Which is a better deal? It's an education price difference of $50 but the iMac comes with a screen and the Powermac comes with more upgrade options.
Blue Velvet said:What kind of things do you want to with it?
Blue Velvet said:What kind of things do you want to do with it? That's the crucial question.
Also, how much space have you got? G5s are pretty big.
Blue Velvet said:OK, get the iMac.
Stick plenty of RAM in it & you'll be fine...
Blue Velvet said:OK, get the iMac.
Stick plenty of RAM in it & you'll be fine...
dferigmu said:This is basically what I'll be using: Safari, Office, iLife, Dreamweaver, maybe some Photoshop down-the-road.
... I do have a limited budget though but I want this computer to last about 4 years.
QCassidy352 said:If you can't afford it at the time, 512 will definitely hold you for a while.
AmigoMac said:Get it with 256 MB from apple and buy 2 * 512 MB from crucial, the same type and it will help with the 64/129 bit memory issue. search in the forums, it has been already discussed.
Devie said:I've chosen to go with the PM and a 17" LCD (LG or Samsung, still looking), reason is expandability...
coconn06 said:It's funny you say that, because I just made the same decision. Maybe it'll help you out to know that I decided on the LG 1720P because it has DVI, it's attractive, good tech specs, has USB, and I've only read great reviews. And Best Buy is selling it for $360.
Although you probably already have your reasons for choosing the PM, my reasons are:
- Upgradability (hard drive, video card, processor in the future, monitor, etc.)
- Better video card option
- Dual LCDs sometime in the near future better than one larger LCD IMO
Plus I'm paying about the same as I would have for the 20" iMac.
Little Endian said:If I were you I would get a Dual 1.8Ghz PowerMac Refurbished for $1699 and a Formac 19" LCD for $599 for a total of $2300, $800 more than a 17" Superdrive imac.. $800 more may sound like a lot and acutually it is alot however a Dual Processor Power Mac will for sure last you 4-5 years especially considering the Upgrade Potential. The PowerMac offers more affordable HD, and Optical Drive Upgrade options. Twice the memory expansion. 2GB is alot but 4GB is better and just 3 years ago most people never could imagine why they would need even 1Gb so imagine 3-4 years down the road. Anyone who uses Professional Apps or who multitasks alot in OSX will tell you that 1GB is really todays minimum for OSX.
Little Endian said:If I were you I would get a Dual 1.8Ghz PowerMac Refurbished for $1699 and a Formac 19" LCD for $599 for a total of $2300, $800 more than a 17" Superdrive imac.. $800 more may sound like a lot and acutually it is alot however a Dual Processor Power Mac will for sure last you 4-5 years especially considering the Upgrade Potential. The PowerMac offers more affordable HD, and Optical Drive Upgrade options. Twice the memory expansion. 2GB is alot but 4GB is better and just 3 years ago most people never could imagine why they would need even 1Gb so imagine 3-4 years down the road. Anyone who uses Professional Apps or who multitasks alot in OSX will tell you that 1GB is really todays minimum for OSX.
Both Photoshop and Dreamweaver are MP aware and OSX is very good at Multi-threading in MP systems and offers huge Performance increases when multitasking. You are better off with a Dual Processor system as the industry is heading toward Dual Core and it is quite obvious that when Dual Core chips become the norm that one would be better off with two single core chips than just one.
The imac's Graphics Card is a sore spot as well and there is nothing you can do about it either except to replace the whole machine. Some people may think that a 64MB Geforce FX 5200 is good enough for now and 4-5 years down the road, however these are the same people who probably thought the same about my 16MB ATI Rage 128Pro that came with my 3 year old Summer 2001 imac Graphite. A Rage 128 Pro today is overwhelmed by Mac OSX itself and even things as simple as screensavers.
I must also point out that the LCD in the 17" imac G5 is no better than the 17"LCD I have with my Current imac G4. Very Poor viewing angles and not very bright. Get this instead http://www.formac.com/p_bin/?cid=solutions_displays_gallery1900_01
Considering that the mid-plane assembly of the iMac G5, which consists of the CPU and the GPU, is listed as a USER REPLACEABLE part, I suspect that the current crop of iMacs may be almost as upgradeable as power macs (you won't be able to upgrade the GPU and the CPU separately, and you don't have PCI slots or extra drive bays). For most people who don't do CPU or GPU intensive tasks and who don't already have a good monitor, the iMac G5 is a trememdous value, IMO.Little Endian said:Trust me I have gone through 3 imacs in just 4 years spending some $5000 alltoghether and even considering the money I got from selling previous imacs I still spent about $3,000 over four years. Imacs are great given that you don't do anything processor intensive or you only plan to keep the machine for less than 2 years. However if you want longevity from a single machine and Power then PowerMac is the only option. I say finnance the extra $800-$1000 needed to get a PowerMac System and then sit back for the next 4-5 years. I promise you though that the imac will be leaving you wanting more or actually needing more in as little as 1.5 to 3 years. Just think what it's like to be using Garageband, iphoto, Photoshop, Tiger, Games etc on a 2 years 10 month old imac G4 800 with it's 32MB Geforce 2MX and 2X DVD drive and having 1GB as a permanent ceiling. Now imagine a 4 year old imac G3 400Mhz with an 8MB Graphics card. Now imagine what using a 1.8Ghz imac G5 will be like 3-4 years down the road.
MacinDoc said:Considering that the mid-plane assembly of the iMac G5, which consists of the CPU and the GPU, is listed as a USER REPLACEABLE part, I suspect that the current crop of iMacs may be almost as upgradeable as power macs (you won't be able to upgrade the GPU and the CPU separately, and you don't have PCI slots or extra drive bays). For most people who don't do CPU or GPU intensive tasks and who don't already have a good monitor, the iMac G5 is a trememdous value, IMO.