The number you get doesn't really tell the story. On many things my Amd 64 2.2 outperformes my Intel 3.0 and running this 2.0 G5 doesn't seem a bit slower than either of the above. It's actual work performance that counts, not what some electronic stop watch says about speed.
Amd has been eating Intels lunch for a long time with processors running under the 2.0 mark. Intel kept wanting to use speed tests and going faster and faster, but they hit the wall. All they did was invent processors that ran so hot you couldn't really load em up and getting embarrased by Amd actually doing the jobs faster.
Another thing to consider is dependability. How many times do you hear about Mac crashing because of a virus, a worm, or just a plain old lousy Os? Darn few I would say. Daily you hear about new problems with the winders operating system and Ms programs in general. IE is so bug ridden I would be actually afraid to go online and give my credit card number for a purchase.
I have run an ibm style computer since 1985 and have had nothing but a series of lock ups and crashes. Usually when a program would lock up it would mean a reboot to regain control. More than once I have had to reinstall the OS, and I had a regular schedule of reinstalling the OS about every year to clear up the garbage that winders builds up.
Since I have been on the Mac I have only had one program crash on me, and it was probably something I did to cause it, but it didn't take the counputer down with it. I find that under OS x i am able to do things that you just plain can not do under winders, and probably will never be able to do. Winders has been famous since its inception for bugs/flaws/lockups/crashes. Remember the "General Protection" fault of winders 3.1...
Probably the majority of the "bad things" you have seen about the Mac were from PC/Ms fanatics and have little basis in actual fact, or from Mac users themselves who just like to pick every nit they can find. I can't believe how many mesages I have seen about how noisy the Power Mac G5 or the iMac G5 is...my God they should hear my Amd 64...the average Pc will drown out a Mac from 5 feet away...
The only problem I have with the Mac, and it isn't so bad anymore, is that they are kind of a closed shop which leads to overpriced hardware. If your interested in the iMac G5 I would say do it... I bought one for the wife so we would be completely compatable and we both love it. It is the 1.8 with 768 ram and it runs sweet and smooth, a friend of mine that has a G4 played with it the other night and is now in the process of getting one himself.