what do you got?

I've got a five year old ibook that still works beautifully. Anyone out there got a Dual 2.5 Powermac G5?

I have an iMac and a pc laptop. I would love a G5.

depends. if you dont know anything about computers, get an apple. theyre much easier to keep running well without getting bogged down with spyware. no virus troubles, either. some patience also helps in finding things that will work on mac will help, as ive found out with trying to get a wireless network to play nice on my mac and my brothers compaq, but since youve already have one, you probably already know what im talking about. i would say only get a windows pc if you cant tear yourself away from the programs that are only available on pc and are willing to deal with all the spyware/malware/viruses.

pc all my life

macs are cute but not realistic for my field.

EDIT: I voted Mac

Even knowing a little bit (OK, a tiny bit) about computers, I've generally found PCs (specifically Windows XP machines or anything before Windows 2000 or NT) to be problematic outside of just syware and virus troubles. All too often, various video/graphics/sound card + processor + software configurations don't work like they should, and no tech person I can talk to is ever much help because they only specialize in one small area (i.e. the card, the software, or the machine, although all know Windows really well).

Macs are generally more integrated (downside: less upgradeable/ customizeable) so conflicts are a little less common. Mac OS X is a little "dumbed down" compared to Windows, but in my experience it just works better. You don't really have to alter as many settings as you do on PCs just to get plug-ins to work, etc. Of course, you're more limited on software (especially shareware and freeware), and the Mac OS is now Unix based so I think viruses and spyware are becoming more common than they used to be.

The bottom line is all computers are a pain in the ass, but I hate Windows XP. I work with it all the time to do 3D stuff (to my knowledge no 3D software has been develped yet that really works well on a Mac, even super high-end G5s). It's terrible. People may disagree, but for graphics work, I thought Windows 2000/NT was much better. Unfortunately my next computer will probably be a PC because of the kind of work I do.

i have an iBook. G5 this fall when the fellowship kicks in.

macs are fucking expensive. Everything i need to do on a computer, I can do just as well on a pc for cheaper.

And I've owned both, I like both, i don't see what the big hangup is. If mac made their shit for a comparable price as pc shit, i might get a mac.

i've pretty much only used Mac's and my only experience with PC's is trying to answer my parents questions about how to fix their PC. to which i usually say, "i know how to fix that on a mac, but i don't know how to help you - sorry."

i'm a graphic designer, and for whatever reason it's industry standard to use a mac.

yeah, macs are the industry standard for audio recording, and they're often referred to as "macintrash", or "macincrash".

I started designing on Macs, but I do all my design work on PCs now that I'm partially self-employed. I'll take the PC even if I'm doing design work, thank you very much.

what's a virus?

Mac

i still want to get a mac just because they're mad sweet. maybe i can convince the gf that she needs a laptop.

I'm to used to Windows to ever go over to a Mac.

If my Digital Audio Workstation dreams ever come true, it will definately be G5 (G6 by the time i get around to it?) based. For now, all of my machines are PCs, most of which run Linux because I'm a giant dork.

which builds? and what kind of machines are they running on?

I'm running a Gentoo household (all run 2.4.26 Kernels). Here are some specs:

Headless Gentoo Linux Server:
proc: K62-350
Mem: 256 MB
Storage: 2x250GB (RAID1), 2x120GB (RAID1), 40GB (Boot/Root/Home)

Gentoo Linux Workstation:
proc: 1.2 Ghz Athlon
Mem: 512 MB
Storage: 40 GB (Boot/Root/Home), other drives from the server are NFS mounted on this machine.
2x 21" DEC Monitors (the 7 year old 80lb monsters with both BNC and D-Sub inputs)

Dual Boot WinXP/Gentoo Linux Workstation:
Proc: 2.4 Ghz P4
Mem: 512 Mb
Storage: 2x160 GB, 1x120.
Uses the same 2 21" CRTs as the other linux box.

Dual-boot XP/Red Hat 7.3 (this is my work-provided machine)
IBM T40 Thinkpad:
proc: 1.5 Ghz PenttiumM
mem: 512 MB
storage: 40 GB

I also have a dedicated gaming machine that runs Win98 still, and a old compaq laptop that runs winME.

Holy crap, Garth!

Yeah, I know. Its kinda embarrassing when you type it all out like that.

My computer/music room is a good 5 degrees warmer than the rest of the house thanks those monitors, alone. I used to have an EV56 Alpha running RedHat Linux 7.3. That thing was really a space heater disguised as a computer. I always wanted to take out one of the Drive Bays and convert it into an EZ-Bake oven. I guarantee that thing would have made a brownie!

are these things hosting some kind of business services or is it all personal stuff?

Its all personal. I know, I have a problem.

The headless server basically holds everything that should be backed up. When the Win machines boot, they have "My Documents" mapped to a directory on that machine (via Samba). That machine holds all my music, video, and pictures.

The Linux Workstation (athlon) is just my everyday machine used for IM/Surfing/Etc and it acts as the print server. The Dual-boot xp/linux machine is only really used for my recording efforts (hence the massive storage) and linking up to Colinswood. As soon as I get around to it, though, I'm going to get the linux DC client running, and then I won't need this machine for that.

The T40 laptop is my work-issued machine, so I can't really be blamed for that one.

The compaq laptop is mostly used by my girlfriend for class. And the other win98 machine is my gaming machine. It runs the "Cruisin World" replica cabinet I built (I love racing games).