Is firefox a good choice for my mac?

So, I have been using safari as my browser, but it is slow. Especially on youtube vids. Also, my computer currently has only 256 MB of RAM, can that make my mac slower than if it had the maximum RAM in it? I have heard that the more RAM your computer has the faster it will be. Is firefox any faster? I had firefox on my pc and loved it, but I have heard some people saying it's not so good. I don't know what to use. Does anyone have any good suggestions?

-Dan

You are talking about a 10yr old Mac.
Not much you can do about it.
You can try maxing out your RAM which will be 1GB, and for what it costs, it really can't hurt to try, but I don't really think that your going to get much more joy than you are getting.
I use Firefox, but this is just a preference, and is for many.
My honest suggestions would be to save up for a newer Mac, at minimum, something with an intel processor.

Yes extra RAM will certainly help..but another crucial part to the overall system performance is the processor and you have a dated one. The RAM boost should give you a small but noticeable boost..but as @6string suggested, might be time to look into an upgrade..

Regards

Mozilla Firefox 3.6 System Requirements

You meet the requirements (assuming you are of course running at least 10.4) but although this is the case, using Firefox won't solve the problem. The problem with YouTube is Flash, not the browser. Unfortunately, upgrading Flash is likely to make the issue worse.

I agree with vansmith. Your problem is your Mac's processor is too slow but your 256 MB RAM doesn't help either. Flash requires a fairly recent Mac computer to run smoothly. My old PowerBook G4 that I still have around is faster than your iMac but it can't run Flash videos all too well either.

You are just asking a lot from a very old computer. Upgrading your RAM probably won't get the results you want but if it doesn't cost much you can try it. That might hold you over until you can afford to upgrade to a faster Mac. Upgrading to a more recent Mac would be the best solution.

Would an imac g5 be a good choice? I have looked at some and most I've found were only bout 5 or 6 years old. How old of an imac should I get?

Not really, as it's still Power PC (outdated).
A Mac mini would be the cheapest most practical option.
Refurbished Mac - Apple Store (U.S.)