iMac 20" vs. Used G5 Power Mac (dual)

The main reason to upgrade the graphics card would be for games, but then your G5 might be the bottleneck in the future. A bit of home movie editing would not be helped by a new graphics card in the future, and an external Firewire drive would mean there's plenty of scope for storage expansion.

The Intel iMac would be faster for most things, especially as Universal apps are now coming out thick and fast.

There's little point buying a G5 just because it may seem more upgradeable. With that argument, nobody would have bought a G5 because they could just upgrade their G4 Power Macs.

iMac or G5

People talk about the Core2Duo and the Intel chips. In my opinion, this was all baloney. Look at the Adobe timings for the new CS3 - and you'll see the G5 more than holds its own.

Go with the G5. Plonk loads of RAM in it and it will fly like ***** off a shovel. Decide on your screen, pick and choose graphics, RAM and HDD easily without cracking open the iMac.

Also, the PM looks so much nice than the iMac.

F

If you dont need any benefits the intel can give you (such as os virtulization) then the dual G5 is stilll a kick ass machine 🙂

The G5 is a great machine. However the iMac is more future proof, and for the same speed is less power hungry and much quieter.

Quieter?

TBi said:

The G5 is a great machine. However the iMac is more future proof, and for the same speed is less power hungry and much quieter.

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I'm not so sure its quieter. The G5 is a very very quiet machine. I used to sleep with my Dual 2GHz next to my head. Even when on load, the fans dont sound load. As for what a 24 iMac sounds like under load....

FireArse said:

I'm not so sure its quieter. The G5 is a very very quiet machine. I used to sleep with my Dual 2GHz next to my head. Even when on load, the fans dont sound load. As for what a 24 iMac sounds like under load....

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Well i'm not sure if you are lucky or unlucky to have hearing like that. Last time i used a G5 i could easily hear it above the ambient noise in the place i was and when it was under load you'd know it.

Then again even the new Mac Pro is too loud for me. From what i hear the iMac is about the same noise level as a Mac Mini. I couldn't hear a Mac Mini if i wanted too over the sound of a Mac Pro. (Unless of course i put the mini up to my ear and stepped away from the MP).

PM or iMac

jburrows500 said:

I want to do some video editing of mostly home movies

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User wants Movie editing, perhaps some video encoding too. You're gonna hear the fans go whatever machine you get. I just think the PM would be quieter under load that the iMac.

I did a lot of video encoding with my PM. The ONLY time i heard the fans go was through the hardware test.

There was a time when i had a same problem considering between a G5 or iMac. I decided to go ahead with G5 with quite minimum specs, then now i upgraded my graphic cards into 512MB 7800 (Which impossible to do with iMac). 4GB of RAM, and 2 TB of internal HD. Go Go G5......

I know it's annoying when people post the "well why don't you just spend more money" argument, but the option of $1900 for a refurb mac pro 2.0 shouldn't be totally overlooked...it has the versatility of the PM plus the benefit of the iMac's intel chip...plus there are 2 of them which is very useful for video work. There are other advantages over the PM like the 4 sata and 2 optical bays of course, but it will of course cost more in the end.

Also, if you'd like your own monitor, you could always save a little and get a 17" iMac and attach your own second monitor, or just get the 20" and also use your own second monitor...and of course the 24" is probably worth a quick look as well, but it sounds like having a nice 24" monitor held captive in an iMac shell isn't going to please you.

FireArse said:

People talk about the Core2Duo and the Intel chips. In my opinion, this was all baloney. Look at the Adobe timings for the new CS3 - and you'll see the G5 more than holds its own.

Go with the G5. Plonk loads of RAM in it and it will fly like ***** off a shovel. Decide on your screen, pick and choose graphics, RAM and HDD easily without cracking open the iMac.

Also, the PM looks so much nice than the iMac.

F

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Bad advice, imo. The G5 is nice, yes, but it's yesterdays tech. Go with the nicest Intel machine in your price range and be ready for tomorrow's apps.

jburrows500 said:

I'm glad I asked then.. so it sounds like my 1500 is better spent on an iMac. Thanks..

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I agree.
I have a G5 1.8 single Power Mac. I would choose a Intel iMac over it.
I think the Intel iMac is faster and a better form factor (for the average use).

Write down the choices (pros/cons, additional things you would need for a specific setup) for you budget - seriously.

How much storage will you need (don't forget about space for backup), how much screen real-estate, memory, software etc. Then take some time to research what your budget gets you on ebay, or in the apple store (look for refurbished macs. too!), including all additional things like external HDD-enclosures, cables, everything.

I had to make the same choice recently, and I really rather wanted a G5 because it's so much more of a workhorse. The iMac is a very nice machine if what it offers (which is lot) is all you need. But when you have constantly a couple of devices plugged in (drives, scanner, camera, 2nd LCD; +printer, keyboard, tv and network if you do not want to spend a lot on wireless devices), having the LCD screwed to the computer suddenly turns from advantage to an obstacle, not to mention what it looks like. You also have a lot more options (external SATA, 2nd GPU/more Displays etc.), and upgrades are cheaper for a lot of things (e.g. HDDs).

On the other Hand, Intel does rule now, no matter if G5-owners like it or not. There are already some Intel-only applications (Games, Virtualization and Adobe Premiere come to my mind) and the number of them will increase. Still, the 90% of all applications will keep running on G5s for the years to come, and who needs Premiere when he can have Final Cut.

So, for most of the time, my mind was set to "G5" - until I saw what most of them sell for @ ebay: Please don't flame me, but considering the new CPU-architecture and the age of the systems I personally think that the prices are way to high. A big factor for me was also, that I didn't want to spend 1k+ without getting any warranty.

So I already decided to go iMac when a friend offered me a G5 2.0 DP at a very good price - I have it for a couple of days now and could not be happier.

Bottom line: Consider the price of the whole system you'll probably need until the next upgrade. Set a time-limit to find a G5 that's worth it for you, keep watching the refurb-section of the apple store; buy a new, regular iMac if you do not find a better deal in the given timeframe.