wannabe newbie -- rev. a/old 1.8DP G5 a good buy?

[BrianBoru]

Hello all...

After months of heated debate (laptop vs desktop....) I am finally ready to leave my old Dell laptop behind, and head for the green/blue pastures of Apple. I am really excited to make the switch.

The university bookstore has one or two of the rev. a 1.8DP G5 left at $1649 (+8.8% local sales tax) versus $1799 (+8.8 local sales tax) for the rev. b 1.8DP on the Apple site with an education discount.
As I am a university student, getting a good value on such a large purchase is important to me, and the rev. a 1.8DP seems to clearly be a better buy with its larger hdd, more ram, pci-x etc.. ( I can upgrade the superdrive later if it is not fast enough)
But, lots of time spent researching/perusing forums such as these has given me the impression that the rev. a/"old" G5 powermacs are somewhat prone to annoyances such as 'chirps', freezes and failures. I would like my first Mac experience to be as wonderful as possible, but again - getting a good value is also important.

Assuage my fears about the rev. a 1.8DP G5 and tell me to jump on (what seems to be) a good deal.

or...

Persuade me that the new rev. b 1.8DP G5 (or something else) is actually a better buy.

Thanks!
(I am somewhat computer savvy. I am hoping to do some graphic design work, as well as explore audio-visual editing with my new Mac....)

[BakedBeans]

if you tell us what you will be using it for then that would be a great help for advice givers.....

in depth i mean

[w00tmaster]

Hello all...

After months of heated debate (laptop vs desktop....) I am finally ready to leave my old Dell laptop behind, and head for the green/blue pastures of Apple. I am really excited to make the switch.

The university bookstore has one or two of the rev. a 1.8DP G5 left at $1649 (+8.8% local sales tax) versus $1799 (+8.8 local sales tax) for the rev. b 1.8DP on the Apple site with an education discount.
As I am a university student, getting a good value on such a large purchase is important to me, and the rev. a 1.8DP seems to clearly be a better buy with its larger hdd, more ram, pci-x etc.. ( I can upgrade the superdrive later if it is not fast enough)
But, lots of time spent researching/perusing forums such as these has given me the impression that the rev. a/"old" G5 powermacs are somewhat prone to annoyances such as 'chirps', freezes and failures. I would like my first Mac experience to be as wonderful as possible, but again - getting a good value is also important.

Assuage my fears about the rev. a 1.8DP G5 and tell me to jump on (what seems to be) a good deal.

or...

Persuade me that the new rev. b 1.8DP G5 (or something else) is actually a better buy.

Thanks!
(I am somewhat computer savvy. I am hoping to do some graphic design work, as well as explore audio-visual editing with my new Mac....)

The rev A is a MUCH better buy, it has by default a larger hard drive and more memory, and it has 8 memory slots instead of 4 and has pci-x slots. The warranty is the same on both, and you can extend it to 3 years by buying applecare anytme in the first year you own it.

[Chip NoVaMac]

And for the price that you can get it for is nothing to sneeze at. Many feel that the rev. A is the better value. You would have to go to the 2.0 rev. B to get the same hardware capabilities (save the processor speed of course).