Imac Or Ibook For Music? Options

So, I'm a pc-man, but SO tired for PCs... I think I'm not the only one... So I've been thinking about a mac. I make music with computer, so I need some power, but also stability (which PCs don't seem to offer...). I can't afford those G5s or even G4 (the one which look like computer, not iMac, eMac, or laptop...). PowerBook is too expensive too. So my choices are iBook and iMac. I thought about the 800Mhz G4 (12") iBook, or maybe the 933Mhz G4 one. How big is the difference in speed of those two iBooks? I would probably take that 640mb memory (which is the maximum) for those. So is the 933Mhz one worth the extra 200-300€ (or something like that in $s). And then the other one choice is the iMac (15") There's 1Ghz G4 processor in that and the maximum ammout of memory is 1Gb, which is more than in iBooks. Also, the memory seems to be a bit faster in iMac, because it's DDR 333Mhz, while it's DDR 266Mhz in iBooks. That iMac would cost about 1600€ (again, something like that in dollars), whit 1Gb memory (if I won't buy that memory from apple, cause they seem to have quite expensive memories). So, which one would be the best choise (price/quality ratio)? And can you say, what kind of pc do those macs match, (I know that the Mhz-ammount is not compareable). If you bother answer, I would really appreciate that, cause I really don't know anything about macs, and I don't believe in salesmans speaks.

[dixiechicken]

I beg differ on some points about "boze-s" expose.

(I've been a systemsadmin at our dept for 11years now, reponsible for some 275 computers, mixed environment 75%pc:s 25% mac:s & and a handful of *nix boxes - I have a bachelors degree in both Electrical engineering and in Computer science)
I spend almost all my time (85%) keeping the the pc-s up and running. With the mac:s and the *nix boxes
it is largely "set it & forget it".
( the last 15% is keeping our PC-servers up and running )

I think it's meaningless to talk bout the diffrences in specs. It doesnt really tell you shit.

Nowdays it's pretty easy to compare a PC with a Mac.
Keep it simple and sit down in front of two different computers and time the daily chores you usually do.
Open a word document.
Surf the web to your usual sites.
Open a Photoshop file - apply some filters to it.
Copy som files & folders over network & to another drive.

The normal things you excpect to use your computer for.
If the differences seem disturbing to you, it's time to consider specs or hardware issues.

to suggest that macs have an advantage in plug-and-play is pure conjecture

It's not, it is the plain truth. My experience backs this up.

i've plugged apple mice and kbds into my vaio laptop and had them pop up little 'installed and ready to use'

My various diskett drives, zipdrives ms-mouse, PowerShot S-50, Logitech usb-keyboard and so on pops right up in Mac OS-X panther 10.3.2, no extra drivers needed.

and mostly i think it's just folks parroting apples marketing campaign from four years ago

I t really is'nt very polite to imply that mac-lovers are brainwashed and incapable of forming rational decisions, based on rewieved facts.

Lets not forget about security issues - hackers and viruses.
These problems are almost nonexistent on a Mac.
On my iMac at home I dont even have an antivirus program installed, dont need it. ( beware YMMV )
A default installed win xp pc at my work usually get attacked by viruses directly after an install of the OS, somtimes it takes as long as 15 minutes.

If you dont stay on top of updates and security-patches in win-xp & win2k, you're dead meat. On a mac you really neednt worry.

Do a portscan on default installed Mac OS-X & a default installed PC-WinXP/Win2k. Notice how the pc is wide open on a respectable number of ports & protocols. The first versions of win xp even tried to communicate with my refrigerator - for crying out loud.

At long last - although I wouldnt dream of bying a pc for my OWN money the widescreen Compaq NX7000 notebook, my job bought for me, is rather nice as such things go.

Cheers: Dixiechicken