My first G5 encounter

[auenway]

Well I went to the Apple store today and there it was the 1.6 ghz G5, It was amazing, i was looking at the case for a while and i got to say that is the best looking case ever made, and it so smooth and just beautiful! I love how the CD tray opens, and it is really silent, I decided to run Photoshop on it and see how it is, I did some test and it wasnt to fast? I looked at the specs and I saw that it was only 256 mb, but it was alright for the much ram, if there was 512 it would have been really damn fast! Photoshop is going to rock on it!

Well I will be getting a G5, the dual 2ghz, cant wait, what about you guys?

[jefhatfield]

i just saw the 1.6 ghz g5 today...it had 1.25 gb of ram

the machine seemed really quiet due to the fans moving slowly

very tall case, not as curvy or nice in appearance as the g4 design imho, but the utilitarian shape does have a nice metal case with a flat sheen appearance...not at all shiny like a plastic case

the front of the case looks a bit strange and barren but the back looks nice and there are enough ports...i think this machine may not work with some computer desks due to its taller height...too tall for the under desk compartment and i wish apple had kept it shorter

the apple logos on the sides of the machine are very low key and not as apparent as the past g4 models

the photographs i have seen of this computer don't really give the real scale of the machine and this is one of those things one has to see in person...i still think its size may turn some people off...but its quietness will win over some who may have not been happy with the louder g4 towers in the past

[tazo]

It seems like they are arriving in stores right about now; looks like a visit to compusa or the local apple store is necessary :)

[Rower_CPU]

San Diego Mac-heads, the Fashion Valley store has a 1.8GHz demo model out.

Very nice. :)

[Doctor Q]

The Apple Store in Santa Monica, CA now has 'em. They are as ugly in person as they looked in the photos. I'm sorry - I was hoping to find their look aesthetically pleasing. Only an opinion of course, but at least I don't have to be jeolous of both the look and speed of the G5 compared to my MDD G4.

[VegetaPunk]

I think adding the hight was a good move on apples part, it gave us another expansion bay, didnt it? I wouldnt mind adding a CD-rom in allong side the Super Drive and a Zip Drive as well :)

[Daveman Deluxe]

Vegeta-

There is only room for ONE removable-media drive in the G5.

[cr2sh]

I still haven't seen a g5 yet, but I've seen comparison images to the g4 and the g5.. I know its big. I'll be heading up to Apple Easton tomorrow to do some shopping, I hope they have one in.

Oh yeh.. Go Bucks!

[MetallicPenguin]

Originally posted by VegetaPunk
I think adding the hight was a good move on apples part, it gave us another expansion bay, didnt it? I wouldnt mind adding a CD-rom in allong side the Super Drive and a Zip Drive as well :)

What are you talking about?

[auenway]

One of my friends who is a apple reseller, told me they made it bigger because they will be releasing the 30' Apple Dislpays and it will all go together, teh G5 and the monitor will the same hight so they will look very nice together.

Also maybe in the future they will have expansion bays for the G5 that also another reason its bigger, you can add more things inside.

Also we wont see teh true power of the G5 until Panther is released because that is a 64 bit OS and that will bring out all the power in the G5, also if your into graphics, you will see the biggest difference when Photoshop 8 and Illustrator 11 are released because those will also be 64 bit programs, the current ones are not.

[G5orbust]

Originally posted by Rower_CPU
San Diego Mac-heads, the Fashion Valley store has a 1.8GHz demo model out.

Very nice. :)

really? Thats awesome. I saw the 1.6 the day it came out at the Fashion Valley Apple Store (I know this because even the employees were checking it out :P) and Fry's Electronics on Aero Drive now has a 1.6GHz.

Update on the San Diego G5 situation is now completed. Expect a new update next time I visit CompUSA :cool:

By the way, Rower, was the 1.8 very speedy compared with the 1.6?

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by G5orbust
...
By the way, Rower, was the 1.8 very speedy compared with the 1.6?

