Crazy to buy G5 Powermac now?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
So,



I took the plunge and ordered a new Dual 2.0GHz G5 Powermac. I need something powerful to drive the 24" dell monitor that is on its way to my house



Specs:

Powermac Dual 2.0GHz G5, 512MB RAM, 160GB Hard Drive, Airport Extreme, Bluetooth, Radeon 9650 w/256MB VRAM



Its the machine I really wanted but I was tortured by the proposition that Intel-based macs will be appearing some time next year. I had my Developer connection discount to use up by november or face losing it. It actually saved me $500+ ($CAN) on the price of the machine so I got all my money back from the ADC membership. Now, Stevie told me during his keynote that the professional line will not migrate to intel until 2007 but...



am I crazy buying "sunset" technology?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by CheapFrag

    I need something powerful to drive the 24" dell monitor that is on its way to my house



    My mini drives my 24" monitor fine - I hope that was not the only reason that you bought it...



    But if I had the cash, I would buy one too - the dual 2.0 is a good choice because it is supposedly much more quiet than the other ones.
  • Reply 2 of 13
    If speculation is correct the Power Macs will be the last line to be upgraded to Intel processors in 2007. That's 1.5 to 2 years use you'll get from your computer before Mactels are available.



    One question to ask yourself is do you use any software that is optimized for the Velocity Engine? Unless Apple puts a G4 processor in all Mactels to handle Velocity Engine optimized code the performance of those applications that use it will be decreased, to say the least.



    Another question to ponder is do you have a budget to upgrade all your software to versions that are Universal Binaries? Unless you use your computer for ordinary tasks like surfing the web, sending email, ect. that can be done with applications that are supplied by Apple, there could be a great cost in upgrading all you software to be Mactel compatible applications.



    I just purchased and Dual 2.0 and have no regrets. It's used for Photoshop, Illustrator, XPress so the Velocity Engine is necessary fo my work. I just upgraded to CS2 and XPress 6.5 - because I removed Classic from all my worstations and needed a OS X compatible version. Personally I'll probably be buy an iBook when it gets an Intel processor. It'll be used for surfig the web, sending emails and wordprocessing. Different tool for different job.
  • Reply 3 of 13
    I did contemplate getting the mini, but with such a huge resolution I wanted a little more gusto! Especially since I like to game every now and then.



    Also, the noise was a factor which is why I didnt get a dual G4 Powermac (I seriously considered dipping into the used market for one). But its secondary purpose is to be used as a DVD player in the bedroom so the noise of the Quicksilver (or quickhoover!) and MDD's was a deal killer.



    I think I should get at least a couple of years out of this kit. I have always had to compromise when buying a mac and this was the first time I could stretch out (the wallet) and get the system i wanted. Plus, there is lots of room for upgrades if I get the itch since I am just getting the stock RAM/HD configuration and the lower-end Radeon 9650



    I just read the dell 2405FPW is maybe not the greatest with movies, can anyone confirm this?
  • Reply 4 of 13
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by CheapFrag



    I just read the dell 2405FPW is maybe not the greatest with movies, can anyone confirm this?




    It seems fine to me. What should I look for? Do you mean quicktime movies or DVDs?
  • Reply 5 of 13
    Quote:

    Originally posted by e1618978

    It seems fine to me. What should I look for? Do you mean quicktime movies or DVDs?





    DVD's, glad to hear its fine.
  • Reply 6 of 13
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by CheapFrag

    DVD's, glad to hear its fine.



    Cancel that - I did notice a problem. The Apple DVD player seems to have a very low-rent video scaling algorithm - the video is a bit fuzzy and crappy on both my eMac 800 and my mini/24" Dell.



    The Dell has an additional problem - dark green noise is present in the black areas of the screen, which is not there on the eMac when using the same DVD.



    The DVD was Inspirations by Michael Apted - and it is worth watching even with the green noise.
  • Reply 7 of 13
    Quote:

    Originally posted by CheapFrag



    am I crazy buying "sunset" technology?




