Buying advice: G4's, Powermac versus iMac

c-bearc-bear
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I'm in the market for a new family desktop to replace our aged iMac DV Plus (ha!, I know). At first I simply figured to get a new iMac, but the advent of the G5 (too much computer for our needs, I suppose) has left the G4 Powermacs looking attractive and affordable.



I speced out a G4 Powermac like this:



? 1.25GHz w/ 1MB L3 Cache

? 512MB DDR333 SDRAM (PC2700) -1 DIMM

? 80GB Ultra ATA drive

? Optical 1 - Apple SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)

? Optical 2 - None

? ATI Radeon 9000 Pro dual-display w/64MB DDR

? Apple Studio Display (17" flat panel)

? 56K internal modem

? AirPort Card

? Apple Pro Keyboard - U.S. English

? Mac OS - U.S. English

? APP for Power Mac (w/ or w/o display) - Enrollment Kit



Subtotal $2,651.00



And a new iMac like this:



? 512MB DDR266 - 1 DIMM

? AirPort Extreme Card

? Bluetooth Module

? Keyboard/Mac OS X - U.S. English

? APP for iMac/eMac - Enrollment Kit

? 17-inch widescreen LCD flat

? 1GHz PowerPC G4

? 80GB Ultra ATA drive

? 4x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)

? NVIDIA GeForce4 MX

w/ 64MB video memory

? Apple Keyboard

? Apple Pro Mouse

? Apple Pro Speakers



Subtotal $2,317.00



Either way, I'd order from Crucial and move up to 1Gig of RAM, but these I think are fairly comparable set-ups that come very close to each other in price. Use will be for general computing (browsing, e-mail, word processing, etc.), but it's always nice to have a cool system (at least).



Any thoughts or recommendations? Alternative advice or something (specs, options, upgrades) I'm overlooking?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Those prices are really high, are you talking about Canadian dollars?



    Also, don't bother buying any extra RAM from Apple, just get the least you can configure and then buy the rest from somewhere else. Finally, if you want a 17" LCD for the PowerMac, you might want to look at something a little less expensive than Apple's 17" LCD if you want to save money. Yes, Apple's displays are all excellent, but their 17" LCD is the most overpriced of the bunch. You can get one nearly as good for quite a bit less money. Of course, if you're getting AppleCare, you may as well get an Apple display because it'll be covered by the warranty.



    You might also consider an eMac, that will be just as fast and powerful as the iMac but it's far cheaper. The only problem is that it uses a CRT so if you want an LCD you're out of luck.



    I guess you use Airport for networking in your house? It seems silly to me to buy an airport card for a desktop, but I guess if you use it inside your home to eliminate the need for wiring, it's a good choice.



    Personally I'd go with the PowerMac G4. It's a bit more expensive but it's a lot more powerful, and you can have more RAM and more hard drives (as well as a new display later on). Maybe you won't make full use of the expandability, but the resale value will also be higher and at least you'll have the option of getting a processor upgrade in three years or something if you'd rather do that than get a new machine.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    gspottergspotter Posts: 342member
    Personally, I wouldn't buy a computer with an integrated display (OK, laptops are an exception). A good monitor might last much longer than the corresponding computer. Compared to computer speeds, the evolution of display sizes is quite slow. In two years, the iMac might be to slow / not enough expandable or whatever, even if the monitor would still be fine. With a PowerMac, you could buy a new computer and keep your monitor.



    A downside of the PowerMac: They are louder than the iMacs. I have a 2x1GHz MDD and after the installation of the Apple Replacement Kit, the noise went from unacceptable barely acceptable. I'm currently thinking about verax'ing it. As everybody has a different tolerance towards ambient noise, I would suggest to compare the machines before buying one.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    stunnedstunned Posts: 1,096member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by GSpotter

    Personally, I wouldn't buy a computer with an integrated display (OK, laptops are an exception). A good monitor might last much longer than the corresponding computer. Compared to computer speeds, the evolution of display sizes is quite slow. In two years, the iMac might be to slow / not enough expandable or whatever, even if the monitor would still be fine. With a PowerMac, you could buy a new computer and keep your monitor.





    Tats really a very good point. Geez, I never thought about that!
  • Reply 4 of 5
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Well, I'm thinking that the iMac is going to look MUCH better here in about 30 minutes or so...







    The above specs will be old news.



    Check out the "store is down" thread in Future Hardware and read what seems to be making an appearance at the updated German and French online Apple stores.



    Then click on apple.com's store (as of 8:32 EST) and see the yellow Post-It in all its "we'll be back soon" glory.



    New iMacs and iPods...
  • Reply 5 of 5
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    The iMac with a 160GB hard drive is a pretty sweet machine, and it's QUIET. The PowerMac pissed my wife off so much at home she made me sell it.



    Well, unless the 1.25 is louder than the 1GHz was I suppose...



    Unless you REALLY think you will use all of the expansion room of the PowerMac, the iMac is going to last you a long time. I'll vote iMac.
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