used G5 iMac or new Mac mini?

[stateofmind]

Option 1:

My brother is offering me his 20" iMac G5 for $400. It's in good condition and he has all the discs.

Option 2:

Buy a brand new Mac mini for $599.99 + tax from Best Buy (have a $350 gift card due to product replacement plan on my 360)

The iMac specs are:

1.8GHz PowerPC G5
160GB HDD
256mb RAM (im reading this off a site...IS THAT TRUE?? only 256? My brother didnt upgrade or anything)

Mac Mini specs:

1.83ghz Core2Duo
80gb HDD
1GB ram


Is the mac mini worth the extra 200+ bucks? (Already have monitor/kb/m/speakers)

 

[overanalyzer]

I'd probably go with the Mini, especially if it really is only 256MB RAM, which you'd definitely have to upgrade, so you'll have to drop some money on that anyway. Having a newer processor and being able to run Windows if desired is a great feature.

 

[fastlanephil]

iMac G5 vs Mac Mini

I would buy the iMac G5 from your brother for $400 if it is in good condition. You can probably sell it to PowerMax for more than that because I was quoted $510 for my 1.8 G5 17" with a super drive. It won't hurt to give them a call.

If they buy it then you get store credit for the sale amount for up to 1 year minus the shipping charge you will incur .

But maybe your brother wants to keep it in the family.

 

[teleromeo]

if you need to run speedy applications like video editing get a new mini.
If you want to use it for normal things like web browsing and word processing buy the iMac.
If you have some old classic applications you want to recycle buy the iMac.

 

[davedecay]

Tough call.

Will you be gaming at all?
Using Classic OS 9.2?
Encoding video or lots of audio?

G5 pros:
- easier access to the hard drive to replace it.
- hard drive is standard 3.5in SATA; 500 GB costs around $100
- nice display
- dedicated VRAM, not shared from RAM
- easy to install RAM

G5 cons:
- slower single processor
- fixed display size

mini pros:
- dual core processor is faster/cooler
- small size
- would be in warranty

mini cons:
- hard to access RAM and/or hard drive to upgrade
- shared VRAM leeches from real RAM
- uses SATA laptop drives, generally slower & more expensive

you will probably want to max out the RAM on the mini, especially since right off the bat some is taken for video. you also want a pair of matched size, so two 1 GB so-dimms. good news is they are dirt cheap, you can get two for $50 shipped.

consider also the burners in both units. would you buy a mini with a superdrive? does the imac have a superdrive?

 

[0007776]

Get the mini, or maybe get a refurb mini with a DVD burner for about the same price. Unless you have classic programs that you need to run.

 

[stateofmind]

All I will be doing is basic internet, typing documents. I do however like to create short videos. Nothing demanding, just short easy things, for example I created a comedic documentary for my cousins wedding and it turned out real good for something so simple.

 

[CalMin]

For the things you describe, the G5 will be fine and at that price it's a steal. You could use it for a year and sell it for the same money. Look at eBay.

If you run Leopard on it, make sure to max out the ram.

 

[DerKommissar]

Get the mini if you are ok not playing 3d games. I think the intel based processors and possibility of running windows is worth it.

Option 1:

My brother is offering me his 20" iMac G5 for $400. It's in good condition and he has all the discs.

Option 2:

Buy a brand new Mac mini for $599.99 + tax from Best Buy (have a $350 gift card due to product replacement plan on my 360)

The iMac specs are:

1.8GHz PowerPC G5
160GB HDD
256mb RAM (im reading this off a site...IS THAT TRUE?? only 256? My brother didnt upgrade or anything)

Mac Mini specs:

1.83ghz Core2Duo
80gb HDD
1GB ram


Is the mac mini worth the extra 200+ bucks? (Already have monitor/kb/m/speakers)

 

[andrewag]

As much as i hate to say this, Apple is leaving the PowerPC behind these days. The Mac mini will give you a longer life than the G5 iMac. If you want to play games forget the mini.

 

[Father Jack]

My choice would be the Mini ..

 

[WCWalker]

I owned the same G5 iMac your brother is offering you. I sold that and replaced it with an Intel Mac Mini 1.66 hz with 512 mb of ram. The Mac Mini is considerably faster for basic tasks such as those you outlined. I'd only recommend the G5 iMac if you are doing any gaming otherwise I highly recommend the new Mac Mini.

 

[vansouza]

Not a tough choice at all... the Mac mini is totally new technology... no brainer.