Buying PowerPC Macs In 2012

[vohdoun]

I've posted some of your thoughts before as well. I run ilife 08 on my macs and adobe photo shop cs2. My machine feels very fast. It can handle many things at once and I never ever shut it down. I don't understand why youtube videos have become the defacto benchmark for the masses. Its crazy. It makes me laugh every time that question is asked about my machine. My dell studio xps machine has major issues. Heck I don't know if its my sorry hardware or if my os is just flaking out on me.

:End Rant:

HD Ready marketing craze. HD will be getting slagged in a few years if 3DHD ever goes mainstream. Who knows, the masses are fickle.

While I have compared that as well, due to playing their games... but truthfully as I'm sure you may know, Youtube isn't even true HD. I keep reading how people complain about the severe compression on Youtube.

 

[SkyBell]

I guess I'll just never get to liking humanity and society as a whole. The life mentalities that some, if not most, people have is near sickening to me. I've been worried about the future of the Earth and the human race for a long time, and I've found little evidence to give any hope.

...But that's definitely for a different day, different thread.

I joined this forum about 8 months into the Intel switch. For at least a year beforehand, I'd been looking at iBook G4's for a new machine. At the time I was very little in the know of Apple and the whole industry in general, and when I found out in February of the same year they made the switch, I just didn't know what to think. But not too long after, I found MR and lots of people who felt the same way I did, and it was so nice to converse with people about this, about Macs in general, and nearly everything. Most of those people are gone now, haven't been active for a while. And I find this new crowd brought in by the iPhone and iPad... It's just not the same passion that used to be so prevalent here. It's like they're fans of a completely different company I can't connect to.

...Oops, sorry again for that long uninteresting post. I tend to get lost in my own thoughts and end up speaking too much of my mind.

My whole point is, it's a shame people always want more and will do so much to get it. I love giving these old machines some use, some purpose again after they've been dumped for newer tech when they still have so much life left in them. I guess you could say they're almost like small abandoned puppies to me, looking for a home.

 

[adddictedtomac]

Cheap Shot

I can't get over how pale that guy is. He looks like if sun shone on him he'd spontaneously combust. Plus he needs a hair cut. But yea he isn't really saying anything anyone with half a brain doesn't already know...

That was a Cheap Shot and Totally Uncalled! Definitely a blow below the belt!

We are all Apple/Mac fans sharing ideas and experiences, not trying to humiliate each other!

 

[adddictedtomac]

I guess I'll just never get to liking humanity and society as a whole. The life mentalities that some, if not most, people have is near sickening to me. I've been worried about the future of the Earth and the human race for a long time, and I've found little evidence to give any hope.

...But that's definitely for a different day, different thread.

I joined this forum about 8 months into the Intel switch. For at least a year beforehand, I'd been looking at iBook G4's for a new machine. At the time I was very little in the know of Apple and the whole industry in general, and when I found out in February of the same year they made the switch, I just didn't know what to think. But not too long after, I found MR and lots of people who felt the same way I did, and it was so nice to converse with people about this, about Macs in general, and nearly everything. Most of those people are gone now, haven't been active for a while. And I find this new crowd brought in by the iPhone and iPad... It's just not the same passion that used to be so prevalent here. It's like they're fans of a completely different company I can't connect to.

...Oops, sorry again for that long uninteresting post. I tend to get lost in my own thoughts and end up speaking too much of my mind.

My whole point is, it's a shame people always want more and will do so much to get it. I love giving these old machines some use, some purpose again after they've been dumped for newer tech when they still have so much life left in them. I guess you could say they're almost like small abandoned puppies to me, looking for a home.

Thanks for your thoughts. I think that a computer is just an extension of who you are, you get the one that serves your needs. For someone who wants to browse the internet, read/send emails and use MS Office/ Open Office etc, a PowerPC is a good choice and will not require too much money.

Anyway, these are my thoughts.

By the way, why 'R.I.P Apple Computer, 1976-2007' ???

 

[SkyBell]

Thanks for your thoughts. I think that a computer is just an extension of who you are, you get the one that serves your needs. For someone who wants to browse the internet, read/send emails and use MS Office/ Open Office etc, a PowerPC is a good choice and will not require too much money.

Anyway, these are my thoughts.

By the way, why 'R.I.P Apple Computer, 1976-2007' ???

Nailed it on the head, nice and short.

They changed their name from "Apple Computer, Inc." to "Apple, Inc." in 2007 around the time they launched the iPhone. It's just an opinion of mine the company I knew was greatly changed around that time, what with the iPhone and everything. Kind of a sad farewell.

