As some may know, I picked up a 1.6 model on Saturday. Canceled my dual order with 9800 Pro. Just more computer than I really needed. I get wrapped up into needing to have the best too often.
Anyways, I really like this "crippled" machine as some like to call it.
I installed Nascar Racing Season 2003 on it.
First thing I did was go into the graphics settings of the game. I set the game resolution for 1680x1050. I then maxed out every graphic setting then went to race.
THe game has the option to display the frames per second. I was getting frame rates of between 60 -100 frames per second. It never dipped below 60. EVER.
This is with a "lowly" GeForce 5200 FX. I did bump the ram to 1.25 GB as we all know, 256 MB ram is hardly enough for anything.
Just thought I would throw in a little gaming benchmark instead of the others.
I think under Panther, even the 1.6 is going to be pretty decent. Now I have more cash for cool software and peripherals.
As some may know, I picked up a 1.6 model on Saturday. Canceled my dual order with 9800 Pro. Just more computer than I really needed. I get wrapped up into needing to have the best too often.
Anyways, I really like this "crippled" machine as some like to call it.
I installed Nascar Racing Season 2003 on it.
First thing I did was go into the graphics settings of the game. I set the game resolution for 1680x1050. I then maxed out every graphic setting then went to race.
THe game has the option to display the frames per second. I was getting frame rates of between 60 -100 frames per second. It never dipped below 60. EVER.
This is with a "lowly" GeForce 5200 FX. I did bump the ram to 1.25 GB as we all know, 256 MB ram is hardly enough for anything.
Just thought I would throw in a little gaming benchmark instead of the others.
I think under Panther, even the 1.6 is going to be pretty decent. Now I have more cash for cool software and peripherals.
That is great to hear. Panther will speed things up by 20-30%. Not bad in my book. Yes, the G5, with lots of Ram, will really rip!
Just went to one of Germanys largest retailers and toyed around with one of the 1.6Ghz G5s.
This is one silent bitch to be sure, the fans can be seen through the grating as the lazily turn - like the case, they just whisper "understatement" big, big time.
Very silent too - in fact the quietest Mac I have seen since the Cubes. With a moist finger, you can just barely feel the air ventilating through the mesh...
And boy, is this thing fast. Finder resizes are instantanous, Safari takes less than one bounce to launch.
Strangely enough, Cocoa apps are a bit on the slow side, with iPhoto remarkably so and Safari still not being able to keep up with the moving mouse curser if you resize its windows.
The keyboard is an embarrasment though, I have not seen such a shoddy, squeaky keyboard with such a mushy feel in quite some time.
Just in case anyone is still wondering, the G5 DOES come with the standard set of Mac Up-To-Date coupons. Three pretty coupons all in a row syaing "10.2". Hopefully we'll be told at Apple Expo Paris that we can trade these in for Panther.
Oh, and I'd like to second the statement from way back about the keyboard getting an unfair rap: it is actuallu quite nice to the touch and has nice key action.
Monkeyed around with the G5 1.6 on display at the Salem NH Comp USA. It was set up right next to a MDD 1.25 SP so I could do a little aesthetics comparison. My first though. "wow, this is big... I mean physically big" then I started the count the bounces game with a few applications.
This didn't work out so well though as the machine must have JUST been installedso pretty much ever application opened up to a setup wizard or registration window. Still, the bounce factor was low, lower than the 1.25 and obviously Waaaaaaaaay lower than the G3 350 iMac I spend all day with.
It's an okay looking machine, if a bit industrial. I really like the MDD look better. The curves are more attractive, it looks less like a hobbyist PC, and it's smaller. I appreciated the front USB and Firewire ports, i liked the optical drive cover, and it seemed quiet. Though, to be honest, every machine is whisper quiet at Comp USA because the store is so freaking noisy.
