Ready to buy new Mac

Seriously thinking about buying the new iMac G4 800Hz G4 with SuperDrive and 768MB Ram. My current G4 is 3 years old and having lots of problems. I use Photoshop 7 and Bryce......any comments? Would greatly appreciate.

Thanks!
Marlene
http://www.thedigitalspectrum.com

Marlene DeGrood said:

Seriously thinking about buying the new iMac G4 800Hz G4 with
SuperDrive and 768MB Ram. My current G4 is 3 years old and having
lots of problems. I use Photoshop 7 and Bryce......any comments?
Would greatly appreciate.

Click to expand...

What's your current configuration (OS, RAM, hard disk)? You won't go wrong with the G4 iMac (assuming you're thinking about the 17" model). Going from OS 9 to OS X might be something to prepare for...

I have both the iMac and the eMac. I much prefer the eMac for photo work. It is also less expensive, but more noisy than the iMac. Be certain to get it with at least 256MB RAM. I recommend the tilt and swivel stand. I strongly urge you to make OS 9.2.2 your startup disk. I am slowly learning Jaguar and getting software upgrades for it, but I find 9.2.2 trouble free. Since most of my software will run only in classic mode, why not make 9.2.2 the startup disk? I am an experienced user, so much so that the techs here often come to me for advice.

Moving from one G4 to another will not, by default, provide a substantial improvement in performance. A faster processor certainly can't hurt, but is only one of many factors...RAM, graphics chip, screen real-estate...

Many people prefer CRT displays for photo-editing work. In particular, top-notch Trinitron based models, or the Diamondtron equivalent. Apple does, though, offer some of the very best LCD screens.

You mentioned problems with your current Mac. Are they software based...crashing, freezing? Quite often, erasing the HD and re-installing from scratch can solve such problems.

Thankyou all for your input. My current G4 is about 3 years old and is 450MHz, I have upgraded the original OS of 9.1 to 9.2 and 10.1.5. I have an external CDR and 80Gig firewire hard drive. I recently did a clean install in hopes of illiminating some of the problems, the worst of which is that most of the time it will not restart or shutdown and I must force quit or force restart with the buttons on the tower. I understand that this problem may be stemming from an internal cable to the hard drive.

I'm guessing that I may be pushing this 450MHz processor and that could be the cause of freeze-ups/crashes.

I did look at the eMac and I'm still torn between the CRT and LCD of the iMac. Is the LCD really that bad for doing photo work?

Again, I really appreciate your comments.

Marlene
http://www.thedigitalspectrum.com

Marlene DeGrood said:

Seriously thinking about buying the new iMac G4 800Hz G4 with
SuperDrive and 768MB Ram. My current G4 is 3 years old and having
lots of problems. I use Photoshop 7 and Bryce......any comments?
Would greatly appreciate.

Thanks!
Marlene
http://www.thedigitalspectrum.com

Click to expand...

--
Marlene
http://www.thedigitalspectrum.com

Read the other thread "advice on Mac for PS use"

I'm with everyone else that's posted so far. You gain very little with a new G4. Fix the one you have. Backup all your data onto your Firewire drive and use drive repair and drive setup to completely wipe your hard drive. Strongly consider the partitioning scheme mentioned on the other thread. Re-install your OS. This is different than a clean install and I will bet it will fix your problems. If you don't have something like Techtool Pro (much better than Norton in my opinion), definitely get it and use it religiously.

If your computer has always been flaky, then definitely have that wire checked out. If it's been a progressive problem, then it probably isn't a wire.

I also strongly agree with using OS 9 over X.

Marlene DeGrood said:

Seriously thinking about buying the new iMac G4 800Hz G4 with
SuperDrive and 768MB Ram. My current G4 is 3 years old and having
lots of problems. I use Photoshop 7 and Bryce......any comments?
Would greatly appreciate.

Thanks!
Marlene
http://www.thedigitalspectrum.com

Click to expand...

HJ Seeley said:

Marlene DeGrood said:

Seriously thinking about buying the new iMac G4 800Hz G4 with
SuperDrive and 768MB Ram. My current G4 is 3 years old and having
lots of problems. I use Photoshop 7 and Bryce......any comments?
Would greatly appreciate.

