New G4s came out

R

Rubo4

New member
With all the hype going on about dual 933 or even quad processors, the new G4s are only 20 % faster then the old ones.

New models are:

G4 867 mHz with 2MB L3 cache SuperDrive 128RAM - 60 gig HD for $2499

G4 Dual 800 mHz 2MB L3 cache SuperDrive 256RAM - 80 gig HD for $3499

Now the old G4 733 went down to $1699.

No new motherboard, so I guess we'll have to wait till January to see if the G4s will have DDR mobos.
 
something funny over there at apple.

it's funny that the mid-range G4 powermac(867MHz) has 128MB's of ram, while the mid-range imac(600 MHz) has 256MB's. it just seems a little stupid. and the powermac pricing scheme* is pretty stupid too.

the only good things out of the macworld expo were:
-OSX 10.1(improved and actually useful, but ships in september)
-iDVD 2(upgraded with motion menus but that's about it, but i don't condone the use of iDVD)
-dual 800MHz G4's(but the price sucks*)
-733MHz G4 for $1700(yeah, but you can't get one with a super-drive pre-installed. even for more money, unless you buy one after the fact for at least $500+ installation)
-no more fruity-ass imac colors(although i don't condone the use of imacs).
-no lcd imacs(yeah, i'm actually happy they didn't release them).
-no DDR(unless apple can make DDR run like it should, i'd rather have true 200 or 266 MHz bus speed performance instead of pseudo 200/266 MHz bus speed performance).

some of the bad things(or inconvenient):
-no optional, or stock, combo-drives(dvd-rom/cd-rw) on imacs, or TiBook G4's. i think the "high range" imacs should at least have a combo-drive stock instead of just a cd-rw, as well as all TiBooks. and the 733 should have a combo-drive stock too.
-no true faster single processor G4's released(733 to 867 isn't much).
-adobe's absence, shows how much they care about supporting OSX, but maybe i'm wrong(hopefully).

i would have liked:
-G4's w/ faster bus speed(see above about DDR), and a truly faster single processor G4(screw the 867).
-imacs w/ 133MHz bus-speed and combo-drives(at least the high-end model).
-ibooks w/ 100MHz bus-speed, maybe 14" display(but this is too early cause the new ibook only came out a while ago).
-TiBooks w/ 133MHz bus-speed, combo-drives stock(also too early).


*the dual 533 at the time of it's release cost $2500 while the single 533 cost $2200, so why does the dual 800 cost $3500 and the single 867 cost $2500. i mean both have a super-drive. and i'm damn sure it's not for an extra 20gigs of hard disk, a slightly upgraded video card, and 128MB of ram(and it's only pc133).
 
I could be mistaken but the software that comes with the DVD write is not high horsepower stuff. I think you gotta drop another grand to get the better features. With that, I doubt many of us really care about mastering at 96k anyway.

While I really wanted a price drop on 533dp, I will gladly settle for a $1,700 733. Do we need reminding what an awesome machine this is?
 
I agree, cereal-- I have been lusting for the 733 mhz machine for a long time, and the price has finally dropped on it. Thank God the recession finally kicked in for Apple! I'm so excited, I returned my Korg D1600 to Sam Ash, and I am gonna get a MAC!! Uh, next pay period, that is.
 
Right on Jerry!

I'm probably ordering my entire new studio next week (DP3, MK II) etc...... I'm going to get Samash, GC and Mars into a bidding war and then buy from Sweetwater to avoid 7% Calif sales tax. What a lucky break eh???? 1,700 733.
 
I heard that the new Macs will only start shipping in late August. Is that true. If it is, then we won't see any huge price drops on Ebay. I was about to buy a single 533 for $1500, the guy went to vacation and just came back. Guess what, I'm getting it from him for $900 now. That leaves me an extra $800 for a full SCSI 160 set up. Do you guys think I'd better of with Atto dual 160 card and two SCSI drives or a 733 with two ATA 100s?
 
I just reread the specs at applestore. Looks to me like they are playing us a bit. The memory on the 733 seems to be less than it was before the price cut. I don't actually remember what it was before, but I think that there was both L2 and L3 cache on it, and there was more SDRAM. So the price dropped but so did the components-- I think.

Oh well, no free lunch. Comments?
 
I am soo confused...

Help...

I am trying to remember the old 733 configuration-- did anyone save it by any chance??? Damnit! I used to scour that website daily looking for a price change. I should have known that they would reconfigure all their boxes!!!

