G5 Switch question.

[scott1]

I am a current Linux PC user and have a few questions hopefully some of you can answer. I want to switch from my PC to a dual 2gHz G5, but like a lot of PC users the sticking point is the cost which is beyond ridiclous.

Question is do you think Apple will sell a stripped down G5 without ram, hd, keyboard, mouse, OSX, vid card and DVD burner? I tried the Apple store here in Orlando last night and the guy there (who was a complete retard anyways) acted lost and clueless.

Reason I ask this is I guess it's just part of me that's still stuck in the cheap-o PC building world where building saves cash. I couldn't care less about the Apple warranty either. I priced the parts direct from Apple vs. buying from eBay, online store and pricewatch.com and the price drops FAST. Has anybody else done this or gotten Apple to sell them this?

 

[jihad the movie]

I am a current Linux PC user and have a few questions hopefully some of you can answer. I want to switch from my PC to a dual 2gHz G5, but like a lot of PC users the sticking point is the cost which is beyond ridiclous.

Question is do you think Apple will sell a stripped down G5 without ram, hd, keyboard, mouse, OSX, vid card and DVD burner? I tried the Apple store here in Orlando last night and the guy there (who was a complete retard anyways) acted lost and clueless.

Reason I ask this is I guess it's just part of me that's still stuck in the cheap-o PC building world where building saves cash. I couldn't care less about the Apple warranty either. I priced the parts direct from Apple vs. buying from eBay, online store and pricewatch.com and the price drops FAST. Has anybody else done this or gotten Apple to sell them this?

Apple probably never will do that... As much as we would like them to. Your best bet would be eBay.

 

[tsk]

I am a current Linux PC user and have a few questions hopefully some of you can answer. I want to switch from my PC to a dual 2gHz G5, but like a lot of PC users the sticking point is the cost which is beyond ridiclous.

Question is do you think Apple will sell a stripped down G5 without ram, hd, keyboard, mouse, OSX, vid card and DVD burner? I tried the Apple store here in Orlando last night and the guy there (who was a complete retard anyways) acted lost and clueless.

Reason I ask this is I guess it's just part of me that's still stuck in the cheap-o PC building world where building saves cash. I couldn't care less about the Apple warranty either. I priced the parts direct from Apple vs. buying from eBay, online store and pricewatch.com and the price drops FAST. Has anybody else done this or gotten Apple to sell them this?

Yeah, as mentioned it's a lost cause. Your best bet for cheap equipment is probably the refurbs. Assuming the PM is upgraded in June, the older refurbs will also probably be cheaper too. I'd avoid eBay since it seems to me equipment goes for too much.

On the other side, you could build a dual Opteron for yourself.

 

[gbojim]

I'm assuming you are interested in Apple because you want to run Linux on the PPC platform.

The only other way I know you can get Linux on PPC is by purchasing one of the upcoming evaluation/development boards. If you haven't seen those yet, check out 970eval.com. Apple's prices look pretty attractive.

 

[Rincewind42]

Question is do you think Apple will sell a stripped down G5 without ram, hd, keyboard, mouse, OSX, vid card and DVD burner? I tried the Apple store here in Orlando last night and the guy there (who was a complete retard anyways) acted lost and clueless.

Ram: agreed, Apple charges way too much, just get the least you they will give you

HD: This probably wouldn't save you much if you could get it stripped out. If you only need 80GB, go for it. If you need (or want) more, then get a 80 and buy the other drive after market, which may save you some money (80GB SATA and ATA-100 seems to be going for about $150ish, which is about what you can presume Apple is selling their 80 GB drive for)

Keyboard & Mouse: Apple used to sell machines without and people complained. I don't think they'll go back .

Video Card: You'd pay more for an equivalent video card that is compatible after market than what Apple is charging, so you won't save any money here either.

DVD Burner: You can go for the combo drive and save $200 if you don't want a DVD burner.

The reality is that you just aren't going to get new Apple hardware for the same price as the PC do-it-yourself market. You can get refurb equipment at significant savings, if you are willing to go for that instead. Of course that is subject to availability.

