Need some advice.

Hello guys,

Im just looking for some advice on what mac to buy at the moment. I already have a mac (an iBook g4 12") but my main PC is windows based.

I run my own business and its getting to the point where I am spending too much time on distractions (example: computer games) when I need to knuckle down and do some work.

I am a web designer so switching to a mac isnt a problem as I do web design on my current mac but my problem is what mac do I get?

Desk space and money isnt really a problem(but smaller and cheaper the better). So I was looking at getting a Power Mac when they go Intel and getting a 20" cinema display for it. But then I think Well I can get a 20" Imac and save even more space and get it sooner.

Coming from a PC background Im too used to yanking the case to peices when I want to install a new hard disk or swap out some RAM. As far as an iMac goes I cant do this (Well I dont think i can?!). So because of this im geared to towards a PowerMac.

Would a Intel Imac be able to handle any half life 2 based games if I was to reboot with bootcamp into a windows XP runtime?

So basically Id like to know what do I need to do to an Imac to get an new HDD put in if required? What do I need to do if I need some extra memory? Are there any issues I need to know about with these or anything important im dropping myself into.

here was what i was looking at

1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x512MB
250GB Serial ATA drive
ATI Radeon X1600 with 128MB SDRAM
iWork '06
Keyboard & Mighty Mouse + Mac OS X
20-inch TFT display
2.0GHz Intel Core Duo
SuperDrive 8x (DVD+R DL/DVD+RW/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme
Bluetooth 2.0

and a similar spec for the Power Mac if possible.

Many thanks for any suggestions you might have coming my way

You can certainly install more memory in an iMac, up to the two-slot limit. (Instructions here.)

Upgrading the internal hard disk is possible, but Apple won't help you out with instructions. They'd much prefer you A) buy a Power Mac or B) Use an external FireWire hard disk.

Many thanks for your reply and link to the instructions. Now i know memory can be upgraded quite easily the need for a Power mac is becoming less strong.

Hard drive isnt the biggest concern (I have a linux box on my network which handles my storage needs) but Im just trying to account for all possibilities.

Does anyone know the response time on the 20" model TFT?

I'm afraid there's no official information on the response time of Intel iMacs, but for the 20" iMac G5 it was 16ms. It might be slightly less for the Intel iMac, might be the same.

Many thanks. Im a couple moths from ordering at the moment so maybe more information will be released by then.