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Seeking Power Mac Recommendations?

Posted by Cliff on from the a-nice-blue-juicy-one dept.

Pauly asks: "I'm going to do something I've never done: I'm buying a Mac. I'm a long-time UNIX developer and user for whom the prospect of trading a noisy, heat-spewing workstation or two in favor of a civilized Mac is irresistible. I'm quite used to making x86/*NIX hardware decisions. However, I'm finding myself stumped as I look at the G4/OS X options."

"As attractive as the (i|e)Macs are, I'm pretty certain I'll be getting a G4 tower to re-use my subtantial dual-monitor investment. Specifically, for my needs as a developer and power-user, I wonder:

  • Are modern G4 towers quieter and/or cooler than comparable x86 workstations?
  • Is it wiser to spend money on memory or megahertz?
  • Is it best to buy everything directly from Apple, or just a minimum to be fleshed out with cheaper, after-market add-ons?
  • What's the best video option for dual-head on Jaguar?
  • Does OS X make SMP worth the investment?
  • Is the SCSI performance gain great enough to be worth the investment over IDE?"

2 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Re:BEFORE YOU BUY...! by Sloppy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm definately going to wait for the Osbourne 3!

    --
    As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
  2. Re:A couple answers of my own by kwerle · · Score: 3, Funny

    I also plan on picking up Objective C along with making some GUI toys for XML authoring I've been tinkering with on Linux using QT.

    Chuckle. Maybe you'd better keep away from "cocoa". Once you start using ObjC and InterfaceBuilder, it's REAL hard to go back...