Intel 17"imac vs 2ghz g5 powermac

So I'm in the market for a desktop. I'll be doing a number of things with the computer. Alot of important, sensitive material from corporate office (financial spreadsheets etc) however I'm still in denial and expect to unleash my fury in a few online games of something or other. Also, I'm hoping to get into digital photography as a hobby (gotta kill the time somehow)
Furthermore, I'm a bit of a stickler. In the past I've enjoyed having a nice flatscreen monitor with the tower under the desk for many years. I'm a little hesitant about the imac because it may be a large adjustment due to the overall size difference of the imac and an LCD monitor.
However I can't argue against the comfy imac price.
I also apologize if this has been rehashed in the past however I did a search and couldn't find much unfortunately.
Thank you!
-Daniel

I am very impressed with my iMac's ability to handle Garageband tracks. I have not been able to turn the playhead anything other than white. This machine is awesome.
I have always been an iMac fan. They are near to impossible to upgrade except for ram but who cares? By the time you are ready to upgrade it is better to buy another machine anyway...a new iMac! CPU and graphic performance is improved so drastically that it is difficult to keep up with it with upgrades.
I also love the new screens. They are much nicer than any of the Windows desktops or monitors I have seen in stores. My only complain is a slight darkening as you go down the page. The same color will be slightly darker at the bottom of the monitor. This has not effected anything I do so I can't really complain.
The hard drive is a little bit of a problem, especially of you are needing 200GB just for music. The least expensive iMac can only be upgraded to 500GB. For me, I only make sure there is enough hard drive space to do my work on with lots to spare. All other items are stored on an external drive. iTunes has no problem keeping the library on an external drive. You just set the drive up in the preferences. I like Firefire 800 compatible drives for speedy transfers. Garageband sessions can be stored their as well and will even run from the drive. Keep Garageband on your mac.
Unless you are a professional with some very demanding needs, the iMacs will be more than satisfying. As soon as you can afford it, max out their ram for more fun!
Older G5's might do fine for you but they are short in Graphic memory, CPU speed and hard drive space.
Kurt

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