I also spent some time with the new and infamous keyboard. I opened the text editor and did my standard new computer keyboard touch typing test. I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all. I found the keys too large with too little space between them. They felt too flat and had too little throw (i.e. the downward distance they travel when typed), and when I tested my typing on the old Mac Pro connected to a refurbed eMac (that I ALMOST bought... damn economy) my typing was better. No doubt this has a little to do with the previous use of a Mac Pro keyboard (I use a Macally iKey now and really like it). The other keyboard characteristic that I didn't like was size. The backplate of the board seems ALMOST too small for the keys jammed onto it and using it reminded me of the horror that was the old iMac board that came with my iMac, you know, the little bity one... The keyboard also felt flimy, like the keys would leap off it at any moment.
I thought this might be just THIS PARTICULAR keyboard, but it wasn't. I played with the same type of board on the iMac and eMac displays and had the same reaction.
I'm a writer, by trade, and the keyboard is the most important peripheral I use so I am picky about which keyboard I use. I thought the new Mac Keyboard was a candidate for maybe six months of my normal use then it would be broken or worn out. Of course since I don't have one to put though and endourance test this is based on speculation and first impression, but first impressions die hard.
I also had concerns about the overall size of the board, I've already mentiond that it's small, and I have small hands, but the cramped nature of the thing made touch typing very difficult and cramp inducing because the hand placement was so awkward.
I am awaiting a second hand DP 1.25 Gig MDD when a pal of mine receives his preordered Dualie, which for my purposes, is at least five years worth of computing bliss (i.e. I can play the newest generation of games, an activity lost to me for nearly three years in computing power advancement), so I played around with the MDD in the store. I was impressed, again because I'm used to a slot-loader CRT iMac.
The purpose of the trip was two fold. I wanted to see and play with a G5 and my Mom-in-Law wanted a new computer. She settled on a mid-tier eMac (1 gHz G4 and combo drive) after test firing the new iMac, and several PEECEEs. Her limited understanding of operating systems (she is used to Win 95) and initial worry about switching faded away as soon as she opened the iApps and Appleworks.
maybe this is a silly question or has been addressed already, but does the G5 come with a speaker? I don't see the option any longer to add Apple Pro Speakers to the order. the only option is a $344 surround sound extravagance.
maybe this is a silly question or has been addressed already, but does the G5 come with a speaker? I don't see the option any longer to add Apple Pro Speakers to the order. the only option is a $344 surround sound extravagance.
There's a built-in speaker, which must be mono. Decent sounding too (I wasn't expecting much, mind you). Remember though that there is both analogue and optical audio out so you can run your G5 through probably any audio equipment you might have (expect for strange Apple things: I think, for example, that the Pro Speakers don't work).
Comments
As some may know, I picked up a 1.6 model on Saturday. Canceled my dual order with 9800 Pro. Just more computer than I really needed. I get wrapped up into needing to have the best too often.
Anyways, I really like this "crippled" machine as some like to call it.
I installed Nascar Racing Season 2003 on it.
First thing I did was go into the graphics settings of the game. I set the game resolution for 1680x1050. I then maxed out every graphic setting then went to race.
THe game has the option to display the frames per second. I was getting frame rates of between 60 -100 frames per second. It never dipped below 60. EVER.
This is with a "lowly" GeForce 5200 FX. I did bump the ram to 1.25 GB as we all know, 256 MB ram is hardly enough for anything.
Just thought I would throw in a little gaming benchmark instead of the others.
I think under Panther, even the 1.6 is going to be pretty decent. Now I have more cash for cool software and peripherals.
Originally posted by msantti
Okay.
As some may know, I picked up a 1.6 model on Saturday. Canceled my dual order with 9800 Pro. Just more computer than I really needed. I get wrapped up into needing to have the best too often.
Anyways, I really like this "crippled" machine as some like to call it.
I installed Nascar Racing Season 2003 on it.
First thing I did was go into the graphics settings of the game. I set the game resolution for 1680x1050. I then maxed out every graphic setting then went to race.
THe game has the option to display the frames per second. I was getting frame rates of between 60 -100 frames per second. It never dipped below 60. EVER.
This is with a "lowly" GeForce 5200 FX. I did bump the ram to 1.25 GB as we all know, 256 MB ram is hardly enough for anything.
Just thought I would throw in a little gaming benchmark instead of the others.
I think under Panther, even the 1.6 is going to be pretty decent. Now I have more cash for cool software and peripherals.
