[ringos]

not sure if this question belongs here, but my upgrade path is getting a little murky.

At Work system for reference: dual 2 G5/2Gb Ram/160HD
At Home system: G4/933/1.5GB/120HD + 60HD + 80GB & 200GB external fw

Graphics/advertising pro (indesign, photoshop, quark, illustrator/freehand) doing print work and digital photography. G4 at home is still ok, but I'm starting to clamor for more speed, especially with inDesign. Also wanting more screen real estate than my 17 Studio Display (LCD).

Choices: upgrade to Dell 20 FPW, or 24 (which would still work if I go with new tower), and possibly processor upgrade, dual 1.8. ($400 - 800 + up to $500 for proc upgrade)

New imac 20" (~$1700 + more Ram)

Bite the bullet and go G5 tower, at least 2 or 2.3 GHz. (~$2200 + extras)

I do freelance work, so there's writeoff available with any of these. How much faster/better will the new imac be? Speed difference between systems? Thoughts? Thanks.

[mduell]

If your apps are multithreaded the PowerMac should be a lot faster and last longer than the iMac. The dual 2.0/2.3 prices should drop quite a bit once the line is updated (expected any day now).

[Cadaver]

All depends on how much you want to spend.

The iMacs are very nice computers (especially the new ones released yesterday).

But what you benefit in price you lose in expandability. With a G5 tower, you can easily replace the graphics card, hard drives (multiple vs. one in the iMac), expand way beyond the iMac in terms of RAM, upgrade displays or even add a second. Not to mention the PCI slots for network cards, drive controllers, audio/video, etc...

However, if my needs were less-than heavy, I'd consider an iMac G5 for sure.

[kcmac]

I'd go with the iMac. The expandability thing just doesn't mean anything to me. By the time I feel like expanding, the new machines are always better with superior features, faster everything, etc. Sell the old, get a new one.

[ringos]

Some quick math:
dual 2 G5 stock (apple refurb) $1800 + $400 Dell 20' FPW=$2200 ($2400 with the Dell 24" FPW)
imac G5 2.1 20" $1700

Difference of $500-700 over my average length of use (4 years). Seems like a no-brainer.
But upgradability aside, form factor of the new iMac is still pretty tempting!!

[RevEvs]

rumor is that there will be new towers out on the 19th. best wait till then.

OTOH, id go for the dual 2G5 over the iMac (although i love the imac design)

[Pierre B.]

Originally Posted by RevEvs

rumor is that there will be new towers out on the 19th. best wait till then.

Yeah, wait even if you don't buy one of the new models, because there will be price drops for the older ones.

[ringos]

It still comes down to power/speed vs cost. While I don't necessarily plan for upgradeability, my history says otherwise; G3/233 in 1998, upgraded to G4/400ZIF, 40G HD, Radeo vid card in 2001 (currently still in use running OS9.2.2 for my 5 year old and his edu games!)
2002, Quicksilver G4/933, upgraded HD and video card this year, and was considering dual 1.8 upgade, but I think I'd rather get new machine.

At this point, it's still a matter of want vs. need — I want a dual G5 with huge screen, I want an imac for it's form, i want a mac mini just because (and for my 3 and 5 year-olds) — so i can wait.

There are definitely some compelling arguments for either a new imac and dual g5, though! Either way, I would get a pretty nice machine.