Big Mac Dilemma

[Red Giant]

Hi all, finally decided to make the move to a mac having not used one for several years. Im going for a g5 dual 2.5 gig with 2-3 gig of ram and a high end video card. What i was wondering was, what kinda lifespan do they have? I hear talk of g6 chipsets already in development and was just wondering how you mac users out there have found the longevity of your machines?

[Undertow]

I was running an old school G4 for almost 4 years. Last year I bought one of the dual proc 1.25 G4's before they stopped selling them new. This one should last me a couple years after the RAM is maxed out. BTW, nice upgrade.. I'm envious.
-Mike

[gruve24]

I've got a dual G5 and at 1st when I didn't own a MAC the whole idea about how fast new machines came out made me worried about having an obsolete machine. After having my computer for 2 years I haven't had a need to check for the latest machines released or had a need to do any upgrading. It does everything I need and more. Never had to worry about a crash or anything.

[squirpy]

we have always used macs at my house, and when we replaced our old g4 with a g5 when the g5s first came out, we just moved it across the room. It still works great, there are no issues with it. Before that, we still had our old Powermac in the room with the g4. That thing was OLD, but it still worked fine, it was just slow.

They last a long time.

[MuffinMan]

macs aren't bad computers, they just don't fit my needs and i can't upgrade them infinitley. it would affect me greatly if i just switched over to mac...

[bwkeough]

I just bought a dual 1.8 g5 and have no worries about lifespan. previous computer in use from december 1997 to jan 2005 was a 266 g3.

If you'll be using it for games and high-rez 3d renders you might find yourself wanting more in 2-3 years only because "more" will be available. If you use it mostly for Photoshop and Painter you'll be happy for 5 years easily, if not much longer.

[Gezstar]

go for the big mac my friend. it's unhealthy but it hits the spot.

[Ptree3]

I've been using a second gen g4 for about 4 years and its just recently starting to show its age, its been great, I hammer it with heavy PS everyday, although I do have a PC for a gaming machine, so as previouly stated if your going to be gaming hard on it, it might be a quicker turn around. A little tip, if you buy online go to the educational section theres a 10% discount if you say you attend a university on there list, and the list is long, not that they check anyway , had a friend say he went to BU and there was no type of confirmation.