31, 13:46
ok i got a new comparison.

the pmac
vs
maxed out mac mini

?

DMBand0026
2005-08-31, 14:20
Now the PowerMac from your original post vs. the Mini? The PowerMac will be much better for you overall for a variety of reasons.

1. More RAM. The PowerMac allowed the user to put in up to 4gigs, the Mini tops out at 1gig. 1 gig of RAM is barely enough to run audio recording apps like GB and Logic. PowerMac wins that hands down.

2. Faster HDD. This may seem initially trivial, but in the long run it may affect you more than anything else. The top of the line Mini has a notebook hard drive in it that runs at 5400 RPM. The PowerMac's drive will run at 7200 RPM. That's huge if you're doing multimedia editing because with a 5400 RPM notebook drive you're going to get a pretty bad bottleneck from your hard drive which will slow things down considerably. Not only that but the mini has only 1 hard drive, if you want more space above 80 gigs (80 gig drives fill up fast) you have to go external which is a hassle some people don't need.

The PowerMac G4s are able to house up to 4 internal hard drives (with an additional IDE controller card...I think.) which means with today's hard drives you can have up to 2 TB of space internally (albeit at a steep price).
PowerMac again wins.

3. Expansion. The Mini has no expansion. The PowerMac has expansion slots where you can put in new PCI cards of many types which is helpful for audio recording (I do some of that myself, so I know how helpful it can be).

The PowerMac is clearly the better computer for you.

Luca
2005-08-31, 14:37
The PowerMac will be much faster.

Just get the best PowerMac you can afford (less $300 or so to cover the cost of a monitor and a few upgrades like RAM and so on).

Dual processors are always good. Lots of RAM is a requirement (I'd shoot for 1 GB minimum, it's not too expensive). A good basic monitor to get would be a 17" LCD, which should cost you a little over $200.

meepzork
2005-08-31, 15:15
thats what i figured, but hey, thats what forums are for 'innit?

thanks

meepzork
2005-09-03, 15:39
p.s. do you guys have a place you recommend to sell a powerbook? im trying to avoid ebay because of the fees. thanks.

Luca
2005-09-03, 16:52
I'd recommend an online classified forum. We don't have one here, but a lot of larger Mac (and general computing) forums have them. Places to look:

forums.macnn.com
episteme.arstechnica.com
forums.anandtech.com
www.hardforum.com

I've bought and sold stuff from all of those places, and they're all fine. The first one is a very large Mac-specific forum, while the other three are more PC-centric (but still very Mac-friendly... a lot of PC users really love PowerBooks!).

You might be able to find someone willing to trade a used PowerMac (plus cash) for your PowerBook. Make sure you check out prices for stuff before you put your PowerBook up for sale - see how much you'll get for the PowerBook and how much you'll pay for the PowerMac. If you're only going to get a few hundred bucks out of it, it might not be worth it. But if you can find a good used PowerMac for $1000 and you're able to sell the PowerBook for a good amount (hopefully close to $2000), you'll make a lot of money without losing any performance. I'd just recommend getting a dual processor PowerMac because having duals really does help a lot in OS X, and it'll offset the lower clock speed.