Thanks!
Marlene
http://www.thedigitalspectrum.com

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

=====================================
Marlene:

I am another eMac user and I could not be more pleased - it is the best value in the Mac line of products: 17" CRT, G4 700 MHz, 384 megs RAM, CD-RW, Jaguar, and MS Office X all for $1,400. Jaguar is a gas, and w/ the $'s we saved, I got PS 7.0 too! If you get an eMac, get the tilt & swivel stand - its worth the extrra $'s....

BAK
C-2100 since 4/1/02, B-300, B-macro, Vivitar 285HV flash, eMac/OS 10.2,
P-shop 7, Epson 785EPX printer
Nashua, NH, USA
http://www.pbase.com/baklink

It depends on how critical you are. LCD's are good for probably 98% of the people out there.

Marlene DeGrood said:

I did look at the eMac and I'm still torn between the CRT and LCD
of the iMac. Is the LCD really that bad for doing photo work?

Click to expand...

--
Olympus C2100 UZ, Canon D60 (on order), Macintosh
Powerbook G4 500Mhz, Epson 785 EPX

Hi BAKlink,

how do you cope with the noise of the eMac ? I have a dual 1G G4 (not for photo work), but I keep going back to my vintage slot-loading iMac because of the noise.

Perplexed...

BAKlink said:

=====================================
Marlene:

I am another eMac user and I could not be more pleased - it is the
best value in the Mac line of products: 17" CRT, G4 700 MHz, 384
megs RAM, CD-RW, Jaguar, and MS Office X all for $1,400. Jaguar is
a gas, and w/ the $'s we saved, I got PS 7.0 too! If you get an
eMac, get the tilt & swivel stand - its worth the extrra $'s....

Click to expand...

--
Leica IIIa

IIIa said:

Hi BAKlink,

how do you cope with the noise of the eMac ? I have a dual 1G G4
(not for photo work), but I keep going back to my vintage
slot-loading iMac because of the noise.

Perplexed...

Click to expand...

=========================
IIIa:

Our eMac is located in our living room and when in use by me, my wife or one of our 2 teenage sons, either the eMac is playing itunes (mostly rap-noise by the boys) or the TV is on in the background. At other times, it simply doesn't bother me as it becomes background/"white" noise. In an office environment, I admit it would be difficult to tolerate 50 hours/week.

IIIa said:

BAKlink said:

=====================================
Marlene:

I am another eMac user and I could not be more pleased - it is the
best value in the Mac line of products: 17" CRT, G4 700 MHz, 384
megs RAM, CD-RW, Jaguar, and MS Office X all for $1,400. Jaguar is
a gas, and w/ the $'s we saved, I got PS 7.0 too! If you get an
eMac, get the tilt & swivel stand - its worth the extrra $'s....

Click to expand...

--
Leica IIIa

Click to expand...

--
C-2100 since 4/1/02, B-300, B-macro, Vivitar 285HV flash, eMac/OS 10.2,
P-shop 7, Epson 785EPX printer
Nashua, NH, USA
http://www.pbase.com/baklink

right now i am running an entire photostudio with a Powermac G4 400mhz with a 2 internal HDs a 20gig and a 100gig, 768mb ram with os 9.2.2 and OSX 10.1.5 ( I still use 9.2.2 because of driver problems in OSX) i use a 15in apple lcd. I know the computer is starting to show its age but "If it aint broke dont fix it" My mac does everything i want it to do in a reasonable amount of time. PS7 works like a charm. I havent had any problems with my 400mhz. I am really quite suprised on how fast my 400mhz does things. I would like to see a 400mhz PC do what my 400mhz mac does!

If you do anything professional i would recomend getting another powermac, because theres is almost no limit to upgrading a powermac.

Have you ever thought about putting a 1ghz into your 450Mhz? It takes like 5 min to do the install. I think i mite install either 800mhz or 1ghz into my old 400mhz one of these days.

My apple Lcdi( in os 9.2.2) is calibrated pretty close to what i get off my printers.
I dont think that the lcd is bad at color calibrating.

my 0.02$

JJ

HJ Seeley said:

Read the other thread "advice on Mac for PS use"

I'm with everyone else that's posted so far. You gain very little
with a new G4. Fix the one you have.
I also strongly agree with using OS 9 over X.

Click to expand...

I have been using my new mirror door dual 1 gig Power Mac for about a month now. I still have my G4 400. When you suggest there is very little difference between those two machines, you really need to have both in house to compare. I can tell you there is much more performance increase with this new machine than there is with the G4 400 over my B&W G3 400. This new machine is in a whole new category. If you already have a good monitor, I'd go for a new Power mac.. I think you will be tremendously impressed.

