G5 Tower & Monitor V. Cheaper Imac G5, Is the tower worth all the dough? Options

[drewott]

Quick thought and question for everyone:

I know the G5 tower is superior since it is a dual processor, however, a tower alone is expensive. Plus the fact that the monitor is separate (and starting at $800) makes it even more pricy.

I have seen refurbished G5 towers on ebay for $1300 - $1500, is it worth shelling out the extra scratch for the tower and the monitor vs. a brand new iMac w/ lots 'o' RAM for appoximately the same price?

If the tower is far superior, I will bite the bullet and save a little more money, if not I would love to get an iMac G5 ASAP so I can start playing around.

[drewott]

Thank you everyone for your input. It sounds like I would be better served by saving more money and splurging on the tower. Looks like my dreams of a new CPU will be post-poned for another few months.

Thanks again!

drewott

[abcdaniel]

Hmm, I managed to get my Dual 1.8 G5 for about 1100EUR used, with some quite heavy bargaining. Then I got a 19" CRT for free, because a friend of mine had one he didn't use (which he too got for free from some company switching to flat screens).

So I ended up spending less than an imac, and getting a much better setup performancewise (the CRT is excellent, but B I G). It is always risky to buy used computers, I guess, so that is up to you. But about getting a monitor; CRTs are floating around like crazy, ask your school/work if they have any, ask friends, or go to ebay et al, or put up a wanted sign at you local store, you should get a monitor dirt cheap.

Godd luck!

[Hearandnow]

You can use any LCD or CRT monitor you want with the Powermac. The VGA adapter comes in the box, but if you want to add a second monitor you will need an additional ADC to VGA adapter...or you could opt for a better video card like the ATI Radeon 9800 SE which has one DVI (the same that's on the standard Powermac video card), one VGA, and an S-Video out.

Cheers