I'm considering buying an Apple iMac G5 and moving away from the Windows platform, but with all this speculation about Apple moving to Intel based hardware, is there any real point to switching now? Is the hardware today going to be obsolete in just a couple years time?

Yes :)

NO! Apple have been working on this transition for several years, considering UNIX which OSX is based on does successfully run on Intel x86's as well as other CPU's, I can not see any reason for Apple not supporting both G4/5 and Intel software as it is only certain parts of the software which has to be rewritten to support both platforms.

YES!!!
Part of the reason for Apples switch to the
Intel processor is a move away from the
standard desktop computer as we know it
now,in order to compete for increased market
share in the new multi-function utilities
that several companies are moving towards.
The desktop is not, in my opinion , going to
advance that much further from where it is
now,partly because hardware developement is
usually dictated by software requirements,
and there is little in the way of obvious
improvement required anymore.
The pace of technology has slowed down
enormously as of the last few years.. new
game hardware ,for example... instead of the leaps and
bounds of technological improvement from one
release to the next, the increases are
proving more and more incremental ones only.
It's also worth noting that Apple's switch
from the PPC was not due to it's
performance, but more due to politics, and corporate planning decisions (i.e. the new "roadmap for the future" of Intel's) ,, and a
desire to see Apple become more prominent in
the market place.
Even Microsoft has switched to the 3.2 Gig
IBM PPC processor for it's newest XBOX,
which was even demonstrated on a Mac G5, not
a PC!.
The OSX platform , on the G5, as it stands
now, is absolutely 100% rock stable, and,
frankly, in my opinion, outperforms even
Linux in every area except, perhaps, the
'geek' factor.
(Hey, i've been using Mandrake on muy PC's
for some years now..and i still believe
this...).
I think it's going to take Apple years to
recover their momentum..i actually think it
was quite a bad move, for way too many
reasons to list here...
The G5, however, will be a fully usable and
productive machine for easily the next ten
years, unless there's a radical shift in how
and why people use their computers....
I would wait, perhaps a bit, for a used one,
as i think in the near future that prices
will drop lower thanthey would ordinarily,
and then get the most maxed out G5 i could
find..
Well, that's my 2 Bits....

To quantify I was saying NO! to the following:

Is the hardware today going to be obsolete in just a couple years time?

In general anytime is a good time to switch, if you are interested in how much better MACs are then buy an older OS7 OS8 MAC to get the feel, when you eventually switch to OSX you will not regret it. I do not use a OSX MAC because of my customer base, but have an old PPC which I think is great.

This was my point, in that, despite the
switch, i think that the PPC platform is not
going to be obsoleted soon..in fact i firmly
believe that the intel switch is going to be
a lot harder to accomplish than Apple would
have us believe..remember, it will ,
essentialy obsolete every mac OS and
application ever written, only allowing very
limited access to some newer OSX PPC apps.
This will essentially require a brand new
user base ,as well as those few that will be
willing to discard all their old mac
software (classic and OSX) and part with all
their PPC compatible hardware...
In the past when Apple changed processors,
they allowed for smooth (almost invisible in
the case of 68k to PPC) or functional (as in
the case of carbon/classic) integration with
previous formats.
Although Apple is working on a PPC emulator
to support a limited number of newer OSX
apps, it remains to be seen if it gets
developed fully...
I do not think, however,that an older OS7 or
8 mac would give any kind of idea of what a
mac is about..although they are interesting
( i even use a 68k as my main file server)
the classic Mac OS has developed immensely
by 9.2.2, over the buggier, limited, and
crash prone (sorry!) 7x or 8x versions.
OSX again, isn't 'like' the older calssic
OS's in just so many ways, that the only way
to get a feel for it is to use OSX (or maybe
linux first..then you'll really get to
appreciate how much better and easier it
is).
There is , frankly , no comparison to
crashy, slow, intrusive, counter-intuitive,
and (did i mention intrusive?) windoze..less
said there the better...

Many thanks for your comments. I'll be sure to put my Mac on order next week! ;)

Well, thanks to your comments I am now a proud owner of a Apple iMac G5! (20"/2Ghz/512Mb/DVD-RW/Airport/Bluetooth)