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G5= worth it?

TheG3Guy said:
and hopefully i will be able to purchase a powermac g5 dual processor 1.8-2GHz. will it do it?
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Hi,

Speaking from my own experience: don't go for a G5. My G5 is the slowest and -- quite honestly -- most buggy machine I have. Even my old MBP (CD) outperforms this thing... iMac is just way better, not to mention MP. With the money you've got (or will get), it's not that far to iMac.

Anyway, get something newer (intel-based). In a year or so you'll be having problems with all major soft not working on PPC.

sash
 
I would wait for a new mini

when(if?) they come out. Then bump that up to 4 gigs and if you want you can put a beefier hd in there. The video card should be about par with most of what you can find for the powermac g5, and the mini will perform just as well, if not better.

Sure you cannot expand it nearly as much, but expanding a g5 is like putting a really nice engine in a Pinto, it just doesn't make a lot of sense at this point.
 
What's wrong with a really fast pinto? :confused:

Like I said before, some people just don't need 8 cores to check their emails or listen to music...

Yeah Intels are faster because they are newer but the G5's are still quite capable of doing anything the Intels can. He just wants to run Leopard which mine does remarkably well with not that much memory. I've been encoding/ripping DVDs in the background and I havn't seen any slowdown using Firefox with 7 tabs open.
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
Like I said before, some people just don't need 8 cores to check their emails or listen to music...
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If it's just for something like that, than yes, why not... If you're planning something bigger -- think twice.

sash
 
I dunno I mean my friend runs Final Cut Pro and Leopard on a 1.5ghz G4 Mac Mini and it runs fine.

So a G5 should be quite good for internet and MS office.
 
I think any purchase decision needs to be based on what you are going to use it for, how much you can afford to spend, and what software is available to do what you need to do now - and in the immediate future. This is especially relevant with the G5's PPC chip as software moves to Intel.

My 2.0 G5 (8 GB model) is great for my needs as an artist needing to manipulate images in CS2. It handles large files in a smooth and timely manner - although haven't used many layers and my largest files are around 350mg. The video cards can be upgraded as well to handle the 30" monitors if you so wish.

Seriously consider your own needs and not get caught up in the latest and greatest race. It seems tempting, but everyone wants to dump their G5s to upgrade. Amazing deals can be found all the time now. Personally - I am making a stand with the G5 becasue I strongly feel that my current software will serve me well into the future for what I think I will need to do. I know Snow Leopard will drop the PPC chip support - but I don't care - the Tiger OS is serving me well. You need to decide for yourself what is important in relation to your budget needs. You also need money left over for all the other equipment/software you'll need. So blowing the roll on the Intel computer and not having cash for the rest of your tools doesn't make sense in my mind.

The G5 is still a very powerful machine - with the right software it is an outstanding value for the price/performance - especially if you already have software like CS2. You won't need to upgrade to CS3 - and save even more.

Mike
 
that is a great point....and i just saw a dual 2ghz with 4gb ram and 300gb hard drive go for 450 on ebay. and also a 2ghz core duo macboook go for 520
 
Toronto Mike said:
I think any purchase decision needs to be based on what you are going to use it for, how much you can afford to spend, and what software is available to do what you need to do now - and in the immediate future. This is especially relevant with the G5's PPC chip as software moves to Intel.

My 2.0 G5 (8 GB model) is great for my needs as an artist needing to manipulate images in CS2. It handles large files in a smooth and timely manner - although haven't used many layers and my largest files are around 350mg. The video cards can be upgraded as well to handle the 30" monitors if you so wish.

Seriously consider your own needs and not get caught up in the latest and greatest race. It seems tempting, but everyone wants to dump their G5s to upgrade. Amazing deals can be found all the time now. Personally - I am making a stand with the G5 becasue I strongly feel that my current software will serve me well into the future for what I think I will need to do. I know Snow Leopard will drop the PPC chip support - but I don't care - the Tiger OS is serving me well. You need to decide for yourself what is important in relation to your budget needs. You also need money left over for all the other equipment/software you'll need. So blowing the roll on the Intel computer and not having cash for the rest of your tools doesn't make sense in my mind.

