adequate system requirements to run dp

[linardos]

Hello Forum. I'd really appreciate any advice you can offer.
I've been doing a lot of research on which MAC to buy to put together a home recording studio. My first impulse was to get a PB 1.67 and bump up the ram to 1.5 gig. get an external hd and motu 828mkII. for portability. Then, after some reading on the other forums, I started thinking I would be better with a dual G5, more bang for the buck. Of course theres 1.8, single, 2.0,2.3 and 2.7 to choose from. How do you decide?
The issue, I know, really comes down to what kind of recording do I plan to do.
I am a jazz pianist that wants to make great sounding sequences, using a a select virtual library of instruments that sound like the real thing. Eventualy once I learn the software and how to maximize the hardware components I pick up, I want to incorporate vocals and a live bass player or horn. I will be using my kurzweill PC88 as a controller. My wife will also be using this system to edit video.
Because we are both new to setting up this system, we don't want to overbuy if it's overkill and yet we don't want to find ourselves shortchanged in quality for not getting a system robust enough to handle our needs.
So, the essential question is, What do you recommend as a good solid system that won't take us to the bank to get started. All suggestions are greatly appreciated. We are really anxious to jump in the water and start the learning process. JT

[dweiss]

The advice to get a desktop machine is sound, unless you need the portability of course. Definitely buy a dual processor machine. In my opinion if you're editing video you can't buy a machine that's too fast. So go for the machine you can afford. Any of the dual G5s will do the audio work that you describe well. But for video, go as fast as you can afford.

[linardos]

Thanks for your response Dan. I think I'm going to go with the 2.3 G5 because it will allow me the potential to upgrade the ram to 8 gigs vs. 4 on the 2.0 G5 Plus, I'd rather put the additional money into the Ram rather the 2.7

[sdfalk]

Yeah I'm saving up for a dual.
Having said that I get a whole lot from my single 1.8

[chrispick]

Originally posted by JT:
Thanks for your response Dan. I think I'm going to go with the 2.3 G5 because it will allow me the potential to upgrade the ram to 8 gigs vs. 4 on the 2.0 G5 Plus, I'd rather put the additional money into the Ram rather the 2.7

I think this is wise.

To note: If your wife intend to edit uncompressed D1 video (she's a broadcast pro), then hard drive size, speed and i/o is more important than proc speed, and you might want to balance your budget accordingly. However, if she only wants to edit mini-DV videos using, say, iMovie, then just make sure she has enough hard drive space to do it (the internal SATA drives spin at 7200 which is fast enough).

<small>[ May 16, 2005, 09:38 PM: Message edited by: chrispick ]</small>

[thracks]

I sprung for the 2.3 (it hasn't arrived yet, still waiting for delivery). It seemed to be the best bargain for performance. Plus, Apple knocked $100 off the purchase price. They are reasonable, give it a try. I was also swayed by the recent benchmarks by Macworld, which found the performance of the 2.3 to be surprising, read about it here.

<small>[ May 17, 2005, 07:12 AM: Message edited by: thracks ]</small>