Need Advice On Buying My First Mac!, help a newbie out..... Options

[astralweeks]

hello all,

i'm about to dive into the wonderful world of apple computers for 2 things: audio and video. I have used (and built) PC's for years, but i'm ready to get semi-professional with my productions and there is really no way to do that without using a mac. BUT: i know little about Mac's in general, let alone the specific things i need for audio applications.

i've been checking out different power mac systems, and as of right now a g5 is out of the question, so i'm looking at g4. should i get a dual processor? or a faster single processor? exactly what speed CPU should i be looking at when i go to buy a system? my friend has a dual 1 ghz g4 he wants to sell me: how solid would this system be for my needs?

i've messed around with recording on PC's before, so i know more ram = better, faster HDD = better, etc....i'm just wondering if the transition to mac will be an easy and productive one.

if anyone could help me out i'd really appreciate it!

[shaneblyth]

I changed 6 months ago and it is not too painful.. you will find some frustrating things no doubt only because you will be use to doing things a certain way.
I bought a Powerbook with a gig of ram and have been very happy, just bought a Mac Mini to replace my Dell Optiplex 2.4GHZ and am happy with it too.
You probably need to be a little more specific as to what you actually intend to do with the audio and video
I have 8000 photos and a DVI camcorder that I use to make DVD's for me at home and both do a good job.
Just grab plenty of ram and use things like Monolingual to remove 1 gig of extra language files you dont need !
learn to repair permissions from the disk utilities and maybe even grab macaroni for auto maintenece that will satisfy you
"PC" ned to optimise.. not that this is actually that necessary.
www.osxaudio.com is a good place to visit too o a search there for optimising OSX there was a great thread there about it with all the tricks.
One thing you will enjoyt is the easy life and those dam flashy apps that make you go Ohh..
enjoy your new Mac which ever one you get