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.

[boze]

amen to that-
i seem to catch a lot of heat at this board for ever comparing mac and pc hardware offerings, but i thought it was important to bring it up in this instance.

i feel like folks who have used windows and are about to get their first mac generally feel like it's going to fix things for them and let them do what they want to do creatively. while i think this image that mac has earned for itself with savvy development over the years does make it look like apple is _the place to be for audio/video, i think it's worth stating sometimes that it just isn't true. i just saw a great music video composed by a really down to earth friend and he did the whole thing on a dell laptop with all pc sw and little avi's from his digital camera. when ppl act like 'creative people find the mac to be better for that sort of thing' and i just have to let folks know that a 2.5ghz P4 or something like that is a real asset for doing audio and video.

this whole thing will be easier to manage when the G5s are a bit cheaper and available in laptops and desktops and iMacs. if G5s were around to compete with the average Toshiba $1300 laptop then the only complaint I'd have left is the goofy OSX finder.

--- this next part is off topic, just a bit of background info on my mac/pc experiences...

my mother and stepfather tried and failed to switch this past year. they got a G4 iMac and little idiosyncracies in OSX just kept screwing them up. try to maximize a window for example- doesn't work, you just have to get used to overlapping windows that don't go full screen without help and learn to use expose.

my mom was mousing down the bottom of the screen and the dock pops up and by accident she drags something off it and it disappears in a puff of smoke. apple used to be the computer for ppl who aren't computer people and that's so not true anymore... you should have seen her. she'd try to resize a window and it was quite an awakenging for me-- i was like, 'um.. you have to drag it by the bottom right corner.... um no, they don't really go fullscreen.. um.. yeah that's Column View.. no, it always jumps sideways like that... no the dock can't have it's own part of the screen sorry. well, no you can't just save as that file there just by clicking on it.. you have to type the name in again. yeah, i don't know why they didn't think of that....'

i really don't think these things are just a question of relearning something, i think they are examples of bad UI design and i think many mac ppl are unwilling to say stuff like that. worse, there's usually an appologist around to post after me about how the OSX finder is the best finder ever and it's just a little different in some ways but he's way more productive blah blah blah.

anyway- sorry for the OT.

thaks for staying coolheaded dixie, i appreciate it.