Quick question before buying

First I would like to thank everyone for helping me learn more about these amazing machines.

I called apple yesterday, and talked to someone about picking an apple that is best for me. He recomends the powermac 2.3. I told him that I want my next computer to last 5-6 years without worring if my computer will meet the system requirments when I buy software or the computer running as hard as it can to run a program.

Will the 2.3 last this long and still be fast enough to run newer software?

He told me he can knock $100 off the price, can I also use the rebate that I read about on this fourm?

I was looking at the quad, but I think by the time that computer is obsolete PPC software will be long gone, what do you think?

I was going to go with 2 gb of RAM, is this a good starting point or should I go higher?

Thank you,
Robert

I think you have well thought this out, I do say that buy the best machine that you can afford, if money is no object to you, then get the quad, if it is, then get the 2.3. Both systems are good and will last you a long time, and I think that the quad will be able to support operating systems well into the future, the only problem with it is like you said the fact that it is ppc. In the future they will drop the ppc line of software but not until 5-7 years (even microsoft promised to support it this long) So you should be fine with any kind of software you choose.
As for the ram, 2GB should be fine enough, but keep in mind that is really one gig, for each processor, if you want 2GB for each processor you will have to get 4gb.

Well the 2.0 and 2.3's differences are very minimal. So getting the Quad is a big step ahead. If it is affordable for you, go for it. But also, make sure you get the machine that best suits you, for what you plan on doing with it. What are you gonna do with it anyway?

Also, you should get RAM elsewhere as it's pretty cheap.

The biggest reason to go to the quad for me is that it will last a very long time.
As far as what I would use it for, it is the familys main computer.

I dont realy video edit but I do run videos through filters and encode\decode but I dont do that every day.

I was thinking getting 2gb with the computer, and then buy another 1gb from somewhere else.

I still have not made up my mind though

It all I want 2.5 gb of RAM. What company RAM does apple use and does anyone know the latency time of it? Is it possible to buy 512 mb of RAM from apple?