Torn

[Gohan]

I’m having a near impossible time deciding between the two options

Dual 2.0gig G5 with 1gig of RAM
20” iMac with 1.25gig of RAM.

Seem to be pro’s and cons to both. First up if I go with the Power Mac I will be stuck with a 17” CRT for about a month or so until I can afford a 19” TFT, on the other hand the iMac obviously comes with a built in monitor, but is a good deal slower than the dual 2.0gig G5.

Then there is the issue of space while it's not imperative that I go for a space saving design it would be nice to reclaim a bit of floor space. But perhaps the biggest concern is noise and power consumption. I have heard that the G5 is quieter than the iMac partially under load whereas the iMac is probably a more power efficient design (I’m just assuming as I can’t find any figures of either model)

AHHHH this is doing my nut in!

 

[barthrh]

I'm having the same dilemma, especially with the price drop on the Cinema displays. For sure, it's not worth getting a single-cpu PM over the iMac. But that dual 2.0...

I guess that it depends on what you'll use it for. I may do a bit of video, or mess around with Motion. But mostly I'll be doing programming (can't wait for XCode2) and a lot of Photoshop (project for this year: digitize every photo/negative).

The iMac is clean and cheaper.

The PM, though, is more future-proof. You can change the video card, upgrade the drive when Blu-ray comes, add more hard drives, or add external Serial ATA devices. This is good when it comes to backup up media across hard drives. Plus the 2 CPUs will last longer, the Cinema display will endure across upgrades (though displays will probably cost $100 by that time), and the resale value would be excellent.

I may be leaning towards a PM, but am anxious to hear what others think.