DP 5.01 & Powerbook G4 1.67Ghz

[RJ Wade Music]

I currently have a G4 667MHz Powerbook that I have composed, mixed, and recorded audio for several clients.

A friend of mine is selling a G4 17" 1.67Ghz Powerbook. I'm not ready to upgrade to a MacBook or Pro as of yet. I want to buy the G4 because it has twice the speed of my current setup and I'm sure Machfive will run much better. I am also afraid of this whole WAVES issue.

Can anyone offer their opinion before I make the purchase with regards to:

1. Speed
2. Machfive (number of MIDI Tracks)
3. Plug-in usage (CPU consumption)
4. Any helpful informatiion that will aid in forming a solid decision.

Thank You,

RJ

[emulatorloo]

A friend of mine is selling a G4 17" 1.67Ghz

One big factor here is going to be ----- PRICE.

How much does he want for it?

If it were me, unless it was a really really good deal I would be careful about investing more money in G4.

(Because the consumer core 2 duo mac books are more powerful than the Dual G5 towers were --Since a macbook is essentially an imac on wheels, take a look at threads here on DP w iMac* -- from what I understand WAVES AU works fine. MachFive2 is on intel. I have a dual g4 desktop so that you know where I am coming from.)

Can anyone offer their opinion before I make the purchase with regards to:

1. Speed
2. Machfive (number of MIDI Tracks)
3. Plug-in usage (CPU consumption)
4. Any helpful informatiion that will aid in forming a solid decision.

I can't address this specifically because I don't have this model (but I wanted to bump your post).

However if it was me:

Since he is your friend I would ask to borrow the laptop for a day or two for testing.

Once I had it I would hook up my external firewire drive (so as to not to disturb his internal drive), install OS X and DP and Mach 5, boot from the drive and do some testing.

If price is right and performance is right, then there you go!

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* Anyone here use an intel Imac with DP?
http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17943

(remembering that MacBook is essentially iMac on wheels)

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[rockitcity]

I have a G4 1.5 GHz , which is almost the same as the 1.67. I have run Mach 5 on it and the results were astoundingly...underwhelming.

It starts to get sluggish on 3-4 MIDI tracks in Mach 5. You pretty much are going to have to "Freeze" every instrument track before you mix. I find it frustratingly inadequate for VI's in particular. If you're just doing some scratch tracks or simple demos, you might like it, but overall you need more power.

Unless you really need the portability, go for an imac. You can still get a refurb 24" white one at the Apple store for $1450. Add some more RAM, and you'll have an extremely capable workstation. If that's out of reach, maybe a Mac mini core 2 duo might be an altenative if you already have another keyboard and monitor. I don't think you will be happy with the G4 1.67 for very complex audio tasks.

Bob

[RJ Wade Music]

Thank you rockitcity & emulatorloo,

He has yet to purchase the new mac so a test drive is not within reach right now. He's asking for $1100.00 (average eBay price )

With my current powermac, I get about 4-8 tracks of Mono audio, 4 uncomplicated MIDI tracks of Machfive, and 1-2 very low CPU intensive plugins. Keep in mind that my buffer setting is 1024 and I have only 1GB Ram

I am ordering Machfive V2 this weekend, I guess I have to download the AU Waves versions as I read in other posts.

Core2 Duo - Dual Core

I truly appreciate the help I've been given. I could really use a boost in productivity with a faster computer , i.e. MacBook.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RJ

[emulatorloo]

I truly appreciate the help I've been given. I could really use a boost in productivity with a faster computer , i.e. MacBook.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RJ

Hey RJ -- before I forget -- this site tracks deals on macbooks:


http://www.lowendmac.com/deals/macbook.html

http://www.lowendmac.com/deals/macbookpro.html

--

This has been a good vendor for me re purchasing additional RAM - they know mac, lifetime warranty:

www.datamem.com

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[RJ Wade Music]

Ahh Yesssss!!! Thank you so much. I will keep up with this info, so when I need to make my move, I can quote a GREAT price. Perhaps this new move won't be as bad as I think.

I am actually thinking of going to an Intel iMac
I just like the portability of the Laptop.

RJ

[rockitcity]

RJ,

Just thought I'd mention that you can now get a refurbushed 2.16 GHz 20" Imac Core 2 duo at the Apple store for $1099. Get 'em while they're hot!

Bob

[RJ Wade Music]

rockitcity, Thank you so much for your help. I need to make a decision soon. Perhaps this is the way to go.

RJ

[HeadMaster]

I totally second the "go for intel mac" strategy, g4/g5 is lightyears behind these new alien monster processors...



. . .
HM

[RJ Wade Music]

Thanks Head Master,

I think I have seen the light. Refirb PB. Max out ram Buy a second 20" monitor.

[RJ Wade Music]

Thank's to everyone for their time and comments. I am purchasing an iMac (refurb). I think it is the best way to go considering I'll have the speed and the screen "Real Estate" combined. I simply cannot afford a MacBook Pro at this time and The iMac is still a portable option if I need to do so.

Thank you so much.

RJ

[RJ Wade Music]

Thank's to everyone for their time and comments. I am purchasing an iMac (refurb). I think it is the best way to go considering I'll have the speed and the screen "Real Estate" combined. I simply cannot afford a MacBook Pro at this time and The iMac is still a portable option if I need to do so.

Thank you so much.

RJ

I want to thank everyone for thier comments. I recently purchased a Powermac G5, Dual 2.0 with 2GB Ram, 160GB HD and a 17" Apple Studio Flat Panel Display for $930.

