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Wow, you listened! (Reply to this comment)
by quasar
I'm honored, and glad that you have been enjoying this area of epinions. As I said before, this really is a nice review and I'm happy to be able to give it the high rating it deserves.
BTW, I'll happily take that Quadra off your hands - which model is it? (I still use my Quadra 700 just about everyday even though I finally bought a G4 450).
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Aug 03 '01
8:45 am PDT
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i agree. (Reply to this comment)
by iBen
I would recommend a cheaper iMac over a G4 to a new user.
The price of the G4 is generally outside of most people's price range, and for everyday pedestrian tasks like going online, surfing, checking email, and basic word processing, the G4 doesn't make much of a difference. The same is true for Pentiums. After you get past a certain point, there is no real use for the extra megahertz.
The exception, and it is an important one, is in the area of media. Video especially, requires an astounding amount of horsepower from the computer. Stuff that only the Velocity Engine in the G4 can provide.
Apple has been marketing very heavily its iDVD software bundled with every one of its G4s with the Superdrive (DVD-R). In order to be playable in consumer DVD players, video has to be compressed into high quality MPEG-2. Using software, any other processor would take excruciatingly long to compress a video into DVD quality MPEG-2. A normal processor would take up to 25 times source length to compress; this means that if you have 1 hour of source video, it would take more than a full day on a regular processor.
That is where the G4 steps in. The 128bit Velocity Engine vector processing unit in each G4 was utilized to cut down this compression time. Instead of 25 times source, the G4 compresses video to DVD MPEG-2 at just twice source time. Meaning compressing 1 hour of video would take a little over 2 hours.
The 867 Mhz G4 comes with Superdrive and costs $2499. The cost is cheap, but if you're interested in DVD video, this system is an absolute must. You need the G4 and you need the Superdrive to complete that task.
The Dual 800mhz G4 does that system one better. Instead of 2X encode time, the Dual 800 Mhz can encode iDVDs at faster than real time. (.99X source time). That's amazing.
So you see, the power of the G4 does have applications for normal people. Normal people can take an interest in creating their own DVDs, and the G4 is worth every penny in that respect.
Anyway, good editorial. I hope to read more of your stuff in the future.
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Aug 02 '01
1:10 pm PDT
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Good points (Reply to this comment)
by dee67
I've been an exclusive IBM clone user since a friend lured me away from my Commodore Amiga, many years ago.
I recently picked up at dual G4 533 and it's a strong runner. I guess being older than I was when I made the Amiga to clone switch, I'm less fortunate mastering this monster. So much so, I'd gladly trade it for a new dual xeon processor system. It's a fine machine, but I'm just too set in my ways to get the most out of it.
Anyone in New England reading this, I'm serious about that trade :)
Nice comparison,
Dennis
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Aug 01 '01
6:09 pm PDT
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$999 (Reply to this comment)
by bmi11er
for a dell w/a p4 1.3 and monitor right now.
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Aug 01 '01
11:07 am PDT
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