 

[tom vilsack]

A dual 1.42 ghz MDD is better than a single 1.8 ghz G5. A dual 1.8 ghz G5 is better out of the box but I bet my computer owns it. If you're gonna use a G5, better buy at least a dual 2.0 ghz, or else the MDD seems to be a better option imo.

i suggested a G5 DP 2.0 GHz over a MDD because of noise...heck i even found my old quicksilver way to loud!

but my suggestion of a G5 may be less relative then Tom's choice,as i live here in vanc cdn....and are prices for used computers seem way less then other parts of world...

 

[adddictedtomac]

Nailed it on the head, nice and short.

They changed their name from "Apple Computer, Inc." to "Apple, Inc." in 2007 around the time they launched the iPhone. It's just an opinion of mine the company I knew was greatly changed around that time, what with the iPhone and everything. Kind of a sad farewell.

LOL, good one, I did not think of that! Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Nova77]

I am curious about this, how much better of a processor is a G5 compared to a G4? Is it like the slight difference between the high end Pentium 3 and early Pentium 4s? Or is like the Different Between the Core Duo 2's and the Pentium D's? ( massive )

I've never owned a G5, so no real world experience here... just comparing benchmarks. From what I've read, a G4 at the same clockspeed of a G5 will be more powerful. Maybe this doesn't apply to 7447 G4 cpus, but I guess it does for the 7450-7455 G4 CPUs found in the later PowerMacs. However, while a G4 has more power per mhz, the G5 has a very fast bus speed compared to the G4 -- meaning it can process more stuff at the same time (correct me if I'm wrong).

Maybe I'll get a G5 some day, just to see how far PPC power goes...

----------

i suggested a G5 DP 2.0 GHz over a MDD because of noise...heck i even found my old quicksilver way to loud!

but my suggestion of a G5 may be less relative then Tom's choice,as i live here in vanc cdn....and are prices for used computers seem way less then other parts of world...

Very true! MDDs are noisy beasts, but I love their looks Very good prices though. I got mine because I wanted to be able to do some retro OS 9 gaming and still do the same stuff (and more) I used to do on my PowerBook G4 1.67 ghz.

MDDs are fun for tinkering, if you're up to it, you can customize it to a point where it won't be noisy anymore.

 

[Nova77]

Nailed it on the head, nice and short.

They changed their name from "Apple Computer, Inc." to "Apple, Inc." in 2007 around the time they launched the iPhone. It's just an opinion of mine the company I knew was greatly changed around that time, what with the iPhone and everything. Kind of a sad farewell.

Haha totally agree with this, and what you've said earlier. Exept for the HD video// youtube part... because I'm the kind of person who watch youtube every single day. I'm too much of a music// video guy. But hey, I can still do everything on my MDD, while they would like us to think our PPCs are s***.

Thats planned obsolescence at its "best". I'm absolutely agaisnt that. I have that feeling too that Apple has become a different company, not the one I used to relate to. Now they care more about iOS than Mac OS... Mac OS just looks like a big "dropping support" party. Haha. Introducing Mountain Lion, another OS that will make more Intel guys in the same position as us PPC users (because a 2008 MacBook Air is now too "old" to be supported lol).

 

[G51989]

Thats planned obsolescence at its "best". I'm absolutely agaisnt that. I have that feeling too that Apple has become a different company, not the one I used to relate to. Now they care more about iOS than Mac OS... Mac OS just looks like a big "dropping support" party. Haha. Introducing Mountain Lion, another OS that will make more Intel guys in the same position as us PPC users (because a 2008 MacBook Air is now too "old" to be supported lol).

There is a reason for this I would think, is that. Microsoft rules the home computer market with an iron fist, they have something like 93% of the market, the reason is, people like the Windows operating system, and you can get a completely workable computer, with a mouse, screen, keyboard and all that for a solid 500 dollars, and if you were smart enough to get an ATx system, easily and cheap to upgrade, and its pretty much compatible with everything on the face of the planet. I think that is why the Windows OS and PC makers have really been able to hold onto their marketshare.

Apple on the other hand, holds a tiny percentage of the market share in comparison, I blame their very high prices for this. So, Apple is not making a huge amount of money off their computer division. But! the iOs, ipod/ipad/iphone is wildy popular, people line up at the doors for days just to get the latest version. So that is were I would assume most of their money comes from, which I think is why they are pushing iOS devices so hard, makes them the most money

 

[Nova77]

There is a reason for this I would think, is that. Microsoft rules the home computer market with an iron fist, they have something like 93% of the market, the reason is, people like the Windows operating system, and you can get a completely workable computer, with a mouse, screen, keyboard and all that for a solid 500 dollars, and if you were smart enough to get an ATx system, easily and cheap to upgrade, and its pretty much compatible with everything on the face of the planet. I think that is why the Windows OS and PC makers have really been able to hold onto their marketshare.

