Good time to buy G5?

[illustratorDavi]

Hi

I know this question gets asked all the time but is now a good time to buy a G5 ?

I'm looking at getting a 2.5ghz or 2ghz G5 at the London Applestore opening if they are available (I know - very unlikely!!)

Or should I wait until Tiger is out at the end of March ?

Thanks
David

[wdlove]

The usual thinking is that if you have need of a new computer now, then go ahead and purchase. I would think that if you are among the early customers to enter the Apple Store your chances should be very good of getting a G5.

I don't really expect an upgrade to the G5 until at least WWDC in June.

[combatcolin]

And by then it will have Tigar as standard. (Hopefully fingers crossed)

[Makosuke]

Being that there's very likely not going to be any significant changes to the PowerMac line at least through the end of the year, and likely not even then, wdlove's stock advice is correct.

The G5s, even the 2.0s (of which I have a revA model) are solid, very fast machines no matter how you look at it. Right now the 2.0s are probably a better budget proposition (plus better availability), but either should make you a happy camper.

On the other hand, if you don't really need a new Mac quite yet, waiting until January (or so) will probably at least get you a cheap copy of Tiger when it ships later in the year. Of course, that's trading a $130 piece of software for two to three months without a new computer. Whether it's worth it is your call.

[Macmaniac]

I would buy now, just waiting is going to end up in disappointment, I don't think there will be a G5 update at MWSF, might as well buy now.

[~Shard~]

Just buy one now, I doubt we will see any major revisions to the PowerMac line by MWSF. Plus, it's a G5 for Pete's sake, it's a powerful machine and no doubt will amply handle any tasks you may want to throw at it. :cool:

As for your comment about Tiger in March, doubtful. Tiger will not be available until June '05 I'm predicting.

[lazymuoio]

you should check the buyers guid eit is your friend and will prevent you from getting flamed but that aside i would say yes now is a very good time to buy a G5 bc i dont see a revison till MWSF and you could avoid whatever holiday shipping delays that could arise

[illustratorDavi]

Thanks for the great response.

I think I should probably pick up a new G5 when the Apple Store London opens.

I think I having second thoughts because the buyer guide says "only buy if you need one"

Does anyone know what that small hole is on the bottom-right of the apple screens - is it a microphone like on the imac G4 ?

Thanks
David

[madmaxmedia]

No no! Wait until MacWorld- they are gonna announce the new G6 PowerMacs!!!!

:p

About the only purchase worth possibly waiting on would be the Powerbook IMO, on the off-chance they have news or announce a G5 PowerBook. Even that seems unlikely, and wouldn't be available in quantity for awhile if they did announce.

AFAIK everything else would only be incremental revs (if at all.)

[QCassidy352]

I don't see an update as likely any time soon just because I don't think IBM can supply any faster chips than they are doing now. They are still struggling to meet demand on the 2.5 Ghz chips as it is...

[themacman]

I exspect a G5 update before Febuary and march

[Mechcozmo]

Just buy one now, I doubt we will see any major revisions to the PowerMac line by MWSF. Plus, it's a G5 for Pete's sake, it's a powerful machine and no doubt will amply handle any tasks you may want to throw at it. :cool:
.

Don't you mean for Peter's sake? ;)

[~Shard~]

I exspect a G5 update before Febuary and march

Really? Before February and March? I wouldn't have thought Apple would release 2 updates so close together, but if you say so... :p :cool:

[~Shard~]

Don't you mean for Peter's sake? ;)

Nope. I meant Pete's. :p :cool:

[jackieonasses]

Really? Before February and March? I wouldn't have thought Apple would release 2 updates so close together, but if you say so... :p :cool: Then it would take a good 3 months for the best one to finally get out to mass market...

Please sir, just buy now. I highly doubt you use Motion or Shake extensivly enough to be able to notice a difference between, dual 2.5's and dual 2.8's or whatever it will be next

kyle

[~Shard~]

Then it would take a good 3 months for the best one to finally get out to mass market...

Please sir, just buy now. I highly doubt you use Motion or Shake extensivly enough to be able to notice a difference between, dual 2.5's and dual 2.8's or whatever it will be next

kyle

I agree, and I think this raises a good point - many people seem to forget that they are not Pro users. Are you going to be using Logic 7, FCP HD, Shake, Motion, and the entire Adobe CS intensively everyday, in some cases to make your living? No. Then don't worry about getting the latest and greatest, a DP 2.5 G5 is more than adequate for many people's needs. And for the Pro users, yes, I totally appreciate your requirements however they are different from that of a 15-year old who just wants a "cool" machine and wants the latest and greatest so he can play UT2004 or whatever it is they like playing nowadays.

