Older Mac Pro's faster than MacBook Pro's?

Question

Older Mac Pro's faster than MacBook Pro's?

I currently am using a 667MHz TiBook, and would like to upgrade to something newer. I have been looking at the MacBook Pro's in the 1.83-2.4Ghz range, as well as the original Mac Pro's with the dual 2.0GHz Woodcrest processors. Would the Mac Pro generally be a more powerful machine?

How about the PowerMac G5's, is there any reason to avoid those? They sure are cheap these days.

Jared

Message was edited by: Jared Hendren

TiBook 667 DVI, Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Posted on Apr 25, 2009 11:37 AM

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Answer 1

Network 23

Level 6

12,351 points

Apr 25, 2009 12:10 PM in response to Jared Hendren

If you are doing work that is disk-intensive and takes advantage of multiple drives* and lots of RAM, the Mac Pro will cream a laptop. For more basic work, it's closer. I believe MacBook Pros beat G5 towers these days. There is some software that is now Intel-only; if you buy those, you cannot run them on a G5.

*Audio editing, video editing, and Photoshop all benefit from having media and scratch drives on separate hard drives than the system drive so that I/O can be split in parallel. The only way to do that with a laptop is external drives. Also, the internal drive in a laptop is only 2.5", not like the bigger, faster 3.5" drives in a desktop.

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Answer 2

Apr 25, 2009 1:00 PM in response to Network 23

I mainly use my systems for internet surfing/research, e-mail, and tweaking digital images from my Canon 5D digital camera (Photoshop CS2). I also occasionally like to work with DVD movies (compressing them and burning them to a DVD-R). Would a 1.83GHz MacBook Pro be good for those uses? Would the Mac Pro be noticeably faster at those task?

Thanks,

Jared

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Answer 3

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Apr 25, 2009 1:57 PM in response to Jared Hendren

Look at Apple's iMac even the Specials. Anything Intel based means you'll be upgrading your software.

Hard to recommend PowerMac G5s.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/mac_pro

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Answer 4

Network 23

Level 6

12,351 points

Apr 26, 2009 3:06 AM in response to Jared Hendren

Jared Hendren wrote:
internet surfing/research, e-mail

Mostly limited by the speed of the network, not the computer.

tweaking digital images from my Canon 5D digital camera (Photoshop CS2).
DVD movies (compressing them and burning them to a DVD-R).

OK, a Mac Pro would be better here. However, overall, and for the tasks you do mostly, the MacBook Pro would perform well.

If the image editing and DVD compressing was what you spend 85% of your time doing, then I would say the Mac Pro. But since you only do them occasionally, a MacBook Pro is probably a better overall choice and gives you portability.

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Answer 5

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Apr 28, 2009 7:32 AM in response to Jared Hendren

Jared,
CS2 is not a good candidate for the newer Intel Macs, simply because it hasn't been optimized for them. CS4 is much better for Intel Macs. If you can't afford the software for the Intel Macs in terms of upgrading, perhaps just getting a newer PowerPC Mac from a used or refurbished Mac shop will help until you can. These two links can help in deciding if you are ready to make the jump to Intel or not*:

http://www.macmaps.com/usedrefurbished.html
http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html

- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

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