Mac advise

[7 Dying Trees]

It's come down to the possibility that i may need to get a mac to run logic for something i may be doing, and i know woefully little about them not having been the biggest proponent of macs...

So, i have a limited budget, would be working with logic 7 and do not need to be mobile.

What i have already:

- keyboard
- mouse
- 2 dell 24" screens
- saffire pro 40 soundcard currently hooked up to my PC
- the Apple ADC to DVI converter cable

What i want to be able to do:
- keep the PC for recording my ownn stuff
- use the mac for this project
- not spend a lot of money
- use the screens i already have

other things:
- getting a secondary soundcard is a possibility, but would want one that can handle pro tools as well possibly

Questions:
- is a G5 still viable? i cannot afford the mac pro's, unless second hand and cheap, but that looks like it won't happen
- can the macbook pros run 2 screens off them that have DVI ports?
- i know apple have stopped supporting non intel macs with the new OS's, how much difference will this make? Is it a death blow to getting a G5 that will make it redundant?
- how much would people here spend on a g5? i am looking at the desktops, not laptops, and don't want to spend too much.
- What spec should i be looking at?

 

[7 Dying Trees]

Also, just noticed it's adice, not advise, unless changed, please read with the voice of borat

 

[krsp]

...maybe check out mac minis. You already have monitors, keyboard and mouse, right? Mac minis are pretty decent once you soup them up. My advise is to stay away from non-intel macs though. It seems more and more third party softwares are either ceasing support to them or are new developers only made for Intel, and like you said, Apple themselves aren't even fully supporting them.

I have ran logic on intel hardware, and it was a bear of a program. On a G5, I can imagine it would be quite an excersize of patience! Since Intel hardware runs faster and is now fully 64 bit, I would try to stick with newer models if you can afford it.

If you are not techy - it is best to get as much as your budget allows... Mac minis are shitty to get open and upgrade. I have an iMac (Intel duo) and it was re-fucking-diculous to open up. It took me almost 3 hours to upgrade the hard drive!

 

[Zahs]

My advise is to stay away from non-intel macs though - agreed

to run logic you need processing power and RAM! or you'll be going crazy!!!!! get an Imac if you can it'll do the job.

 

[sami]

G5's were good back in the day, but they're getting pretty old now. If you can find one, you'd save a lot of moolah, but you'd also be settling for less as well as deal with older parts. You can definitely run 10.5 and use older software if you can get a hold on everything. It'll definitely do the job.

Seems like you're best bet is to either risk a G5 or get a Mac Pro. You can even look for an older Mac Pro to help save on the fundage.

If you want to upgrade the soundcard, mini's and imac's aren't upgradable in that dept; only ram and hd.

 

[MF_Kitten]

first off, since it´s only for a project, get something used. doesn´t have to be the latest and greatest. a sorta-good mac mini or something like that will do well. either that or a mac pro/power mac, as long as it´s not pre-intel, and of course as long as it´s not TOO intensely specced and blows your budget.

 

[Kagami]

Get an intel mac unless you have powerpc software, the powerpc ones aren't going to receive any OS updates anymore (the newest version does not run on them).

 

[7 Dying Trees]

Well, just bought a 2Ghz mac mini, a 500Gb 7200rpm hard drive, and going to get 4Gb ram online, and turn it into a little demon that's faster than some of the powerbooks , basically, voiding the warranty within 3 hours of buying it...

it's very cute, i have to say

 

[7 Dying Trees]

4gb ram installed, this thing flies now! so much joy out a box the size of two sandwiches!

 

[MF_Kitten]

i really want one of those myself, but i have a 24" iMac that is nice as heyull, so i wouldn´t have any use for it... but it´s so small and awesome!

MUST RESIST (can´t afford it, so that´s easy )

 

[rcfreak7772000]

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