Here is the new 733 config: $1,699.00

733MHz PowerPC G4
256K L2 cache
128MB SDRAM memory
40GB Ultra ATA drive
CD-RW drive
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX
Gigabit Ethernet
56K internal modem

- Now, I seem to remember there used to be more ram, I am pretty sure there was quite a bit more cache memory, but I am not sure of this. (I DO know that you can't upgrade cache on these boxes).
- I think the old ones had 20 Gigs more HD space.
- The old ones cost $3400 with the superdrive, and around $3000 w/ the standard CD burner.
- The new one doesn't come with a superdrive option.

Its a good machine, I am sure. But can you compare it to the original 733??? It looks like apples to oranges to me?!!

I think that anyone who had their eyes set on the 733 (like me) unfortunately need to be looking at the new 867mhz -- at $2499 it has all the original cache plus more, plus the superdrive, you just have to add $100 for the ram and you have a much better machine than the original 733 at about $1000 less. (or $500 less if you negate the DVD burner savings cuz you didn't wannit to begin with).

Can anybody help me? Am I imagining all this?
 
OK here's the old specs.


733MHz PowerPC G4, 256MB SDRAM, 60GB Ultra ATA Drive, CD-RW, 56K Modem, GForce 2MX, NIC Two USB Ports, Two Firewire Ports, Mac OS9

Power Mac™ G4 733MHz/256MB/ 60GB/Superdrive/NV11/56K/GigE
Apple Computer (Power Mac G4):
Outpost #: 13358
With outstanding performance, state-of-the-art graphics and five expansion slots, the new Power Mac G4 is the fastest and most expandable Macintosh ever. But the Power Mac G4 733MHz goes even further by including easy-to-use power tools for creating movies, music CDs and even DVD videos.


Features:

Speed redefined:
Fastest-ever PowerPC G4 with Velocity Engine, 7337-MHz processing speed
New on-chip level 2 cache and backside level 3 cache
New high-performance graphics cards and AGP 4X slot
133-MHz system bus and PC133 SDRAM up to 1.5GB(1)
PCI throughput up to 215 MBps
Built-in Gigabit Ethernet
Personalized music libraries and custom CDs :
CD-RW drive for creating music CDs and archiving data files
iTunes software included for managing digital audio collections and creating music CDs(2)
Movies and DVDs from start to finish:
FireWire for connecting DV camcorders and digital audio peripherals
iMovie software included for making Desktop Movies
More expandable than ever:
Four high-performance PCI slots (64 bit, 33 MHz)
Easy access to built-in expansion bays and slots
Two 400-Mbps FireWire ports for connecting up to 63 devices(3)
Two Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports for connecting up to 127 peripherals
Specifications:
Processor:
733MHz PowerPC G4 processor
Velocity Engine vector processing unit
Full 128-bit internal memory data paths
Powerful floating-point unit supporting single-cycle, double-precision calculations
Data stream prefetching operations supporting four simultaneous 32-bit streams
256K on-chip level 2 cache running at processor speed, plus 1MB backside level 3 cache running at one third the processor speed
133MHz system bus supporting over 1-GBps
Memory:
256MB of PC133 SDRAM
Three DIMM slots support up to 1.5GB of PC133 SDRAM using the following (1):
32MB, 64MB or 128MB DIMMs (64-bit-wide, 64Mbit technology)
128MB or 256MB DIMMs (64-bit-wide, 128Mbit technology)
512MB DIMMs (64-bit-wide, 256Mbit technology)
Expansion:
Four full-length 64-bit, 33MHz PCI slots
One AGP 4X slot with graphics card installed
Two 400Mbps FireWire ports (15W total power) (3)
Two USB ports (12 Mbps each)
Storage:(5)
60GB 7200-rpm Ultra ATA/66
Combination DVD-R/CD-RW drive (writes DVD-R at 2x, reads DVD at 6x, writes CD-R at 8x, writes CD-RW at 4x, reads CD at 24x)
Three 3.5-inch hard disk drive expansion bays:
One ATA drive preinstalled on standard configurations
Support for up to two internal ATA drives
Support for up to three internal SCSI drives
Support for a combination of internal SCSI and ATA drives (up to one ATA and two SCSI)
Graphics support:
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX graphics card with 32MB of SDRAM; installed in a dedicated AGP 4X graphics slot
Support for up to 1920-by-1200-pixel resolution at 32 bits per pixel (millions of colors)
Apple Display Connector (ADC)
15-pin mini D-Sub VGA connector
Communications:
10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet connector (RJ-45)
Built-in 56K V.90 modem card(6)
Audio :
Apple speaker minijack (16 bit) for connection to Apple Pro Speakers
Headphone jack (16 bit)
Support for external third-party FireWire and USB digital audio peripherals such as microphones, speakers, and MIDI devices
Keyboard and mouse:
Apple Pro Keyboard
Apple Pro Mouse
Size and weight:
Height: 17.0 inches (43.2 cm)
Width: 8.9 inches (22.6 cm)
Depth: 18.4 inches (46.7 cm)
Weight: 30 pounds (13.6 kg)(7)



