Re: mac G5 -- what's the word?

[Laurent Brondel <laurent@megalink.net>]

Hello John,
The G5 chip has a 64-bit architecture, as opposed to 32-bit for the G4. 
That's the real novelty about it, and it's backward compatible. However 
OS X is still 32-bit, the first rev. of OS X 10.3 is and will be 32-bit 
(it's now seeded to the developers), and so are all applications 
actually running on OS X. You'd have to wait for the developers, and 
Apple, to update their programs in order to take full advantage of the 
G5 chip, and I would not expect that to happen before 2004. Essentially 
this is now a very fast G4 with faster bus, bigger HD and memory 
capabilities and so on. I would go for a G4 now, they're much cheaper, 
and the 1.25GHz ones sold at the Apple store boot in OS 9 as well. 
Furthermore I would avoid buying the 1st rev. of any new computer model.
The Apple G4s and G5s all come with a dual-display video card that has 
1 proprietary ADC connector and 1 DVI connector. The machines comes 
with a DVI-to-VGA connector, so yes, you can plug any monitor that has 
a 15-pin VGA connector. You can also buy a ADC-to-VGA connector and 
have 2 VGA monitors on the same machine.
Best,
Laurent
info@laurentbrondel.com 
http://laurentbrondel.com/

On Thursday, July 31, 2003, at 08:56  PM, 
Loopers-Delight-d-request@loopers-delight.com wrote:

> From: John Mazzarella <jmazzarella@erols.com>
> Date: Thu Jul 31, 2003  5:04:44  PM US/Eastern
> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> Subject: Re: mac G5 -- what's the word?
>
>
> jimfowler wrote:
>
>> just curious...i'm a pc user and need a good excuse to get a mac...so 
>> i'm
>> wondering what the word is on the G5.  it seems to me that the G4 is 
>> still
>> going for more than the G5.
>>
>> -jim
>
> I have an ancient Pentium II PC that I've been using with Pro Tools Le 
> Digi
> 001.  Because I've been living in a very small apartment the past 2 
> years I
> haven't done much recording, choosing to focus on live looping.  I'm 
> new
> moving into a condo, where I'll have a dedicated music room/studio 
> (sweet!).
> Anyway, I plan to upgrade my computer, and I'd like to get a Mac.  I'm 
> looking
> into a Mac G4, which starts at about $1299.  I think the G5's are 
> going for
> about $1999.  I'll update to Pro Tools 6.1 which now supports rewire, 
> so I can
> get Reason, which I'm looking forward to using.  Here are a few 
> questions:
>
> 1.  Is it wise to get a G4 considering the G5's are coming out?  It 
> seems like
> the G4 has been the industry standard computer for the past few years.
> 2.  In visiting  a Mac store, a salesman told me that the G4 tower is
> compatible with any monitor, including my Dell PC monitor.  Is this 
> true?
> That would save a lot of additional money, until I can afford a Mac
> monitor(which are quite expensive)
>
> Thanks,
> John
> www.johnmazzarella.com