[iREZ]

my cuz is upgrading his tower to a 2.0ghz dual G5 and he's getting rid of his old machine. he said he'd sell it to me for $800, it's a non mirrored door dual 1ghz g4, 1.5gb of RAM, 80GB, ati 9200 and the stock nvidia card. i think this is a terrific price, and also believe is a great computer to hold me over till the intel chips are sold to us with all the problems fixed. should i go with this comp, or should i go with a 1.42 mini, i plan on upgrading that with a faster hd (7200rpm) and getting it with a superdrive. mind you i have a powerbook right now, but wanna have a desktop at home where i could have a faster machine to work on stuff, not that my powerbook can't handle this...but plugging it in n out could get long in the tooth and a dual g4 is mighty tempting, but i keep thinking G5 is the way to go...what d'ya guys think...good deal or should i use that 800 for the mac mini, or maybe even a 1.6g5 imac?

[Athens]

Originally Posted by iREZ

my cuz is upgrading his tower to a 2.0ghz dual G5 and he's getting rid of his old machine. he said he'd sell it to me for $800, it's a non mirrored door dual 1ghz g4, 1.5gb of RAM, 80GB, ati 9200 and the stock nvidia card. i think this is a terrific price, and also believe is a great computer to hold me over till the intel chips are sold to us with all the problems fixed. should i go with this comp, or should i go with a 1.42 mini, i plan on upgrading that with a faster hd (7200rpm) and getting it with a superdrive. mind you i have a powerbook right now, but wanna have a desktop at home where i could have a faster machine to work on stuff, not that my powerbook can't handle this...but plugging it in n out could get long in the tooth and a dual g4 is mighty tempting, but i keep thinking G5 is the way to go...what d'ya guys think...good deal or should i use that 800 for the mac mini, or maybe even a 1.6g5 imac?

A G4 tower gives you much more options for upgrading, the Mac mini is as is. I would personally take the G4 tower, slower memory bandwidth but better video card options. Same goes for a iMac. A iMac is what it is.

[OreoCookie]

I'd vote for an iMac. More silent, saves space and is faster.

[d.fine]

I'd go for the Dual machine, depending on your use of course, the dual 1GHz will kick the mini's ...
What do you plan using it for? If it is for daily use such as surfing, e-mail... then the mini is fine, as well as the G5 iMac. If you use it for design, video/audio or any CPU intensive work I'd say get the dual.

[iREZ]

i'm going to be using it for print design (illustrator, photoshop, indesign) and goofin off (media storage, garage band, internet, email). I only own a 1ghz powerbook to date, and granted it's not the fastest machine out there but gets the job done for me, so any of these machines are welcomed boost in performance, i'm just lookin for the machine that gives me the most bang for it's buck...and i can't help to think that this machine does that seeing how gettin a mini suped up with what i want will basically give me what the duallie has, only thing is i've never really used a duallie for more than goofin off and don't know if a dual 1ghz machine is better than a single 1.42G4 or even a 1.8G5 (reason i wanna stay away from an imac is because i already have a 20" LCD). thanks for the help, anymore suggestions?

[OreoCookie]

You can connect the 20" LCD to your iMac, too, and use monitor spanning. You can find the necessary software on the net. Google is your friend

[d.fine]

Dual machines are great for multi-tasking. If you do not consider this a requirement, then a single 1.42 or 1.8 will suit your needs perfect.
I just have you my opninion. When I work I use all the programs you mentioned at the same time, with some more on the background. I don't see myself doing this on a SP machine. I switch between apps a lot and don't feel like having to start the app everytime I need it. Multi-tasking able machine was one of my requirements, but if it isn't for you, then get one that suits your needs better.
Z