Mac G4 or PC ?

[volume9]

I have a chance to purchase a Mac G4 1 CPU 400Mhz OS 10.3 computer for my 002R LE system. What's better a PC 3.0Ghz 1 CPU or the Mac? And how much do you guys think it would be to upgrade the Mac to a dual core Mac CPU with more memory? Any info would be appreciated.

[Slim Shady]

400mhz G4 vs. 3.0ghz PC? You're kidding right? I'm a Mac person through and through, but that PC is massively more powerful than a (very) old 400mhz G4. Even if you get a CPU upgrade for the G4, you're still dealing with a slow (by today's standards) system bus, memory bus, graphics card etc.

Check the compatibility pages to make sure that PC has a compatible motherboard/chipset for ProTools, and if it does it's definitely the better buy.

BTW, you can get an Intel Mac Mini pretty cheap if you already own a keyboard/mouse/monitor, and the Universal Binary version of PT should be out within a few days - if I were on a very tight budget and looking to put together a PT rig, that's where I'd start.

[M.Brane]

Not enough info to make suggestions.

There are a lot of different models of G4 that came with 400mhz. Some are more upgradeable than others. None are upgradeable to dual-core. Most are upgradeable to dual G4 processors. There are no G5 upgrades.

Unless the G4 400 is an AGP graphics model, and you can get it dirt cheap I think you'd be better off to get a later model. The 400's are only 2X AGP so graphics card choices are limited, and the bus speed is only 100mhz. They will hold more RAM than later models though, and have better case airflow.

PC motherboard chipsets is an area where I have no expertise, and don't wish to.

[bigsixx]

i have a g4 and mine works beautifully its a sawtooth g4 512 mem never had a problem with the computer itself ....had a pc windows xp several problems if youre on a budget id go with the mac the pc would have to be maxed out to the fullest on memory and needs as much hard drive space as you can get ........my mac only has an 80 gig hard drive (excluding the 27 gig that the osx system is on)...... and all my sessions work like a charm plus the mac will not get viruses (if you plan on getting on the net) i just preffer macs and the g4 still works fine with pt