I finally did it!! (PowerMac Dual G5)

[Mac2004]

Hi everyone....

Well I finally bit the bullet and I got my new PowerMacintosh G5 today at a local Apple Store and I think I got rather lucky also. I got the old 1.8 dual PowerMac G5 (rev A model) for only $2049.00 (brand new, box never opened). As some of you know, the old dual 1.8 PowerMac G5 had a 160 MB hard drive and 512MB memory. The new (rev B) model has been downsized and only has a 80GB hard drive and 256MB memory. I had heard that the rev A dual 1.8 PowerMac was a great deal and to grab one. You have to remember that this system was selling for almost $2500.00 two months ago and it has all the same specs as the 2.0ghz model now (except 8x SuperDrive). Do you think I made the right decision???? If you want a dual 1.8 call an Apple Store and see if they have any old ones left (it's the same chip). I also got an additional 512 memory so I now have over 1 gig of memory and I got AppleCare and the .Mac program. I decided against buying the ProCare however. All I have to get now is the new 20" Apple display. The system was so easy to set up and it's sooooo quiet. I have no idea what all this complaining is about the fan noise?? I can barely hear the fans.

I need help now......

1. Is Disk Warrior worth buying?

2. I need a surge protector for the new G5, monitor, scanner, and printers. Which one should I get and how many joules?

3. I have a old HP 4000N LaserJet printer with a PS/2 connector. How do I get a USB adapter for that. It's a network printer I believe.

4. When will the new monitors be in the Apple Stores?

I found my experience at the Apple Store to be very good and the salespeople were sooooo helpful. They were always there to answer any questions. I wanted to order from a catalog to avoid paying sales tax but it's so nice to be able to buy the computer in person. There are so many more advantages to this and if anytrhing happens I can be sure they will help me at the Apple Store since I am a customer now. Support the Apple Stores!!!

 

[paxtonandrew]

Congratulations on the purchase! From your post, I can see you are a switcher, and in need of some help. The surge protector is a good investment, and I would recommend the investment to protect your investment, and the higher the joules, the better. Disk Warrior, I don’t know of, and therefore I can’t recommend any decision about that. Radio shack sell a PS/2-USB adaptor, which retails for about $13.49, and I currently use one on my computer, as I use an old generation PS/2 mouse. The 20 and 23 inch screens are for sale now, and the 30 inch is not for sale until August, as there is no graphics card to drive them!

Anyhow, congratulations on the computer, and good luck!

 

[cr2sh]

Do you think I made the right decision????

4. When will the new monitors be in the Apple Stores?

I found my experience at the Apple Store to be very good and the salespeople were sooooo helpful.

Yes you made the right decision... I would have maybe weighed the price of the 1st gen 2.0GHz... but other than that, don't look back you got a great machine.

I expect that demand on the new displays are high... as such you'll see the ones that are available going to meet consumer demand and not generating more of it. If I had to guess, I'd say about a month after the first ones start shipping. So what, mid-august? That's a guess..... but I think its held pretty true in the past.

I find that Apple Store folks are more willing to help.. the nicer you're dressed. I dunno why... but you go in with a tshirt and they say hi to you when you walk in and did you find everything today? when you check out....

 

[Xenious]

The 20 and 23 inch screens are for sale now, and the 30 inch is not for sale until August, as there is no graphics card to drive them!

What is meant here is that you can buy all three monitors now, but you can't get them physically. The 20 and 23 should start shipping around the end of July with the 30 following up shortly there-after.

 

[logicat2001]

1. Is Disk Warrior worth buying?

Yes. Absolutely. It's the kind've thing you might be frustrating to spend money on, but when you need it you'll be ecstatic that you did. It can be a life-saver and has saved my and my clients' bacon many times over the years. Indispensable.

While you're at it, might as well also pick up TechToolPro4, which is the other utility that should be sitting on every Mac users' shelf.

If you can only purchase one of the two, I'd suggest DiskWarrior if you're looking for something that's practically a one-button-push solution for directory corruption, and I'd recommend TechToolPro4 if you're wanting to geek out with "looking under the hood" of your computer, even though you might not understand what it's all about.

Either way, save up for the other one and purchase that in the future.

(I'm not affiliated in any way with either company, just a Macintosh technology consultant with real-world experience w/both).

Best,
Logicat

 

[zoetropeuk]

1. Is Disk Warrior worth buying?

I have both TechTool pro 4 and Disk Warrior. I'd go TTP as you can set it up to automatically create a back-up of your directory structure on a predefined schedule. I have mine create the back-up directory twice a day. If I didn't have a tape back-up then I might do it more often.

I've never had any luck with Disk Warrior when trying to recover lost files. When my last hard drive got fried DW found over 18,000 files and they were all 0k, useless.

2. I need a surge protector for the new G5, monitor, scanner, and printers. Which one should I get and how many joules?

I have an APC 1500RS UPS and you can run 3-4 complete set-ups through it before the overload light comes on. It can run my dual G5 with two LCDs without power for about 20 minutes. More than enough time to save any work and shut-down.

 

[Crikey]

Congrats! Sounds like a great deal.

If it were me, I wouldn't worry about trying to use a USB adapter to plug into the parallel port on your LaserJet 4000N. Better to print over Ethernet, since the 4000N has a built-in JetDirect Ethernet print server.

If you already have a home network, just plug the printer's Ethernet port into your hub/switch/router, allow it to be assigned an IP address or assign it one yourself if necessary, then configure a printer object to print to it. If AppleTalk is enabled on both the computer and the printer, you might not even need an IP address, I'm not sure.

If you don't already have a home network, you could just connect the Mac to the printer with a "crossover" Ethernet cable, assign the printer's IP address (if necessary), and set up the printer object.

For more details on these steps, consult Google and Apple's support Web site.


Crikey

 

[wdlove]

You should check with you local Apple and inquire about the ProCard. If still available it's free with the purchase of a G5 at a local Apple Store. Then the ProCare Card would be free for the first year. That way you can try it out for a year.

Congratuatlions on your awesome purchase.