iMac or PowerMac?

[bling]

Which one would you reccomend:
1,8000 iMac
1ghz 17" screen with SuperDrive
         or
2,000 PowerMac
Dual 1.25 ghz with combo drive and no monitor.

As I said in my last post, I just want to do DV editing, photoshop, and a little bit of gaming. Will the iMac fit my needs or should I just go for the powerhouse that is the PowerMac? Which one lasts longer before it needs to be replaced? Is there any problem with the iMac? Thanks

[billy_gates]

if u want gaming, The Dual CPU will really healp (assuming ur in OSX).  The radeon will really help, but I would suggest upgrading to the Ti4600 if possible.  For DV the Dual CPU will help (assuming OSX again) but the lack of a superdrive will limit sharing of the DV footage.  Photoshop, the Dual CPU will really help (in 9 or 10) (and trust me, I have a 733 PowerMac and my 1.7GHz athlon PC runs Photoshop nearly twice as fast, so the dual CPU is needed if ur gonna compete with friends) again the lack of DVD burner limits transport of Gigantic photoshop files.  The LCD in the iMac will limit Photoshop, DV, and Games.  Photoshop because LCD's can't create as big a color spectrum as CRT's can. DV and Gaming will both get ghosting.  I would go for the PowerMac.  The PowerMac is also upgradeable.  It sounds like I'm trashin the iMac, but u wanna do things that Pro comps do, except for the gaming part, but on a Mac gaming is only really possible on a pro Comp.  I just don't think the iMac would suit your needs.

[psyjax]

I would take a powermac anyday over an iMac. Last iMac I had suffered greatly in the underpowerd department. No upgradability sux ass.

My power PC dual 800Mhz, has so many upgrades it rocks. And it will be viable alot longer than any iMac.

2Hardrives 2Vidcards. Cant be beat. All customized to my needs.

[cocoamix]

I say the Powermac. The top of the line iMac is only a marginally acceptable gaming machine, and when the new games come out, it won't be any longer.

I'd always go with the tower, but that's my personal viewpoint.

[bling]

yeah, but cant really afford the power mac, monitor, new vid card and superdrive. thats like 4000

[xyle_one]

take out an apple loan. i did, and got a really good rate.

[billy_gates]

quote:Originally posted by MacBling:
yeah, but cant really afford the power mac, monitor, new vid card and superdrive. thats like 4000

That is a gross exageration.  Lets do that Math:
$1,999 = PowerMac
$200 = Superdrve
$300 = Ti 4600

$180 = 19" Flat CRT from PC Club

Total with everything = $2,679
Tax (CA) = $200.92
Total w/Tax = 2679.92

Total w/Out Extras = $2,179
Tax (CA) = 163.43
Total w/Tax = $2342.43

If you go for the second option, I'm sure the Radeon is adequate for all games, just not with Highest Quality settings.  Then you could wait for the price of the superdrives to go down, I think they are around $260 now and then you would have 2 drives, one fast burning and reading one and one dvd burner.  That is what I would do, get no options and get a third party monitor and just buy a Superdrive, their price goes down every month.  Apple uses the Pioneer ones, but I've heard that Apple also uses the Sony ones, so that leaves your options open.  Good luck.  I would also not suggest a loan, just save up money.  With a loan you add more money u have to pay to something, and you could buy it faster than you could pay it off if you just waited.

P.S. I don't know if you live in California, but I've heard it is up there in terms of sales tax, around 7.5%

[ February 25, 2003: Message edited by: Billy Gates: Mac Comrade Captain ]

[rtgwbmsr]

quote:Originally posted by ecsyle_one:
take out an apple loan. i did, and got a really good rate.

Get a PowerMac, and I'm with Xyle on this one. You can get a better system with a loan, and you don't have to pay all at once.

[bling]

Just learned that power macs are LOUD! Also, how fast is the $1800 iMac compared to the $1500 Power Mag 1ghz single processor? I cant afford the $2000 one, and the only difference I can see (besides price) is that the iMac had a 17 inch screen and superdrive, where as the power mac has a 1mb L3 cache, no monitor and no superdrive. But now that i think of it, I cant think of a circumstance i'd EVER want to use superdrive atm

[rtgwbmsr]

The new ones have been "fixed". Apple has a Powersupply & fan replacement program to fix the older ones with the problem.

Go for the PowerMac. It will last you years, and it's way more upgradeable. Get a loan if necessary...I'm typing this post on an iBook thanks to Apple's loan program.

[bling]

ugh, I cant to a loan as i've said before in numerous posts (incase you didn't read all 50 of my mac question threads of them    ). But the ONLY PowerMac thats in my budget is the single-processor power mac. I **never** have upgraded a computer in my life and I dont see any differance between the 1ghz power mac and the 1 ghz imac except that the Imac looks cooler, has superdrive, and has a monitor. The Powermac has that nice l3 cache though. Mmm... level three...