 

[scott1]

Ram: agreed, Apple charges way too much, just get the least you they will give you

HD: This probably wouldn't save you much if you could get it stripped out. If you only need 80GB, go for it. If you need (or want) more, then get a 80 and buy the other drive after market, which may save you some money (80GB SATA and ATA-100 seems to be going for about $150ish, which is about what you can presume Apple is selling their 80 GB drive for)

Keyboard & Mouse: Apple used to sell machines without and people complained. I don't think they'll go back .

Video Card: You'd pay more for an equivalent video card that is compatible after market than what Apple is charging, so you won't save any money here either.

DVD Burner: You can go for the combo drive and save $200 if you don't want a DVD burner.

The reality is that you just aren't going to get new Apple hardware for the same price as the PC do-it-yourself market. You can get refurb equipment at significant savings, if you are willing to go for that instead. Of course that is subject to availability.

gbojim: Don't plan on using Linux on the G5. I'm more intrested in what OSX has to offer.


Rincewind42:

HD: An 80gb ata100 7200rpm hdd is around $50-55. Try pricewatch.com or newegg.com when looking for parts. If you're payin that much for an 80gb drive you're paying way too much. Just trying to save you some cash. Either way, I'd prefer that small of a drive since I store nearly everything on external hard drives.

DVD Burner: They're around $100-150.

Vid card: Assuming I go to the Apple.com/store and modify the standard ATI 9600 for the 9800 that would make the Apple cost of the 9600 about $250. Which is roughly the cost of the 9800 Pro 128mb at a retail store.

Keyboard and Mouse: I can find them new on ebay for 1/4 the price (somtimes less) than that of Apple store/.com or CompUSA.

Thanks for the info though. I'm just curious if anybody had tried to get a dual 2gHz G5 from Apple stripped down. I've sent them an email online and will post the results soon I hope. If there's anybody that knows where to get what I'm looking for feel free to contact me .

 

[Rincewind42]

HD: An 80gb ata100 7200rpm hdd is around $50-55. Try pricewatch.com or newegg.com when looking for parts. If you're payin that much for an 80gb drive you're paying way too much. Just trying to save you some cash. Either way, I'd prefer that small of a drive since I store nearly everything on external hard drives.

The PowerMac G5 doesn't take ATA-100 drives, it takes SATA drives. And I admit that I didn't take a really good look at the prices (went to froogle and saw the first few 80GB SATA drives were around the $150-$175 range; but your right, newegg has them as low as $75).

Vid card: Assuming I go to the Apple.com/store and modify the standard ATI 9600 for the 9800 that would make the Apple cost of the 9600 about $250. Which is roughly the cost of the 9800 Pro 128mb at a retail store.

The 9800 Pro 128MB at the retail store won't work in a Mac. The firmware is different. IIRC, ATi Makes a Mac version of the 9800 for retail, but charge the same that Apple does, $350

http://buy.ati.com/shopati/product....ption=Products&find_part_desc=mac&country=USA

Pretty much all of us realize that if we wanted to (and could) build a Mac from scratch that we would save a lot of money. But for most of us, it is also not something we would bother with. But I understand how you feel about wanting to do it and finding that it is nearly impossible to find a machine nearly completely stripped down. Your best option is to find someone else that wants to upgrade and is willing to cut you a deal for the stripped down box.

 

[jane doe]

openstep

You can always take your linux box and install OpenStep on it.... it's as close to OS X as you can get for that cheap....

 

[mpopkin]

The probability of Apple selling their product barebone is almost zero, but there are several versions of linux that will probably work on a g5 by the end of the year. Even with a Apple product refresh, prices for Dual g5's probably wont decline by much, for example i would not sell my system for under 3000 aka Dual 2ghz g5( 500 gb storage space) Apple Studio Display, Applecare for both, wireless mice and keyboard, etc. a lot of Apple Users go out and spend a lot on their machines when they get them, do you think that someone such as i would go out and sell my machine wholesale when it is still an ultrafast machine and only getting more efficient and faster(more memory, faster graphics and more powerful software) so basically you should look for a cheaper mac or wait for several successive updates before you would ever see me selling my computer for chump change