Buying a mac for 1st time, need help

[gozeera]

Hi, I have been a PC guy forever now, but I want a Mac to at least play around with and see whats so wonderful about them.

I am considering a Mac Mini, the $599 model, but am curious as to how good of an experience it will be compared to a iMac G5?

I know the mini is running a G4, but will the G5 iMac be that much better. I want to use the basic web stuff/email/etc. but also Photoshop.

Another question, are all G5's 64-bit?

I would appreciate any help, I want to get into Macs but I don't want a slow experience the first time I do.

Thanks

[BlizzardBomb]

Yup, all G5's are 64-bit. If I were you I would fork out the extra cash and go for an iMac. Even if it's the bottom end iMac, it would still have far better performance than a top-of-the-range Mac Mini.

Oh and you won't regret switching :D

[hoppo99]

I'd go with the Mac Mini. You can use all your existing PC peripherals and if you buy a switcher such as the Belkin SOHO Series USB KVM you can use both Mac and PC effortlessly.

While not as fast a G5 the G4 in the Mac Mini will be speedy enough for most applications. The main weakness with the Mac Mini is the graphics card.

[bodeh6]

I would suggest getting the iMac. For the money, your machine will be much more better equipped then the Mini. For one thing, the mini is just a laptop with out a screen. Uses same 4200 RPM drive, Core-Image not ready video card, little expansion, and slower everything overall. The iMac will blow away the mini. You get a real 7200RPM harddrive, 128MB Core image ready video card, faster system, and more expandability.

[zelmo]

If you can afford the iMac, I'd go for it. It is certainly superior in all respects to the Mac mini.
That being said, the Mac mini will adequately handle all the tasks you have listed. I use my 800MHz iMac G4 for all of those things and more, with no complaints at all.

[g4cubed]

The mini is, imho, only for those thinking of switching and not wanting to put out so much money to find out. The mini has a crappy video card, and slow FSB (167mhz), limited memory, compared to the iMac. If you want a much better Mac experience for not much more money get the iMac.

[jiv3turkey748]

if money is not an issue then get the imac, but if you dont want to spend a lot the mac mini will be fin, my ibook does all the things you listed fine and ibooks and mac minis have very similar specs

[CanadaRAM]

And the regular advice.... order it with the minimum RAM and then upgrade to 1 Gb (or more in the case of the iMac G5) with third party RAM

Get yourself a nice Microsoft or Logitech optical scroll mouse with at least 2 buttons - this will lessen the mental load of switching back and forth between OS's.

[SteveG4Cube]

Be sure to check Apple's refurbished section. I got my iMac G5 refurb'd, as well as my sister's iBook. Both work flawlessly. Same warranty as new, lots of choices, and great pricing. They've got a G5 iMac for $899, and they have a few minis up now from $429!