Advice on new computers and ports...

[bongo_x]

I haven't really been keeping up with the Apple hardware the last few years, and now I think it's a good time to get new computers. I could use some opinions if any of you have any extras.

I'm currently using a G5 2gig dual and a PowerBook G4 1.33, both running 10.4.11.
I'm really not suffering that much with these, but I am hitting the wall a bit. I like to wait as long as possible to upgrade, but financially it makes sense to get new ones before the end of the year.

I'm trying to figure out if I need a Mac Pro. Of course I want one, but the only thing I use the slots for is extra USB and Firewire ports. It seems like an awful lot of money just for extra ports. Which leads to the question, How can you do music production on an iMac or MacBook with only one Firewire port? The new Imacs look pretty great, and I could use a bigger monitor, but how do I hook up a pile of various interfaces and hard drives to it? I need to at least hook up the Digi 002R and most of my drives are Firewire.

Is it realistic to just get a kick ass MacBook and hook up external keyboard/monitor/mouse to it when working at the desk? It would make it easier than trying to keep 2 machines synced all the time.

Thanks for your time,
bb

[newrigel]

I haven't really been keeping up with the Apple hardware the last few years, and now I think it's a good time to get new computers. I could use some opinions if any of you have any extras.

I'm currently using a G5 2gig dual and a PowerBook G4 1.33, both running 10.4.11.
I'm really not suffering that much with these, but I am hitting the wall a bit. I like to wait as long as possible to upgrade, but financially it makes sense to get new ones before the end of the year.

I'm trying to figure out if I need a Mac Pro. Of course I want one, but the only thing I use the slots for is extra USB and Firewire ports. It seems like an awful lot of money just for extra ports. Which leads to the question, How can you do music production on an iMac or MacBook with only one Firewire port? The new Imacs look pretty great, and I could use a bigger monitor, but how do I hook up a pile of various interfaces and hard drives to it? I need to at least hook up the Digi 002R and most of my drives are Firewire.

Is it realistic to just get a kick ass MacBook and hook up external keyboard/monitor/mouse to it when working at the desk? It would make it easier than trying to keep 2 machines synced all the time.

Thanks for your time,
bb

The internal optical drive is SATA on the new iMacs and there is where you fix that problem! I'd put an SSD in there for my system drive and a Velociraptor for your audio... then as far as the FW thing goes it 800 and you can get cables to fix that but it would be very fast if you got an i5 or i7! Could you live with doubling your load that the G5 is handling now?
You'd most likely triple it with an SSD for your system drive and recording to a Velociraptor.

Check it out: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac-Int ... nch/1236/2

Remember, the optical bay in the new iMacs are SATA! Just take it out and put it in an external FW case for your installs and put an SSD in there. These machines can be very scary as music production tools...

[martian]

i have an imac ( intel) white one - I am still using it 3 years later and frankly they are brilliant!

( nice tip about the sata optical.. I did that with the IDE on my old g3... well reminded!

[mhschmieder]

Latest speed reports have the new i7 performing at twice the speed of the new entry-level iMacs, and 3x as fast as the new Mac Minis. Also around the same speed as the entry-level Mac Pros, but half the speed of the 8-core Mac Pros.

I've done the math, and this means the i7 iMac is roughly 24x as fast as my G4 iMac!