as the headline states, i am in the market for a new computer,
prefferably a mac, but i'm looking to get the best value for my dollar. i don't need a super high powered machine for video editing or anything, most of the time, i'm doing complex operations in illustrator, or excessively large drawings in photoshop. i don't play too many games, but the games i do play on my computer tend to be graphic intensive, like World of Warcraft, rarely do i play anything as graphically heavy as doom3 or things of that nature. my typical computer habits are simple, i tend to play on the internet (as most poeple i'm sure), while playing music and doin the photoshop/illustrator thing. also: i work in the prepress industry, so i'm constantly diagnosing problems with pdf's and other stuff, so i've got a bit of a reputation for taking down any and all computers.
so, here's my question, would it be more optimal to get a G5 Imac, or would it be more beneficial to go the way of the G5 tower?

I have had my iMac G5 for about two months and am pretty happy with it. As long as you know that it has enough power for you, the only other consideration really is the aesthetics; I much prefer the look and lack of clutter that an iMac offers over a conventional setup. I also got the wireless keyboard and mouse which further cleans up my office, and the airport express so I could network with the iBook we already have. I only have three cables coming out the back (the multifunction centre, speakers and power cable) as opposed to about 20 or 30 on my old PC; however the speakers built into the machine are probably adequate for your needs (I already had mine so though I might as well use them) and if my MFC had been more compatible with Mac I probably could have plugged it into the airport instead (I couldn't get it to scan through the airport but everything else worked), meaning that I would only have had the power cable plugged into the iMac.

If you couldn't care less about aesthetics then I guess there's no difference?

Build your own to the spects that you desire.

no...of course there is always a tradeoff...putting so much hardware in a smaller space will cause more problems connectionwise and therefore it's mean processing speeds won't be quite as high as one of a conventional desktop.
however, if you're only using the computer for non-super-high gaming or apps or whatever it shouldn't make much of a difference(it's much like the debate of laptop vs. desktop in a way) performance-wise.

basically it's all dependent on what you find more important...better portability and better aesthetics [or] better processing strength and cheaper price.

(i've never been too partial to Macs tho)

all good input, and to help make my decision, we just installed a new g5 imac in our department at work, so i'll see how it handles things for a little bit.

Have you looked at the iMac forum? Might answer soem of your questions: http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@114.LKYza5fYDYW.1@.689ae1b7