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People still using Powermac G5s

Hastings101

Hastings101

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 22, 2010
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So I'm wondering how your experience with your Powermac G5 in the past year has been? Can you still, for example, use most major websites fine without any problems?

Just wondering because someone offered me one for only $250 and I need to get a cheap computer into my workplace that will be used for nothing but Microsoft Office & internet browsing. With a price like that I would be very happy getting some use out of it for a year or two before needing to replace it.
 
take it there still great machines and if i had the money i would buy one.
EDIT: i use them at school all the time
 
Rocking a Dual 1.8Ghz here :cool:

They are very good machines, looking fantastic as well as having enough muscle for daily work i.e Youtube, Email, Internet, Word, iWorks, etc.

What are the specifications to the one your getting? $250 isn't that bad, though I wouldn't personally go over much more than that as it's investing in rather dated technology.

EDIT: Didn't see they already quoted you a price. In that case, as long as its a Dual Core/Processor model you should be right for a year or two. Especially for your needs, i.e email and Office. I'd be a bit hesitant with the Single 1.6/1.8 Models at that price, get them down to around <$150 and it would be a very capable machine.
 
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Hallivand said:
Rocking a Dual 1.8Ghz here :cool:

They are very good machines, looking fantastic as well as having enough muscle for daily work i.e Youtube, Email, Internet, Word, iWorks, etc.

What are the specifications to the one your getting? $250 isn't that bad, though I wouldn't personally go over much more than that as it's investing in rather dated technology.
Click to expand...

I *think* it has 2.3 GHZ dual processors and 2GB of ram.
 
*think* it has 2.3 GHZ dual processors and 2GB of ram.
Click to expand...

That's not a bad deal actually, plus that model was one of the most reliable G5's to be released so you should be good on that front.

That'd be plenty power for modern websites (Youtube, Video Streaming, etc though be wary for the HD content, can stutter somewhat) and Office 2008, so even if you upgrade in the future it can be regulated to server duties and such.
:D
 
My b*tch is a Quad 2.5ghz G5.

Only mac I have left other then dualie 533 g4.

Use it mostly for converting and burning movies and stuff, everything runs fine on it. Except current software, hence why my Hackintosh and Samsung R522E running 7 get most of the use.

Starting to feel like my iPhone 3Gs is more up to date then my QUAD G5. Kinda sad that a phone gets more support then a computer.

-.-

-MMF
 
I have a 2.5Ghz Quad as well.. it does suck I'm not able to run the current software. It is a great machine.. Have too run Tiger on it as it kernel panics on Leopard... :eek:
 
Hastings101 said:
So I'm wondering how your experience with your Powermac G5 in the past year has been? Can you still, for example, use most major websites fine without any problems?

Just wondering because someone offered me one for only $250 and I need to get a cheap computer into my workplace that will be used for nothing but Microsoft Office & internet browsing. With a price like that I would be very happy getting some use out of it for a year or two before needing to replace it.
Click to expand...

Sure it will work and as long as the computer is in good condition. If you can afford a couple hundred dollars I would go with a Mac Mini instead though.

What model G5?

Cheers
 
I still have one working and I have no trouble with websites, just with new versions of software that are no longer compatible with Power Macs.
 
I use my G5 (it's one of the first ones that came out) with Photoshop, Daz 3D, Bryce, and Blender for the most part. It actually works decently.

I'm also using it to play old gaming console roms. Although, I'm pretty worried that my cinema display will eventually die on me because of it.

But yeah, internet works fine on it. I'm running Leopard too and it has a 350GB RAID setup. Only 512MB RAM though - Works faster than the MBP I have nonetheless.
 
Hallivand said:
Rocking a Dual 1.8Ghz here :cool:

They are very good machines, looking fantastic as well as having enough muscle for daily work i.e Youtube, Email, Internet, Word, iWorks, etc.
Click to expand...
I agree. I had one for years. I Upgraded to a Mac Pro & new MBP only because I need the resources.
 
I have to say, that is not a bad deal at all.

I have late 2005 Dual 2.0 with 1gb currently. I am running leo on it now, and I can tell that I need another gb of ram in it for the os. But that aside, it honestly runs very strong and is still my baby!

For the items/usage that you mentioned, you will not have any issues at all. Hell, I think I still use my power mac more than my new mbp. :D
 
Thanks for the input guys, picked it up earlier today and I have to say it's much faster than I expected from this old of a machine, plus Office and all the websites we visit are working great.
 
I've got a dual 2.0GHz June 2004 with 4GB of RAM as my primary computer setup. I love it. Its been working fine for me and its plenty fast with Leopard.
 
I have a dual 1.8 with 2GB RAM that I use for my media player on my bedroom TV and a dual 2.0 with 6GB RAM connected to the original 22" Apple Cinema Display on my desk that gets occasional use. It's fine and fast enough for web/email and so on, I just don't go to my desk often.
 
i'm getting mine done up , as i mentioned before in various post i had found this neglected PowerMac G5 2.3 dual core in a warehouse of a customer in a corner sitting there for 2 years waiting for me to find it, poor little thing , which didn't improve its overall appearance as you can imagine , even more dust inside then outside , so i took the whole poor thing apart (working fine , but cant leave it in that condition) , the case is now on the way to a mate in germany who can anodize the case in pure snow white ..if he finds the time that is ...last motorcycle part took 7 month to return but a more then perfect job for no money, so i dont argue over time , but once the PowerMac is finished, i will max out ram and fit the velociraptor 600gb 10000rpm drive from my iMac core duo as primary drive inside and use it as my main computer running OSX tiger, and it should be fine for that , i used last year one of my eMac 1.42 as primary computer and it was perfectly usable for everything , so the PowerMac should have no problems whatsoever
 
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Well, I just recently got a G5, so I can't really speak on the past year. However, for the 2 1/2 months that I've had it, I haven't had any problems at all. It's a dual 1.8GHz June 2004 model with 2GB RAM, Radeon 9600XT 128MB, 160GB stock Apple drive and 500GB WD Caviar Green, and Leopard. It keeps up with my old PC which got sold about a month after getting my G5. The only thing I don't like about my system is the fact that I can't play WoW on it, but I don't play it too often to begin with and I have an early 2009 MacBook if I want to play any games.
 
I have a Dual-2.0GHz, PCI-X PowerMac with 5.5GB of RAM, 320GB Barracuda, 74GB Raptor, and a flashed 256MB BFG 7800GS OC (VERY LOUD FAN). It handles just about everything on the web, but Flash sites can bog it down, and streaming HD video from most sites is not possible.

Still a great production machine for print and web, video (not so much).

Last night I was having problems with my wireless connection, so I watched my System Log in Console and found a couple of problems. One was a Flash issue that I had to fix via Terminal, and the other was a DNS issue with my wireless printer.

I fixed those problems and my connection is rock solid and things are peppy again. I also downloaded the latest G5 optimized build of Firefox (Minefield), FXG5-4.0b13pre-2011.02.27. So now I have a current modern browser optimized for the G5 processor.

I can stretch the life of this machine even further maxing out the RAM, and getting a G5 Jive with an SATA II card. SSDs would also give it a bump in performance.

When this machine isn't viable anymore, hopefully I'll be able to pick up an 8-Core Xeon for $600.
 
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