Notes on the New PowerMacs
Hi all! I just got my new G4, dual gig mirrored drive door. Obviously I'm very happy and so I thought I'd share some observations with you all.
First thing I noticed is that the case looks much better in person
- the vents on the front have no fan behind them, rather they are backed by a shiny metal plate... interestingly enough the plate is not flush with the holes in the front, so air does come in through them and they do act as a air intake but there is no fan behind them ... at least not on the dual gig model
-The case design, as already made obvious by the released photos and schematics, is much different and a vast improvement. this is not your father's el capitan case. The first big improvement is an obvious one : the PCI slots are now on the top of the case which means they sit the farthest from the case when open. This makes installing pci cards much easier.
-The hard drive brackets remove without a screw needing to be released. There is a simple solid release catch for the drive brackets, and the mechanism is very solid.
-The Heat Sink is gigantic!
- The whole thing seems heavier. I used to lug G4s around all the time, but this thing is much more substantial - either that or I need to hit the gym. I suspect that huge heatsink is partly to blame
- the door latching mechanism is vastly improved. the mechanism is all metal and opens and closes smoothly and tightly.
- headphone port on front of case is very nice touch
I haven't been able to gauge how noisy the fans on the thing are - as my work environment is noisy to begin with. I also haven't installed a second fullsize drive, so I haven't tested the options for ejecting a second drive.
All in all the new case is a HUGE improvement. This is the first significant redesign of the El Capitan case, and I think it is a large enough change to justify a new name. I'll vote for "el presidente"
Incidentally, this machine is made to cool components. more so than the G4 probably merits. The Power Supply, as many have noted, is far more robust than the G4 justifies. I'd be willing to bet that this sucker really is G5 ready.
Any questions about the machine? any other new G4 owners have observations?
First thing I noticed is that the case looks much better in person
- the vents on the front have no fan behind them, rather they are backed by a shiny metal plate... interestingly enough the plate is not flush with the holes in the front, so air does come in through them and they do act as a air intake but there is no fan behind them ... at least not on the dual gig model
-The case design, as already made obvious by the released photos and schematics, is much different and a vast improvement. this is not your father's el capitan case. The first big improvement is an obvious one : the PCI slots are now on the top of the case which means they sit the farthest from the case when open. This makes installing pci cards much easier.
-The hard drive brackets remove without a screw needing to be released. There is a simple solid release catch for the drive brackets, and the mechanism is very solid.
-The Heat Sink is gigantic!
- The whole thing seems heavier. I used to lug G4s around all the time, but this thing is much more substantial - either that or I need to hit the gym. I suspect that huge heatsink is partly to blame
- the door latching mechanism is vastly improved. the mechanism is all metal and opens and closes smoothly and tightly.
- headphone port on front of case is very nice touch
I haven't been able to gauge how noisy the fans on the thing are - as my work environment is noisy to begin with. I also haven't installed a second fullsize drive, so I haven't tested the options for ejecting a second drive.
All in all the new case is a HUGE improvement. This is the first significant redesign of the El Capitan case, and I think it is a large enough change to justify a new name. I'll vote for "el presidente"
Incidentally, this machine is made to cool components. more so than the G4 probably merits. The Power Supply, as many have noted, is far more robust than the G4 justifies. I'd be willing to bet that this sucker really is G5 ready.
Any questions about the machine? any other new G4 owners have observations?
Comments
i got an e-mail from apple today telling me they cant ship mine at this time....and it should be here around 5 days. its probably because of that darned airport card
Some notes on my computer:
1. It is louder then my previous 400MHz G3 B&W, but that's the cost of progress I suppose.
2. I love it already.
3. It looks really good in the flesh, so to speak.
I have a few questions though. I went to install a extra ATA 66 drive and I needed to change the jumpers on the built in ATA 100 drive but I couldn't get the ATA100 Chasis out. They have a great design were you just pull a tab and it all comes out. That worked great on my ATA 66 chasis but the ATA 100 tab was really stuck. I finally got it out but then the chasis it self still wouldn't slide up and out no matter how hard I pushed on it. I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.
I was also hoping to install my old internal modem from my G3 B&W but it appears that it won't work with this model. Anyone have any advice where to get a internal modem for the new duals now that I've already passed on the one apple ships with it?
The seperate piece you'll have to get is going to cost you at least twice that of the internal one you discarded....
tztztztz
G-News
<strong>Removing the internal modem BTO when you actually KNOW you need it, just to potentially save 20$ is really, really stupid.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
/me stands near a fire hydrant
The seperate piece you'll have to get is going to cost you at least twice that of the internal one you discarded...."
