iMac Vs PowerMac???

Hello to all,

I am looking for some opinion and advise before purchasing one or the other.
Either the iMac or PowerMac.

I'm new to apple machines, i do not currently own one but I am planning to make the switch and treat myself to a iMac or PowerMac in the next few weeks. Before i make that decision I thought it prudent to take gather some opinion from the people in the know, users and enthusiasts aka anybody reading this thread.

Regarding the PowerMac option, obviosly there is a price difference, If I go for a medium spec PowerMac is it possible to upgrade the components at a later date? Or would it be better to postpone my purchase and buy a higher spec machine at a date?


Look forward to hearing your thoughts...

Thank you...

Hi there,

If you are comparing a PowerMac to a new iMac or pretty much any recent Intel iMac, the iMac would be better choice hands down.

You can only upgrade the older POWER machines so far and most Mac software is moving to the Intel architecture.

As martyp advises go with an Intel iMac as all PowerMacs will only handle up to OS X.5.8. A refurbished from Apple may well be the go, with warranty etc.

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/imac

Power Mac or Mac Pro? BIG difference. One is old Power PC and long discontinued and the other is Current and Intel. Power PC is history and very slow compared to any iMac with an Intel CPU and it's a Dead End.

If you mean Mac Pro let us know.

Hello,

I do not currently own a POWER and so the new machine. So whichever way I go the choice will be brand new. New iMac or New pMac

LOL, spot the newbie mistake!!!

Yes I mean a new Mac Pro Vs. iMac OOOPS!!!

Depending on your use, if other than heavy editing, graphics and photo work, go with the iMac and save the cost of a monitor.

dtravis7 said:

Power Mac or Mac Pro? BIG difference. One is old Power PC and long discontinued and the other is Current and Intel. Power PC is history and very slow compared to any iMac with an Intel CPU and it's a Dead End.

If you mean Mac Pro let us know.

Click to expand...

not very slow, the g5 stands up nicely against intels, you can't run MorphOS on an intel either

I am a graphic designer yes believe it or not I am using a PC for graphics etc, i have read enough to know that whichever switch i make from my PC based system to Apple will be a Huge leap forwards in speed and power.

The machine will do allsorts of tasks from photoshop editing to word processing to some basic 3D stuff (not intricate CAD work).
I will also use it as my home entertainment center for internet, email and watching movies etc

As others have said, if you want a good answer you should give some more details, specifically what you think your main use of the machine will be.

At this PARTICULAR moment in time, the top of the line iMac matches or outperforms all but the very top of the line Mac Pro. Apple will likely correct this in the near future, but nobody knows exactly when.

The current top of the line iMac is a magnificent machine, and although they had some teething troubles with monitors, that issue is now being corrected so at this point I think it's safe to say "order with confidence."

Basically the current iMacs are more than powerful enough for any "normal" use (including pro audio/video work), and they've recently been updated so they are set for a while. That said, if you need supermassive storage, flexible upgrade options or you do a heavy amount of multiprocessor-dependent work (for example, 3D rendering), I would certainly suggest you wait for the upcoming Mac Pro update.

Hi Chas,
that is very helpful.

I do a little 3D work but that tends to be more for my own little projects rather than massively complex CAD rendering etc

I use photoshop quite heavily, but apart from that i cant imagine making huge demands on a high end machine, if I go for the iMac it will be the new top spec machine.

One of the reasons I was considering the Pro is that I thought that if I buy a low to mid range PRO I can upgrade the machine to the same spec as the current top end PRO machines as funds become more readily available.

Also I had another reason which favours the PRO route...
I had been led to believe that the apple stand alone monitors (pretty as they are) are overly expensive and that I could buy a cheaper HD monitor instead. From then I thought well, could I actually buy a HD TV with the right inputs and then the monitor doubles as a TV. (or can i do that with apple TV?)

SonicIndustries said:

Regarding the PowerMac option, obviosly there is a price difference, If I go for a medium spec PowerMac is it possible to upgrade the components at a later date? Or would it be better to postpone my purchase and buy a higher spec machine at a date?

Click to expand...

