After much research (most of it from this forums extensive assistance - thank you!) I finally pulled the trigger on my G5! I went with the "stock" dual 1.8 (have since added a 1G of RAM), and a sony 17" flat screen.
I purchased my G5 from a apple store in cambridge MA. I found the staff to be friendly & helpfull, but because I had done my research on the front end I pretty much knew what I was buying before I entered the store. I loaded the G5 box into my back seat and was off to home to open it up!! After lugging the box up 3 flights of stairs I was a little winded, but very excited about getting my new rig up and running! I placed the box on my kitchen table and began to open it, I was very pleased with packaging and impressed with the way the keyboard and mouse were arranged in the box, it was immediately clear to me that apple doesnt limit their innovation just to their products... its the little things that make a big difference!
Now I should tell you that while all this is happening, my roommate is looking on. He is an avid windows users and was obviously trying to be a "wet blanket" as I was setting up - no big deal, afterall I was a windows user since '89 and knew where he was coming from... I'll convert him 6-8 months tops!
Anyway - I next pulled the monitor from its box and began hooking up the cables. Ok, done... the moment of truth; I push the power button on and, and... "no signal recieved going into sleep mode" What!? I dont panic, I check my wiring, adapter cable for the monitor, everything is in the right place, I reboot. "no signal recieved going into sleep mode". What the &^*%!? I read through the instructions again, I've done everything correctly! At first I'm thinking the monitor isnt compatible with my G5??? I read through the sony instructions specifically for setting up with Mac's so I know i'm good there, I again re-check the monitor cable going into the G5, everything good there! Now at this point the fans on the G5 are running at FULL speed, they are actually creating a wind that is blowing my window curtains! The noise was... incredible! At this point my roommate is completely not imppressed (understanably so!) He's throwing barbs at me "damn thats loud!", "It doesnt even work!?" So now I'm annoyed because I get the damn thing to work and I got my windows loving roomie crushing me with the obvious!!
After a couple of hours of trying to figure out the problem I give up, completely bummed out, totally dejected. I wake up the next morning, make some coffee, and I'm sitting there looking at the G5. I call tech support, he has my open the case (very cool!) hit a reset button, reboot... nothing he then says "sorry - you got a bad one, take it back and get a new one". OK, no big deal, I lug the G5 back down the 3 flights of stairs, back in my car and I drive the 20 minutes to the mall. I bring it into the store, I'm directed to the rear of the store where the servicing desk is, I'm asked my name and put into a que, and screen on the wall tells me my wait is 15 minutes. After 10 or so minutes I'm asked the problem, I tell him and the G5 is taken out back, after a few minutes he comes back and says, "let me get you a new one". He didnt know what was wrong, but after about 5 minutes another box comes out they generate a new receipt and I'm off!
Now I'm really excited, after the big let down I'm postive this one will work, I mean what are the chances that this one is a lemon too - right!? I take it out of the box, set it up, plug it in, power button... BINGO! It works !! Oh yeah! To make a long story sort (I guesss its too late for that now) I love it! Absolutely love it! I cant even look at windows anymore - not even kidding, Panther is remarkable, very intuitive, & looks fantastic!! I was able to burn all my word doc's and music files from my PC to the G5 without any problems at all! I even blew my roommate away when I had a DVD & garage band playing, itunes, several word & excel files open and hit F9 - expose' baby!! Thats what I'm talking about! Even he was very impressed!
Again thank for all your help here, and I'm sure I'll be back with more questions - take care!!
I purchased my G5 from a apple store in cambridge MA. I found the staff to be friendly & helpfull, but because I had done my research on the front end I pretty much knew what I was buying before I entered the store. I loaded the G5 box into my back seat and was off to home to open it up!! After lugging the box up 3 flights of stairs I was a little winded, but very excited about getting my new rig up and running! I placed the box on my kitchen table and began to open it, I was very pleased with packaging and impressed with the way the keyboard and mouse were arranged in the box, it was immediately clear to me that apple doesnt limit their innovation just to their products... its the little things that make a big difference!
Now I should tell you that while all this is happening, my roommate is looking on. He is an avid windows users and was obviously trying to be a "wet blanket" as I was setting up - no big deal, afterall I was a windows user since '89 and knew where he was coming from... I'll convert him 6-8 months tops!
Anyway - I next pulled the monitor from its box and began hooking up the cables. Ok, done... the moment of truth; I push the power button on and, and... "no signal recieved going into sleep mode" What!? I dont panic, I check my wiring, adapter cable for the monitor, everything is in the right place, I reboot. "no signal recieved going into sleep mode". What the &^*%!? I read through the instructions again, I've done everything correctly! At first I'm thinking the monitor isnt compatible with my G5??? I read through the sony instructions specifically for setting up with Mac's so I know i'm good there, I again re-check the monitor cable going into the G5, everything good there! Now at this point the fans on the G5 are running at FULL speed, they are actually creating a wind that is blowing my window curtains! The noise was... incredible! At this point my roommate is completely not imppressed (understanably so!) He's throwing barbs at me "damn thats loud!", "It doesnt even work!?" So now I'm annoyed because I get the damn thing to work and I got my windows loving roomie crushing me with the obvious!!
After a couple of hours of trying to figure out the problem I give up, completely bummed out, totally dejected. I wake up the next morning, make some coffee, and I'm sitting there looking at the G5. I call tech support, he has my open the case (very cool!) hit a reset button, reboot... nothing he then says "sorry - you got a bad one, take it back and get a new one". OK, no big deal, I lug the G5 back down the 3 flights of stairs, back in my car and I drive the 20 minutes to the mall. I bring it into the store, I'm directed to the rear of the store where the servicing desk is, I'm asked my name and put into a que, and screen on the wall tells me my wait is 15 minutes. After 10 or so minutes I'm asked the problem, I tell him and the G5 is taken out back, after a few minutes he comes back and says, "let me get you a new one". He didnt know what was wrong, but after about 5 minutes another box comes out they generate a new receipt and I'm off!
Now I'm really excited, after the big let down I'm postive this one will work, I mean what are the chances that this one is a lemon too - right!? I take it out of the box, set it up, plug it in, power button... BINGO! It works !! Oh yeah! To make a long story sort (I guesss its too late for that now) I love it! Absolutely love it! I cant even look at windows anymore - not even kidding, Panther is remarkable, very intuitive, & looks fantastic!! I was able to burn all my word doc's and music files from my PC to the G5 without any problems at all! I even blew my roommate away when I had a DVD & garage band playing, itunes, several word & excel files open and hit F9 - expose' baby!! Thats what I'm talking about! Even he was very impressed!
Again thank for all your help here, and I'm sure I'll be back with more questions - take care!!