Apple on the other hand, holds a tiny percentage of the market share in comparison, I blame their very high prices for this. So, Apple is not making a huge amount of money off their computer division. But! the iOs, ipod/ipad/iphone is wildy popular, people line up at the doors for days just to get the latest version. So that is were I would assume most of their money comes from, which I think is why they are pushing iOS devices so hard, makes them the most money

Very true. If Apple was more software oriented, like Microsoft, this would never happen. They could totally crush the competition any day by selling Mac OS X for any computer, just like Windows.

 

[zen.state]

Nova77 is partly correct..

The G4 7455 and 7448 can really hold their own with early G5's. The dramatic bus increase in G5's on paper isn't near as dramatic in the real world. The early models had 800MHz - 1GHz bus and the late 04 model single 1.8GHz had a 600MHz bus.

I have owned 2x MDD's in the past with a dual 867 and dual 1.42 and currently have a single 7448 powering my main system. Along with being an owner and user of the hardware I just mentioned I have vast experience with G5's in the form of research based super computer clusters and have used several different models for individual testing and doing repairs or upgrades.

From direct real world experience I have found the following:

-It's only really when you get to the dual 2.0GHz and up that the G5's start to really separate themselves in terms of performance from the G4 7455 and 7448.

-The dual 7448 are the only G4 faster than a single 7448. My single 1.8GHz 7448 Sawtooth even with a 100MHz bus is a solid 5-8% faster than my dual 1.42 MDD was in real world performance.

-Even a dual 867 7455 will hold it's own with any single G5 and a dual 1.42 can compete with up to a dual 1.8 G5.

People pay too much attention to specs and think they speak directly to performance. When it comes to PowerPC CPU's that is almost never the case. It's all about the inner working of the logic board, RAM and CPU together and how well it was all made along with how well it all gels together. When it comes to making CPU's and logic boards the Motorola (they made all G4 CPU and logic boards) are by far the most efficient and have the greatest endurance. When it comes to G5's IBM messed up pretty much everything but the CPU itself and even that is cache hungry and considering the clock speeds not so efficient.

 

[G51989]

Very true. If Apple was more software oriented, like Microsoft, this would never happen. They could totally crush the competition any day by selling Mac OS X for any computer, just like Windows.

Even still, going up against Microsoft wouldn't be the best idea, plus. Just how I see it, they make a ton of money with iOS and their computers are very well made, I don't want to see 300 dollar OSX boxes floating around, That, and I do like OSX for the stuff I do on my G5, but I can't stand it for alot of stuff. Not to sound like a Fanboy, but I would never use a OSX Machine as my main machine. I'd chuck it out the window. This might be because I've been using Windows ( started on 95 ), S nice I was like 7.

 

[Nameci]

Really you will chuck an OSX machine out of the window?

For 5 years now, on my personal equipments, I am windows free. Except work.

 

[G51989]

Really you will chuck an OSX machine out of the window?

For 5 years now, on my personal equipments, I am windows free. Except work.

If I had to use it all day, for work and home, there could be a chance it would go out the window. Though I am on 10.5, I like it alot, and at the same time. I don't. Its kinda a love/hate relationship. Its a great OS for sure. But for work I'll stick to Windows 7.

Not to say OSX isn't a great operating system. It is. But most likely 17 years of using Windows might be making me bias.

 

[CoolmaxMini]

The future is in cloud computing and every sign you see out there, embracing iPads, Android tablets, Playbooks and smartphones, are pointing towards the demise of the once all mighty do it all desktop computer concept. I used to struggle with this concept though myself as I work in the digital media industry for more than 2 decades, but seeing clients and many consumers do most of their video and photo editing via the cloud and even I do it myself now.

But anyhow, first I really enjoyed Tom's video, though he kind of rants a bit by repeating himself a lot of what he said. Anyhow, I'm definitely looking forward to his PowerPC project in his future videos.

 

[G5 Mac Daddy]

I don't like the idea of my files being in the cloud or the idea of some super computer somewhere doing my computations. Oh well, thats just me being a paranoid old fuddy duddy.

 

[CoolmaxMini]

The plus side to cloud computing is that you can lease the computing power of a super Mac PRO whenever you need it!

 

[MacHappytjg]

My machine feels very fast. It can handle many things at once and I never ever shut it down. I don't understand why youtube videos have become the defacto benchmark for the masses.

:End Rant:

someone hasnt used a new computer lately but as for youtube, its pretty crappy when your computer cant even play a 360p youtube video smoothly, as i said before there pretty much good for light of everything.

