My girlfriend just got her masters in visual communications and just got a job at a design office. They use G5's, and I was hoping to get her a MAC for Christmas that would suite her needs. (Mostly designing web sites, photo manipulation, logo's, business cards, using Dreamweaver, InDesign, Photoshop & Illistrator, etc...) So I figure I'd ask some people who love MAC's to help me, help her get started. Give me suggestions. I don't want a G3 or iMac, probably a Power Mac, How fast a processor will work good? Dual that much better? How much memory to operate nice? Anyone recently upgrade to a G5, and have a nice G4 to sell?

Honestly, don't buy a Mac for your girlfriend. You'd be wasting your money and giving your girlfriend a computer that will be obsolete very, very soon.

Odds are that if your girlfriends employers use G5 Macintosh computers, they will be switching to the Intel machines as they roll out.

If you're really wanting to get your girlfriend a computer for Xmas, get her a WinTel box. She'll be much better off in the long run.

Gay men don't jump.

Ditto that. Give her a card you made telling her that you will buy an Intel Powerbook as soon as they come out (inside info says January 2006, just a few weeks after Christmas)

Considering the Mac's aren't going to become Intel boxes until mid 2006, and the fact G5's are way more efficient at running all those applications you specified than even the most powerful PC, don't write off getting a G5 just yet. Yes in the long run it may be a bit too late in terms of lifespan but since most Macs survive 5 years after you buy them before they become completely and utterly useless (all mine have) then it wouldn't be that much of a problem.

With all due respect poosticks, I disagree with you in this particular instance. My logic is as follows:

The dude wants to get a Mac for his girlfriend, because she has gained employment at a firm that uses G5 Macintosh computers. Since this firm uses G5 Macintosh computers, obviously performance is important to them, and cost is not a big factor in achieving optimum performance.

The theory is that the G5 PowerMac's don't offer the best bang for the buck, but they offer a hell of a bang if you got the bucks... I'm guessing that this is a company that is willing to spend the money to get the job done as quickly and as easily as possible. So, they're probably going to jump on to the Intel/Mac bandwagon in the early stages of deployment.

As for the G5 Macs blowing away the Intel competition in terms of raw processing power and performance... Afraid not, friend. The Intel's are kicking PPC butt... Even when you factor in Apple propaganda like the "Megahertz Myth."

Gay men don't jump.

So why are M$ using similar powerpc chips to the
G5 ones, in their xbox 360 ? - they even used a
mac G5 to demo the xbox last year...

Dominicus:

You're kidding, right? What does the Xbox 360 have to do with anything?

Dominicus, true or false? Apple is switching from PPC processors to Intel processors? True or False?

Apple cited performance as the chief reason for this switch? True or False?

I don't know what kind of a point you're trying to make by offering this not-so-juicy Microsoft news, but I fail to see the relevance. Not only are you comparing Apples and Oranges, by comparing a Macintosh computer to a video game console, but you're also attempting to compare next year's technology to last year's technology.

Honestly dude, who really cares if Microsoft used a G5 Mac to demo the xbox last year? We're not talking about last year! We're talking about this year! Oh, and since we're in the month of December, we're also talking about next year!

Sure, it would be really nice if we could freeze technological progress at some arbitrary level (the best technology of 2004, for example), but we can't. We just have to accept the fact that things become obsolete and get replaced. The G5 in Macintosh computers is being replaced with something from Intel, and it's not because Apple is looking for a little performance regression in their machines. I believe Apple is calling the switch to Intel... Progress!!!

Ah, progress. Yes, the G5 is sooo yesterday.

Gay men don't jump.