Ok, My new job is turning out pretty well and Im trying to think of worthwhile things to purchase and an Apple Computer to do editing at home is one of them. The downside is althrough I use IMacs, Emacs, and G4's regularly I still dont see the huge performance difference in all of them so if you guys could tell me the best on that fits these requirements that would be great:

-Able to run Final Cut at a Decent Rate
-Able to burn DVD's
-At least 1GHZ processor
-12" or higher screen if its included
-40GB or Bigger HD

Also my price range is <$1500 unless there is something much better for $1700 or so.
Thanks.

Go with the g4 and heres why... even though final cut pro 4 will run on a 700 mghz processor or faster it HAS to be on a g4 or better. I got a 900 mghz g3 and I cant run FCP4 although FCP3 in still nice Im going to get aggrivated eventually cuz now my software is outdated. Also the G4's are the only comp that come with dvd burners. If you could afford the new G5 go with that, if not a G4 is your best bet. Also wait about a month or so to buy the new machine... mac os10.3 panther is about to come out and its suppossed to be a nice update in the os. Its rumored to make my machine ( i-book ) run 25% faster. Good luck and no matter which machine u buy you will LOVE your mac!

The only right way to tell a story is the way the director see's it... there is never a wrong way

mike said it all!

get the g5 if you can afford it, if not the g4 will serve you well! just don't buy extra hard disc space from apple - it's way cheaper to get an external lacie hd to supplement your internal one. same goes for ram, get it at chipmerchant.com

the g4 chip is definitly faster than it's windows competition. for example, i have an 867mhz g4. my friend has an 867mhz PIII. in rendering tests using the exact same file with the same settings and no non-loaded textures (which would bring the hd into the picture) mine was AT LEAST 40% faster in the same chip speed.

let us know what you get!

"...where wings take dream..."
- G. W. Bush

yeah, get the titatium powerbook g4, with the superdrive. that will work for everything that you want.

"yesterday i got so old i thought that i would die"

Just get the new 17 inch flat panel imac, they now come with 1.25ghz it already has a monitor so you don't have to worry about buying one "a sweet ass monitor at that. And it will run you at a little under 2000.

I want to get Apple too but why are the Apple computers better than PC's for multimedia work, PC's seem faster to me. 3.3 Ghz against 1.25Ghz, I just don't get it.

ghz isn't a solid indicator of a faster computer. That's why companies contract independent firms to benchmark computers with real world applications.

Funny you should mention it. Apple had Veritest do some benchmarks. You can check them out here.

Now, there's been a lot of controversy that the tests were rigged and missleading. I've read propoganda from both sides and in my unbiased opinion , they are no more missleading than any other benchmark done on macs or pcs. I trust the tests.

Well, I really don't give a tuppence ha'penny about synthetic benchmark tests like the SPEC tests as they can be severely manipulated with the right compilers.

However, real world performance is king ... watch the Apple WWDC quicktime stream for the photoshop, emagic logic and mathmatica bakeoffs.

Those G5's are worth it ... and clocked slower than the Xeon's they tested it against.

All I will say is don't get a 12" powerbook like I did ... i've got major logic board problems with it and it's under a year old.

Besides, you'll be really squinting at the screen which won't help your eyesight either.

Richard Purves
Living Film
http://www.livingfilm.co.uk/