Hesitate to order new G5 + Panther

[MamaMoose]

I was just about to order the new dual 2 GHz G5 when I was struck by a horrible thought: It will ship, of course, with Panther and that is the rub.

•  Will I have to go thru a new learning process to use Panther effectively?

•  Will all my apps that I use in Jaguar work in Panther? Is this a new OS
   requiring developers to redo their apps in order to work at all or even
   effectively?

•  Can I use my SDRAM that I have in my dual 1 GHz G4 or will I have to buy
   new memory. And, if so what will the new memory cost?

•  Can I move my current hard drives (2 internal IDE and 2 external Firewire)
    to the G5 from the G4/ And will they work in Jaguar as well as Panther?

•  Will the software I have that uses Altivec (FORTRAN compiler) work as well
   as it does in my G4?

I do not mind spending the money (it will pay off in my consulting work) as long as I don't have significant aggravation getting everything to work. Note: remember my aggravation in getting my GCC Elite 12 laser printer to work in OS 10.2.5 or 10.2.6. Therfore I had to go back to OS 10.2.4.

In any case, I decided to hold off until I heard from trustworthy colleagues at TS and got their opinions on some of the questions above. It usually a good idea to let the early adopters have at new systems , letting them working out the inevitable bugs. But, I sure am salivating over the compute power now available.

Thanks for any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc,

MamaMoose

[Spartacus]

QUOTE(MamaMoose @ Jun 24 2003, 8:11 AM)

I was just about to order the new dual 2 GHz G5 when I was struck by a horrible thought: It will ship, of course, with Panther and that is the rub.

•  Will I have to go thru a new learning process to use Panther effectively?

•  Will all my apps that I use in Jaguar work in Panther? Is this a new OS
   requiring developers to redo their apps in order to work at all or even
   effectively?

•  Can I use my SDRAM that I have in my dual 1 GHz G4 or will I have to buy
   new memory. And, if so what will the new memory cost?

•  Can I move my current hard drives (2 internal IDE and 2 external Firewire)
    to the G5 from the G4/ And will they work in Jaguar as well as Panther?

•  Will the software I have that uses Altivec (FORTRAN compiler) work as well
   as it does in my G4?

I do not mind spending the money (it will pay off in my consulting work) as long as I don't have significant aggravation getting everything to work. Note: remember my aggravation in getting my GCC Elite 12 laser printer to work in OS 10.2.5 or 10.2.6. Therfore I had to go back to OS 10.2.4.

In any case, I decided to hold off until I heard from trustworthy colleagues at TS and got their opinions on some of the questions above. It usually a good idea to let the early adopters have at new systems , letting them working out the inevitable bugs. But, I sure am salivating over the compute power now available.

Thanks for any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc,

MamaMoose

 1. No. Panther will be as easy to use as Jaguar. Acutally, you souldn't notice a difference concerning ease-of-use.

2. Yes. The IBM PPC 970 processor runs all 32-bit applications natively. Hence, you are not going to need new software. However, in order to take full advantage of the 64-bit CPU you'll need new 64-bit software.

3. The new PowerMacs use much faster DDR RAM. You wouldn't want to use the 133 MHz SDRAM modules.

4. Not sure about the HDs, since I don't know much about Serial ATA. Regarding the OS, it won't be a problem.

5. Yes. The PPC 970 has an Altivec engine although it is an IBM chip.


What I am hesitating about at the moment ist whether to order the Radeon 9600 or 9800.

[bil207]

According to the G5 specs. page the new G 5 Power Macs will initially be shipping with Jaguar (OS 10.2) not Panther (OS 10.3).

[Spartacus]

But I think that Panther will be a free update for all G5 owners.

BTW: Apple didn't say anything about WHEN Panther would be available, didn't they?

[bil207]

QUOTE(Spartacus @ Jun 24 2003, 8:14 AM)

But I think that Panther will be a free update for all G5 owners.

BTW: Apple didn't say anything about WHEN Panther would be available, didn't they?

I expect that Panther will be a free update ($19.95 U.S. for S&H) for those that have purchased the first G 5s.

Steve said that Panther will ship before the end of the year.

[kelly]

I think I read December somewhere, but I could be wrong.

Tom. They will ship with at least 10.2.6 I'm sure.

Hopefully you'll find a work around for your problems.

You can't load earlier Systems on any macs.

You may want to buy before they come with Panther.

Also, as usual. Buy the minimum RAM from Apple and buy more elsewhere.

