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Anybody with a 20" iMac G5? Looking for opinions for purchase.

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Arcus

Arcus

macrumors 6502a
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Was looking for opinions on the 20" iMac G5. I have monitor and keyboard etc etc and was considering the mac mini but the specs seem to fall a little short of where I want to be. I currently have a G3 700 iBook and want a second mac for a primary computer. (Im gonna ditch Windows) I got a little scared when I looked at the mac mini vs. the iMac specs and just didnt want to sell myself short.

Ill be doing basic email, browse. Maybe some games. Music for sure. Looking forward to garageband. Some development. Virtual PC (until iWork comes with a spreadsheet app).


Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Arcus said:
Was looking for opinions on the 20" iMac G5. I have monitor and keyboard etc etc and was considering the mac mini but the specs seem to fall a little short of where I want to be. I currently have a G3 700 iBook and want a second mac for a primary computer. (Im gonna ditch Windows) I got a little scared when I looked at the mac mini vs. the iMac specs and just didnt want to sell myself short.

Ill be doing basic email, browse. Maybe some games. Music for sure. Looking forward to garageband. Some development. Virtual PC (until iWork comes with a spreadsheet app).


Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I've got a 17" which I moved up-to from a 700Mhz iBook like yourself. I've got to say that for what you're talking about (other than VPC which I don't use) I don't really notice that much of a speed boost. I have noticed that iMovie's a bit quicker but to be honest I saw more of an improvement in speed of Safari mail etc. going from Panther to Tiger on the G5 than from G3 to G5.

If I was in the market again I'd consider the Mac mini and an Apple 20" or 23" ADC.

One other thing I'd say, although I've not used a mini to compare, is that the iMac is not as whisper quiet as I'd hoped.

Don't get me wrong the iMac is a good computer.
 
Oh good idea. I hadent considered getting a mini and I nice 20" ADC. I have a 21" CRT and the thing literally heats up my room so much my house air conditioner kicks on. Its a good thing too or Id be sweating while browsing.

I
 
You can get a refurbished Dual 1.8ghz G5 from Apple for $1499 or a Dual 2.5ghz for $2300. Either of those machines will last you far much longer than an iMac because they are more upgradable, plus they have at least twice the processing power. Since you already have a monitor, the iMac would be a waste since you're paying for that LCD.
 
mpw said:
I've got a 17" which I moved up-to from a 700Mhz iBook like yourself. I've got to say that for what you're talking about (other than VPC which I don't use) I don't really notice that much of a speed boost.
Click to expand...

I used to have a 400Mhz iMac G3 and a 600Mhz G3 iBook and from those machines even my 1Ghz PowerBook G4 was a huge improvement in speed. I don't know why your iMac G5 is so slow (down into G3 territory), but mine is MUCH faster then my old G3 machines in every thing I do.
 
I don't have a mini so I can't really compare, but for garageband especially you should really notice a difference between the mini and the iMac -- that App is a real CPU hog. That said, I can run GB fairly well on my 1.33 Ghz iBook, so maybe the mini'd be fine for you. My wife's 20-inch iMac is a sweet machine, though, and blows my iBook away, speedwise. It's going to last her a LOT longer than this iBook will last me.
 
Arcus said:
Ill be doing basic email, browse. Maybe some games. Music for sure. Looking forward to garageband. Some development. Virtual PC (until iWork comes with a spreadsheet app).
Click to expand...
I love my iMac and while it's not completely silent, if I even crack a window open, the outside ambient noise is enough to mask the tiny bit of noise my Mac makes. Which games do you play? I definitely prefer my iMac for Diablo II over my PB spanning. There is a definite improvement in gameplay, as in, death is not a certainty if there are a lot of characters onscreen due to less lag. <-- I hope that made sense.

About Virtual PC, if you don't already have it, have you thought about getting MS office for mac? The student edition is roughly $140 or some university resellers can sell you a single cd and license for about $60. Then you get the whole office suite runningly natively for Mac (which I prefer to MS office running on Windows because of a better interface-- and it's supposed to be faster than emulated apps).
 
Thanks for the info guys.

I also play Diablo II. Quake 3 is a favorite. Maybe Baldours Gate.

I guess I could consider the MS Office suite. I really only need Excel. I would be quite happy with using Apple Works if I could only get to my other sheets inside a spreadsheet.