[neut]

if you need it and are a power user (high end audio/video or research) then get a refurd dual 2.5 if they have them over there. i just got one for 2,799 US. :) it ****in' rocks!

i don't expect another significant upgrade this year... (don't quote me on that). i bought it cause i want to get a DVD released by Christmas (local bands - organech stuff and a bonus album/compilation). :D six months 0% APR!!!

woo-hoo!


peace.

[SpaceMagic]

Is there a bad time to buy a G5? :D

Seriously though, I bought mine in November last year. Couldn't have been happier :) especially since there's been 3 revisions of G5 1.8 since then, only the original dual being better than mine. (IMO)

[illustratorDavi]

In reply to :

I agree, and I think this raises a good point - many people seem to forget that they are not Pro users. Are you going to be using Logic 7, FCP HD, Shake, Motion, and the entire Adobe CS intensively everyday, in some cases to make your living? No.

Yes, I am a freelance illustrator/publisher and animator and would be using these packages constantly

I can see how 15 year olds would love to buy a powerful computer like the 2.5 but how many can they afford to buy it.

David

[~Shard~]

In reply to :



Yes, I am a freelance illustrator/publisher and animator and would be using these packages constantly

I can see how 15 year olds would love to buy a powerful computer like the 2.5 but how many can they afford to buy it.

David

Please note I said "some people" - I in no way was implying you were one of them, in fact, I kind of assumed you were more of a Pro user. ;) Again, there are some peopler who require the latest and greatest for the very tasks that you do on a daily basis, but so many others, well, don't. I think you can appreciate that. :)

[illustratorDavi]

Hi ~Shard~

Yes, I know you didn't mean to class me as a 15 year old game player :)

I didn't describe my purpose for buying a G5 in my original post - so i just wanted to clarify reason for buying a G5

Thanks for the great advice

David

[risc]

Does anyone know what that small hole is on the bottom-right of the apple screens - is it a microphone like on the imac G4 ?


I'm looking at an AL ACD right now and the hole is actually a white LED. It's dark when the monitor is on, and flashes bright when you power the monitor on or off, and when the monitor is in standby mode it pulses slowly. HTH.

[~Shard~]

Hi ~Shard~

Yes, I know you didn't mean to class me as a 15 year old game player :)

I didn't describe my purpose for buying a G5 in my original post - so i just wanted to clarify reason for buying a G5

Thanks for the great advice

David

No worries at all David, just wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings. :cool:

I hope this thread has helped you make your decision!

[illustratorDavi]

Yeah, ive been looking at my bank balance this morning - so im ready for London Apple Store opening

Thanks for the help

David

[Floop]

See you at the Apple Store London opening then!

Personally, I'm going to wait for the next bump to the PowerMac line before buying.

The MacRumors buyer's guide indicates that, based on average times between PowerMac updates, the next one will be due in early December.

Obviously, this is an unlikely time of year for an update, and right now IBM are struggling to fill orders. However Apple did say in their end of quarter briefing that they expect to promptly fulfill orders of all items in their product line by the end of this quarter.

This information means that by MWSF in January, the PowerMac line will be 6 months old and due an upgrade, and IBM may be generating the current chips in sufficient quantities that they can then start trickling out a 2.8GHZ chip for instance.

I have a PowerBook already so have no need to get the PowerMac right now, but fingers crossed the PowerMac line will get a bump by the end of January, maybe to 2.0, 2.5 and 2.8 GHZ. That's what I'm hoping for at least.

Floop

[nina]

Amen to that!

This is exactly what I'm hoping for too. After a lot of conisderation, I'm gonna grab a dual PowerMac as soon as they're refreshed. I too have a new 12" Powerbook, so that'll last me until then.

Hopefully both you and I will be handing money over to Apple 'come January!

[~Shard~]

Amen to that!

This is exactly what I'm hoping for too. After a lot of conisderation, I'm gonna grab a dual PowerMac as soon as they're refreshed. I too have a new 12" Powerbook, so that'll last me until then.

Hopefully both you and I will be handing money over to Apple 'come January!

