[Dr.G.]

Was just at a colleague's house and saw his Cube and new iBook. Someone else was there who was not impressed with our trip down memory lane re the original Apple II and IIe computer. He told us that this Sunday is the 20th anniversary of the initial IBM PC, the first "real pc" (his words, not mine). When we informed him that Apple had a pc three years prior to the lauch of the IBM desktop he was floored.

This brings me back to the subject of my post. I have read dozens of postings and news articles re the "passing" of the Cube. If Michael Dell told the world that he was discontinuing the Inspiron line, would the world really notice or care? I think not! That's the opinion of one person who understands and appreciates tradition.

 

[Guest]

Michael Dull probably stole the name Inspiron from someone at Apple. As for the Cube, I would like to publically berate all of the people who failed to buy one of these puppies (you could have gone without food for a few months). If you had, it would still be alive and well, you'd have a way cool chunk of perspex on your desk and plenty of extra room for putting sandwiches and coffee next to your keyboard.

The only consolation is that the new iMac will probably steal of lot of technology and design from the Cube, the lil' computer that could.

P.S. I know it was over priced but I gotta tell ya, it is a phenomenal piece of supercomputer. Mine has 512 Mb RAM, cinema display, Radeon graphics and a 40 gig HD and OS X runs on it like Bruny Surin (before the hamstring thing....).

 

[Dr.G.]

Jwoodget, you missed my point. No one would care if the Inspriron line was discontinued, certainly not like the reaction when the Cube was discontinued.

How do you find the Cinema display? I want to get either this monitor, or the 17" Apple monitor.

 

[Guest]

Nope, got your point, was just reinforcing the total lack of originality in Dull products. More to the point, when was the last time that Dull brought any hardware innovation to the market?

The Cinema display is TDF. The 17" is also supposed to be cool but its biggest problem is that you will keep imagining what the extra real estate of the 22" would have looked like.



Graemlins are working again.....

 

[Dr.G.]

Jwoodget, no offense intended.

Hopefully, if my research grant comes through, I intend to buy far more Mac than I need just now, but at least in a few years time it won't be obsolete. The tech people here at Memorial University suggest a Mac867, 1GB RAM, SuperDrive, et al, for video editing of educational CDs/DVDs and Quicktime clips for my online Professional Development website for the teachers here in Newfoundland and Labrador. This is where the Cinema Display comes into play, along with the fact that I have vision problems and need a big screen. We shall see.

 

[Guest]

Put in for a dual 800 on the grant. By the time it is awarded, the budget should allow for whatever is top of the range. My bet is that most of the desktop G4s will be dual processor by then since OS X makes good use of two chips. The more Altivec units the better for burning DVDs.

The Cinema display is great for iMovie (the closest I get to video editing). Given the cost of dual head systems as well as the fact that its tricky to hook two Apple LCDs into the same Mac (it is possible), I'd slip in the 22".

 

[Dr.G.]

Thanks for the info re the dual 800 and the 867 Mac G4. For the record, this is an earned research grant -- I work for the money, but rather than it coming to me in the form of a paycheck, it is put into a research grant fund. The fund does not have to pay income tax on the money, and the fund buys the computer, et al. Technically, the university owns the computer, but they can only have it over my dead body. I might have to ask ehMax for political asylum if it comes to that, but I doubt it will come to that. Still, the Cinema display sounds great, in that I get eyestrain on a 19"CRT.

 

[Dr.G.]

Jwoodget, what, in your opinion, is the advantage of the dual processors over the 867 G4 for video editing? In that this would be MY computer, my son will NOT have any games on this computer, and can use my Dell for rip and burn CDs, etc. I am not a graphic designer, so Photoshop is not really necessary.

 

[Guest]

What do you use for video editing? If its an application that's carbonized, it'll fly on the dual processor. iMovie is and I think Final Cut Pro is too. Premiere isn't yet (wake up Adobe) but undoubtedly will be. iDVD2 will be carbonized when its released. All of these will scream under OS X on a 2 processor G4. If you use other editors, you may not see any advantage (and will probably have to boot into 9.2 to run them).

However, given that Apple is bending over backwards to make sure the video editing market is happy (e.g. Maya), I very much doubt you'll have to wait long for the critical apps to run native in X.

For DVD burning, the reason the burn time is down to 1.1X is largely the enhanced coding for altivec along with the faster chips (over the 733). This is also really important in converting DV to Quicktime if you are using compression (I think Media Cleaner is carbonized now).

For the record, I'm supported by research grants too (CIHR, NCIC, HHMI, etc). The 3-5 year lag in cycles means you have to plan ahead.

P.S. LCD screens have zero flicker and the Apple ones are all digital. No headaches. They also run cool in this weather.... And my 22" wonder has not one bad pixel (I've a 15" with one red pixel).

 

[Heart]

Altivec, Gigaflops

Speed,

Just get the best your grant will buy.
In two years it is old anyway.

 

[Dr.G.]

