17" PowerBook vs 20" iMac

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So I'm looking to switch over to a Mac and ditch my old PC. Here are the two systems I'm looking at:

17" PowerBook g4, 1.67ghz, 1.5gb RAM, 250gb HD
20" iMac g5, 1.86ghz, 2gb RAM, 750gb HD

Obviously, the iMac is faster and has more memory and space. I intend to use it for some photoshop and lightroom activity. And then a very little bit of video editing with Final Cut (probably express). It sounds like the PowerBook should handle this fine and so should the iMac. My wife and I do intend to get a 24" or 27" iMac around Christmas time so I'm a little apprehensive of getting the older 20" iMac now since we also need to replace our old laptop.

Anyone care to offer up any suggestions as to what they would do?

Thanks!
 

pigoo3

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2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
The bottom line is...do you need portability or not. If you do...get the laptop.

Plus if you're planning on getting a much newer Mac desktop around Christmas...a laptop now might give you more computer flexibility.

- Nick
 
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2.8 GHz 15" MacBook Pro OS X 10.7.x & some old Macs
Since you are going to get a new iMac later on and you need to replace your old laptop then I think it would make sense to get the PowerBook. Just realize that Adobe CS5 needs Intel processor and PowerPCs such as the G4 and G5 will not work. This is also true for some of the recent software from some others but a good percentage of software still work on PowerPCs.

It will at least get you used to using a Mac until you get your new iMac. The other thing to keep in mind is that PowerPC Macs can't go further than Leopard 10.5 OS X. Snow Leopard 10.6, Apple's latest OS, is for Intel only.
 
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Yeah already aware of software limitations, so know I'd have to use earlier versions of each. Sounds like the main thing to consider is portability, which has been the main factor since the beginning. Thanks much for the help and suggestions!
 
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Macbook5,2, iPad 16 gb, iPhone 3GS 32 gb, Iphone 4
I see literally brand new, spotless, regular intel macbooks for sale $400-500 range all the time. Why would you limit yourself by getting a machine which is already dated in terms of software.
 

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