Apple iMac G5

PowerPC Processor Works Well With Earlier OS X Versions

The presence of a PowerPC CPU on the motherboard indicates that this system is almost certainly an older Mac machine. Apple switched over to Intel processors in 2006 and has gradually dropped PowerPC-processor support from the Mac OS X operating system. A late-model PowerPC-based Mac is fine if one of the still highly competent earlier versions of OS X meets your needs. But if you want to keep up with Apple's latest operating-system revisions going forward, you should opt for a newer Intel-based Mac.

A PC With Little Included RAM Can Do Light Work

This system offers less than 1GB of memory, which is the bare minimum that any full-featured new computer should include. Whether this amount of RAM is optimal for you depends on the PC's operating system: Windows Vista and Apple's Mac OS X don't run well with less than 1GB, Windows XP is fine with 512MB and not too bad with 384MB, and Windows 98 is good with 256MB. Depending on the distribution, Linux can run with as little as 128MB, but most Linux users are better off with at least 512MB--and 1GB is better.

The more installed memory your PC has, the more applications you can run smoothly at once, and the better the system will perform. Upgrading memory in a desktop after you purchase the PC is a snap, but usually it's worthwhile to buy the amount of memory you want preinstalled with the system.

Adequate Hard-Disk Capacity for Business or Light Home Use

With respect to hard-drive space, this system is in the low-to-midrange tier. Whether that's important depends on your needs. Though video gobbles up drive space at a prodigious rate, most other data types take up far less than 500GB.

For basic business purposes or light home use, even 80GB or 120GB might be enough. A better minimum is 300GB, especially if you download movies or music. Compact desktops that use smaller, 2.5-inch laptop drives offer less capacity. In that kind of setup, 120GB is a more realistic minimum, though 80GB will be enough for most users.

Monitor Is Adequate but Small

In this day and age, anything less than a 19-inch monitor is on the small side. The resolution will probably top out at 1280 by 1024 pixels (if it's a normal 4:3-aspect-ratio model), or at about 1440 by 900 (for wide-screen displays). That's still adequate if you don't need to fit much on your screen, if you're sitting relatively close to the display, or if you're viewing standard DVDs, but 1920-by-1200-resolution Blu-ray movies will be down-converted during playback and won't appear as crisp. 

Third-Gen ATI Graphics Not Up to Modern Gaming

This computer features a dedicated graphics card based on ATI's DirectX 9-capable, third-generation Radeon graphics technology. That means it also supports OpenGL 2.0-powered games, offers more-than-adequate 2D performance, and can drive monitors of up to 2048 by 1536 resolution.

That said, this system was definitely not designed for modern gaming--and is most likely not new. This generation of graphics technology, introduced in 2002, typically requires an older AGP motherboard connection, not the newer PCI Express slot.

Apple Mac OS X: Elegant, Stable, and Intuitive

This system is running the elegant Mac OS X operating system, the current version of which is OS X 10.5.x (Leopard). Though OS X itself can't run Windows programs, you can run Windows (or Windows applications) on the latest Intel-based Mac hardware using software utilities such as VMWare Fusion, Parallels Desktop, or Apple's own Boot Camp. Because OS X has robust Unix underpinnings and isn't required to support as wide a range of hardware as Windows is, it's extremely stable as well as visually pleasing and intuitive to the new user.

FireWire Port Allows Rapid Data Transfer

The FireWire connection (also called an IEEE1394 or i.Link port) in this computer can rapidly transfer data to and from a range of devices, most commonly video cameras, external hard drives, and advanced sound cards.

Generally desktop PCs have a full-size six-pin FireWire port on the rear, often on a front panel. Some also include the smaller, unpowered four-pin connection that you can find on laptops and certain consumer electronics devices. (Camcorder makers often bundle a six-pin-to-four-pin FireWire cable because of this.)

The newer FireWire 800 (IEEE1394c) implementation is not backward-compatible and uses a nine-pin connector. If your peripheral (such as a video camera or external hard drive) uses FireWire 800, you should double-check to confirm that every desktop PC you're considering supports it, too.