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! ;)