Imac Or Ibook For Music? Options

So, I'm a pc-man, but SO tired for PCs... I think I'm not the only one... So I've been thinking about a mac. I make music with computer, so I need some power, but also stability (which PCs don't seem to offer...). I can't afford those G5s or even G4 (the one which look like computer, not iMac, eMac, or laptop...). PowerBook is too expensive too. So my choices are iBook and iMac. I thought about the 800Mhz G4 (12") iBook, or maybe the 933Mhz G4 one. How big is the difference in speed of those two iBooks? I would probably take that 640mb memory (which is the maximum) for those. So is the 933Mhz one worth the extra 200-300€ (or something like that in $s). And then the other one choice is the iMac (15") There's 1Ghz G4 processor in that and the maximum ammout of memory is 1Gb, which is more than in iBooks. Also, the memory seems to be a bit faster in iMac, because it's DDR 333Mhz, while it's DDR 266Mhz in iBooks. That iMac would cost about 1600€ (again, something like that in dollars), whit 1Gb memory (if I won't buy that memory from apple, cause they seem to have quite expensive memories). So, which one would be the best choise (price/quality ratio)? And can you say, what kind of pc do those macs match, (I know that the Mhz-ammount is not compareable). If you bother answer, I would really appreciate that, cause I really don't know anything about macs, and I don't believe in salesmans speaks.

[boze]

unless i'm misunderstanding the post, i think he's just buying one computer and not 275, dixie. how much time you spend keeping your office happy is almost completely irrelevant as are your degrees. no offense, but we're not talking about sysadmin stuff, we're talking about running a single computer in your home to do audio. what percentage of those 275 machines are macs? how many of the 275 comps are audio workstations? how much did they cost? how many vsti's can they run? that would be more on topic i think...

if specs don't tell you _anything (telling me about polite? try not to use obscenities on the board please- should i have to tell this to a moderator?) then you are arguing with the world and not me. a machine running a P4 at clock speeds over 2.4ghz is going to outperform an iMac or an iBook with a G4 under 1ghz for audio apps. try to keep in mind that the poster is asking about a single machine for use as an audio workstation.

frankly, your whole response is off topic. i'm telling petronome that there are more similiarities than differences with what kind of things you can do and what kind of experience you'll have buying a new computer because like many ppl he seems to have come to this board thinking an apple purchase is the only way to find success doing audio. folks think because macs are so popular that they are _better for doing audio, when the fairest thing to say is that they are different. i'm pointing out some of those differences and letting him know that the whole landscape will change by the time he's going to buy.

why not say something helpful to the pentronome instead of the same old boogyman talk about virus's and software updates that xp machines do automatically anyhow. or better still, why not show me some benchmarks of an 800mhz G4 outperforming a 2.4ghz P4 for audio tracks, plugins, vst instruments or something.

petronome: if you decide to get an xp machine again be sure to use the system updates that it alerts you about online as most of them are security patches and also install a basic antivirus program (these update themselves automatically as well).