I'm pretty sure you're not a Game Player so Downgrade the Video Card.

Games are about the only area that that makes any difference.

http://dealmac.com/articles/52678.html

You should be getting excited about these MamaMoose.

These machines are going to scream. Especially at what you do.

http://www.apple.com/powermac/performance/

[Paddy]

Whatever you do, don't buy your DDR PC3200 RAM from Apple!!!! It's still relatively expensive everywhere, but Apple's prices are insane and actually INCREASE the more you order! 2 GB is $500 - 8GB is $3,500. HUH???

A quick search on PriceWatch.com found 1 GB DDR3200 RAM from Kingston for $174 and up. Outpost have Mushkin 512MB PC3200 RAM modules for $129 and Patriot 1GB modules for $219.

Serial ATA is a different standard - you will not be able to move your old drives without an adapter:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/storage/20020812/

That said, serial ATA drives aren't that much more expensive than ATA drives - and at the moment, Apple's prices don't look all that bad (surprise!) It's hard to figure out what the base price is, since there is no option for no drive at all, but if you decide on a 250 GB drive instead of the base 160GB drive in the high end model it's $119 more, and if you want two 250GB drives it's $499 more. Given that ONE 250 GB Western Digital runs around $425, this isn't a bad deal. However, if you decide to put in your own, smaller drives, a 120GB Serial ATA from Seagate can be had for $120. Maxtor are slightly more - around $140. A Maxtor 200 GB drive is about $299. So with the smaller drives, you will get more for your $$ than if you buy through Apple. Another interesting note re Apple's pricing - if you buy the low end G5, it's base model drive is 80GB. If you decide to opt for the dual 250GB drives, you'll pay $617. That's a whopping $167 difference for that 80GB difference between the top end base model and the bottom end base model!!

There aren't a lot of Serial ATA drives on the market yet - the Western Digital 250 GB drive just came out two weeks ago. I would imagine that we will see more and more of them - and the prices will drop.

SIIG make this adapter - I don't know if it will work in the new Macs - it says "PC" - but these aren't standards that should be platform specific. It's $49 at Outpost.

And there's another one for $29 - http://shop1.outpost.com/product/3634995

So, I'd probably get the base model serial ATA drive from Apple, buy an adapter (once I found out whether they actually work in a Mac!) and pop one of the old drives in and see how it does.

[Spartacus]

QUOTE(kelly @ Jun 24 2003, 3:19 PM)

They will ship with at least 10.2.6 I'm sure.

From what I heard Apple is going to ship them with 10.2.7, a special build for the 64-bit CPU.

I still can't decide which graphic card I am going to take.
The Radeon 9800 cost about 350 Euros more but has 128 MB VRAM.
I like to play a game once in a while and I am thinking if it might a good investment for the future. On the other I could also upgrade once better and faster graphic cards are available (and I feel the desire for a better one).

What do you think?

I am also thinking of ordering the DVD/CD-RW combo configuration. I am not sure if I really need a SuperDrive. I bearly use iMovie.
What do you guys use it for?

[kelly]

Lukas. I say if you're not a heavy gamer go 64 MB.

Like you say, you can always upgrade.

Also go Combo Drive.

You can always buy one cheaper elesewhere.

Probably faster before too long.

My 2 Euros.

[beacher]

Guess what. . .According to today's Mac Observer, Panther is going to be another $129.00   purchase, NOT an upgrade!  But it will have 100 new features.

[Bill]

Figured so from the get-go Beach. Unless it was preinstalled.
When they put the label 'Panther' on it,new puppy,so you pay.

[kps]

I'm going to wait till Jan or Feb 2004 to replace my G4 "Sawtooth" which'll be 4yrs old at that point. By that time, there might be a rev model, Panther will be pre-installed and it should be clear "who, what where" is adopting the built-in technology. Peripheral makers et al.

[Gary S]

As far as graphics cards are concerned. My son plays some heavy-duty graphic intense games like Medal of Honor. He has a 64mb in the Quicksilver and it works ok but 128mb would help him.

64 Mb is fine for most games these days.

[jcarter]

I am wanting a new Mac, not needing, so from what I can gather from all this information, I will WAIT for a while.
There is a lot of new Mac stuff going on, so I sure will wait until at least November.  And I will be watching everybodys comments on their new purchases here.
Jane

[Bill]

Got an extra chair Jane?
We can wait till all the dust settles together.