Apple Imac G5

[Digital M@]

OK, I am looking into switching from PC to Mac. I don't game much on my PC so I don't really care about that drawback. I am thinking about getting the Imac G5 17" model w/ 1.5 GB RAM and the wireless mouse & Keyboard. I have read reviews but wanted to know if anyon on the boards had experience with thema nd wanted to share botht eh good and bad.


Thanks

 

[Jarrod]

Best thing is try and get to an Apple store and give it a try yourself. Some people love the MacOS interface (like me) and some people hate it.

The iMac is a great form factor for a PC. The "everything in a monitor" saves a huge amount of room.

The Mac'll be more expensive than an equally powered PC.

Try and see one to decide how big of a screen you want.

Finally, rumors have it that Apple is moving to Intel processors in January. It probably won't hit the iMac line (it'd be the iBook and Mac Mini if anything), but prices may fluctuate. Of course, Apple prices _always_ fluctuate. As soon as you buy something the price drops by $100. It's annoying like that.

 

[drothgery]

Finally, rumors have it that Apple is moving to Intel processors in January. It probably won't hit the iMac line (it'd be the iBook and Mac Mini if anything), but prices may fluctuate. Of course, Apple prices _always_ fluctuate. As soon as you buy something the price drops by $100. It's annoying like that.

To clarify here a bit, Apple is moving the Mac to Intel processors over the next year or two. They've formally announced this and all that. They haven't announced what will be moving to Intel and at what time, though at least for a while there were rumors that the first Intel-powered Macs would be launched in January (those rumors have since died down). Since Apple's going to be using Intel's Yonah (dual-core Pentium M, launches in January), Conroe ("Pentium 5", the Pentium M-based successor to the Pentium 4, supposedly launches in the second half of 2006), and Merom (the notebook version of Conroe, 2H '06) CPUs in the Intel-based Macs, not the current Pentium 4-derived desktop chips, January's the earliest Intel-based Macs could launch.

Since the Mac Mini and the iBook are the Macs with the most serious problems with underpowered CPUs, and because the low-power Yonah chip is a better fit for them than the more powerful iMacs, PowerBooks, and PowerMacs, speculation is that they'll get the Intel treatment first.

 

[mosaic]

I've got a 17" with 512 MB of RAM. Love it, but I've always had Macs. I run OS 10.4 and it works quite well. And yes, the all-in-one screen is really nice. Software choices are definitly more limited but I can always find what I need. A lot depends on what you want to do with it. If you have any specific questions, I can try to answer them.

 

[Digital M@]

I've got a 17" with 512 MB of RAM. Love it, but I've always had Macs. I run OS 10.4 and it works quite well. And yes, the all-in-one screen is really nice. Software choices are definitly more limited but I can always find what I need. A lot depends on what you want to do with it. If you have any specific questions, I can try to answer them.

Is the 17" screen big enough for you?


I use my computer for Digital photos, music, Internet and word processing. I did dabble in web page design and some gaming, but since the birth of my first child, I don't have much free time for those.

The biggest reason I am interested in the mac platform is stability and security. My MS XP locks up on almost a daily basis, it seems to hate all of the m=non MS software I run.

Is there a left & right Channel sound jack, or just a headphone jack? I have a very nice 5 speaker Klipsh speaker system on my PC right now and wonder if I will be able to use it.

 

[Jarrod]

According to the specs, it has both a headphone and a digital audio out. So I guess the answer is "kinda"

Looking at the two models... 17" is fine, but 20" is _fun_. I have a 20" LCD on my Mini and it's just tasty. Also, the remainder of the specs are better as well. It depends primarily on your budget.

One last word - increase the RAM. A gigabyte is okay, but if you can go for a gigabyte and a half. Modern OSes are memory hungry, and you can _really_ tell if the system has to use the hard drive for swapping.

 

[mosaic]

17" is fine, but 20" is _fun_.

Ditto. I'd love a 20" monitor but I couldn't justify it to my wife. If you've got the budget, go for it, and max out your RAM, especially if your doing web design and graphics.

 

[Enforcer]

Keep in mind that Apple charges a ridiculous premium on factory-instaled RAM. If you're not afraid of installing more RAM yourself (and I don't know how easy this is on an iMac--I have an iBook), buy it online from someplace like newegg.com.

 

[Arrellion]

Crucial.com offers very good pricing on memory and they offer free two day shipping.
Installing memory on the new IMAC is very easy, just a couple of screws and the card
snaps right in.


Good luck,

Arrel

 

[Bavix]

Go For It

I'm a life-long Mac user and have never owned or needed a PC. For stability and security, you can't do better than Mac OSX. I have NEVER gotten a virus that affected any of my Macs.

Personally, I would wait for the new Pentium Macs. Apple has already said that they will take steps to make sure that the Mac OS will not run on other Intel machines but they are doing nothing to stop Windows and Windows-based softwear from running on the new Macintel machines. Mac users may soon have have the largest softwear selection in the computer market.