I know it's not an Intel Mac or a Quad G5, but I am already seeing the power boost over my 667MHz Powerbook G4.

I simply could not afford to make the macbbok purchase and upgrade (ALL) of my software too

Unicornation has been very helpful in my efforts to get a better computer.

Thanks to everyone who made comments on this post.

Sincerely,

RJ

[emulatorloo]

I want to thank everyone for thier comments. I recently purchased a Powermac G5, Dual 2.0 with 2GB Ram, 160GB HD and a 17" Apple Studio Flat Panel Display for $930.

Good price!

I have that machine . . . it is a excellent DP machine. To me it is at least as fast as my wife's 2ish GHZ Core Dup Macbook Pro.

Be sure to update to at least DP 5.11 -- I think 5.13 is the latest which is what I am running. At any rate they are more efficient that 5.01.

If you want more RAM for it, I recommend http://www.datamemorysystems.com/

They are good, excellent prices, they know macs, and RAM has a lifetime warranty. I ended up bringing mine up to 4GB Ram and that seemed to speed things up.

Also there are good SATA drive prices at http://www.newegg.com if you decide to add a second drive for recording your audio.

I went with a Hitachi drive, they have always gotten good reviews for audio. I got the 250GB -- they are cheaper now than when I bought:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822145211

--
These might be better buys nowadays:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822145213



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CONGRATS and thanks for the update!

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[RJ Wade Music]

Thank you so much emulatorloo,

I had a few concerns in the beginning, but my doubts are slowly fading away. You hit the nail directly on the head with the info about the memory and the 2nd Hard Drive

If you would be so kind, I have a few questions to ask:

1. What OS are you running to use DP 5.13? Panther (10.3.9), Tiger (10.4.x)? Since I only have 5.0.1 for now is Panther or Tiger better?

2. To install 4GB of Ram, that would be 2 sticks of 2GB Memory (Pairs) or 4 sticks of 1GB Memory?

3. If I stay with Tiger, I can no longer use Norton. Do you use Disk Warrior?

Thank you again for your help. I truly appreciate you and this forum.

Sincerely,

RJ

[emulatorloo]

1. What OS are you running to use DP 5.13? Panther (10.3.9), Tiger (10.4.x)? Since I only have 5.0.1 for now is Panther or Tiger better?

10.4.10

5.13 needs Tiger or Leopard. 5.01 works in Panther -- but I can't remember if it works in Tiger. Anyway, seriously if you have Tiger, download 5.13.

5.01 kinda buggy. 5.13 not too buggy at all and a kinda faster.

2. To install 4GB of Ram, that would be 2 sticks of 2GB Memory (Pairs) or 4 sticks of 1GB Memory?

There were several iterations of the G5 dual 2.0 -- some could only use 1GB sticks max, some could use 2GB sticks. Additionally some had 8 memory slots, some had only 4 memory slots.

From what I am seeing at datamem, some took PC3200 184pin DDR and another took PC2-4200 240pin DDR2.

So you gotta figure out which machine you have -- system profiler would be a good place to start -- should show RAM speed and slots. And if you have a manual, that will tell you which ram and how many slots you have. You could also call datamemory and they will be able to help you figure it out, I think.

You should be able to keep your existing 2GB ram and just add on an additional two 1GB sticks. At least that is what I did.

-----------------------------------------------------
General G5 memory page is here:
http://www.datamemorysystems.com/G5_Memory.asp
----------------------------------------------------

However, check your machine for sure -- depending on which one you have and how the memory is configured would depend on how you go -- for example you have 2GB now -- maybe it a four slot machine filled with 512MB chips. -- I have a friend who had that one -- She replaced two of those chips with the 2GB chip and did quite well with 3GB RAM.

3. If I stay with Tiger, I can no longer use Norton. Do you use Disk Warrior?

This is going to be a way long answer ---

Honestly I am pretty much getting by with Disk Utility, and doing back-ups with SuperDuper! :

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/

DiskWarrior is a great product though. It really shines when you have a disk that for some reason won't mount and can't be repaired by Disk Utility.

Knock on wood that has only happened to me twice since the first OS X. Both MAXTOR drives by the way -- in both cases the problem happened when they were on the verge of mechanical failure.

The first one neither Norton nor Disk Utility would fix (around 10.1 time) -- I took to a friend with DiskWarrior, it repaired it and I pulled the data off.

The second time was recently -- my 10.4 system disk that I stupidly had not backed up in a long time. It would not mount. Disk Utility reported "keys out of order"

The only thing I really needed was my mail files, everything else was backed up. Disk Utility -- no go "cannot repair this disk." Techtool, no go --acted like it repaired it but didn't. Neither would mount the drive.

I was about to order DiskWarrior when I thought, WHAT THE HECK I will try my last version of Norton, even though you are not supposed to. I figured I didn't want to boot from this disk anymore, I just wanted the mail files. I booted from the CD, ran it. After doing stuff for a while it said "CANNOT FIX" -- BUT somewhere in the process it got the drive MOUNTED! -- so I pulled off my mail files.

Of course I would not recommend anybody doing that. I was at the "I don't give a damn -- if I get my mail files, great -- If I don't life will go on. So what the heck, let's try Norton."

So I guess what I am trying to say is this -- I think most things can be handled with Disk Utility and good backups. I think DiskWarrior is great, but I don't know that you need it unless you are having a crisis. OTOH there may be maintenance features in there that would be good to run frequently.

But at least for now my plan is to hold off on Diskwarrior until the next emergency.

But that's just me.

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Hope this helps!

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