Powerbook G4 Vs. Powermac G5, for hip-hop production Options

[Pig-Donkey]

I need some help with a looming purchase. I've been using a G4 Powerbook for about a year (800 MHZ), 15". The problem is that running some heavy audio programs causes the PB to be a bit sluggish at times. I am in season for a new computer and needed some assistance in deciding what I should do. Here are a few questions I have:

1) If I were to sell my current PB and by a newer 17" w/ 1.25 Ghz, would it be much faster? And does anyone have current experience using a faster PB and reccommend it for hip-hop production?

2) Let's say I decided to by a G5 Tower instead of a new PB, I would still keep my old PB and use it for portability. I love the idea of being able to transport my studio anywhere I want. Is it really worth spending around 2K more for the G5? If I didn't purchase the G5 I could spend more money on a hardware sampler like the MPC2000.

3) Can anyone give me some suggestions for a great production set up? I currently use GB and i'm ready to move to the bigger programs.

4) How much SDRAM would I want w/ a G5? Does it make much difference?

Thanks Much,
The Donk

[sgendler]

I can't give you much insight into performance comparisons between a new powerbook and a G5 tower, but since you already have a portable platform, it seems like the G5 is going to be the more powerful platform for our home studio. I just bought a 15" powerbook G4 (80GB, 512MB of RAM) and the price wasn't far off of the price for a dual 18Ghz G5 tower with 1 GB of RAM and no monitor (those digital fltscreens look great, but I have enough computer monitors around that I am not about to spend that kind of money on a flat screen).

You will have a ton more disk I/O throughput on the desktop (7200rpm disks on a serial ATA bus instead of the 5400rpm built in on the laptop or something external over firewire or USB 2.0), and more than double the processing power of the laptop with a much faster frontside bus for memory access, too. Since most of your development will be done in your home studio (I'm assuming), go for max power there, and use your laptop for the limited applications you may use when remote.

I just went to the Apple Store and a 2x1.8Ghz G5 tower with 1GB of RAM, a 160GB 7200rpm SATA hard drive, airport card, keyboard, and mouse is about $25 CHEAPER than a 1.25Ghz 15" G4 powerbook with 80GB 4200rpm hard drive and 512MB of RAM.

That is basically a no brainer. Get the G5 if you can afford to do so while still keeping your old laptop.

--sam