powermac 1.8 g5 (2004) vs 3.06 imac (2009) - should i upgrade?

modular said:

I'm still hanging in there with my powermac g5 from 2004 (dual 1.8 g5, 2gb ram, ati 9800xt 256mb).

I do a lot of photo processing, and some video editing. This summer i'll be upgrading my SLR (10mp to 15mp), and I'll also be shooting 720p 30fps video.

I'm thinking I should upgrade my computer the same time as the camera. The g5 has leopard and CS3, Apeture, Final cut pro. these programs are really chugging along (sigh, the g5 used to be SOOO fast).

SO my question is... will the new imac (3.06, 4gb ram, ATI HD) be a noticeable bump in performance, worth the upgrade? Also, how much should I sell my g5 for (including the aluminum 20" apple cinema display).'

thanks!

Click to expand...

You will notice a huge jump in performance, but the real question is: Can you justify spending $2k+ on your new computer? If you can justify the money than you will be more than satisfied with the new iMac

The difference will be day and night! Still the G5 is still a pretty good computer for everyday use but for what you are doing, the iMac will have much much more computing power. Shoot even the latest Intel Minis are faster then the older G5s.

I can't believe that you run those programs on 2gb of memory. 4-8gb(depending on which dual 1.8ghz you got) would make a noticeable difference but nothing like going to an Intel 3.06ghz iMac!

I think you could realistically get $600-$700 for your setup if you sell locally like on Craiglist.com or eBay. You could actually get more because of the ACD. I've sold both my dual 1.8's in that price range and that was without the 20" ACD or any monitor at all. I was also located in a larger city, Los Angeles.

I would think it would be more advantageous to keep the ACD to use with the future computer.