Here's the new:

733MHz PowerPC G4, 128MB SDRAM, 40GB Ultra ATA Drive, CD-RW, 56K Modem, GeForce 2 MX, NIC, Two USB Ports, Two Firewire Ports, Mac OS X

Lesseeee....

old has more ram, bigger hdd. Both are ATA 66 BUT... it's for apps only and it's still plenty fast and plenty big. As to ram, $50 and you're even again. Both have the 256k L2 cache. But does the new have the backside L3 ? The answer is YES. I just checked.

Only difference? A littlle RAM and smaller HDD. BIG DEAL!

That August shipping concerns me a little. I could always get the closeout.
 
Last edited:
Hey cereal:

:eek: You sure that it wasn't•256K L2 & 1MB L3 cache-- I checked out the sweetwater site. They have the old G4s still. I don't mean to be a downer. I just don't want to see Steve Jobs take you over the barrel again... like he done me many a time.

xxoo
-jk
 
cereal:

Thanks for the g4 store link!. I was going by the applestore (http://www.applestore.com) prices. Their 733s are different animals entirely, and they are going for $1,699 with a major cuts in cache, significant cuts in ram and HD space. And no superdrive. You are right about the g4 store though-- it is the same machine. Apple no longer sells the machine you are talking about. And I agree, it is a nice price at $2399. A killer box. A thousand dollars cheaper than a few weeks ago. Very cool.

So many devices. So little time.

-jk
 
Hello Wyastar

For this question I went into our local MAC MALL store. The Sales rep told me that 533dp are available in limited quantities and will fade away at full price:(

So Jerry....Can we conclude that the new 733 is the same basic setup except for a little ram and primary hdd size? If so, then let's feel good about all this!

Cheers
 
cereal:

Its the backside L3 cache. You get a Meg of it on the original 733s and none of it on the ones they are selling for $1695. Unfortunately, based on what I have learned, cache memory and it's clock speed IS a big deal to audio apps--just search on 'cache' on this BBS. Also, look at the configs of the new 867s and 800 duals. They both have a Meg or two of backside L3. That's why they're in a different class. The original 733s were in that class too.

Ignore everything else I said -- they are not slapping 733s in old 466mhz configs. I checked that out. Also, aside from the cache memory, the machines are pretty close -- just upgrade the Ram and HD for a coupla hundred and you got the original box.

Also cereal: I don't think you can even buy the original 733s anymore on G4 store at, what was it? $2499? I don't remember and I can't check it out, cause the link you just posted is out of date already! Check it out! I dont think G4 store has any of the originals left!!

Any case, good luck bud! May you make killer recordings on whatever box you end up with!

-- jk
 
ARRRRRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!

You're totally right Jerry. I tell ya I thought I read about the 1mb L3 cache on the new stuff. My bad. And Comp USA has just 1 old left but I couldn't bring myself to buy it from them. They're like Guitar Center to me.

Let's move on. A little math on the new 867. The Apple Store link says you can deselect the superdrive and save $400. Now we're at $2,100. Drop another 150 on RAM and 200 on HDD and we're at $2,450.

That's $175 more than same stuff on closeout 733 assuming you gotta buy 256mb ram. Cool

867 gives us significant speedbump AND we pick up additional meg of L3 cache.

I guess I'll wait 6 more weeks for the new 867. I took August off of work to start recording but now my plans have changed. How 'bout you?
 
cereal:

Will pick up the D1600 again @ ash. Sad, perhaps. Not a MAC, to be sure. Not PT or DP. But it does have 24 bit recording, EXCELLENT sounding converters, editing, faders, burns CDs: all for $1600. I already used it to record a live concert of my theater group. Burnt 2 CDS & they came out great in my o so humble opinon.

A few pay periods into the future things should be different. Hopefully.

Someday I will own a new Mac.
Someday. I know I will...
someday...

ciao,
jk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top