PowerMac G5 Quad a good Value!

I've always thought the Power Mac G5 was good value, for a UNIX workstation. It's only when people start comparing them to PCs that they start to seem expensive.

Even with the monitor not being as good value, the overall value remains better. ^5 apple!*

*For their powermacs, imacs and ibooks only

The dual dual PM looks sick.

On a side note, these updates have brought all three models into the same class. No more prosumer motherboards in the lower models.

Cfg5 said:

The dual dual PM looks sick.

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Who cares what it looks like on the inside? All that matters is how well it works and how it holds up.

Bear said:

Who cares what it looks like on the inside? All that matters is how well it works and how it holds up.

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I was saying the specs looked awesome...not the actual look of it.

G5 Quad liquid cooled?

Does anyone know if the Quad G5 is liquid cooled? I couldn't find it at Apple's web site.

drbrog said:

Does anyone know if the Quad G5 is liquid cooled? I couldn't find it at Apple's web site.

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I'm guessing that if the dual needed to be liquid cooled so it won't catch on fire (Mmm hyperbole), that the quad would be as well.

risc said:

I've always thought the Power Mac G5 was good value, for a UNIX workstation. It's only when people start comparing them to PCs that they start to seem expensive.

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They were, even when the dual G5s intially came out. The most comparable Dell and Sony systems (at least those available Stateside) were significantly more expensive. Perhaps they were a bit faster, but Apple still could have said that they were a better value just on the numbers.

What Apple struggled with was the single-processor "low-end" PowerMac, a problem that, in my opinion, Apple created by refusing to come up with a solution for prosumers who wanted something...well, you know what I mean. In any event, that's reason I have a Mini, and not a $999 Mac desktop with upgradeable video to go with my 23" LCD.

But these new machines- very impressive design. As a confirmed PC user (alongside my mac, of course), I suspect that the serious speed-freaks in the PC camp will start to become a little interested. And with an eventual speed increase in the Powerbook (probably from Intel?)...Apple will earn the benchmark scores to make the Wintel crowd take our favorite products seriously.

As Martha Stewart would say, it's a good thing!

I'm actually considering getting the quad config. I can get it for $2999 with the .edu discount, so it really is a great deal! And it's just money... I would just have to make a lot of logos to earn extra money.

drbrog said:

Does anyone know if the Quad G5 is liquid cooled? I couldn't find it at Apple's web site.

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It doesn't mention it anywhere I could find either.

It apears from the pictures that the Quad is air cooled.

Bear said:

It doesn't mention it anywhere I could find either.

It apears from the pictures that the Quad is air cooled.

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I believe that's the liquid cooling radiator, it looks a lot like mine.

adamfilip said:

check it out
its a straight comparison

Apple
PowerMac G5 Quad

2 x 2.5 G5 Dual Core
1mb per core
2gb 533 DDR2 ECC
2 x 500GB SATA HDD 7200
Nvidia Quadra FX4500 512mb
16x DVD writer dual layer
Apple Cinema Display 23" DVI

$7,623
--------------------------------------
Dell
Dell Precision 670 x64

2 x Xeon 2.8 Dual Core
2 mb per core
2gb 400mhz DDR2 ECC
2 x 500GB SATA HDD 7200
Nvidia Quadra FX4500 512mb
16x DVD writer dual layer
Dell 24 inch UltraSharp™ 2405FP Widescreen

$8,354

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Is the Xenon 32- or 64-bit? I've seen that comparison on another forum and I've been to Dell and Intel, but everyone is very vague on the specifics. Dell is also offering a single core 64-bit Xenon that has 64-bit all over the place.

What gives, are they getting more for a quad 32?

it's worse than that for HE purchases. Got a nice research IT budget to spend so had put off buying a new machine for a month or so in the hope the new Power Macs would appear. Purchase order went in today, and because my research group is pretty much all Dell/Windows machines it took a bit of convincing for them to let me blow £2800 exc. VAT on a single Apple computer. My boss was eventually convinced, but told me to keep a printout of the equivalent Dell spec. and price in my drawer in case someone asked why we spent so much.

So here are the two specs:

Power Mac
Quad G5 2.5Ghz
250Gb SATA HDD
512MB RAM (4Gb will be getting bought from Crucial)
Dual Layer DVD Writer
PCIe Geforce 6600 256Mb
23" Apple HD Cinema Display
Applecare

£2472 exc. VAT

Dell Precision 670
2x Dual Core Ceon 2.8Ghz (64 bit versions I believe)
250Gb DATA
512Mb RAM
Dual Layer DVD Writer
PCIe FireGL v3100 128Mb (not sure if that's better than the Geforce, but seemed closest)
24" Dell Widescreen LCD
3 Year warranty

£4359 exc. VAT

We felt that made a pretty good case for the Mac, so Apple now has my order on their system and I'm awaiting delivery of my lovely new workstation/server.

Boy I wish I had $4k+ to blow on a quad powermac and cenima display. Stuck here on my dual 1.8 and 19"crt.