That is great to hear. Panther will speed things up by 20-30%. Not bad in my book. Yes, the G5, with lots of Ram, will really rip!
This is one silent bitch to be sure, the fans can be seen through the grating as the lazily turn - like the case, they just whisper "understatement" big, big time.
Very silent too - in fact the quietest Mac I have seen since the Cubes. With a moist finger, you can just barely feel the air ventilating through the mesh...
And boy, is this thing fast. Finder resizes are instantanous, Safari takes less than one bounce to launch.
Strangely enough, Cocoa apps are a bit on the slow side, with iPhoto remarkably so and Safari still not being able to keep up with the moving mouse curser if you resize its windows.
The keyboard is an embarrasment though, I have not seen such a shoddy, squeaky keyboard with such a mushy feel in quite some time.
Oh, and I'd like to second the statement from way back about the keyboard getting an unfair rap: it is actuallu quite nice to the touch and has nice key action.
This didn't work out so well though as the machine must have JUST been installedso pretty much ever application opened up to a setup wizard or registration window. Still, the bounce factor was low, lower than the 1.25 and obviously Waaaaaaaaay lower than the G3 350 iMac I spend all day with.
It's an okay looking machine, if a bit industrial. I really like the MDD look better. The curves are more attractive, it looks less like a hobbyist PC, and it's smaller. I appreciated the front USB and Firewire ports, i liked the optical drive cover, and it seemed quiet. Though, to be honest, every machine is whisper quiet at Comp USA because the store is so freaking noisy.
I also spent some time with the new and infamous keyboard. I opened the text editor and did my standard new computer keyboard touch typing test. I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all. I found the keys too large with too little space between them. They felt too flat and had too little throw (i.e. the downward distance they travel when typed), and when I tested my typing on the old Mac Pro connected to a refurbed eMac (that I ALMOST bought... damn economy) my typing was better. No doubt this has a little to do with the previous use of a Mac Pro keyboard (I use a Macally iKey now and really like it). The other keyboard characteristic that I didn't like was size. The backplate of the board seems ALMOST too small for the keys jammed onto it and using it reminded me of the horror that was the old iMac board that came with my iMac, you know, the little bity one... The keyboard also felt flimy, like the keys would leap off it at any moment.
I thought this might be just THIS PARTICULAR keyboard, but it wasn't. I played with the same type of board on the iMac and eMac displays and had the same reaction.
I'm a writer, by trade, and the keyboard is the most important peripheral I use so I am picky about which keyboard I use. I thought the new Mac Keyboard was a candidate for maybe six months of my normal use then it would be broken or worn out. Of course since I don't have one to put though and endourance test this is based on speculation and first impression, but first impressions die hard.
I also had concerns about the overall size of the board, I've already mentiond that it's small, and I have small hands, but the cramped nature of the thing made touch typing very difficult and cramp inducing because the hand placement was so awkward.
I am awaiting a second hand DP 1.25 Gig MDD when a pal of mine receives his preordered Dualie, which for my purposes, is at least five years worth of computing bliss (i.e. I can play the newest generation of games, an activity lost to me for nearly three years in computing power advancement), so I played around with the MDD in the store. I was impressed, again because I'm used to a slot-loader CRT iMac.
The purpose of the trip was two fold. I wanted to see and play with a G5 and my Mom-in-Law wanted a new computer. She settled on a mid-tier eMac (1 gHz G4 and combo drive) after test firing the new iMac, and several PEECEEs. Her limited understanding of operating systems (she is used to Win 95) and initial worry about switching faded away as soon as she opened the iApps and Appleworks.
Overall an interesting and rewarding night.
Originally posted by neurokid
maybe this is a silly question or has been addressed already, but does the G5 come with a speaker? I don't see the option any longer to add Apple Pro Speakers to the order. the only option is a $344 surround sound extravagance.
There's a built-in speaker, which must be mono. Decent sounding too (I wasn't expecting much, mind you). Remember though that there is both analogue and optical audio out so you can run your G5 through probably any audio equipment you might have (expect for strange Apple things: I think, for example, that the Pro Speakers don't work).