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techtrucker · Nov 13, 2005, 07:04 AM

I know, this question gets asked a lot, bear with me. I'm not a newbie, been using macs for almost 15 years, am working part time as a developer. A while back I got rid of my iMac G5 and left myself with this B&W G3 400. It actually doesn't do too bad with Tiger, has ample memory and a 160 GB drive.
But I really need to get something else, and don't want to wait for the mactels. My budget only allows for about $1,000, maybe a bit more. I don't need portability (although not opposed to using one as my main machine). I thought about a mini, but am concerned about performance, esp. disk. I could probably scrape up enough to get the entry level iMac. That would get me a G5 without spending $$$ for a Power Mac. I am concerned about some of the issues with the iMacs (fan noise, capacitors) and may ask in the iMac forum if these issues have been addressed.
I've thought about a refurb, I've had a couple in the past and have had good luk with them.
My main uses are:surfing, email, Office, XCode, BBEdit, PS Elements, iApps, all Omnigroup apps, and a little Realbasic.
I know no one can answer this question definitively, I've just been mulling this over for weeks and can't seem to reach a decision. So I'm just looking for some general feedback (and some flames!)...
TIA.

Cubeoid · Nov 13, 2005, 07:17 AM

Such hideous paragraph structure.

techtrucker · Nov 13, 2005, 07:19 AM

Sorry, was typing in a bit of a hurry.

ghporter · Nov 13, 2005, 07:49 AM

Since you are a developer, I think it's a wonder you can converse in English at all! A number of coders I know actually have problems asking for coffee in the morning...

I'm fond of laptops for general use, particularly with the availability of external drives for extra storage. Flexibility is a great plus, and you can get pretty powerful PowerBooks that, while they're not Quad G5s, are at least quite useful (and a lot cheaper than a Quad G5, too!).

techtrucker · Nov 13, 2005, 07:52 AM

I was looking at Powerbooks, if I went with a refurb I could get one in my price range. I've actually found that I can type quicker on a laptop keyboard. I used to have an iBook 14" (933) and was very comfortable using that as a daily driver.
Thanks for the input.