I haven't used a 1.6, so I can't compare the two. Sorry.

[adamfilip]

they wont be 64 bit programs..!

you need the os to be 64 bit

[tazo]

i went to compusa today and they had the g5 on display [next to a 23" cinema i might add ;)]

my first impression was that wow it looks better in person

my next thought was how big it was across, i mean the thing is ginormous compared to the little g4 pmac.

i love the cd tray thingy :)

erm whatelse...

all the apps i tested opened in only a few bounces, while ms word still took a ghastly amount of time.

all in all pretty sweet.

btw it was the 1.6ghz g5 with 256mb ram

[jxyama]

ann arbor compusa had the same setup as described by tazo. 1.6 ghz with 256 mb next to a 23" display.

as echoed earlier, the case is really tall.
the cd drive slot is really neat.

i tried opening several apps, iApps and IE... i wasn't very impressed. i think g4 dual 1.42 was quicker... but of course, i just did the super unscientific "dock bounce" benchmark, so it doesn't say much...

i think lesson is that if you are going to drop so much on the computer, you better budget enough to get worthy amount of ram.

[Doctor Q]

Originally posted by tazo
i went to compusa today...I just got back from CompUSA five minutes ago. Odd that I didn't see you there. (Never mind that you are in Seattle and I'm in Los Angeles.)

[tazo]

lol come on over to seattle any time ;)

[Doctor Q]

I was last in Seattle in 1998. The guy who gave me a ride from the airport apologized for the rush hour traffic and I had to laugh because there were only a few dozen cars in view and they were moving just fine. In L.A., rush hour means thousands of cars practically standing still.

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by jxyama
ann arbor compusa had the same setup as described by tazo. 1.6 ghz with 256 mb next to a 23" display.

as echoed earlier, the case is really tall.
the cd drive slot is really neat.

i tried opening several apps, iApps and IE... i wasn't very impressed. i think g4 dual 1.42 was quicker... but of course, i just did the super unscientific "dock bounce" benchmark, so it doesn't say much...

i think lesson is that if you are going to drop so much on the computer, you better budget enough to get worthy amount of ram.

i think in the context of that machine, g5, fast bus, and osx, the least amount of ram that makes sense is 1 gig

i can see using 512 megs for an ibook and student use/home use and osx

[Catfish_Man]

Originally posted by adamfilip
they wont be 64 bit programs..!

you need the os to be 64 bit

Wow, someone hasn't been paying attention to all the discussion these past few weeks. :rolleyes:

(in case you didn't know, both 10.2.7 and 10.3 will support 64 bit programs without being fully 64 bit themselves, since they wouldn't run on G4/G3s if they were fully 64 bit)

[Rezet]

well in CT apple store they had 1.6 since last tuesday I think...
I think it's way too big, and in 1.6 model there is so much space wasted inside... They could have decreased the size by atleast 5 inches or so...
I still think it looks like crap but looks isn't my main concern.
Quietness brought my attention though... I'll put it in my bedroom and I often leave a computer on while I sleep, so, quietness definatelly is a big plus for me...
I removed cabinets above my desk so now size DOESN'T MATTER! heh :D

[alia]

Damn! I've been trying to focus on getting what I need to get done to move back to FL, but I might just have to pop over to the Apple store at the Lenox Mall and see if they have the G5s in yet.

I really want to play around with one!!

:D

Alia

[adamfilip]

Originally posted by Catfish_Man
Wow, someone hasn't been paying attention to all the discussion these past few weeks. :rolleyes:

(in case you didn't know, both 10.2.7 and 10.3 will support 64 bit programs without being fully 64 bit themselves, since they wouldn't run on G4/G3s if they were fully 64 bit)

jaguar just like the upcomming panther will be 32bit operating systems

they incorporate code to let it use the g5's memory handeling
just like 10.2.7 does..
its just optimized for the g5

[bertagert]

I saw my first G5 at the King of Prussia Apple store today. My impressions:

It is a tall machine. Not a big deal though. I also don't see why some say its ugly? I thought the smooth Al looked nice. To each his own I guess.

