At 20:55 -0500 06/20/2005, Ansberry wrote:
Wow! 2 posts in one night. That is a record for me. I usually lurk on
this list because there are so many more knowledgable people here than I am.
I am a neophyte digital video person and have been learning to convert
my family videos to DVDs on my old S900. I have been asking questions on a
forum called "videohelp.com". The people there have been extremely patient
and helpful to me. But the last time I asked a question over there, one
individual told me I need to invest in a "real" Mac. Not a "new" Mac, but a
"real" Mac. I figure that was a slam at the Umax computer. My S900 has
been a exceptional value, and my C600 did great before I got the S900. Is a
9500 "real" Mac better than the S900?
No. The 9500 will only gain you two advantages over the S900. It
will eliminate the lower PCI slot issues and it will up your maximum
RAM from 1040 MB to 1536MB.
If you're not having PCI card problems and already have enough RAM in
your S900, then those are not issues.
The disadvantages of the 9500 as compared to the S900 is that with G4
processors you may have problems in the lower three PCI slots of the
9500. The 9500 case is a terrible design. The 9500's motherboard
cache is more difficult to disable in hardware than the S900's (may
be a non-issue since this can be done with software), and the S900
usually supports higher bus speeds. I have not met an S900 yet that
won't support at least a 60 MHz bus speed. The trick is that most
CPU cards will not work properly at 60 MHz even if they have a
setting for a speed that high.
If you get a 9600 that will eliminate the horrible case problem.
Arguably, the 9600 case is even nicer than the S900 case. There is
no doubt that it's nicer than the 9500 case.
In my opinion, the S900 power supply is easier to replace with a
standard ATX unit when it wears out than the 9500 is to replace when
it wears out. But neither one is a piece of cake to convert.
However, if your correspondent meant a *newer* Mac, even an early G4
will have several advantages. I think the model right after the Blue
and White--the Black & White?, Gray & White? is a pretty good one. I
can't remember the names. My favorite in a used model would be the
one with AGP and four PCI slots.
The problem with the Blue & White is that there was an IDE controller
issue in that, IIRC. So I'd avoid that early model, although, if you
need an ADB bus for some reason, it's hard to pass up.
IIRC there was the B&W with just three PCI slots and no AGP. Then
there were a couple of models with AGP and three PCI slots. And at
some point there was a model with AGP and four PCI slots. Then
didn't the G5 drop back down to three PCI slots?
Jeff Walther
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