    Intel Macs won't surpass G5 performance until 2007. That's why they won't be released until then. 2 years seems to me like a fine usage period, and the PMG5 will still have a pretty high resale.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    Quote:

    Originally posted by e1618978

    Cancel that - I did notice a problem. The Apple DVD player seems to have a very low-rent video scaling algorithm - the video is a bit fuzzy and crappy on both my eMac 800 and my mini/24" Dell.



    The Dell has an additional problem - dark green noise is present in the black areas of the screen, which is not there on the eMac when using the same DVD.



    The DVD was Inspirations by Michael Apted - and it is worth watching even with the green noise.






    That may be mini-related. I have the 2005FPW and have not noticed any of the green noise. The scaling by the apple DVD player is excellent on the 2005FPW (driven by an iMac G5). When I use the 2005FPW scaler it is not very good. Also when the 2005FPW is running DVD's from my winXP (Athlon64) box using WMP the quality is noticeably lower than the apple DVD player.



    I'll post my quality results for the 2405FPW when I receive it.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Splinemodel

    Intel Macs won't surpass G5 performance until 2007. That's why they won't be released until then. 2 years seems to me like a fine usage period, and the PMG5 will still have a pretty high resale.



    And just because there is better stuff out there you dont have to upgrade, in fact, I say if this is a bread and butter workstation, or even a home PC, wait 6 months to a year after the first mactel PMs are releasedfor three reasons:



    1: avoid the early adopter tax -- 4-6 months after a new product release, the price will drop on the PM line by somewhere between 300 - 500$



    2:let others find the bugs, let the major vendors, and the minor ones for that matter get totaly reliable intel builds, and let apple get a point release or two behind them for smoothness, and also they will work out or at least find any hardware qwirks



    3: Software versions, by thene, you will want to upgrade your adobe/quark/Apple pro...apps and that would be the time to do it - new versions with the intel binary in shrinkwrap - no DLs, no patches to earlier code...it will just work





    BTW: your PMG5 at that time will sell for loads of cash because it will be amoung the fastest units for a PPC+OSX workflow if a print/video/multimedia house gets locked into it -- don't laugh, our local newspaper still uses OS9 on sawtooths and a few early Quicksilvers...
  • Reply 10 of 13
    don't worry, most of us admire your cahones (or ovaries, depending on your gender...) for getting a dual g5 2.0ghz. good stuff mate.



    1. high resale value and usability while apple works through intel transition

    2. great value out of velocity engine, games, snappy?ness on os X.4

    3. genuine 64-bit opportunities without worrying about drivers and all that other crap in windows and linux land. yes, 64-bit processes are command line only, but at least you know its there if you have apps that need it eg 64bit mathematica

    4.



    OMFG OMFG OMFG apple store is down

    OMFG OMFG OMFG
  • Reply 11 of 13
    Yeah, I am seriously considering buying a 2.7 ghz powermac g5 in mid-october. I'm not sure about selling it and getting a mactel when they are out, though.



    What's you guys' input on that?
  • Reply 12 of 13
    mmm liquid cooling.... okay seriously, my 2 cents is that the package and support that you get for that 1 year or 3 years with applecare, is very worthwhile.



    you would be looking at a timeline of 1.5-2years core usage, and if you can afford it, go ahead. your timeline would extend to 5 years as above poster has mentioned re: design/video places that have powermacs entrenched in their workflow...



    dual 2.7ghz g5. 1.35ghz fsb for each cpu.. superb... now, agp8x video card may be a challenge but not really unless you are a heavy heavy gamer which in any case you might as well set up an amd64-rig for that. fast dual layer burning (it will take a year for even 8x-12x dual layer discs to be affordable and widely available)



    liquid cooling - apple engineered stuff with a beautiful, well ventilated case, noise should not be a major issue with the fan+liquid cooling combo.



    can't see anything wrong, looks good. one thing though is repairs that i would have a ibook or powerbook as a backup computer. if you are really doing mission critical stuff, warranty repairs etc on the powermac can take a bit longer than say, a mac mini or laptop, IMO. also be aware of having to carry the Beast machine around... when moving house or taking it to repairs etc
  • Reply 13 of 13
    Dual 2.7's dance in my wet dreams! I know, too much info... Anyways, my Dual 2.0 is in production and should ship by the end of the week. Cant wait!
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