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I'm just not that impressed with the G5

O

onlydroops

macrumors member
Original poster
I've been trying decide whether to buy a G5 or G4. I've tried the 1.6 and 1.8 in the Apple store and I'm just not that impressed. At first I thought they were incredible, but I think that was just my initial reaction to their look... so they just felt faster.

As I have used them more, and I'm not doing or will ever do hardcore video work, they just don't seem like that much of an improvement in speed. Keep in mind I'm speaking from the typical user's standpoint. I'm using mostly Photoshop, Illustrator, email, web, etc.

I think a lot of people are rushing out to buy these things and for the most part don't realize how they don't really need this machine. It's overkill. Now, of course, if I had the money, I'd get one 😉

People seem to be saving up money for something they don't need. Just my thought for the day. I'll be buying a DP G4.

Of course, a DP G5 might be a whole different story. Only time will tell.
 
Re: I'm just not that impressed with the G5

Originally posted by onlydroops
Of course, a DP G5 might be a whole different story. Only time will tell.
Click to expand...

That's the key, and the bus speed if you're doing video/animation - which is what I do.

Personally, I'm waiting for rev B 😉

D
 
I'm using a single 1ghz G4 for all the stuff you are doing, and it works fine. Not everyone needs a G5. It sounds like you could get along fine even with an iMac. Not that I'm suggesting you get one, but I think there are a lot of people who buy computers that are much more powerful than they need, just for the bragging rights. Of course, there is something to be said for buying the best system around at the time to future-proof your investment for as long as possible.

In addition, wait until you see how the G5s run with Panther, and apps that are all optomized for the G5. You haven't seen many yet.
 
A Mac Too Powerful

Surelly it is a good sign of how far we have come in a few months when Mac users are posting doubts about upgrading because a PowerMac would be overkill for their needs.

As for Photoshop, with the latest software update it is supposed to be faster at a lot of operations. Like Mactastic said, when the OS is optimised for these processors everything will be a lot faster than it seems now.

Personally if I was going to use it for work I would spend the extra money for the dual-G5 now. My guess is that a dual processor G5 PowerMac with the fastest PCI slots would last you for at least five years. These PowerMacs are ahead of their time software-wise.
 
Re: A Mac Too Powerful

Originally posted by Sol
Surelly it is a good sign of how far we have come in a few months when Mac users are posting doubts about upgrading because a PowerMac would be overkill for their needs.

As for Photoshop, with the latest software update it is supposed to be faster at a lot of operations. Like Mactastic said, when the OS is optimised for these processors everything will be a lot faster than it seems now.

Personally if I was going to use it for work I would spend the extra money for the dual-G5 now. I edit video and a dual G5 PowerMac with the fastest PCI slots would last me for at least five years. These PowerMacs are ahead of their time software-wise.
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by mactastic
In addition, wait until you see how the G5s run with Panther, and apps that are all optomized for the G5. You haven't seen many yet.
Click to expand...

Yes, definately. We can expect a major preformance increase using panther, and every next OS upgrade henceforth.

Originally posted by Sol
Surelly it is a good sign of how far we have come in a few months when Mac users are posting doubts about upgrading because a PowerMac would be overkill for their needs.
Click to expand...

Hahaha, yes!!

--Waluigi
 
Re: A Mac Too Powerful

Originally posted by Sol
My guess is that a dual processor G5 PowerMac with the fastest PCI slots would last you for at least five years. These PowerMacs are ahead of their time software-wise.
Click to expand...

not to nit-pick, but lasting 5 years would depend on your definition of "last." will it be usable in 5 years? probably. just as PM G4 from 5 years ago are still usable... it will not be anywhere near top of the line in 5 years, definitely. in fact, i highly doubt that in this day and age, anything won't be pseudo-obsolete in 5 years.

g5 is a great machine. but i don't think it's any more ahead of its time to allow for it to "last" 5 years.

does this mean you shouldn't bother getting it? No. the point is, it's rather silly to expect a computer to "last" 5 years - in 5 years, probably before, you will want to upgrade. the only reason you might not is because you are patient, have no money and/or doesn't crave the status of having the best and the fastest. 😀
 
From what I understand, the G5s running 10.2.7 were only really supposed to run on the same level of speed as the latest G4s. It is with Panther that we should really start to see the G5 outclass everything else.
 