 

[G5 Mac Daddy]

someone hasnt used a new computer lately but as for youtube, its pretty crappy when your computer cant even play a 360p youtube video smoothly, as i said before there pretty much good for light of everything.

My G5 stream yourtube videos at 480p. Mac Daddy does own wintel machines.... so I do have some newer computers.... I'm still not impressed with them....

 

[MacHappytjg]

My G5 stream yourtube videos at 480p. Mac Daddy does own wintel machines.... so I do have some newer computers.... I'm still not impressed with them....

ok i lied i just watched a youtube video after switching to camino from firefox and randomly its running smoothly, xD, anyways theres always amd

 

[G5 Mac Daddy]

Its not really a intel thing or amd thing... its a windows thing. I just cant get that virus cured LOL!

 

[MacHappytjg]

Its not really a intel thing or amd thing... its a windows thing. I just cant get that virus cured LOL!

i dont even use anti virus on my windows box and never have gotten one, anyways hackintoshes are cool how ever i only built one successful one and it was a pita to get running, anyways ppc in 2012 sure if you do web browsing and crap, also downloading sure i remember tom said in one of his videos you couldnt even get utorrent for ppc welp turns out you can i was suprised i found it correct me if im wrong i thought you did somewhere in one of them.

 

[And]

Not sure the 'experiment' will be too illuminating - some programs will work, others won't, on balance powerpcs are ok providing you have your eyes wide open and don't sink piles of cash in them. Which is what i'm going to do this afternoon, when I buy a g5 dual 1.8GHz. I will then set up my g4 for my son to use (if I can bear to part with it!).

 

[G51989]

It's the way marketing and society has become. So many people out there are so easily influenced and led to believe you must have this. Like Facebook and Twitter. I keep getting told if you're not on Facebook or Twitter, you're dead.

Even a lot of people on here were terrible before the Intel switch. Even when this section started but thats humans for you. The internet in their view is free speech with no responsibility.
Look at Youtube, there's not a day I go on there I see a video with abuse, slagging, swearing, cursing everything you can possibly imagine. When the majority of illiterate people can't express themselves, it's then verbal abuse. And for the love of god, if I see someone once more say haters gonna hate, I think I'm going to need to get a Safari extension to filter it out.

You know the best part I love about this forum, the hypocrisy. Before the Intel switch this forum was all pro PPC, Intel slow and all that, Intel is a PC arguments, PowerPC is what makes the Mac experience etc, you name it.
Then when they bought Intel Mac's it was full force of PPC slagging. Praise today slag tomorrow. The same could be said with anything in life nowadays.

It's one thing owning something but don't make it your business to ridicule people so you can feel superior. Thats really how the internet is now.

Now I am curious about this, maybe because my only Mac Experinces were in tech club at high school ( we had a ton of iMac G3s. Oh good god, I wanted to chuck those out the window. OS9? Or was it 8? I forget, so slow. But I think that was due to the complete lack of ram these things had ). And the Dual 1.8gzh G5 I picked up, which I have to say. I like very much, and I do hope to pick up a Power Mac G3 at some point ( Graphite of course ). So maybe I just don't ' get it '

I heard this hyped up back in high school by the " Mac people " at the school, and you did hear alot about power PC. Then came the intel switch...oh boy.

Maybe I'm ranting a bit, but what is the difference between a PPC or Intel experience? Or even if was an AMD? Via? or whatever processor. If you take the same Power Mac Case, Have one with an Intel Processor, a Power PC Processor, and hell why not an AMD processor. And they are all somehow running the same version of OSX, with the same programs, and all these systems have virtually the same performance. Can you really tell what type of processor its running? I wouldn't think so.

Now before someone flips at me, I'm not knocking anyone who ever said " Well power PC is what Made Mac a Mac ", I just kinda don't buy that.

And its a shame that power PC is gone from the main stream ( Xbox 360, PS3 and the Wii all use power PC I think ), I am a fan of better technology. Power PC is a much better architecture than X86, that's from everything I've read. From what I've also read and correct me If I'm wrong on this as well.

Why power PC went away from apple, from what I understand:

1: IBM's lack of ability to ramp up the performance in the G5 as promised
2: IBM's lack of ability to get the damn thing to run cool enough to put into a mobile computer
3: IBM's more lack of ability to get costs under control
4: IBM's lack of ability, again to get the Dual Core's to run cool enough to be able to use air cooling, which led to liquid cooling systems. Which much like all early liquid cooling systems. Were not the most reliable.
5: Intel closed the performance gap rather quickly when the G5 faltered.

This is the most common reason's I"ve heard for the death of PPC,