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Platform

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Dec 30, 2004
2,880
0
What would be the better buy:

The new PM dual 2.0Ghz G5
Dual 2.0 G5
1GB RAM
160GB HDD
16x Dobble Layer Drive
ATi 9600
3 PCI slots
4 RAM slots
2 HDD bays

or

The new iMac G5 17"
Single 2.0 G5
2GB RAM
250GB HDD
8x Doubble Layer Drive
Airport Extreme
BT 2.0
ATi 9600

About the same price.......have asked something like this before but now it is a bit different...the PM's are better and the iMac's have a lot more to offer :p
 

mduser63

macrumors 68040
Nov 9, 2004
3,042
31
Salt Lake City, UT
What are you planning to do with the machine? If you're doing stuff that takes a lot of power (video editing, heavy duty graphics editing, etc), the PowerMac is probably the better choice. If it's just a general purpose computer for Internet, Word Processing, the occasional game, etc, the iMac is the probably the better deal.
 

Jo-Kun

macrumors 6502a
Dec 20, 2003
677
0
Antwerp-Belgium
well ask yourself the next questions:

will I ever need more than 2GB ram on my mac?
will dual processing make a difference for my software? (it does for FCPro & Photoshop)
will i need a bigger screen than 17" (since that's the one you compare with)?
will I need more internal storage?
do I have enough space to put a big computer + screen(s)?
will I need PCI expansion?
will I need FW 800?
Will I need Gigabit Ethernet?
do I have enough funds to go either way?

what wil your answers learn you? yes = PM no = iMac ;-)


maybe your sig answers it for you :p
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
Get a 20" iMac, upgrade the RAM yourself to save $$. Unless you really need the power, the new iMacs are very, very competitive with the PMG5 you spec'd.
 

topgunn

macrumors 68000
Nov 5, 2004
1,555
2,059
Houston
I would choose the Powermac for a few reasons.

1. I want to have my PC and my Mac using the same display. The Powermac makes this easy. With the iMac, I would need a second display.

2. I will set up the Powermac in Raid 0 thus giving me much faster disk access. Not a big deal but since the hard drive is often the systems bottleneck, it can make a noticable difference. Not to mention that the Rev A iMac G5 had poor SATA performance. Perhaps it has been improved?

3. As more programs become multiprocessor aware, the Dual will become more of an asset. Also, OSX will take advantage of the second processor in non MP aware applications during multitasking. That can't hurt.

4. I bought a 9800XT that was purchased as a BTO option from Apple from a guy on eBay. This will nearly double the graphics power of the Powermac as compared to the 9600 in the iMac (according to barefeats tests involving the two cards).

5. I do not currently have need of PCI expansion, but it would be nice if it was available.

6. 16x Superdrive vs 8x slot loading Superdrive. I would personally rather have a tray but I know that there are probably just as many people who like the slot loading drive better.

By the way, the setup I have decided on includes the previous generation PM DP 2.0GHz along with a Dell 1905FP.

A few things that made this decision more difficult were:

1. I hate cables. The iMac is so elegant and minimalistic and the Powermac pales in comparision in this regard. Although, there is something to be said for a giant brushed metal beast under your desk.

2. The iMac is such a great deal, especially the 20"er with 2.0GHz G5 and 9600 with that gorgeous screen all for $1699 after student discount and $1599 if you want to wait for a refurb.

3. Did I mention that its damn sexy?
 

Platform

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Dec 30, 2004
2,880
0
jsw said:
Get a 20" iMac, upgrade the RAM yourself to save $$. Unless you really need the power, the new iMacs are very, very competitive with the PMG5 you spec'd.

I thought so too...the PM's are getting smashed by the iMac's....well except Dual CPU's :rolleyes:
 

Platform

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Dec 30, 2004
2,880
0
Jo-Kun said:
well ask yourself the next questions:

will I ever need more than 2GB ram on my mac?
will dual processing make a difference for my software? (it does for FCPro & Photoshop)
will i need a bigger screen than 17" (since that's the one you compare with)?
will I need more internal storage?
do I have enough space to put a big computer + screen(s)?
will I need PCI expansion?
will I need FW 800?
Will I need Gigabit Ethernet?
do I have enough funds to go either way?

what wil your answers learn you? yes = PM no = iMac ;-)


maybe your sig answers it for you :p

Well yes maby it does....the reason is because it has DUAL G5's and to me that seems great...... :rolleyes: Although the iMac is a great deal...All wireless and lower RAM price as well as those 2GB's :eek: :D and a screen :rolleyes: Think I would go for the PM....because of the Dual CPU's and expandability....Blue-Ray...more drives and GPU..etc.

Still want to hear what other people think though ;)
 

buggybear

macrumors member
Feb 24, 2005
43
0
Jo-Kun said:
ok I see it now... but I don't think this item was the big breaking point in the decision anyway ;-)

Unless you have a gigabit network equipment on your network, or are connecting two gigabit network adaptors via a crossover cable, the gigabit adaptors autosense down to standard 10/100 Mbps.
 
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