I've got a real mac, but...

[apple apple]

Ok, so I've got a dual ghz 2001 quicksilver and like it alot, but recently I macked my mother in-law's emachine (read--> low end box) and it cooks. It has a 3.3 ghz celeron and runs faster than my machine. So I was thinking I could build a 3ghz cedar mill (oc'd to 3.8) / 800 mhz asus mb / 320gb seagate quicksilver for just under $300 and sell my current machine's internals for at least $300 and end up with a much faster computer with a much larger hd. But I'm torn. I like my mac, and it's a real mac with real power pc processors (I know Intel may be better). I'm so tempted, I think if the mac faithfull caught wind of my desires they would lynch me by my testicles. I'm sooo tempted.

[Danyel]

Hi Apple Apple:

 

If you need to save money, go ahead and build your OSx86 Machine. I built my OSx86 miniPC on the cheap (for less than $400) last year. I installed Myzar 10.4.6 natively along with Windows XP. According to XBench, the computers like MacMini Core Solo.

 

If you have some low-end equipment, I would try installing OSx86 on them. Then go to Apple Store and compare the performance (maybe not fair comparison because all Mac's have CoreDuo's at least). But install OSx86 on low-end PC will give a "flavor" of what it will be like.

 

--danyel

[apple apple]

Hi Apple Apple:

 

If you need to save money, go ahead and build your OSx86 Machine. I built my OSx86 miniPC on the cheap (for less than $400) last year. I installed Myzar 10.4.6 natively along with Windows XP. According to XBench, the computers like MacMini Core Solo.

 

If you have some low-end equipment, I would try installing OSx86 on them. Then go to Apple Store and compare the performance (maybe not fair comparison because all Mac's have CoreDuo's at least). But install OSx86 on low-end PC will give a "flavor" of what it will be like.

 

--danyel

 

Yeah, the mother in-law's equipment is low end, but it runs osx86 very well. It has a 7200rpm ata hd, 512kb memory (half of which is used by the on board gma950, and a 3.3ghz celeron.

 

The parts I have in mind are a 320gb sata hd (along side my current 80gb ata hd), 1gb memory (which is what I have now), and a 3ghz p4 cedar mill 800mhz fsb and 2mb l2 cashe with virtualization oc'd to 3.8 at least (my mother in-law's processor runs 533mhz with 512kb l2 cashe and no virtualization).

 

The machine I have in mind would smoke my current setup (it has a whopping 133mhz fsb), and toast the in-law's... and cost would be a wash at worst selling my current internals. The only thing holding me back is that I like my Mac, and it's a real Mac for whatever that's worth.

[DaveGee]

Yep... it's a tough call... I too like "real-mac" hardware... nothing beats it for style as well as it's ability to do what it does best... being supported under OS X but the fact that you've got a G4 class PPC machine is a real negative and nothing is going to rip that sucker into anything even closely resembling a modern Intel based machine. This will only become more and more painful as the months roll on.

 

So it's clear you need a new machine and from the looks of it, sooner rather than later. As to what to get... Like I said, you can't beat a 'Real Mac' when it comes to OS X support - and in fact the only real way you can guarantee yourself the ability to run OS X 10.5 is to buy a 'Real Mac' - is it worth the premium price you pay? That only you can decide.

 

Dave