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Worth buying Power Mac G5?

T

Tronix

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2008
12
0
Hi,

I'm currently debating if I should buy a Power Mac G5 to replace my current desktop machine.

My current machine runs windows XP :(. Its got Intel C2D 1.8Ghz, 2GB ram and an X1950XT. I don't really play games any more so graphics power is not really needed.

So I'm looking on ebay at the Power Mac G5's, mainly because I love Leopard on my laptop it is very fast indeed. Now I'm wondering the Power Mac are not that new but would a 2GHz dual G5 with 2GB ram run leopard fast like my laptop.

My main uses are web browsing, music/video, very light photoshop use and file storage. I would also be running windows xp and ubuntu linux on vmware only for very light usage again. As XP would just be incase I ever needed to run a windows specific program which is not ver likely, and I would also run Ubuntu linux I would use it regulary just to play around with as I'm currently learning linux. Also can I tripple boot OS X, Windows XP and linux on the powermac?

So would a G5 be a good choice, would it be slow with leopard and what I want to use it for. I'm not doing video editing, or heavy photoshop use. But I know the ram will limit me when running Virtual machines.

Could I run 4GB ram in the power Mac?, and also will there be certain programs which I can not use due to it not being a intel mac? and one last thing is that I have read about the water cooling problems is this just with the water cooled G5's are all G5's water cooled? Would you suggest a different machine like a Mac Mini? the main reason I am looking at the powermac is because I run a dual screen setup for my main pc and I would like to do that on the mac.

Sorry for some of the silly questions and the long post, I don't know much about the power macs at all lol. I hope you guys can help me out :)..

Thanks :).
 
A

aaronw1986

macrumors 68030
Oct 31, 2006
2,622
10
You would not be able to run windows in vmware on a G5. You would need to run windows in virtual pc, which would be very slow. How important is running windows? If it is pretty important, a G5 would not be the route for you.
 
F

Flyer0815

macrumors 6502
Dec 11, 2007
258
13
PA
The Power PC chip is a dead technology, and I personally wouldnt invest a dime in it at this stage of the Intel transition. For your needs, a new iMac would work great.

For Windows use too through Parallels or Boot Camp, youll need an Intel chip too.

Sure the G5 would do what you need it to do fine, but you are investing hard earned cash in the last era of Apple... The Intel chips have completely trumped the G5... I would absolutely stay away at this late stage.



There is a reason people sell their stuff on ebay :)
 
robrose20

robrose20

macrumors 6502
Jun 5, 2007
275
0
don't do it ... They were nice machines, but that line is dead. The next rev of max OSX won't even support the powerpc architecture.
 
Mr. Zarniwoop

Mr. Zarniwoop

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2005
751
139
Tronix said:
I'm currently debating if I should buy a Power Mac G5 to replace my current desktop machine. [...] I would also be running windows xp and ubuntu linux on vmware only for very light usage again.
Click to expand...
Well, not exactly.

The PowerMac G5 is not compatible with VMware Fusion, which requires an Intel-based Mac. A PowerMac G5 can run Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac 7, which requires a PowerPC-based Mac, but it's much slower than VMware on Intel hardware because it has to emulate the Intel CPU.

There are community-based ports of Ubuntu for PPC Macs available, but they're not available on some of the mirrors.
 
T

Tronix

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2008
12
0
Damn this sort of sucks, I don't really want to go with the G5 seeing as it is pretty dated now. And the Mac Mini will not support dual screen, even with a Matrox Dual Head 2 Go :(.

Worth a shot, suppose I'm going to have to stick with my PC for now. Oh well still got my MacBook :D.
 
dimme

dimme

macrumors 68040
Feb 14, 2007
3,029
27,672
SF, CA
As everyone says you can't run windows. But it does run os X Leopard very well.
 
QCassidy352

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,028
6,036
Bay Area
Tronix said:
Damn this sort of sucks, I don't really want to go with the G5 seeing as it is pretty dated now. And the Mac Mini will not support dual screen, even with a Matrox Dual Head 2 Go :(.

Worth a shot, suppose I'm going to have to stick with my PC for now. Oh well still got my MacBook :D.
Click to expand...

you could do dual screen with an imac - the built in + one external.
 
O

OZMP

macrumors 6502
Feb 18, 2008
321
0
i would personally go a new iMac, or mac mini if the budget is lower... I say this from previously owning a 2x2ghz g5 tower. My dad has a mac mini, and an iMac would demolish them both.

Cheers
 
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