PowerMac revisions come January? It would be nice of course but I don't know if we'll see it... :o

[Floop]

PowerMac revisions come January? It would be nice of course but I don't know if we'll see it... :o

Have you any reasoning to support your theory which contradicts my theory of why we should see an update in January... or are you just guessing :confused:


Floop

[~Shard~]

Have you any reasoning to support your theory which contradicts my theory of why we should see an update in January... or are you just guessing :confused:


Floop

Well since you're just guessing as well I don't see what the big deal is... :p

I think if we see any PM updates at MWSF, it's going to be in the form of a small speed bump to one of the machines and nothing else. So, obviously for those Pro users out there who need every MHz of processing power they can take (and more!) it might be a worthwhile wait, but for the average Joe I doubt a 200 or 300 MHz bump per processor will be anything groundbreaking that they'll definitely want to wait for. If anything, the 2.5s will then become lower in price and be a better deal. ;) But keep in mind again, that even if an updated PM is announced at MWSF, it probably won't ship for a few months afterwards - just look at the people who have ordered the 2.5 GHz PMs - some of them are still waiting! :eek:

Of course, I could be wrong and so could you. No one knows, so we'll just have to wait and see... :cool:

[Floop]

Well since you're just guessing as well I don't see what the big deal is... :p

Well I think the difference here is that I'm trying to use the evidence from Apple's past activity to predict their future activity, which isn't so much guessing, more estimating! Your opinions, though equally valid as opinions, don't seem to me to be based on much evidence... but anyway, as you say, we'll both have to wait and see, so I'm not baiting you here, just stating my POV!

As for some specific response to your comments... Apple hardly *ever* just give a 'small speed bump to one of the machines in the PowerMac line and do nothing else'? The only time I can think they did this is when they changed the single 1.8 to a dual 1.8.

Unless of course you are referring to when Apple introduce a *new* top of the line machine, and shift the previously 'better' and 'best' models down to 'good' and 'better' levels, maintaining the old price structure, in which case we are talking about the same thing, e.g. going from 1.8, 2 and 2.5 GHZ to 2, 2.5 and 2.8GHZ.

The other thing is, with the next speed bump it is more than likely that we will see important 'under the hood' changes in architecture, for instance going to PCI Express.

Lastly, when you say that after they introduce new models, there is always a dearth of availability, this is only really true for top of the line machines. The low end PowerMacs are nearly always available - I mean, if they can supply 2GHZ PowerMacs today at the 'better' level, they should be able to provide them in January at the 'good' level.

I think the thing here is, I (and others) are not looking to get the top of the line machine (2.5 or perhaps 2.8 in January), in which case your availability argument would be absolutely correct. Actually though I'm looking for the best value PowerMac G5 (not the iMac before anyone says that). Right now, the best value PowerMac G5 is the 1.8GHZ... but if I wait until January, it is likely that for the same price I would pay today, I could get a 2GHZ machine, with the latest internal architecture, for the same price.

OBVIOUSLY the flaw in this argument is that you can *always* wait for a better machine, but given the evidence, I am prepared to hold out for the next revision... but that's just me!
:D

[illustratorDavi]

I didn't realise that MWSF was on in January - I agree it is likely that they will do something with the powermac line-up. I think I might have to think again about my purchase ?!?! (This is painful)

The problem is that we could be waiting for ages for the next generation to come out. Adding on the delays in shipping it is likely we won't get our hands on our new top-end computers till early march.

I'll have to see what happens at the Applestore opening.

Thanks
David

[Mechcozmo]

If the G5s are upgraded, will the low end still be crippled in terms of no PCI-X and only 4 RAM slots? Because that is what Apple did to the Dual 1.8, and I wouldn't want to see that happen with the Dual 2.0. I guess there are always the Apple Refurbs...

[wwworry]

The refurbs seem like a good deal right now. If you check in the morning they usually have a dual 2.0 for $2000. I predict a refresh available in March based on patterns going back the last 4 or 5 years.

I would not guess January just because the dual 2.5s weren't readily available until September or something.

[Floop]

I would not guess January just because the dual 2.5s weren't readily available until September or something.

This is a good point... though of course Apple could announce a new 'high end' model in January that wouldn't ship until March - that seems their recent strategy.

Sometimes I wonder whether Apple are doing this deliberately, playing with supply and demand, knowing that as they rarely seem able to meet demand for the high end G5s due to the constricted supply, they can charge extremely high prices for them...

[Grokgod]

My main worry about waiting is that the 2.0 would become the lowest model and made with a crippled motherboard.

