[purplegenie]

Hi,

Amidst all the angst by those who had just recently purchased G5 iMacs before the Intel announcement, I realize I'm in the minority in that I'm about to make my first Mac purchase and really want to stick with the G5.

I'm a professional web/graphic designer and am finally making the switch to Mac; I've been planning and researching this for about 6 months, and the purchase will be made in February. At first, it seemed a no-brainer to go with the new Intel iMac when it was announced on Tuesday, but I have a few concerns.

First of all, I'm in Adobe Creative Suite CS2 and Macromedia (Adobe...) Studio 8 about 95 percent of the time. Though these apps will run under Rosetta, I don't want to start out taking a speed hit. I already know they run nicely under the G5 iMacs. So why take a chance that either Adobe will drag its feet on the Universal Binary releases, or that it will be buggy when it does arrive? (I do not believe that, for my purposes, performance will be acceptable under Rosetta).

The other reason for deciding on PowerPC for now is really ironic -- I need to run Virtual PC for a couple of PC apps that I need to run for a few clients. As far as what I've heard, I won't be able to run Virtual PC at all on these new iMacs, at least not yet.

My plan is to stick with the G5 iMac, and in two or three years when it's time to upgrade, all Universal Binaries should be out, everything will be less risky, and I will have, in the meantime, had a nice speedy, solid platform from which to run my business.

But...this is my first Mac purchase, and I'd love to hear the pros and cons to my plan from those who have been in the Mac world already.

Am I screwing up? Is this a good idea? And, will I be able to get one of the 2.1GHz G5 iMacs any cheaper over the next few months?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

linda

[Kermy]

I would get a used iMac G5 right now. Prices have fallen due to users wanting to upgrade. And your reasons for goign with a G5 is sound.

[harrisjamieh]

I guess it depends when you need the machine. Can you hold off a couple of months, using the machine you use already (which is...?), and if not, then go for the G5, as for your use it sounds as though you really need native speed. Saying this, from what I understand, Rosetta will run apps at very similar speeds to the G5 iMacs, so I guess that the Intel Core Duo 2.0 Ghz (the new 20" iMac) should run programs at similar speeds to the 1.9 Ghz G5 (the PowerPC 17" iMac).

In the end, it depends on your needs, and for you, I guess that it wouldn't really matter if you had an old rev of the product, and as you say, you might get a deal on one...

[purplegenie]

The machine that I have now is a perfectly acceptable PC with plenty of memory and a good display -- it's not performance I'm having a trouble with, I want to make the platform switch.

I'd be happy to wait a few months and get the Intel iMac if I thought the Universal Binaries from Adobe/Macromedia would be forthcoming in the near future. So far, though, everything I've read seems to be speculating that these apps won't be out anytime soon (probably the CS3 release for Adobe). The fact that the Lightroom Beta from Adobe is not Universal Binary seems to bear this out.

[mduell]

I'd skip Virtual PC, keep your old PC in the corner, and use RDC or VNC to connect to it from your iMac. The performance of VPC is abysmal.

Adobe already as all their back-end code optimized for x86 (which I'm told is 90% of the code), so I think they will have a universal binary out soon. But I can't say for certain and I wouldn't bet business on it.

Once the Intel iMacs are in Apple stores (soon, IIRC), I'd try one out to confirm or disprove your belief about Rosetta performance.

Also, the Intel iMac has a DVI port and support for screen spanning (so you could use your old display for more screen area), while the G5 iMac has a VGA port and only supports mirroring.

[osxrules]

It is a hard decision to make. I would say the powerpcs will come down in price but then so did the MG Rover cars when the company went down the drain. My brother bought one because he got a cheap deal but in a few years the car will be worth nothing. Apple will eventually stop using powerpcs and I can see the same thing happening. Now computers depreciate so quickly, it probably doesn't matter much which way you go but given the choice between a G5 imac and Intel, I'd go with the Intel because you are still getting a faster machine, you won't have the heat issues that the G5 had, it should draw less power so saves you on electricity, and it's future-proof to a greater extent than the G5.

[jasong]

Your logic is sound and is what I would do if I were in your position.

[Lateralus]

Agreed.

[iLikebeer]

If you're not buying until February, you still have a few weeks to see how things develop. People are starting to get their hands on the Intel iMacs and benchmarks should be on the way. Most likely, the G5 is the right choice for you, but there's no reason to make a final decision until right before you drop the dough.

[alex_kac]

One thing to note - from one of the Rosetta Benchmarks for Photoshop it showed it working faster than any current PowerBook G4. So that shows that Rosetta can run Photoshop probably quite quickly (not as fast as a Quad G5, but you're looking at an iMac). As such I think you'd be better off with the iMac Duo as I bet Photoshop will run about as fast and the rest of the system will run much faster.

[harrisjamieh]

According to the benchmark, the new intel iMac (1.83 ghz) runs some elements of photoshop almost twice as fast as the 2.1 ghz G5 did, and thats running photoshop under Rosetta:

"The test from a MacRumors user using CS2 under Rosetta was 1m5s - which is great as his 1.9g5 did it in 1m50s running natively - imagine what that will do it when its native!"

[Helmling]

As a professional, I'm surprised you wouldn't be looking at the PowerMac Duals. Especially if you have a dispaly.

I'm a big, big fan of the G5 chip and am disappointed that I'll probably never own one now, since Apple will probably finish the switch before I'm in the market for a new machine. But even with that enthusiasm, if I was in the market for a computer, I wouldn't consider a G5 iMac now. The PowerMac, though, has both the PowerPC chips and oomph enough to make the purchase last.

If you already have a decent display, why not save the cost of the screen built into the iMac and buy the Monster?

[purplegenie]

Originally Posted by Helmling

If you already have a decent display, why not save the cost of the screen built into the iMac and buy the Monster?

I have an adequate display, but not a great one (and I think the Mac displays are truly great). Going with the Monster and a new display would put me far above my budget and well into the $3,000 territory.

Now that some of the first reports are out, it looks like my fears for Rosetta have panned out -- significantly slower on Photoshop those types of apps under Rosetta than on the iMac G5. So, looks like I'll be searching for a G5 bargain next month.

Thanks to everyone for the info, it was very helpful.

[CorpITGuy]

You've been given a lot of good advice here.

Professionals must be patient with technology. Apple is in the middle of a very positive transition that will ultimately make you more productive. In the meantime, I recommend that you stay with your Windows hardware until at least March. By then, we will likely see universal binaries for some of the big apps made by Adobe and Macromedia. They know people will want the MacBook Pro and other pro machines that will be introduced around that time. They don't want to be caught with their pants down.

Hang in there - the new Intel Macs are going to beat the crap out of a G5 once the pro machines are out (there is no Intel PM yet!) and you shouldn't be considering the iMac (a consumer machine) anyway. Also, native software coupled with Intel performance will mean time=money saved for you!

You'll regret it if you buy a G5.

[quiklee]

ya i heard the new G5 is not that much faster . . . . a nice Power PC G5 would be perfect now since all the kinks have already been worked out . . . good luck with your purchase!