[wgood]

My dad is a graphic designer using a G5 on Panther and a G4 on 9.2.2 and he runs standard apps like Adobe CS, QuarkXPress 6 on Panther and 4.1 on 9.2.2 as well as M$ Office on Panther. Recently he mentioned to me that he wants to purchase two new systems, one for his office and another for home, and set me up with the task of doing the research about each system.
Now I present my question to you designer folks. As everyone is aware (I'm sure) the apps above are not yet Universal (CS3 Beta is, but that's a whole new purchase). Are there users out there who run these programs on production (mission-critical) Intel machines that don't find them hindering at all? Of course the Intel macs would be good for their long-term investment, but right now, are they viable to use regularly with PPC software?
I should also mention that iMacs are the targeted purchase, both Intel or G5 depending on the response.

[MacGizmo]

Go with Intel Macs. You'll be hard-pressed to find G5 ones anyway, and they're absolutely horrible when it comes to fan noise anyway. There's no sense in paying near full price for a technology that is already dead.
As far as software goes, it's a mixed bag. Universal apps absolutely scream on Intel Macs. With regards to graphics applications, the only major player that is Universal is Quark XPress, which runs quite well.
PHOTOSHOP is CS3 Beta right now, NOT the entire suite. Quite frankly, Photoshop CS2 runs perfectly fine on Intel Macs, though a bit slower - still very usable. Illustrator runs ok, a few glitches. InDesign is somewhat buggy on Intel Macs. The upside is that CS3 will be here in June.
My advice is for your dad to keep what he has for a few more months before making a purchase. But if you must make a purchase, make it a future proof one, the Intel Macs.

[wgood]

Thanks for the input, Gizmo.
Do you know what sort of "glitches" Illustrator CS has under Tiger (specifically 10.4.8)? Are we talking unusable glitches, or annoying, but livable glitches?