I dont think that there is going to be an upgrade for quite some time.

I think that there is a serious problem with creating CPU's at higher speeds!

Intel is having problems also and Mac has some kind of Karma that is constantly creating these problems!

I think that the 2.0 pre water cooling is the sweet spot now and will be remembered as such for quite a long time.

i think I am going for that, unless i hear a better idea! :)

[dual64bit]

I went to an IBM workshop the other day and they are putting the POWER5 in a lot of their servers now. The processors they are using are the 130nm ones with only 1.5-1.85 Ghz. They have a chart showing that their future plans are to go with a POWER5+ which is the 90nm version.

Anyhow, they are behind, so I'm not sure where the actual engineers are at in fishgill with the newest G5. I hope they have been able to cram more speed into that chip so we might see something in jan.

[Little Endian]

I doubt we will see any speed bump for PowerMacs at MWSF in Jan 05. Most likely we will not see a major revision until sometime between March-July 05. However I would not rule out the Possibility of Changes to Configurations at MWSF. Apple could bump the entire line to feature 16X DVD-R with DL capability, Offer better stock Video Cards or Double the standard RAM configurations. All the afforementioned would be likely especially if Apple is not planning a major revision of the PowerMac Line until WWDC in Summer 05. Can you imagine how bad it would look if Apple's Flagship $2000+ Pro line of computers are still using 8X Single Layer DVD Burners, Geforce 5200FX, and only 256MB and 512MB stock RAM configurations some 6 months from now mid 2005!! Come on now 16X DVD-/+RW Drives with DL ability sell for as low as $70 now, Sub $1000 PCs ship with 16X DL drives these days. Shipping a Pro Machine with 512MB is a Joke and 256MB is plain insulting especially when OSX itself can gobble that all up. The Geforce 5200 was the low end card of a Generation ago almost 2 years old now and is now replaced by the Geforce 6200 as Nvidia's newest bargain cheapo card. If Apple does'nt plan to Update by March which seems unlikely they had better offer more starting in Jan.

Also I think there is Posibility that we could see a Price Drop in Cinema Displays particularly the long overpriced 20incher at MWSF.

[wdlove]

If Apple does'nt plan to Update by March which seems unlikely they had better offer more starting in Jan.

Also I think there is Posibility that we could see a Price Drop in Cinema Displays particularly the long overpriced 20incher at MWSF.

I don't think we will see updates at MWSF either.

Hopefully there will be a price drop for the 30" as well.

[ryan42]

In response to:
You can sleep in your car, but you can't drive your house! Buy a porsche!

Yeah.
You can teach a dog to roll over, but you can't teach a pig to fly! Buy a stapler!

[Dr. No]

Is this a good time to buy a 1.8 GHz single G5? Or do you think they will significantly upgrade it within 2 months :confused:

[timsq]

I have had an epiphany since taking receipt of my G5 d2.5 and it is only the beggining. I tacked up the first ad I saw for the G5 over 2 years ago and everyday without it has been lost time and I haven't slept in a good while. A bit dramatic, but this computer is revolutionary both in cost and sheer strength. I have so many open possibilities, I only wish it were mounted on my arm. Thank you ssh. No boundaries for now. You will not regret it . Namaste.

[~Shard~]

Is this a good time to buy a 1.8 GHz single G5? Or do you think they will significantly upgrade it within 2 months :confused:

Highly doubtful - there are many other products which Apple would update before the single 1.8, as it just came out. I would be extremely surprised if we saw any updates to it anytime soon. Just my opinion of course...

[HiRez]

The refurbs seem like a good deal right now. If you check in the morning they usually have a dual 2.0 for $2000.
Yep, I've had my refurb Dual 2.0 G5 for about a week now and it's fantastic. $2,000 with 512 MB RAM and 64 MB Radeon 9600 Pro. It arrived 3 business days after I ordered it with the standard (free) shipping, and it also came with Panther 10.3.3 and the iLife 2004 suite DVD. Then I added 1 GB of RAM (not from Apple) for a total of 1.5 and .Mac, so for under $2,500 I've got a screaming new Mac and I'm a very happy guy. :) The only negative is that Apple mistakenly charged my credit card twice temporarily (some rubbish about an "authorization check charge") which locked up my card until they got it sorted out, so watch out for this. My advice is don't wait, you will only drive yourself nuts waiting for the update that never seems to come!