Speed: I wasn't impressed. It was a 1.6 with 512 of ram. I think a dual 1.42 with the same amount of ram is much snappier. Hopefully the dual 2.0 fixes this (maybe panther will too). I tried opening programs like photoshop, imovie, Word, etc. All took many bounces with the beach ball. Playing with photoshop wasn't that impressive either. Again, a 1.4 dual seems much quicker.

Noise: Well, I really didn't have a chance to hear. There was some guy there that wouldn't shut up! All he did was yap about how great MAC's are to potential customers so there wasn't time to hear anything except his annoying voice. However, I did notice that the fans are at a really low rpm. Lower rpm = low noise most of the time.

So, there's my report. I think I'll wait till I can play on a dual 2 ghz. That's what I'll be buying anyway.

[Backtothemac]

I saw my first one the other day at CompUSA in Birmingham. It was rather striking. They had nothing on it so you really could not get a feel for the speed other than the OS which was very very snappy.

iPhoto launched in one bounce, and iCal in a half of one. Much better than the 7 or so on the 17"iMac I just sold.

[lem0nayde]

For New Yorkers - J&R has one on display (surprisingly before the Apple Store Soho).

It was a 1.6 I believe - the store was empty, and the Apple portion of the store is pretty removed so it was a perfect enviroment to test the sound issue. I'll tell you, this machine was dead silent. Even with my ear against the front grill, I couldn't hear a thing.

I think the design is gorgeous, personally. Very strikingly different from any computers out there, and it's about time Apple abandoned the glossy bubbly plastic look of the past. It was getting very dated.

I agree with everyone else though - it's a very tall machine. I was surprised by the scale. The employee there opened it up for people to see - the inside is really magnificent up close, such incredible industrial design.

On the down side, and this is a big down side, the machines performance was crappy. Photoshop was sluggish and unresponsive. Granted, I only had a few minutes and I'm not sure how much ram the box had in it.

I have a dual on order, but it's not coming until October - I hope some of the Mac publications get them in their hands before them for review. If it turns out the G5 is a big stinker when it comes to performance, I'll have to cancel my order and stick with my ugly plastic Dual 867 MDD for a while.

Joe

[Kid Red]

Ok everyone step back. You won't notice a huge difference between a G4 and a G5 opening mail. Ok, so no, you won't be impressed much launching iTunes. You won't notice much difference without lots of Ram and Panther. 10.2.7 is a hack to get it to run on the G5. Wait for panther, a few apps to be written for the G5 and then lay your first impressions on us.

[cr2sh]

Originally posted by Kid Red
Ok everyone step back. You won't notice a huge difference between a G4 and a G5 opening mail.

With twice the clock speed? What is this... intel?
I should see a difference between a 900mhz g4 imac and a 1.8ghz g5...

[couch potato]

thats what sucks about living in oregon- IT TAKES FOREVER TO GET ANYTHING HERE. the G5's wont be at our oh so wonderful independent apple store for "a few more weeks":rolleyes:


wow, thats disappointing to hear that the 1.6 isnt much better. has apple blown it again?:( I hope not, because my dad got a 2ghz on order, and he has his hopes high. Me too, but i feel some doubt coming over me:(

I think that you wont notice much difference with little apps such as Mail, although it should feel different. As for photoshop- thats too bad it doesnt run much better. I think its because of the lack of ram in the 1.6 machines you guys tried out. yeah, cpu speed makes a difference, but when it comes to opening and running a good amount of apps out there, ram is a key player. with at least 1GB of ram in that 1.6, i bet there would be a great performance increase:)

[cr2sh]

The compusa here has one for sale, a 1.6 with 256... id buy it but "low end model" really isnt my style... im going to hold off for that dual 3ghz.. let alone panther...

[G3-Pwnz-G4]

people, wake up.

a dual 1.42 is going to be faster than any 1.6g5. 2.84ghz vs. 1.6ghz. duh. wake up.

