Powermac g5 1.8 or Imac 1.8

If you like to upgrade your machines as time goes on, you'll be happier in the long run with the Power Mac. If you never or very rarely upgrade your machines, the iMac will keep you happy.

If you're happy with the nVidia FX5200, 2GB maximum RAM and one internal HDD (which at the moment you can upgrade to a maximum of 400GB), go for the iMac.

If you'd like to upgrade your graphics card somewhere down the line (up to and beyond the ATI Radeon 9800 / nVidia 6800), and have a higher RAM ceiling (4GB for the current 1.8 single, 8GB for the previous 1.8 single), and have built-in space for two HDDs (5 more can fit inside using aftermarket brackets), go for the Power Mac.

As far as the monitor goes, you can start out with a basic budget monitor and upgrade that later too with the Power Mac. The iMac's screen is pretty but you'll always be limited to it.

xalex1 said:

But for example , If i have both computers stock side to side, wich one is the fastest ? Gives the best perfomance?

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Probably the PowerMac but there may not be too much in it.

God, you could have the fastest Mac in creation but if you're clicking and pointing instead of using scripts & keyboard shortcuts, it's virtually irrelevant.

It's not always the fastest that counts but which goes the furthest...
(ie. where do you want to be 2 years down the line? Stuck with a hard-to-upgrade machine or something that can grow with you?)

Powermac g5 1.8 or Imac 1.8...

They are both basically the same machine... they are both built on the same platform (chipset) and should perform nearly identically when the memory, GPU, and HDs are the same.

The iMac gives you a nice built in LCD at the expense of some future expandability.

The PowerMac gives you some PCI slots, extra drive bay, GPU slot, and a couple of extra DIMM slots at the expense of a built-in LCD.

Since they are running the same chipset and should run nearly equal, it'll come down to what you want more... LCD Display or expandability.

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When you choose a DP PowerMac, you step up to the PowerMac/XServe chipset and a 2nd CPU -- so you will see a performance gap.

With the iMac G5 vs SP 1.8 PM G5 rev. B -- the PowerMac has the "ability" to be faster than an iMac G5 -- due to a faster video card, extra RAM or two drives set up as a RAID. But it comes down to wanting more than the standard configuration, or upgrading select items on the PowerMac that would be soldering in or missing on the iMac.

http://barefeats.com/g518.html said:

If you can snag a used ORIGINAL "solo" G5/1.8GHz Power Mac, it's better than the latest "solo" G5/1.8GHz Power Mac since it has double the memory capacity and the faster PCI-X slots

No matter what G5/1.8 Power Mac you have or plan to buy, I recommend getting the optional Radeon cards to replace the stock GeForceFX 5200. The iMac G5/1.8 is not a slouch when compared to the G5 Power Macs running at the same clock speed. However, as soon as you stick an optional graphics card in any of the G5 Power Macs, they leave the iMac in their dust.

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http://barefeats.com/g518.html

The Power Mac G5 is quieter than the iMac G5 if you're ever running it at 100% for a while.

I wanted an ibook and i use the same programs as this guy and he says his pb was slow. Jeez the ibook is probably gonna suck then. Or this guys idea of slow is a 2.0 g5 compared to a 2.5 g5 haha