For the money, I would personally look at getting a used G5 Tower, preferrably with two 2GHz processors or better. You should be able to get one for the price of a 20" iMac. Don't get me wrong, I like the Intel Macs just fine but for the price, I think you will find that you won't need to spend as much on external hard drive and ram upgrades that will likely be already included in a Used or refurbished G5 tower.

thanks for the input! does anyone know anything about future compatability issues with newer apple stuff? thanks

I expect apple to support the Power PC boxes for 4-5 more years.

A dual G5 is still a more than capable machine, but the switch to Intel has changed the scenery.

Benchmarks show that the firt generation of Core duo MacIntels, have about the same power as the last dual G5s.

Even the bottom of the line core duo Mac Mini can hold it's own against a dual G5.

Now that the imacs and Macbooks now contain Core 2 duo cpus they have supassed he performance of the last Powermacs.

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I would not recommend buying into yesterday's technology.

I would buy yesterdays technology if I knew it worked well. New technology can be risky unless it's proven. If the machine is powerful enough to do what is required of it and its stable I would think that would hold more importance than whether its the latest technology. Just my opinion, but I am sure there are more qualified people to answer this question.

Today's technology works well and will carry you further into the future.

It would work, but you would have to freeze or bounce tracks if you want to use virtual effects and instruments.

So you could do work on a single G5, but if it's over $500 a core duo mini will smoke it.

I worked for a few years on a 1GHz Powerbook, and was productive. But working in real time with instruments and effects is possible on a MacIntel to a point.

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