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20" iMac G5 a great deal

As anyone still reading this blog probably knows, on January 10, 2006, Steve Jobs announced the Intel-based iMacs. I have been thinking about what myu plans for migrating to Intel based machines would be since they announced the transition last year. We have several Macs in our home, and I use a 15" PowerBook at work. When I get a new Mac at home, there is a trickle down, and my old machine becomes the family machine. Currently that machine is a Blue and White G3 tower, still running (GASP!) OS9.

It does a fair job of email and web surfing for the family, but they are starting to notice that some sites are no longer working as well as they used to. I could upgrade the OS to some version of OSX, but the machine only has a 6GB hard drive.

Meanwhile, my first generation 12" PowerBook was becoming too small, and slow, for video work (the external 17" monitor went to the old tower when its monitor died a year or so ago).

So I watched with interest to see what Steve might announce, and figured that if the iMacs did not get the Intel treatment, I would go ahead and buy the G5 version. I am still running Final Cut Pro 3, DVD Studio Pro 2, and Adobe Photoshop 7. Decidedly old school, and I’m not in a position to upgrade at this point. In fact I wasn’t ina position to get a new machine, except I came into some freelance web work.

When Steve announced the Intel iMac, I thought I’d have to wait until I could afford to upgrade both machine and software. Then I read that the G5 iMacs were still being sold alongside the new versions. So, a couple days later I stopped by the CompUSA and purchased a 20" iMac. While I was there I grabbed a 1 GB stick of memory and a new keyboard and optical mouse for the 12" PowerBook that will be replacing the G3 PowerMac.

The iMac is a beautiful machine, and compared to the 867MHz G4 in the 12" PowerBook, the iMac screams. The display is bright and big, just like the 20" Cinema Display I use at work. FrontRow is fun, and the kids love PhotoBooth and the built-in iSight camera. Editing video is a dream on the wide screen. I am very happy.

So, my heart skipped a beat when I read that Apple dropped the price by $200 on this machine today. Long time readers may be experiencing a bit of Deja Vu, since I had a similar experience when buying my 3G iPod.

I fired up the CompUSA page, and sure enough they have 21 day price protection. And I bought my iMac… 20 days ago!

Now I like the iMac even more. And if you are not ready to upgrade all your software to the Universal Binary version, and want to extend your PowerPC software investment a few more years, now is a good time to buy. $1499 for the 20" iMac G5 is a great deal.