Dual PC or Dual Mac?

[Anonymous]

I expect to finalize a contract soon to provide Rendering and Animation Services on a large residential project.
I plan to use AC9 and C4D r9 as my primary tools. Part of my bid includes a bit of change to build a worthy workstation.
I have read some of the forum info on Mac versus PC. It looks like most people are leaning to the Dual G5 these days. I can't say i have a real preference for Macs, except to say that I am quite unsatisfied with my PC rig. WAY too many crashes/ down time because of failed hardware, etc. etc.
So that said, dollar for dollar (ive got enough earmarked for a dual processor system), which will support my software configuration the best?

thanks for your input

[Dwight]

That is okay.
Stay.
You are a fine job in that regard from down under.

[Anonymous]

"LINZ" wrote:
thanks dwight!

it looks like i am quite convinced on getting the G5 dual now.
----

ok, I have been watching this as I found the dialogue needed in my case (hi Dwight!)

My case is:
-a number of years on wintels always having an eye for the style of macs
-an office that runs on 3 of them plus a laptop
-the laptop needs replacing.

-I think of a monster custom made wintel laptop 4,3 Ghz with 1Mb ram and a good Card (that will fit into the team of pc's without me having to figure out the details) or ....
-This Power book you are talking about (a now or never case).

Watching this thread everything was going well untill I see the decision of getting the G5 instead of the Powerbook. So, as thinking about the money required I also thought of getting the G5 and forget my portable needs!! I would like to hear more about this decision. Why Linz moved from the portable to the G5?

My next question would be the compatibility aspect. If I go for the mac (portable or not) what I should excpect in regard to its accomodation in the wintel team. I use ArchiCad, Photoshop, my Outlook for scheduling and e-mails, word and stuff, a pdf printer and an Epson, three wintels connected together.

best regards
Constantine

[Anonymous]

im using a PC set up right now. never considered a portable.

[Anonymous]

LINZ wrote:
im using a PC set up right now. never considered a portable.

thought you were talking about a 'portable'
This is what mixed me up:
''Now that the 17" Powerbook can drive the 30" display, it will be a popular option.''

[Anonymous]

seeing as we're off topic anyway, a friend of mine asked me today why i wouldnt buy an imac instead of the g5. maybe is should. whats the difference?

[Eduardo Rolon]

Dual Processors, better video, expandability and you can add more RAM

[Anonymous]

ejrolon wrote:
Dual Processors, better video, expandability and you can add more RAM

I think that (back in my ages) on pc's ArchiCad could not use two processors at one time...(?) Is the case now different with ArchiCad on pc's and macs?

my main question is: P4 4.3Ghz laptop with 1G ram and good card or the 17" Powerbook?

[Anonymous]

ArchiCAD still uses single processor but can use duel processor when rendering in Lightworks. I think - anyone correct if wrong.

[Eduardo Rolon]

For software to use both processors it has to be multithreaded. I used to run 3DStudio on dual systems and though it claimed to be multithreaded it never used the other processor, but this was an Viz 3 and things might have changed. Most applications are not written to handle multiple processors, the ones that do are usually Photoshop and most off the 3D modeling/expensive ones since they are processor intensive. The advantage of OS X is that it is more efficient at handling processor and memory intensive apps than windows. IME in OS X I have been able to start a rendering in Cinema 4D and keep working in AC (and browse internet and check email) without having to wait for one to finish, in windows it didn't matter on the system, if I tried the combination between rendering in 3DStudio and working in Autocad I would have to wait for one to finish first.
My last machines have been a dual HP 1ghz, then an IBM thinkpad A31p 1.7 Ghz (felt faster than the dual), now using a PB 17" ( feels faster than the other two) and I just bought a dual 2.5 G5 which has not arrived yet.
IMO the biggest difference is the OS, OS X feels more responsive, stable and efficient than Xp and it handles multitasking better. One of the selling points of the current OS X (panther) was that it made existing computers run faster, that has never been the case with Windows.
My final comparison; P4 with Xp will feel more snappy than a PB G4 (open apps faster basically), PB will be more efficient at letting you do more than one task, G5's have more bandwidth than G4's because of bus speed and being 64bit. OS wise XP is still a 32bit system, OS X is already optimized for 64 bits and the new revision will be more so. A single G5 will be faster and more efficient than both the PB and the P4.

[Anonymous]

Dwight wrote:

However, just having had a rather unhappy animation rendering experience - caused by asking for way too much from the machine in an unreasonably short time - I suggest you look into Render King's Render Ranch for your Cinema 4D rendering.

Way cheaper than a new work station.

Or do both. Hiring a render ranch lets you make corrections faster.

I'm assuming that you would need to have Cinema 4D program on your office computer and then just upload the final file to the Render King servers?
Having just gone thru the same frustration that you have with creating a short 3 min. movie, I am looking for better ways for the future. We settled for short walk throughs fading to stills. iMovie messes up the quality of the stills though.