I'm tired of windows thinking of getting an iMac

I don't know if this is the right discussion board. I've been getting tired of Windows and thought of giving osx a try. I've been trying to choose between an iMac or a PowerMac. I want one that is at least equal to or better than my pc. How fast is the iMac 2.1GHZ processor?
My current pc has:
An Intel P4 HT 3.2GHZ
512MB RAM
250GB hard drive
Nvidia GeForce FX 5200

Hi Michelle,
As noted above a speed comparisson is a little tricky. You're also looking at a Desktop machine in the iMac and we don't know what your current machine is. I think that if you price out a similar machine, that is a desktop replacement v an all in one, you end up w/ the Mac being about $400.00 cheaper than a similarly configured PC Desktop Replacement machine.
If I was to compare the two I would do it in terms of general use and speed in most areas.
Using Photoshop CS2 or even Bridge on an older 1.6G5 works fine. There are threads where people rave about the speed on a 20" iMac. I would imagine that the speed is enough within a non-apple application provided it doesn't utilize core image. If core image is used then I think you'd be at least evenly matched by the mac, if not overpowered.
For most of the consumer Applications you have Apple branded products that come with your machine that are as fast as you would need, easier to use, and take advantage of the machines architecture.
Unlesss you need M$ Project, you will find that running Microsoft Office on a Mac is a fast and pleasant experience so if you stick to Office for a lot of things you'll have no speed issues.
If you're doing HD a lot then jumping to the fastest PowerMac would probably be better than what you have now and then you get into hardware.
The 20" has all the hardware you want. It's got an incredible screen, ample graphics capabilities, nice sized drive, bt 2.0 + edr, 802.11G, Slot loading dual-layer superdrive (basically the maximum capability burner you can get w/o lightscribe), built in powered firewire v usually ilink, USB 2.0, etc. A PowerMac will give you the same things less the monitor, which is quite a jump in money.
For Gaming I think most people who have used a console w/ good games would just use a console regardless of what computer they have. There are enough Mac game titles to completely stop your work and social productivity if you so choose.
If you get down to the user interface then I think the mac has a PC beat w/o question. IMHO even vista compared to tiger isn't going to change peoples minds. The current OS on a 2.1 is responsive, easy to use, extremely intuitive, offers all the advanced options you would want and more than you could use if you ever open terminal; while maintaining such an elegantly simple choice of settings or tasks that no assistants are required. There is a respectable help system for applications.
I think there are two things which are traded as platform currency: stability, and mal-ware/viruses/trojans/spy-ware (collectively illness). A Mac is rock solid. It just doesn't go around crashing. You can create a kernel panic if you really really try, but you never have to reinstall the operating system or take drastic measures. You can infact have upgraded your operating system through all the different ones in the past 5 years and have a completely serviceable and fast computer. My PC, and I gather most of them, has crashed (although it's not a frequent thing) and I have needed to completely re-install the OS at least once. I don't think you can get close to the stability of Mac OS X. So then there is illness. My PC requires preventative medicinal applications on a consistent basis and they do two things (slow down everything, especially installs), and cost me money. Even with a full immunization I can't take it out of isolation without some bar popping somewhere asking me to install this component or that or saying it was blocked because it might be a risk. I have absolutely no faith in the security of Windows and having to pay for security apps adds a lot to the price (not so on the mac side).
So sure, you might be a little faster w/ a limitted application, but you probably pay more, lose speed because 'X application is waiting for X anti-spyware to finish a scan of SomeWeird_NamedThing'.
My advice is go to an Apple store and try the machines. Your experience shoul

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