On Jul 25, 2010, at 11:39 AM, Austin Leeds wrote: > OK, so avoid the quad? I'll agree with the peppiness factor—it really > does seem faster. How about a dual 2.5 or 2.3? > > I'm hooking this thing up to a 480i (?) CRT via SVID, so HDTV is no > factor. The big demand here is compatibilty with older hardware, which > I believe the G5 would have more than a rebuilt PC. I'm considering a > Mac mini vs. the G5, so I'm trying to stack the pros and cons. Thus > far, the big advantage the G5 has is its speed (it may be running > video game emulators) and PCI-e graphics cards. > > Thanks for all your advice thus far. I'm going to talk to my family, > hopefully today, to discuss exactly how our home network should be > laid out, including which computers we should keep/throw/upgrade/ > purchase. I'll probably have some more questions after that.
With what you say you're doing with it, you're probably better off with an Intel Mac Mini in all honesty. They've got a LOT more processing power, the newer ones have better graphics power (due to not only a better graphics design than the 5 year old G5 design but also a faster processor), and of course the ability to hide it just about anywhere. If you decide to ever upgrade to an HD set or subscribe to a video streaming service, the Intel will love you back as much as you love it. The G5 with it's dated hardware will likely cough and sputter, especially in the coming years when Apple drops support for them entirely. If you're intending to slap generic PC hardware into the G5 you have a very rude awakening coming. Apple hardware requires Apple hardware. Simply inserting a generic PCIe graphics card into it will cause a no-boot or no-video situation, you have to use a Mac ROMed card for it to work. You CAN flash PC cards to work in a Mac, but usually you're limited to particular chipsets and often times the ROMs for a Mac are twice the size as the ROMs for a PC. For what you've said you want to do so far, I'd say skip the G5 and get an Intel Mini. You'll have MAYBE $100 difference in cost and you'll wind up with a much faster and more capable machine with about 1/20 the footprint. YMMV, but that's my own opinion. Others may disagree, but after building, servicing, and upgrading machines as a trade for the last 12 years, those are my own observations. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
