A web designer's mac

[Makyz]

Right now I am in the market for a new apple computer. The story goes as this, right now I have 1000$ saved up and Im planning to double this amount in one month's time.

I predominantly use my computer for web designing and graphic applications. I currently have a rev B 12 inch Powerbook with 768 ddr ram and this basically fufills all my needs (when I span it on my 17inch monitor that is). Additionally I use it for my college work, and everything is perfect except for the battery life.

Now I am looking for an apple desktop- and with 2,000$ I'm leaning for a 20inch Imac or a refurb or low end g5 desktop. If I am dishing out 2k for a system then I want it to last me a while, and the Imac doesnt look that expandable, while a g5 does. But G5 is pretty much overkill for what I do. Adobe Creative Suite, Macromedia Suite, some IMovie amatuer videos, and lots of music. I believe that the Imac will be sufficient.

Are there any other web designers with either of these systems that could shed some light in what I should get?

 

[crazzyeddie]

Im not a designer, but I know enough to help you out.

If the G4 you have now is fast enough for your work, then a 1.8ghz G5 will be at least twice as fast, and should last for a very long while. The advantage of the built-in LCD in the iMacs sounds like its perfect for you. I would spend your money on a 20" iMac with upgraded RAM. The graphics card is not an issue because you're not doing 3D work. The graphics card is not an issue with 2D work.

 

[Blue Velvet]

I'd say go for the G5 desktop -- overkill is not the way to see it.
Think of what your future needs may be, it's far more expandable.

About 18 months ago, I had a choice between a dual 1.25 with combo drive or a dual 1.42 with super drive. Although I had no plans to burn DVDs at the time, I soon discovered that after all, maybe I just wanted/needed to...

No regrets at all.

If you are planning on doing some serious video or Photoshop, you may appreciate the ability to add lots of RAM or put a 2nd fast drive in for a scratch disk.

And a second processor does make a difference...

 

[edesignuk]

I think I'd lean towards the iMac too. The 1.8GHz G5 (with it's 600MHz BUS, SATA 7200RPM drive + max 2GB RAM) will be a lot faster than your 1GHz G4 (167MHz BUS, 4200/maybe 5400RPM drive). For the kind of things you describe doing having a great display should be very important to you, and aside from the 23"/30" HD displays you won't do much better than the 20" you will get with your iMac. IMO there's no point in having a kick ass machine if your interface with it (your monitor) is crap.

Go with the iMac.

 

[James L]

I would go iMac also, but get the biggest HD and the most RAM you can afford.

I run my web design/video editing business completely off of a powerbook (15" 1.5Ghz), and the only limitation I feel is with the 80GB HD. It is a pain to only be able to work on 1 video project at a time on this machine.

You will dig the new iMac, have fun!

James

 

[jaromski]

go pmac buddy

i would get the powermac. it is extra dough but that is the ultimate machine. it may seem like overkill now but once you use it for a bit you will wonder how you got one before it.

the downside of a powermac is that you have to get a separate display and that costs more $$$. but i had the chance yesterday to play around with the latest rev powermac 2.0ghz + new cinema display vs. the 20 imac. the powermac was much more responsive and the screen was much crisper than the imac. the imac screen seemed "washed out" - but only in comparison to the powermac's lovely cinema display. both units did seem to run a bit hot...

but if apple made the imac the same level of quality as the powermac they would shoot themselves in the foot on their high-end sales. who would buy the high-end machine if the low/middle-end imac is the same?

plus you are limited with the all-in-one solutions for the "what if" scenarios of tomorrow. unless your what-if scenarios can be serviced by usb/firewire connections (e.g. add external firewire drive, etc) but don't you think that bastardizes the whole concept of the new imac? i do, but maybe i am over-analyzing the whole thing.

in short go pmac, if you are a full-time college student they will knock a few hundred bucks off the price. what have you got to lose?

jaromski

 

[HeyMAC]

I would say its a toss up. If your willing to run thin on money go for a powermac, but the iMac is an awesome deal. an Apple 20 inch cinema display is 1100,but if you buy a imac 20" your basically paying 600 dollars for a computer.

 

[pckilla]

Id go for the imac...i just got the new 20 inch model and its great!Unless your planning on final cut or other proccessor intensive tasks it will save you alot of money... 🙂