Which Of These Macs Would Make The Best Daw? Options

[rlwilliams]

Hi,

I'm a little behind the curve in keeping up with the latest and greatest computer. I have three potential computers to be my main DAW. I was wondering if anyone who knows DAW computers would give me your opinion about which of these three computers would be the best.

1) G5 iMac with 1.8 Ghz processor/20 in screen - 1 GB RAM

2) G5 Tower with 1.6 Ghz processor - 1 GB RAM

3) G4 Tower with Dual 1 Ghz - 2 MB L3 cache per processor - 1.5 GB RAM


If I added more memory to any of these, would that make a difference in the deciding factor. I know some can be upgraded.

Thanks for your time and input.

Sincerely,

Ronnie

[deaconblue]

Ronnie,

I would go with the G5 Tower since it will provide you with the most upgradable platform for the short term. gdoubleyou is correct. All three are out of production and would not be your best choice, but I know where you are coming from. If these are the three you can pick from, the G5 will allow you two large capacity SATA I drives and 4GB of RAM. Plus the AGP slot would be able to support a 128 MB Radeon 9800 or 256MB 6800 with no updates required.

You will need to get a FireWire Hub and USB Hub if you have a more than one or two FireWire devices and more than 3 USB devices (keyboard and mouse can be daisy chained to equal one device).

Expandability and speed would make me lean to the G5 without question. I used a G4 AGP for years and upgraded to a G5 (DP2.0) and have had it in service for the last four years. It has not hit the wall yet and I have room to upgrade still.

Just an opinion.

peace.