Mac upgrades?

Erik von Nein · Post by **Erik von Nein** » 2005-07-07 05:54am

Okay, I've currently got a dual 800 MHz PowerPC G4 with 640 MB SDRAM with all other parts being standard in 2001. Now, I'm thinking of upgrading it so I can better play games and work with Final Cut Pro. How best (or cheaply) can I go about this and is this good enough for graphics work?

Sorry if I don't have any more information but I'm tired and don't feel like looking it all up. If it's needed I will, though.

Or you can just laugh at me for being a Mac user.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2005-07-07 08:10am

You can do graphics work on that box but it'll be relatively slow. There are third-party G4 upgrade cards but you are not going to get much perfomance out of that box, relatively speaking.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-07-07 12:18pm

I have heard of people doing video editting on dual 800 MHz G4's for their work. It should work well as long as you don't try to do high definition video, and you won't get the real-time goodies (there will be a bit of rendering time), but it should work.[/list]

Erik von Nein · Post by **Erik von Nein** » 2005-07-07 08:56pm

Praxis wrote:I have heard of people doing video editting on dual 800 MHz G4's for their work. It should work well as long as you don't try to do high definition video, and you won't get the real-time goodies (there will be a bit of rendering time), but it should work.

Yeah, reducing rendering times was another concern of mine. Rendering a five minute clip takes what seems like an exceedingly long time. So, should I just go for another machine or try something else?

CDS · Post by **CDS** » 2005-07-09 07:28pm

Given they still use G4 in the 'books, I doubt it's worth all the money it costs to get a shiny new G5 iMac.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2005-07-09 09:20pm

My advice would be to just suffer and wait and save up your money until the Intel-chipped Macs come out and proceed to buy a new one of those suitable for what you want to do. Patience in that case will probably have the best reward.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2005-07-09 10:28pm

CDS wrote:Given they still use G4 in the 'books, I doubt it's worth all the money it costs to get a shiny new G5 iMac.

The iBook is also part of Apple's budget line and is not a very fast processor.

CDS · Post by **CDS** » 2005-07-10 10:36am

phongn wrote:The iBook is also part of Apple's budget line and is not a very fast processor.

I have an iBook, and i've never really thought it as slow. I'd do what the Dutchess of Zeon says :p