I hope that you have picked on the "little detail" that Apple no longer sells Powermac's. The last Powermac was sold August, 2006!

Of course you may be talking about an older used computer...and then your terminology would be correct. But if you're talking about getting a new Apple desktop computer...then your choices are a Mac Pro or an iMac.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

Doh!!!

pigoo3 said:

I hope that you have picked on the "little detail" that Apple no longer sells Powermac's. The last Powermac was sold August, 2006!

Of course you may be talking about an older used computer...and then your terminology would be correct. But if you're talking about getting a new Apple desktop computer...then your choices are a Mac Pro or an iMac.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

Click to expand...

Hi Nick, sorry yes I am talking about a PRO Vs. iMac

as you might have guessed I am not yet a convert, but I cant wait!!!

SonicIndustries said:

Hi Nick, sorry yes I am talking about a PRO Vs. iMac

as you might have guessed I am not yet a convert, but I cant wait!!!

Click to expand...

To help with your decision (Mac Pro vs. iMac)...do you have any sort of maximum budget that might narrow the choices?

- Nick

Hadn't really set a budget, to be honest that was one of the reasons to have a chat on here. I am not currently in the position to go out and buy either top end machine tomorrow but I am putting money by for it. which outs me in the position of do I buy a low end machine and upgrade it at a later date or do I postpone my purchase and buy the higher end machine when apple fund has grown sufficiently.

I had envisaged spending somewhere between £2-£3.5k but the thing to bear in mind is that i've not yet converted to apple so i'm in unfamiliar territory, I know I could buy a pretty stunning PC for that kind of money, but i have no desire to use VISTA or MSW7) I do not mind to spend that bit more on my purchase if my money is well spent. hope that makes sense to anybody else reading it.

SonicIndustries said:

Hadn't really set a budget, to be honest that was one of the reasons to have a chat on here. I am not currently in the position to go out and buy either top end machine tomorrow but I am putting money by for it. which outs me in the position of do I buy a low end machine and upgrade it at a later date or do I postpone my purchase and buy the higher end machine when apple fund has grown sufficiently.

Click to expand...

Buying a low end machine & upgrading later may not be the ideal choice it may seem.

If you purchase a low-end iMac (or any iMac for that matter):

- you CANNOT upgrade the processor or the video hardware...you are stuck with what you got.
- with the iMac you can very easily upgrade the ram
- with the iMac you can upgrade the internal hard drive. It is NOT easy...so many times folks opt for an external hard drive.

So the old lesson when buying a new computer..."Buy as much computer as you can afford!"...really applies with an iMac.

With a Mac Pro you can:

- easily upgrade the ram later
- easily install additional hard drives later
- upgrade the video card later
- have multiple video cards installed to drive up to 8 monitors
- install a second optical drive
- with the Mac Pro one thing you really can't do (or is rarely if ever done), is upgrade the processor

With that being said...I'm not saying that the iMac's aren't very good & capable computers...just that they are limited in terms of the upgrades you can do.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

There IS also the option of 0% financing - do that and pay what you can up front and chip away at it for the next 6 months.

If you have no desire to use Vista or W7 then your only other options are Linux or OS X (from Apple). And you can do both + have a Windows on it as well if you so choose on a Macintosh. So in that frame of mind you'd be best looking into a Macintosh.

And as all of the above have said I'd either get the best imac you can afford (best CPU and GPU). And get the least memory you can, cause you can buy that 3rd party away from Apple for a good price. I just think the Mac Pros are not good value for money compared to an imac at the moment. But if you have your heart set on a Mac pro I'd wait a bit to see if there is a refresh on that product line.

A mac pro is a great machine,it has the three E's (Expandable, Enormous and Expensive) If you don't want to run Micro$haft windows then a second hand g5 quad is definitely an option IF you don't mind missing out on Snow Leopard (not really an improvement, kinda a response to W7.) and not being able to run the newest proggies (plenty of open source alternatives). 1k for a Powermac G5 Quad is definitely a bargain when most of apples offerings are dual core.

I could be wrong but I don't think one could piece mill a computer with the spec of the new 27 iMac with the i7.