New Guy Looking to buy a used G5

[Jack10525]

I am new to mac and would like to buy a used G5 to learn about them. I have a pretty good background with pc's and currently work in a windows environment. I have searched around and it looks like the best deals are on ebay. I can get a G5 tower with modest components/software for about $500. I am not worried about shopping on ebay but is there a better (cheaper)place to buy from? Also where can I learn about installing and configuring the os and other software? Thanks.

 

[bearcatrp]

Would suggest you check out multiple mac sites to ask questions and read different post. Besides here, there is macnn, macobserver, macosxhints, etc.. . When in doubt, ask a question. There are also many books that will get you started too.

 

[ewinemiller]

Be sure to avoid the water cooled G5s.

 

[chaos86]

Be sure to avoid the water cooled G5s.

Why?

 

[Winni]

I would -not- invest into a PowerPC-based Mac anymore, unless it is also the CPU that interests you for the one or the other reason. It's an investment in the past and a dead-end.

If it's the hardware architecture that interests you, then you should rather look into Linux than OS X; OS X for PowerPC doesn't have a future, but Linux for PowerPC is still under active development (openSuSE, Yellow Dog Linux, Fedora Core).

A used Intel-based Mac Mini already has as much or more computing power than a 500 USD PowerMac G5 - it won't have the graphics power, but its Intel Core Duo CPU easily competes with a 2 GHz Dual G5. And the Intel Mini can natively run Windows and Parallels and VMWare Fusion - just in case you want to get rid off your current PC.

 

[synth3tik]

Why?

Leaky.

The the OP. I would personally rather focus on getting an intel mac. Yes it will be more expensive then a powerPC mac, however once Snow Leopard is release you'll be stuck with the powerPC. More and more programs are stripping out their legacy code and that means no more powerPC macs.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

But pretty much all the current software will still run on a G5 PPC and will still last you for years. It's pretty bad to call PPC dead as it's really still alive. Just because the next greatest thing comes out doesn't make the previous outdated. There's still quite a bit of people using G4's as their daily computer. They don't need 8 cores to check their email and run iTunes.

Yeah 10.6 will be Intel Only but 10.5 will still be around for the next few years. Shoot a lot of people still use Tiger for software because it's too buggy or not compatible for Leopard.

But if you're looking to be future-proof, a Mac Mini would probably be the way to go. If you're just a casual Mac user, a G5 will suit your needs just fine. But $500 for a G5 can be a good price for a dual-core model but a ripoff for like a single 1.6 or 1.8.