The G5 is still a very powerful machine - with the right software it is an outstanding value for the price/performance - especially if you already have software like CS2. You won't need to upgrade to CS3 - and save even more.

Mike
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in short, i agree. and that's what i live by. someone who skipped the entire G5 era and moved on to the current intel ... i still want to get a G5 cause it is a great machine kinda well designed and lovely to look and touch. :rolleyes:
 
Hmm, I played a little bit on a friend's 1.8 single G5 (He has 5gb's ram, WD raptor 74GB and a 9600 Pro). I must say they are very capable machines, And they go away for cheap. Obviously my Macbook has more gut when it comes to video encoding but for the casual Internet, Photoshop and Itunes usage, I think they're greatly underestimated. I'm actually considering on buying one.
However if you're thinking to buy a dual, don't they are indeed buggy. Just look around, an awful lot of them are failing.
 
the duals are buggy?? if this is so it could affect my decision, because i dont think the singles would be powerful enough but who knows
 
TheG3Guy said:
the duals are buggy?? if this is so it could affect my decision, because i dont think the singles would be powerful enough but who knows
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If you get a G5, make sure it's either dual processor or dual core. That, I would say, is very important. I have the last rev dual core 2.0, and it's awesome. The key is to make sure it's got plenty of RAM. There are plenty of things it still does better than my 2.4 BlackBook. They're both great, though.
 
Well, I hardly see any defective single core G5's on the market. Just check out ebay, some (Duals) have failing cpu's, some have failing logic-boards, or leaking cooling system. Apple filtered out a lot of bugs in the latest revision, so I think that'll be your best bet.
 
iamcheerful said:
someone who skipped the entire G5 era and moved on to the current intel ... i still want to get a G5 cause it is a great machine kinda well designed and lovely to look and touch. :rolleyes:
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When a friend gave me a used G4 as my first computer - I always coveted owning a G5 at the time. Being an artist myself - I loved the actual design of the computer case - something about the aluminum construction and look has always attracted me. Thank heavens the machine functions as well on the inside as it looks on the outside.

Now, in these current times, form and function can be joyfully affordable when purchasing a used G5. Apple will be hard pressed to come up with a new design for the future Mac Pro that would match this classic. I'd be happy if it never changed.

Mike
 
i still have a G3 Pismo, and that's one machine i say can deal with most of the mundane stuffs (with the exception of flash) thrown at her.

personally, prefer to type on that (i.e. writing stories, documents reports) than on the other machines i have. pb3400c was great but kinda heavy (the pismo isn't exactly light, but at least it weighs far less than the pb3400c).
 
That, or an iMac, they'll both be better-supported, come with warranty and generally faster.
 
thanks all, but now it is really time to decide as I have two computers i found cheap...but which one......one is a 1.6GHz powermac g5 (1gb ram, 340gb HD):apple: with apple orb speakers, mouse and keyboard plus 20" studio display for $470, or a macbook 2GHz core duo with 2gb ram and 120gb hard drive for 599 $
 
TheG3Guy said:
thanks all, but now it is really time to decide as I have two computers i found cheap...but which one......one is a 1.6GHz powermac g5 (1gb ram, 340gb HD):apple: with apple orb speakers, mouse and keyboard plus 20" studio display for $470, or a macbook 2GHz core duo with 2gb ram and 120gb hard drive for 599 $
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Macbook. Macbook. Macbook. Macbook.

Oh, uuhhh, anndddd.... Macbook.

No question. The macbook would destroy that model G5 and you would get a much longer life time out of it being Snow Leopard supported.
 
How about this, compared to a 2.0Ghz Mac Pro? The Mac Pros are $1800 at their cheapest, where I can get a 2.7GHz G5 with an ACD for only $1500.
 
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