thinking of returning my24 inch imac....

In favor of a Mac Pro. I was using Final cut express hd last night and i also had a bunch of other programs open when my imac lost it's mind. I had open :itunes, final cut hd express, livetype, dvd playing, soundtrack, i movie, idvd, iphoto. I think that was all. It seriously slowed my mac down quite a bit. I'm thinking of getting a pro with a 30 inch monitor so i can see more of my timeline. I'm sure the slowdown was my fault but my question is I can get a sweet deal on a brand new powermacG5. I've noticed that with photoshop and other adobe programs that when running on rosetta the program is pretty slow. the other thing I've read is that if I'm using adobe after effects the plug ins from after effects won't work with an intel mac yet. Should I go with the powermac or the mac pro? Also how difficult would it be to find upgrade parts for the powerMac?

Thanks for the info

PowerMac...Software will be supported for many years. I am not ready for Intel yet until all my apps are universal and then I will make the switch. But that won't be for a little bit. I am probably getting a G5 tower in the next 6 months depending on how things are moving along with the software companies.

That alllll that was open? Lol...

If it doesn't have enought horsepower the PowerMac should be sufficient and you can probably get some nice deals on 'em.

The PowerMac is your best bet. I have read numerous benchmarks where the PowerMac G5 significantly outperforms the Mac Pro in Photoshop. This is the Rosetta effect of course, but since there isn't a Universal for Photoshop (have to wait until CS3 in the spring we are told) it really counts. I purposely bought a PowerMac G5 after the Intel Macs were already out precisely for this reason. You can't go wrong - the software will be supported for a long time to come, and given that the majority of Macs out there right now are likely PowerPC based, you can bet that software vendors will continue to release Universals that support the PowerPC chips for a long time to come.

What kind of powermac? unless its the quad you wont notice a huge difference.

With the mac pro you can have a ton of things going on at once and it runs fine.

assuming you have maxed out the ram on the imac which i am sure you should have with the desire to run all those programs at the same time.

i would go with the mac pro

or the other option would be to close a program on occasion.

and if you really need to run all those programs at the same time it sounds like you need 3 macpro's an xserve and a nice lil processor farm setup

-chris

Either one of those computers would suit you.
But... just because the Mac Pro is the "latest and greatest" from Apple, doesn't mean it is the best tool for the job at hand.

You mentioned Adobe apps. These are not Universal, and won't be for some time yet. Currently, they are optimized for the PPC processor and if you have an Intel machine they must run under Rosetta. Those apps will run just fine under Rosetta, but will run even better under a PPC processor.
Yes, the PPC is the "last generation" processor, but it isn't going to be a problem. This is the very reason why I haven't yet purchased an Intel Mac myself. I rely heavily on the entire CS2 suite, the Studio 8 suite, and After Effects. I have a G4 PowerBook and need those apps to run at their fullest potential, hence the reason I still use a PPC Mac.
Regardless of what some may think or say, support for PPC will be around for years to come. Apple and other software developers will not cut support for those processors any time soon. The Power Mac G5 will also serve you well for years to come.

There is nothing wrong with the Intel machines, but... if I personally had to choose, I would go with the G5.

It all comes down to using the best tool for the job. NOT the "best" computer out there.
:black:

You're thinking short term. Giving the Intel some more RAM should help, but in the long run you'd be mad to take it back and get a G5. Software companies are furiously writing Universal programs as we speak as it's in their best interests to make money from the thousands of Intel Macs being sold. It's a slow process rewriting software, but by spring next year you'll be laughing if you keep your IMac.