[iDotMac]

How much of a speed difference would there be between these two machines? I know the powermac has a level 3 cache while the imac doesn't. Would there be a significant improvement in performance?

(I'm looking to purchase a new mac and trying to do some homework!)

[Eug]

Yes. Significant difference. Mind you if I were to get a G4 Power Mac, I'd probably get the dual G4 (although not with everything included on the top model).

Here is a bench of the G4 dual 800 Power Mac, single 800 Power Mac, and. iMac 800.

[iDotMac]

Originally posted by Eug:
I'd probably get the dual G4 (although not with everything included on the top model).

What would you NOT get? I need a superdrive too. Where can I get such a machine other than the Apple store?

[Eug]

From the Apple Store:

• Dual 1.25GHz w/ 2MB L3 Cache per processor
• 256MB DDR333 SDRAM (PC2700) -1 DIMM
• 80GB Ultra ATA drive
• Apple SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
• NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium dual-display w/128MB DDR (Note that the Radeon 9000 is $200 less)
• 56K internal modem
• Apple Pro Keyboard - U.S. English
• Mac OS - U.S. English
Subtotal $1,999.00

From Crucial:
2x512 MB DDR PC2700
Subtotal $174

From Newegg:
WD 7200 rpm 120 GB hard drive with 8 MB cache
Subtotal $112


Total $2285 (plus shipping from Newegg) - includes 1.25 GB RAM and 160 GB over 2 hard drives.

[GeoMac]

Originally posted by Eug:
From the Apple Store:

• Dual 1.25GHz w/ 2MB L3 Cache per processor
• 256MB DDR333 SDRAM (PC2700) -1 DIMM
• 80GB Ultra ATA drive
• Apple SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
• NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium dual-display w/128MB DDR (Note that the Radeon 9000 is $200 less)
• 56K internal modem
• Apple Pro Keyboard - U.S. English
• Mac OS - U.S. English
Subtotal $1,999.00

From Crucial:
2x512 MB DDR PC2700
Subtotal $174

From Newegg:
WD 7200 rpm 120 GB hard drive with 8 MB cache
Subtotal $112


Total $2285 (plus shipping from Newegg) - includes 1.25 GB RAM and 160 GB over 2 hard drives.

wouldn't that be 200gb over two drives?

[iDotMac]

I found this searching some resellers...

"This Power Mac G4 features dual 1.25GHz PowerPC processors, 512MB of RAM, 120GB hard drive, DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive, 56K v.92 modem and built-in 10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet.

Features:
2MB DDR SRAM L3 cache per processor
167MHz system bus
PC2700 DDR SDRAM expandable to 2GB
ATI® RADEON™ 9000 Pro graphics with AGP 4X and 64MB of DDR SDRAM
Two FireWire® ports and four USB ports
AirPort®-ready
Mac OS X v10.2, Mac OS 9.2"

All for $1799. The machine is Reconditioned though. What do you think?

[Cadaver]

While the PowerMac G4 (even the single 1.25GHz model) would be faster than the iMac, keep in mind that the iMac does come with a (rather nice widescreen) display and speakers; the PowerMac does not. Additionally, some people really like the all-in-one convenience of the iMac.

$1799 for a 17" iMac, I think, is a fine deal (as Macs go).

$2257 for a single-processor 1.25GHz G4 with a 17" LCD, SuperDrive and speakers (same HD, RAM; comparable graphics chips).

While the PowerMac will be a bit faster with it's 1MB of L3 cache, I don't think it's worth a $458 difference. Take that $458 and load up on RAM or a faster/larger HD.

Oh, FYI, the iMac (the new 17" for sure, not sure about the new 15") has a 167MHz bus speed.

[Eug]

Originally posted by GeoMac:
wouldn't that be 200gb over two drives?

BTW, the idea of refurb is OK too.