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deadfrog

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 5, 2004
115
0
UK / Bournemouth
ok, its getting to close to decision time and i've asked a few questions before... but now im juts trying to decide whether to try and strecth to a powermac instead of the imac due to the fact i have a 20" crt monitor already...

Was just wondering whether people think that the extra speed i would get with the powermac (probably dual 1.8 maybe 2.0 with ati 9600) over the 20" imac would be worth the extra cash and loss of space... (am a student in graphic design using mainly photoshop, illustrator, quark and flash... a little fcp and premier here and there...)

Basically im very tempted by the imac, but ive always liked to buy in the past something with the idea of expanding if needed in the future... (if that makes sense:)

can get the new imac with education discount for £1365 and powermac (dual 1.8 with ati 9600) for £1550, (dual 2 with ati 9600) for £1770....
they all include 1GB ram and bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse....

any help with this would again be much appreciated...

cheers
 

wordmunger

macrumors 603
Sep 3, 2003
5,124
3
North Carolina
Well, a 20-inch CRT doesn't really compare to a 20-inch flat panel display. Remember you've only got 18.5 inches or so of viewable area on that CRT. That said, many designers prefer CRTs, for better color range. Obviously the G5 will perform much better, but for what you're indicating you do, you probably don't actually need that much power. I think I'd go for the iMac, but in the end, it's got to be your call.
 

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Dec 27, 2002
24,835
847
Location Location Location
For your situation, I'd get the PowerMac dual 1.8GHz G5, use the 20" crt, and get an LCD later if I need it.

You have a 20" CRT and didn't say you had any issues with using it, so why not just stick with it? I don't see anything wrong with CRTs. They take up more space, but if you have lots of space, or your desk just happens to be deep anyway, then its not a big deal. Just stick with the 20" crt as you don't have an issue with it. They show better contrast and brightness anyway. Then, if you want one, but an LCD. Its not like LCD's are going to disappear within the next year.
 

Flynnstone

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2003
1,438
96
Cold beer land
I have a SP 1.8 G5 with a 20" Cinema display.
It may be me , but that 20" LCD is so much better to look at than a CRT.
The 20" iMac G5 looks very good, and will have reasonable performance. If you are a power user, then I'd recommend a Dual Proc PowerMac G5.
Some of the programs you are talking about tend to put you in the power user relm. The iMac G5 probably has the price/performance advantage.

I don't know if this holds in the G5 iMac / Power Mac area, but in the G4 iMac / PowerMac area the Power Mac has a big performance increase over an iMac. I think this had to do with L3 cache. So this may not be an issue with the G5s.
 

Jovian9

macrumors 68000
Feb 19, 2003
1,967
110
Planet Zebes
Go for the PowerMac. In the near future you can decide to purchase a new LCD, add lots of RAM, add a hard drive, upgrade the graphics card, etc.
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
The PowerMac/CRT combo is definitely more powerful and expandable.

That said, the iMac has a beautiful 20" screen, can be wall-mounted, is much more easily transported, now has third party "lazy-susan" swivel platforms to allow it to rotate like the previous iMacs, and has more than enough power for you. No, it isn't expandable. But you get a 1.8GHz G5 and a 20" LCD in a nice, compact package.
 
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