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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > imac 1.8 G5 vs. athlon 2500+

imac 1.8 G5 vs. athlon 2500+
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flukewurm
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Nov 12, 2004, 10:45 PM
 
i hesitate to ask a mac forum a question such as this..

but.

in terms of pure processing power which is a faster machine?

my athlon 2500+ system (rated at 1.8ghz) currently has 512 MB of ram. two LOUD maxtor 40GB drives.

im either going to upgrade this machine just to make it a happier system. to make it quieter. also right now i have two 17" crt mointors. i am NOT happy about this. my other option is to invest in a mac. ive been thinking tower latley... but if the imac 1.8 G5 has the same processing power my athlon system has then i may go with the more zen-like imac.

upgrade current windows machine (2 new harddrives, 3rd party CPU heatsink, firewire card, 512mb ram) = approx $350.. if i wanted to add a 20" lcd monitor (non-apple) that would be another $800.

OR i can bite the bullet and go mac.

another option would be to wait for a powerbook thats 2x as powerful as my 1ghz g4.. i would be cool with that as my only osx system.
     
iPoder
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Nov 12, 2004, 10:57 PM
 
It is not the issue of wrong forum, but an issue that probably no one can give you a definite answer (without bias).

It all depends what you want to do about it. In general rules of thumbs, you go for Wintel machine if you want to play games. If you like simplicity and ease-of-use, go for iMac.

If you want a decent LCD monitor, I would suggest Dell 2005FPW for $720. It is an awesome deal for its performance.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...&page=external

PS. Here is the coupon code 4L479R3L1?$Q44 that will give you cheaper price at $679 by 11/15.
( Last edited by iPoder; Nov 12, 2004 at 11:04 PM. )
     
flukewurm  (op)
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Nov 12, 2004, 11:25 PM
 
i will be making coomputer music with the machine.. as well as some web design and photshopping along with all the normal everyday stuff too. i am satisfied with the amount of software available for pc versus whats available for mac..

i dont play that many computer games.
     
iPoder
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Nov 12, 2004, 11:57 PM
 
GarageBand (or Pro Logic) is the one program that really matters in your choice of PC and Mac. If you can find an equally good program on PC, PC will work for you. Otherwise, you will be probably happier with iMac.

Again, I don't know the performance comparison of iMac 1.8 vs. athlon 2500+. I would imagine that it really depends on the software you are going to use.
     
the_glassman
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Nov 13, 2004, 12:20 AM
 
Load it up with 4 GB of ram and it should do everything you want it to and more.
     
DaBeav
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Nov 13, 2004, 10:34 AM
 
The iMac's limit is 2GB.

The iMac is going to likely be faster than your Athlon. It's comparable to an Athlon64 system. You will be more limited with regard to future upgrades. If you're going to be making music, I'd suggest lots of RAM and getting the 160 or 250GB HD option.

As for the PB, consider whether you need a laptop (working on the go), or a portable (something easy to move). The iMac is pretty lightweight and easy to setup. If you don't need mobility, it's plenty portable, and has more processing power.
     
the_glassman
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Nov 13, 2004, 12:37 PM
 
Originally posted by DaBeav:
The iMac's limit is 2GB.

The iMac is going to likely be faster than your Athlon. It's comparable to an Athlon64 system. You will be more limited with regard to future upgrades. If you're going to be making music, I'd suggest lots of RAM and getting the 160 or 250GB HD option.

As for the PB, consider whether you need a laptop (working on the go), or a portable (something easy to move). The iMac is pretty lightweight and easy to setup. If you don't need mobility, it's plenty portable, and has more processing power.
The Powermacs limit says it's 8 GB, that doesn't mean you can't stick in 2 GB modules and have them work. So the Powermacs limits is really 16 GB.
     
macaddict0001
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Nov 13, 2004, 01:13 PM
 
I'd say they are nearly identical in overall performance possably a slight edge given to the athlon but once tiger comes the imac will win in overall performance.
     
klinux
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Nov 13, 2004, 03:02 PM
 
First, it depends onhow you define pure processing power. Encoding video? Encoding audio? Rendering? I can run a WAV/AIFF to AAC conversion to give you an idea of how fast that is between a 2.6ghz P4 and a 1.6ghz iMac G5. I do, however, keep my PC around for sutff - encoding DivX, occasional gaming, etc despite using Macs for most other sutff.

Lastly, although Macs in general are much quieter than PC, in iMac's case, you will be sitting much closer to the fan and thus notice it more.

I'd say save your cash and wait for the Powerbook.
One iMac, iBook, one iPod, way too many PCs.
     
   
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