The suggestion about getting a powermac isnt a bad one, although I loathe having to keep this 21" behemoth monitor. I moved recently and my room isnt as big as it used to be so a flat screen would really come in handy. I guess Im talking myself into the iMac, with your guys help of course 🙂
 
One thing you may want to note is there have been a number of problems with the iMacs, at least the first ones. I ordered mine as soon as it came out and I had to get the logic board replaced because of bad VRAM, and there's a problem with the backlight of the display (the top lamp burns out). There have also been reports of problems with the power supply, I believe. If you go on the discussion forums at support.apple.com you'll find a lot of different complaints and dissatisfaction with Apple's support. Don't get me wrong, I love my 20" iMac, and they may have fixed these problems in the latest revisions. But one anecdote: At the school paper I'm the editor of, we got all new computers this summer - dual 1.8 GHz G5s with 20" Apple displays instead of the G5 iMacs I'd asked for. I'm certainly not complaining, but the IT guy said they were looking at them as a 3 or 4-year investment, and there were too many technical problems in the iMacs for them to consider buying them.
 
I bought my parents a 20" iMac and have used it fairly frequently. It's pretty quiet. It runs the games you listed great. And it's beautiful. Sure, you can buy a mini and hook up an external display, but you lose some of the sex factor.

For the guy who said the dual 1.8s are "more powerful" -- dude, he said he's doing browsing, email, and some games. You don't need a DP machine for that. Sometimes, more is not better.

I'd have no hesitations about the 20" iMac.
 
I recently bought a 20" 2Ghz iMac and it's a very great machine. Just make sure you get some more RAM than the included standard (aftermarket is best, Apple overcharges for RAM).
 
Im getting more excited by the minute.

One of the things I am looking forward to is the reduction in cables running all over. Mouse , keyboard , power and iPod cable is all I will have. I do plan on getting airport.

*writes down the tip about ram*
 
I bought the 20" iMac G5 a while ago...250g HD, 1g RAM...I've not had any problems and just love it. I also got wireless keyboard and mouse. Make sure you keep extra batteries around. It's definitely worth it.
 
Awsome!! I saw the bluetooth but didnt take notice of the 802 card.

Just curious how the bluetooth mouse performs. How is the lag? I tried a microsoft wireless (RF not IR or BT) a while ago and the lag when you first moved it after sitting a while was terrible.

You know , if I do this I will HAVE to get a bluetooth phone!
 
I purchased a 20-inch iMac back on release with BT, 1.25 gigs ram and of course wireless. It really is a beautiful computer. One cord for power and thats it. I use it a lot with some Airport expresses I have. I also use it to edit with Final Cut Pro HD. Not too much of a difference between the Powermac G5 and iMac G5 for FCP. I also have 3 other users on my computer, one who is computer illiterate, but she e-mails and surfs the web. One who pretty much just uploads his CD's to play music and surf the web, and another who does all the basic stuff. The computer works wonderfully and the only problem I had was a b-tree error when I bought the machine which was probably my own fault for driving too fast on teh way home. I also had the power supply die on me. Once again I had the first model, so its expected to be buggy. Not to mention none of these were major problems. I say go with the 20-inch iMac, it's suitable for everyone, no matter what you're using it for.

EDIT: BT mouse and Keyboard work beautifully, same with my Sony Ericsson phone I use with bluetooth. If you have a treo or any other palm phone(HotSync) it's a little more of a pain in the ass to use bluetooth with it. I also got my RAM upgrade for less than $100 because I am tight with my Apple retailer.
 
I just recieved my 20" iMac G5 2 Ghz rev b with the 250 GB HD and 1 GB of ram. I also got the BT keyboard and mouse. It is quiet. You can notice a little bit of fan noise, but not that loud. When you push it, you can hear the fan more, but IMO it is still quiet. There is no lag when typing or moving the mouse. But, it takes about 10-20 seconds for the computer to see the mouse and KB once you turned them on( you have to turn the KB and mouse off to save battery life). Well maybe I am a bit biased with the quiet thing since this machine replaced the Powerwindtunnel G4 400 Mhz. 😀 😛
 
I picked up an iMac G5 17" 2GHz on Sat. and it is amazing! I had an iBook G4 1ghz 256 and this iMac blows it away! Games run very good on the iMac with very little loading compared to the iBook. Everyone complains about the noise...Yes there is a tiny noise on mine but i can only hear it when i'm really pushing the computer to the max. When i have just Safari open i can hardly hear anything. This is an amazing computer and i think you will thank yourself for getting it over the Mini just beacause the speed increase and beauty!

*And if you want you can use your other monitor with the iMac G5 to do the screen spanning hack!
 
Compared to the wind tunnel PC I have now Im sure the iMac will be a pleasure. I might take a road trip to an Apple store tommorow. Ill have to stop at staples to get a new computer table too.

I wonder if the feeling I have now is like the feeling my girlfriend gets when she goes to the mall to shop for cloths.

Cloths.....bah.....who needs cloths if I have an iMac.
 
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