[JASnyder]

I have an original 15" FP iMac 800 that is two years old now. I'm thinking of upgrading to the 1.25 17" or maybe 20".

I do mostly iPhoto and some iMovie and am planning to do a lot more.

Aside from the larger screen, how much of a speed difference will I see going from 800 to 1.25? Is it worth upgrading?

I'm going to start with 512 but will bump to a gig shortly.

Thanks, Jeff

[BrunoBruin]

I have a 700MHz iMac that I use as a second machine and I'm thinking about making the same swap. I recently tried out a 17-inch 1.25GHz model and I was pretty impressed. There is definitely a big difference in the overall responsiveness of the machine. I think this is due mostly to the 167MHz system bus in the new machines (vs. 100 for the old). You're also getting twice the VRAM, faster RAM, and so on. The G4 processor is the weak link, so every little bit elsewhere helps.

What's particularly tempting is that Apple has refurbished 1.25GHz models for $1,499, and MacConnection had them for just $1,399 earlier this week (now sold out). At those prices I think they're a good value.

My concern about the 20-inch is that you've got the majority of your investment tied up in the display, which you can't move to a new machine. For that kind of dough, I'd be tempted to wait for the next generation of machines, and hope for a G5.

[JASnyder]

Same concerns with the 20" and the G4 being the weak link.

I'm actually debating between a new iMac or a dual 1.8 G5 with 20" cinema. I know it's an incredible system but I could buy TWO 17" iMacs for the same price - kind of hard to justify to myself.