Right, I get that part. But do you know where I can actually purchase one now that I know I need one?
<strong>aaaah! everyones getting theirs xcept me!
don't received mine either
7 days since my order and counting... but I've received my 1.5 GB DDRAM already from transintl ! It seems that it's faster to order from USA -> Belgium than Ireland->Belgium
<strong>Hi all! I just got my new G4, dual gig mirrored drive door. </strong><hr></blockquote>
From which Mac are you upgrading? Could you provide us with some speed tests that you have done please? Does OS X10.2 makes better use of the second processor? How about the performance of QuickTime and DVD player with the new ATI card? Does things would mean a lot if you could comment on them. Thanks in advance.
<strong>Hi all! I just got my new G4, dual gig mirrored drive door. </strong><hr></blockquote>
From which Mac are you upgrading? Could you provide us with some speed tests that you have done please? Does OS X10.2 makes better use of the second processor? How about the performance of QuickTime and DVD player with the new ATI card? Does things would mean a lot if you could comment on them. Thanks in advance.
NO airport card.
<img src="confused.gif" border="0">
but speed holes!
<strong>I ordered a Dual 1.0 Ghz with 512mb Dimm and SCSI card and I got an e-mail this morning informing me that it may ship in the next 5 days. I ordered mine 11:00am the announcement day.
NO airport card.
so it WASNT just my airport card! it goes deeper than that! Depressing. Scandalous!
i also ordered at around 11 am on the announcement day.
[ 08-21-2002: Message edited by: Banjo Billy ]
[ 08-21-2002: Message edited by: Banjo Billy ]</p>
grrrrr!!!
I don't even have a mac now
[ 08-24-2002: Message edited by: r-0X#Zapchud ]</p>
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
<strong>Ok first post. I just got my Dual Gig through the mail yesterday. I had a Ti card installed but no airport. I also ordered it at around 7:30 AM the day they were announced.
Some notes on my computer:
1. It is louder then my previous 400MHz G3 B&W, but that's the cost of progress I suppose.
2. I love it already.
3. It looks really good in the flesh, so to speak.
I have a few questions though. I went to install a extra ATA 66 drive and I needed to change the jumpers on the built in ATA 100 drive but I couldn't get the ATA100 Chasis out. They have a great design were you just pull a tab and it all comes out. That worked great on my ATA 66 chasis but the ATA 100 tab was really stuck. I finally got it out but then the chasis it self still wouldn't slide up and out no matter how hard I pushed on it. I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.
I was also hoping to install my old internal modem from my G3 B&W but it appears that it won't work with this model. Anyone have any advice where to get a internal modem for the new duals now that I've already passed on the one apple ships with it?</strong><hr></blockquote>
The ATA 66 rack slides out without any screws to worry about, but the ATA 100 chassis DOES have a screw - which I hadn't noticed at the time of my post. Its right above the chassis, and after its unscrewed, the chassis slides right out.
<strong>
From which Mac are you upgrading? Could you provide us with some speed tests that you have done please? Does OS X10.2 makes better use of the second processor? How about the performance of QuickTime and DVD player with the new ATI card? Does things would mean a lot if you could comment on them. Thanks in advance.
I am upgrading from a G3 350 rev 1.
The only speed tests I've done are video editing related. I threw in some media and added some layers and effects. it took quite a bit of stuff to get the Mac to even need to render - and when it did it FLEW!
I haven't downloaded any benchmarking Apps for it, but I may do that soon.
The CPU monitors shows the performance of the monitors is almost always neck and neck- that is to say that neither one seems to carry more of the processign load than the other.
The DVD Software runs really smooth, but I do not have the ATI card, i got a BTO gForce titanium. That is one big card! The Visuals on the system are amazing, I'm planning on kicking some ass on Unreal tonight....
My machines so far is totally stock, I've only installed a few extra apps.
You can download the movie from: <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/testpagesystems/FileSharing2.html"; target="_blank">http://homepage.mac.com/testpagesystems/FileSharing2.html</a>;
I saved it in MPEG-4 to save space. Also the quality is not that great but you can get a quick idea just how fast this machine really is. Some of the apps I've turned off the splash screen so you won't see them come up on the screen but they do in the Dock (Graphic Converter, Clock, etc...)
All I have to say is that I'm more than impressed with the speed. I expect it to be a bit faster once I get some extra RAM as well (stock is 256MB).
If you're used to a single CPU PowerMac G4 the dual 867 is a tremendous upgrade. If you're sitting on the fence don't hesitate you'll like it!
[ 08-21-2002: Message edited by: DevNull ]</p>