[cr2sh]

Originally posted by G3-Pwnz-G4
people, wake up.

a dual 1.42 is going to be faster than any 1.6g5. 2.84ghz vs. 1.6ghz. duh. wake up.

There are so many things wrong with this post i don't know where to start...
let's start with... DELETED! (too much sb?)

Your fellow members of MacRumors are awake.
A dual 1.42 isnt the equivalent of a 2.84.
"any" is an enormous word...
I'm not sure "duh" is a valid argument either.

[G3-Pwnz-G4]

2 1.42ghz cpus...sooo, mathematically speaking it's 2.84, that's more than a ghz apart. i don't know why people are so disapointed with the speed.

IE, a 2ghz g3, would probably be faster than a 1ghz g4, just by pure speed. same as how p4's ARE faster than g4s (they are...just admit it...) not because they are more effecient but because they just spit stuff out faster.

[cr2sh]

Wow, I walked right into that one... I'm a sucker.

I'll just say that i was impressied with the g5 tonight.. the case was dead silent, I'm talking powerbook silent... the rendering I was able to do on it was on par with what I had expected, but this again was a 1.6 with 256... I wasn't stunned nor shocked... it was what I expected. I remember the first time I ever used a g4 for photoshop, the way it generated effects so much faster than my old pc... it was like that tonight, except my old pc was my old g4.
if that makes sense.

[Rower_CPU]

As many CPU experts (not me) here will tell you, dual processors does not double the speed of the machine. It's a diminishing return of approximately 80% I believe, and that's only in SMP aware apps/OSes.

So, if we're playing the math game...
1.42GHz x .8 = 1.14GHz
1.42GHz + 1.14GHz = 2.56GHz

So, an advantage of maybe 1GHz, but that leaves out completely the rest of the subsystem (full and faster DDR implementation, faster system bus, faster hard drives, etc). Of course it's still going to depend on the application and G5 optimizations for ideal G5 performance, but saying "duh, 2x1.42 G4 is better than 1x1.6 G5" is a little...oversimplified.

[G3-Pwnz-G4]

...well, that may be, but basically, i think it's stupid that people are disapointed that a 1.6ghz g5 is slower than a dp 1.42ghz g4.

jus my opinion....

[FuzzyBallz]

Originally posted by tazo
all the apps i tested opened in only a few bounces, while ms word still took a ghastly amount of time.

Hmmm... that's strange, I just did a test by opening MS word and it took half a second. Running a G4 Dual 1.25G w/ 2x512MB PC2700 Crucial, WDSE 40GB/8MB HD.

Excel took 1 second and Photoshop took 5 seconds.

Going over to campus book store now and see if which model of G5 they have.

Update: They have 20 G5 1.6 w/ 256MB RAM at the store and a 1.8 w/ 512MB on display. Opening Word took about the same speed as my system, so I guess the speed's all right. Waiting for the Dual 2.0 to come out though.

[G3-Pwnz-G4]

i just tested out a 1.6ghz g5 today. i saw no difference in speed between it and my dad's dp 1ghz g4. then again, my dad's g4 has like 1.5gb of ram, and the g5 had 256mb.

i think that is unbelievably lame. the worst part is there was this hot-shot apple-peon there, who was all full of himself and started actin like a tough guy. with tape on his glasses (honestly). ugh, talk about disturbing...

"hey boy, that's the 's-y-s-t-e-m p-r-e-f-e-r-e-n-c-e-s'. can you say system preferences? it allows you to change moniter 'r-e-s-o-l-u-t-i-o-n'..." and so on and so forth.

[Waluigi]

I just got the privallage to see and use a G5 for the first time a few hours ago! The case is stunning, way better then the pictures. The 1.8 model I used was lightneing fast, and was running the latest build of panther. The one thing I found wierd was the size of the apple logo on the right side....it is HUGE! Way bigger then in the video, if I recall correctly. Other then that, I'm even more excited about my Dual...any day now....

--Waluigi