Jwoodget and Heart, let me explain my situation. I teach at the Faculty of Education here at Memorial Univ. of Newfoundland. If my Office of Learning Technologies project is funded, then I will be paid a fee of $15,000 for my services. If I take this as taxable income, it will be taxed in half. If I put this money into a research grant, the grant can purchase computers, et al. Thus, I might have a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy the best (my last Mac was an LCII, so I have been on the wrong side of the PC fence for too long). My personal research would focus on the creation of educational CDs/DVDs using a new digital camcorder. Rather than write a book or manual about diagnostic-prescriptive literacy instruction, or to go all over the province to do workshops, I want to create an online PD website and create these demonstration video CDs/DVDs for teachers and students. Bandwidth is a problem in parts of our province, so this option is easier than streamed video. So.................my problem (if you can call it that) is whether do go with the dual 800 or 867 processor. I am not all that familiar with the term "carbonization", so any education of this issue would be greatly appreciated. I don't play games on my computer, so any info on the NVidia chip to select would also be appreciated, as would any comments on the Cinema display. Also, I am not out to impress anyone, since I am not materialistic about the things I own.

 

[mycatsnameis]

If you follow this link http://maccentral.macworld.com/storyforum/forums/2001/08/08/filmmakers/?read=22 it will plop you right down in the middle of a very informative debate on different types of DV formats (and which cameras to use) and also provide you with the email address of a Canadian contact who is doing similar work to what you propose.

You might also check out the DV forum in the MacNN BBs ( http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=9 . Sorry, ehmax for providing this link but ...

As to the computer situation, it's almost always better to buy the fastest machine for your money (and it sounds like you will be using this machine for a long time). More practically, OS X leverages multi processing and altivec using CPUs very well. It's a safe bet that having both will provide you with a machine that will have more longevity.

 

[Guest]

Dr. G. ,

A carbonized application is one that has been coded to conform to the carbon APIs and codebase which allow it to run native in OS X, rather than in the classic mode which emulates 9.1. carbon apps are quite similar to OS 9.1 apps so the conversion supposedly isn't too laborious. The process involves replacing code that make calls directly to hardware, for example, as well as removing workarounds that are not strictly part of the OS 9 subroutines. carbon applications adopt the Aqua interface, have translucent dialog boxes and benefit from the protected memory and multi-tasking of OS X (applications running in the classic compatibility layer do not have these benefits although when they do crash, they don't hang the machine, just the classic environment).

carbon is really the path of least resistance for migration from OS 9 to X. There is another code base/development schema termed cocoa which requires coding from scratch rather than a "tune-up". cocoa based apps supposedly have lots of advantages for development over carbon apps (I'm not a programmer) but you can pretty much bet that most companies will use the carbon route for their legacy apps. In additon, cocoa apps only run under OS X whereas carbon apps will run on an OS 9 based machine (so the developer doesn't have to worry about supporting two environments at a time when the migration of OS X is relatively slow).

Internet Explorer 5.1 for OS X is an example of a carbonized app (as is iTunes, iMovie and Graphic Converter). Omniweb is an example of a cocoa based application.

The advantage in having two processors in the box, is that if you are running OS X and carbon or cocoa applications, both processors will kick in via symmetric multiprocessing and you'll essentially have the equivalent of a 1.6 GHz G4.

So, the question for you is whether your apps will be cabon/cocoa. If you swan over to the Apple web site and check under the Mac OS X tab, you'll find a listing of current and planned OS X "native" applications.

Personally, I think for what you want to do, you need as much cpu muscle as possible.

 

[Guest]

Oh, and if you aren't planning on beating Quake to death, you could save some money by not opting for the GeForce 3 video card. The standard nVidia GeForce MX card will support all the resolutions you need (millions on the Cinema display).

 

[RicktheChemist]

Sigh, the memories of the days of the Cube, be sure to notice the first post date.. I just thought it would be cool to go back and get some of the old posts back to review our "heritage"..

Cheers,

RtC

 

[Moscool]

Dr G

As usual a user comment as opposed to a technical one (hey I know my limits!):

Put money in the camera and a good tripod, probably a couple of wireless microphones, possibly a simple audio mixing box, etc. It's money well spent for equipment with a long life. The camera can be as 'simple' as you want as long as it is a 3 CCD model. In Canada it would be the Canon GL2 (although I am sure that your ZR40 will do a good job, especially if you get a couple of accessories for it).

Next the software: iMovie is very good for simple uses and you can really work with a 867MHz machine. Provided that you don't render a special effect, a title and a transition at the same time, there is no need to go and make yourself a cup of coffee between scenes.

The software is easy to learn. It took me about 10/1 to edit my first project (10 hours editing for 1 hour completed film). I recon that I am down to 3-5/1 after a couple of projects.

I have now reached the limits of iMovie, so I am considering FC express, but I would like to see it demoed first.

In terms of screen I think that the best value is currently at 17" which, especially with a 16x9 screen is really compelling. Obviously the 20" is the one I would go for if my budget stretched that far...

Enjoy the weekend. It's Grand Prix week for us here (and the golf Open). Looks like another active Sunday...

 

[Heart]

RTC, thanks for pointing that out. As I read the post I thought Dr. G had not gotten a Mac afterall.

Didn't even notice the dates.

 

[Dr.G.]

Man, talk about "bringing out the oldies (but goodies )! That post was written a couple of days after I registered. I great deal has happened in my life since that anniversary date. A great many changes have been seen in the Mac notebook/desktop line as well. Of course, greater changes have taken place in the world since Aug. 4th, 2001, so it is all in perspective.

 

[JohnnyG4]

I really like my Cube...

John

 

[Chealion]

Wow, back in the day when used to be jwoodget had his original account! There are many people still wanting the Cube to be brought back... It could happen in time, especially with say, the G5 that is designed to go into PowerBooks, to assist with heat exchange or something.