a G5 tower does not come with a monitor, but you can use a standard VGA monitor if you have one lying around...CRT VGA's are also quite economical these days (you should have no problem finding a 17" tube VGA for under $100)...an iMac G5 does come with a nice built-in LCD screen, and at a reasonable price, but lacks the the horsepower and expandability of the tower...it all depends on your needs...for word processing, email, web, and casual gaming, the iMac will do fine...for serious graphics, pro video & audio, 3D, and demanding gaming, you will need to step up to a tower...also, Apple's line of laptops are quite powerful and versitile for portable computers...they can easily serve as a desktop machine, and the high-end powerbooks hold their own with pro-level applications...it's worth taking a look...first and foremost, determine what your needs are...

im going to a professional graphic designer/digital media.

In that case, I'd recommend either a G5 tower or a 15' or 17' Powerbook...the tower will give you more processing muscle, which is great for intense Photoshop demands...the laptop naturally offers portability, but at the cost of some processing power and expandability - however, portability may be a premium to you, therefore making that a worthy trade-off...if you go with a tower, and you need to save some money, take a look at some 19" flat surface CRT's...LaCie make a very fine graphics monitor, and it should be priced quite competitively to the LCD screens...you should base your decision on quality of color matching since this is highly relevant to your major - better you get a bulky awkward tube monitor that offers good color fidelity and a fine aperture than a 'great deal' on some cheap LCD...if you can afford an Apple pro monitor, the more power to you - they are quite nice, and perfectly suited for pro graphics...the Powerbook displays are excellent as well...also, get as much RAM as you can, you will need it...and one last thing - you can save yourself some cash via your status as a student...Apple offer small discounts to students, and you can find significant discounts on software amd hardware at www.academicsuperstore.com...examples include Adobe CS for under $400, and QuarkXPress for under $100...they also carry monitors, mice, graphics tablets, etc...