As for your G4 400. If you haven't done firmware updates with it, you will probably find using X and even 9.2.2 is a little buggy. Do the latest updates. Also try your machine without any of your third party ram. Ram problems have been a big deal the last year or so with our Macs.

--
Dave Lewis

Dave Lewis said:

HJ Seeley said:

Read the other thread "advice on Mac for PS use"

I'm with everyone else that's posted so far. You gain very little
with a new G4. Fix the one you have.
I also strongly agree with using OS 9 over X.

Click to expand...

I have been using my new mirror door dual 1 gig Power Mac for about
a month now. I still have my G4 400. When you suggest there is very
little difference between those two machines, you really need to
have both in house to compare. I can tell you there is much more
performance increase with this new machine than there is with the
G4 400 over my B&W G3 400. This new machine is in a whole new
category. If you already have a good monitor, I'd go for a new
Power mac.. I think you will be tremendously impressed.

As for your G4 400. If you haven't done firmware updates with it,
you will probably find using X and even 9.2.2 is a little buggy. Do
the latest updates. Also try your machine without any of your third
party ram. Ram problems have been a big deal the last year or so
with our Macs.

--
Dave Lewis

Click to expand...

I am using a G4 MAC DP 450 OS 9.1 for PS7 work and am considering a new DP 1 gig G4, but don't want to buy until it comes with a 4X Superdrive DVD burner. Does anyone know when that will happen? I have heard after the first of the year, but can't confirm that. I burn many CDs at 12X and using a DVD burning at 2X seems way too slow.
Thanks!!
**** Fellows

There are lots of rumors about new lineup of G4s with Bluetooth
for MWSF in January. If they're true, Superdrives will naturally be
Pioneer 105 (4x) since they've discontinued 104s .

-yr

**** Fellows said:

I am using a G4 MAC DP 450 OS 9.1 for PS7 work and am considering a
new DP 1 gig G4, but don't want to buy until it comes with a 4X
Superdrive DVD burner. Does anyone know when that will happen? I
have heard after the first of the year, but can't confirm that. I
burn many CDs at 12X and using a DVD burning at 2X seems way too
slow.
Thanks!!
**** Fellows

Click to expand...

yr said:

There are lots of rumors about new lineup of G4s with Bluetooth
for MWSF in January. If they're true, Superdrives will naturally be
Pioneer 105 (4x) since they've discontinued 104s .

-yr

Click to expand...

Thanks yr, I hope the rumor is true, if not I'll get a Pioneer 105 and plug it in to my G4 to get 4X speed on the DVD.
Many thanks!
**** Fellows

yr said:

yr said:

I am using a G4 MAC DP 450 OS 9.1 for PS7 work and am considering a
new DP 1 gig G4, but don't want to buy until it comes with a 4X
Superdrive DVD burner. Does anyone know when that will happen? I
have heard after the first of the year, but can't confirm that. I
burn many CDs at 12X and using a DVD burning at 2X seems way too
slow.
Thanks!!
**** Fellows

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I have a 500 mz G4 that I updated to 1gz with a Sonnet Card. ( It was very easy to install, just plug it in and it worked). Also added an external firewire hard drive (Lacie), again I just plugged it in and it worked, no drivers no nothing. I have 1.25 gigs of ram. Photoshop runs just fine. Less than half the cost of a new system. I am also running OSX. I know the new machines are faster, but now I can keep my old computer for another couple of years. Just something to think about.
Val :0)

PS, epson just posted a new driver for their 1280 printer for OSX. I never use OS9 anymore....

**** Fellows said:

yr said:

There are lots of rumors about new lineup of G4s with Bluetooth
for MWSF in January. If they're true, Superdrives will naturally be
Pioneer 105 (4x) since they've discontinued 104s .

-yr

Click to expand...

Thanks yr, I hope the rumor is true, if not I'll get a Pioneer 105
and plug it in to my G4 to get 4X speed on the DVD.
Many thanks!
**** Fellows

**** Fellows said:

**** Fellows said:

I am using a G4 MAC DP 450 OS 9.1 for PS7 work and am considering a
new DP 1 gig G4, but don't want to buy until it comes with a 4X
Superdrive DVD burner. Does anyone know when that will happen? I
have heard after the first of the year, but can't confirm that. I
burn many CDs at 12X and using a DVD burning at 2X seems way too
slow.
Thanks!!
**** Fellows

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...