Originally posted by sparkleytone
From what I understand, the G5s running 10.2.7 were only really supposed to run on the same level of speed as the latest G4s. It is with Panther that we should really start to see the G5 outclass everything else.
Click to expand...


That should be so blindlingly obvious to any Mac fan. 10.2.7 is just the stop gap. Current apps are not taking advantage of the G5..it IS a new CPU architecture and changes in this industry don't come overnight.

Panther will be faster and as Apple/IBM provide faster compilers apps will speed up. I'd go Dual G4 only if the price was right.
 
Re: I'm just not that impressed with the G5

Originally posted by onlydroops

I think a lot of people are rushing out to buy these things and for the most part don't realize how they don't really need this machine. It's overkill. Now, of course, if I had the money, I'd get one 😉

People seem to be saving up money for something they don't need. Just my thought for the day. I'll be buying a DP G4.

Of course, a DP G5 might be a whole different story. Only time will tell.
Click to expand...

You just became a very wise consumer.

I'm agree with you, more than a year ago I said that todays softwares runs very well with yesterdays hardware. I mean, I'm doing video with a G3 500, of course in the video scenario I owuld like/need more power but regarding Photoshop and the rest of the other applications (even Audio) we are all set a long time ago, all we need is ram, video ram, HD and a 1GB processor at most. But with my G3 500 I can surf the internet as fast as a dual G5, the same with Word or most of the Photoshop stuff. I mean, users still at the same speed.

New G5 are good for video, no for playing solitarie or sending email.

I'n my experience a Mac have a use full life of at list 3 years, may be more, but if some one has a 800Mhz powermac and want to buy a new G5 while is not in to the video bussines, that is the costumer everybody would like to find.
 
Re: Re: I'm just not that impressed with the G5

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
That's the key, and the bus speed if you're doing video/animation - which is what I do.

Personally, I'm waiting for rev B 😉

D
Click to expand...
me too I never buy rev a hardware
 
But the G5 can send email up to 4 times faster! 😛 It's up to you what you decide to get. I am still using a 400 MHz G3 PowerBook and I can still type up term papers and surf the internet just as well now as I was 5 years ago when I first got it. Just buy what you know you want and enjoy your purchase. If you don't need the latest and greatest, then don't go overboard and get it. I personally like springing for the highest end I can manage simply to squeeze that extra bit of "future-proofed" life out of it.
 
I just do not get what people expected. It is quite natural for me to think that a 2x1.4 will run quite faster than a 1x1.6 or 1x1.8, even if we do know already that the CPU is just one factor to the whole equation.
 
Well, I think people expect it to be incredibly fast, and that's what Apple shoves down your throat. For instance, the advertising: a guy gets blown through the wall of a building because he's using the "world's fastest computer."

So what else is someone to expect when they stroll into an Apple store, walk up to the incredible G5, open up Safari, run a Google search... and, "Oh no! It's not THAT much faster!"

It's a bit of a let down.

Yes, it's advertising, so they have to hype it up considerably. Yet at the same time, it kills the buzz.

A bit ironic, don't you think?
 
Originally posted by nuckinfutz
That should be so blindlingly obvious to any Mac fan. 10.2.7 is just the stop gap. Current apps are not taking advantage of the G5..it IS a new CPU architecture and changes in this industry don't come overnight.

Panther will be faster and as Apple/IBM provide faster compilers apps will speed up. I'd go Dual G4 only if the price was right.
Click to expand...

While this is true, going 64-bit (OS and apps) will allow you to do more. From the 64-bit platforms I've seen, you can run 32-bit software on a 64-bit OS, but they run terribly slow. The G5 may be different... Only time will tell.
 
64 bit for new markets

I think that the 64 bit processor is going to be more useful to the people who use high-end software like Shake and Renderman (now that Pixar is talking about OS X) as well as scientific applications which come from supercomputer backgrounds. Apple seems to be entering new markets with the G5s, Xserves and the Darwin-based OS X.

Anyway, the arrival of the G5 PowerMacs is only one step towards these new markets. Inevitably the OS and the software will become optimised for G5s.
 
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