iMac G5 vs. PowerMac G5?

[mmoin]

I'm entering graduate school this fall, and am trying to choose between the top-of-the-line iMac G5 and a mid/lower level PowerMac G5. Price-wise, there's no contest (since I'd need to buy a display for the PM also) and space-wise the imac is great, but how much am I giving up in performance if I get the iMac (G5 2.0ghz) instead of a dual 2.0ghz powermac? I really just use my mac for word processing, net access, burning dvd's, mp3's, watching movies, etc. No video editing or anything. My current setup, a PowerBook G4 867, is nice but can get a little sluggish sometimes. I want to make sure my next computer can run OS X blazingly fast. Thanks.

[pshady]

imac g5 is plenty fast for what you described, and the space savings in the dorm room is huge. You won't regret it.

[Sun Baked]

iMac G5 = current Single Processor PowerMac G5 -- just a different case, same consumer chipset.

The duals are the PowerMacs running the XServe/PowerMac chipset.

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So you do get something extra when you get a dual, especially if you plan on playing with H.264

[TheMasin9]

with that kind of workload, id forget the imac even, if u are looking to save money get a mac mini and a 23 inch display (then if u upgrade later you still use it). If you are looking for wow factor and a little more power tho, go for the imac. i almost got one earlier this month myself, but then realized for the stuff i do, my 1.5 ghz powerbook is well suited. ill wait to upgrade. and in ur case make sure u really evaluate how much power you need and what is really important to you. Good luck

[rickvanr]

imac g5 is plenty fast for what you described, and the space savings in the dorm room is huge. You won't regret it.

you live in a dorm for graduate school?

[mmoin]

Yeah- The school I'm going to has graduate dorms. Very cheap, but I have to live in a 12x10 box. It sounds like the G5 imac is probably my best bet. Money is not a huge issue, but it seems like the space savings is probably the clincher, as long as the imac is still quite fast.

[~Shard~]

If you're not doing anything hardcore then the iMac will be more than adequate for you. Just remmeber to max it out with RAM, that will give you the quick OS X performance that you're looking for. Just don't buy RAM from Apple, their mark-up on it is atrocious.

[Balin64]

I find that mine can handle everything I throw at it, and my work is much more intense than what you described. In a year or so, I will switch back to a tower, but for now the iMac is performing very well.

[mmoin]

When you say max it out, do you really mean get 2gb? Is that a major (or even a noticeable) performance increase over 1gb?

[bodeh6]

You should get the 17" 2.0GHz iMac w/Superdrive. Full power while still compact. Toss in a 1GB RAM stick from Crucial for $133 and you will have a pretty good monster in your dorm. With the 512MB that it comes standard with, 1.5GB will be good enough.

[Dont Hurt Me]

Powermac always for the pro period. I got a Quicksilver I with upgrades that can still hang with a new Imac. Powermacs are 5 plus year machines, Imacs are not. They should just call Powermac ProMac. If you would have told me my Quicksilver I was still going to be " current " 4+ years ago i would have told you you are crazy. Powermacs give you many many options and last forever. Heck i may still throw in a new video card to get it "better" maybe a 9800? still better then imacs 9600 :D or how about a dual 1.8 G4? see what i mean? Imacs are great consumer machines, Powermacs are great Professional machines. enough said.

[~Shard~]

When you say max it out, do you really mean get 2gb? Is that a major (or even a noticeable) performance increase over 1gb?

You'd be surprised actually! As for 2GB, no, I didn't mean 2 GB necessarily, but I would recommend sticking a 1 GB module in to bring it up to 1.5 GB.

[James Philp]

You may want to look at this (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=126497) just to push you away from the 1.8GHz G5 right now.
If you do go for PM then get a dual-chip one.
The iMac G5 is a lot smaller - (college rooms and all) and Damn impressive!
I wanna get a PM!