IiMac G5 20 Inch vs the iMac G5 20 Inch Intel Core Duo

My 17" iMac Core Duo has had less problems than my 1st gen iMac G5. The Core Duo is great! I don't do alot of DVD conversions but there are alot of benchmarking stats available on the net. Try www.macintouch.com. The Adobe apps aren't native and won't be till sometime next year. For casual photoshop users the speed is fine. At least for me it is. If you use Apple apps for video editing then you are fine. They are native. All apps that ship on the iMac are native.

lenn

I would personally not get an iMac at all right now. But, if I had to choose purchasing between a G5 iMac and an Intel iMac, I'd choose the Intel system.

I've owned 2 of the last 3 revisions of the iMac G5, and I hardly got any use out of them because they were always being repaired at the shop.

The only parts I never had replaced were the CD-ROM drive, hard drive, and foot / stand.

I'm not kidding. Every single other part was replaced. This includes the case, keyboard, mouse, power supply, logic board, LCD screen, and more. Some of those items, including the LCD screen, were replaced more than once.

I have seen my iMac G5's die more than anyone could possibly imagine. They just kept dying.

So, I can't imagine buying another iMac until they move to an entirely new design (and I mean entirely new design - including the case and LCD screen).

But, if I were forced to choose between one and the other, I'd go with the Intel iMac as it is at least less problematic than the G5.

I just bought a 20" Intel iMac myself, and it is by far the best system I've owned yet, if you are looking get one, you'll love it!

I have owned a variety of Macs over the years and my 17" Intel iMac is my first iMac and I have to say that it has surpassed my expectations in every way. You will read a lot of posts here from a very small fraction of the total Intel iMac population in this forum. The vast majority of us have had a great experience. My iMac is faster in every way - even under Rosetta using apps like Photoshop, than my G4 machine. I now have Boot Camp and Parallels running as I have a need to downgrade to the Windoze world for work now and then and they work perfectly.

The Intel iMac is probably the best computer you can get anywhere at any price.

Just my $0.02

Tom

Intel iMac 17" Mac OS X (10.4.6) G4 867, PowerMac 6500, Centris 610, Powerbook 100, etc...

Intel iMac 17" Mac OS X (10.4.4) G4 867, PowerMac 6500, Centris 610, Powerbook 100, etc...

I am a recent convert from a dell pc and i and very happy with my imac 20inch dual core i use it for photos and video and as they say it just works i should have gone mac years ago new universal adobe products are on the way

I can tell you that I'm using a PowerMac G5 dual 1.8 GHz occasionally, and an iMac 20" Core Duo as my main Mac. For most everyday tasks, the iMac is noticeably faster than the PowerMac, so performance compared to your PM G4 is not really an issue.

I've noticed a few small quirks with the iMac, but they're all software related and should be fixed soon. No hardware problems yet, very stable and extremely quiet. For a first-generation machine (internally), this is not "really buggy" at all.

The one thing that runs a little slower compared to the G5 (dual G5, that is!) is QuickTime (and all apps that use it, like iMovie and EyeTV). The encoders are not yet full optimized for Intel, although QT 7.1 seems to have improved performance somewhat.

You should be just fine! Consider maxxing-out the RAM, if you can 'swing' that.

You don't need to pay Apple's price on that either. While their service on enclosures s*cks, OWC's RAM has only given me one compatibility problem (ironically, with my Intel iMac). OWC promptly replaced the defective RAM, and my Intel iMac continues to hum right along with the 2GB of replacement OWC RAM.

Both are great.
The intel is a better machine that will also boot in xp.
This is a great thing for games and is a big reason why I went intel. 🙂

BUT the single biggest factor to consider is what apps do you want to run right now and in which os.

Over time all mac applications will be native for intel. And that will mean that the intel is by far a better buy, but they aren't there yet. The g5 will smoke the intel in any ppc application. Not even close. The thing that the intel has to counter this is the ability to run xp much faster than the g5 imac runs in ppc. But this solution involves buying a truck load of new pc software and then more new mac software when it is universal.

Advice: Buy the intel if you don't mind running xp for some apps. Buy the g-5 if you are a graphics person with a boatload of ppc mac software who doesn't want to run your illustrator and photoshop in xp. But know this - you will have to switch to intel in the near future. :/
But by then everything will be UB so you will not have to mess with xp. And your g5 will still have some okay resale value at that time.

I would go with the intel imac. I got one the day they came out and love it, I have compared it to a dual core G5 2ghz and the imac runs much quicker. This is by far the best mac I have ever owned!

Go for the Intel iMac, no question about it.

There is a SERIOUS problem with sample bias on the internet; people with problems post them, while people with working computers dont generally go online and tell everyone how wonderfully their computers are working.

My 2.0GHz CoreDuo iMac has been absolutely flawless. Perfect.

AFAIK, there are no more or less bugs with the Intel iMacs than any other iMac model at any time in the past.

It is true that they don't run Photoshop, Quark, or Acrobat natively yet; these apps are currently handled by Rosetta, which dynamically translates the code, which does result in a speed penalty. The magnitude of the penalty depends on what you're doing.

BUT...

...these apps will be native within the next few months, and then you will really see the power of these machines over the old G5 iMacs. I run Logic 7.2 on a daily basis on my iMac, and it IS native, and absolutely destroys the G5-based iMacs. In fact, it keeps up with Dual Core 2.3GHz G5s, so its quite a capable machine.