PowerMac G5 still useful?

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jsavvy

jsavvy

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Original poster
Aug 19, 2011
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I have an old PowerMac G5 1.6Ghz that has been sitting around for a while and I'm thinking of selling it. But first I'm wondering what others are still doing with their old G5s. I'd hate to get rid of it and find myself wishing I hadn't. So, what are you still using your old powermac G5 for?
 

swamprock

swamprock

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Aug 2, 2015
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jsavvy said:
I have an old PowerMac G5 1.6Ghz that has been sitting around for a while and I'm thinking of selling it. But first I'm wondering what others are still doing with their old G5s. I'd hate to get rid of it and find myself wishing I hadn't. So, what are you still using your old powermac G5 for?
Click to expand...
I use mine for music; running Audacity and Logic Pro with my DAW, as well as running 10.4.11 and Classic for older games. I also stream movies to my 23" Cinema Display from my media server, while I'm putzing around my workshop or working with my Intel iMac.
 
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Hrududu

Hrududu

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Jul 25, 2008
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Single 1.6 G5 isn't good for much anymore, but that also depends on how patient you care to be. CAN you get online, watch a move, play some games? Sure, but its not going to be a pleasant experience. At this point anyone who buys a Mac like that "should" know what they're getting into and understand this a 13 year old computer and performs like one.
 
Dronecatcher

Dronecatcher

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Jun 17, 2014
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The entry level Powermac G5 is still more powerful than the fastest Powerbooks Apple made - and plenty of people still use them! It can do most things a higher specced G5 can, just slower.
The last time I had a G5 iMac (similar horsepower to yours) I used it for making music (Garageband, Audacity & Reason), graphic design (Adobe CS3) - and I mean real published work not fixing holiday snaps :) Internet browsing was fine too using Safari/Webkit.
If you have faster machines it's probably best to use it has a backup/storage device - with screen sharing you can access it from other Macs too.
 
Altemose

Altemose

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Mar 26, 2013
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jsavvy said:
I have an old PowerMac G5 1.6Ghz that has been sitting around for a while and I'm thinking of selling it. But first I'm wondering what others are still doing with their old G5s. I'd hate to get rid of it and find myself wishing I hadn't. So, what are you still using your old powermac G5 for?
Click to expand...
The original 1.6 GHz G5 is a bit of a dog, and actually performs a bit worse in day to day usage than a dual G4! That being said, it would make a decent light web browsing machine or basic office machine.
 
jsavvy

jsavvy

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 19, 2011
117
95
Thanks for each of your replies! I use my MBA as my everyday machine and an ubuntu server box for owncloud, plex and time machine backups. It would seem that the G5 I have doesn't provide much use for me. I think it's time to try and get a few bucks for it. What do you think a fair asking price would be (US dollars)?
 
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stewart1981

macrumors member
Sep 4, 2014
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i have one of these and sure it lags behind the later models but it is a great machine overall. If you want speed then ok you want a higher spec but they can do the work and are very reliable for day to use.
 
tevion5

tevion5

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Jul 12, 2011
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swamprock said:
I use mine for music; running Audacity and Logic Pro with my DAW, as well as running 10.4.11 and Classic for older games. I also stream movies to my 23" Cinema Display from my media server, while I'm putzing around my workshop or working with my Intel iMac.
Click to expand...
Same, My G5 Quad running Leopard and Logic Pro 9 is an excellent secondary workstation when I'm at my parents house on weekends away from my main gear up on the city. Means if I want to start a project while there I can start composing right away and import it into Logic Pro X on my MBP later. Still a great DAW today, althought the improvements in X are just flabbergasting.
 
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yassi

macrumors member
Jun 19, 2014
47
3
I've got an 1.6 for free, upgraded it to 4GB.
Would like to keep it too - but not as a main computer, I have a MacPro and a Dual Core 2.0 G5 (which works perfect), but maybe as a TimeMachine Backup server too.
The only thing is, Leopard Server is hard to find and still expensive.
Any solutions? No Linux please ;-)
 
Gamer9430

Gamer9430

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Apr 22, 2014
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Central New Jersey/ North Virginia, USA
yassi said:
I've got an 1.6 for free, upgraded it to 4GB.
Would like to keep it too - but not as a main computer, I have a MacPro and a Dual Core 2.0 G5 (which works perfect), but maybe as a TimeMachine Backup server too.
The only thing is, Leopard Server is hard to find and still expensive.
Any solutions? No Linux please ;-)
Click to expand...
Use regular Leopard. Set up a separate partition or hard drive on the G5 for backups (not necessary, but I did it), share files and folders over network, and connect to the G5 on your other mac(s) through finder. The after they are connected, go to time machine preferences and select the G5. I do this with all my Leopard+ Macs to my dual 2.3GHz. I also set it to never sleep so that the macs can backup whenever.
 
Y

yassi

macrumors member
Jun 19, 2014
47
3
Gamer9430 said:
Use regular Leopard. Set up a separate partition or hard drive on the G5 for backups (not necessary, but I did it), share files and folders over network, and connect to the G5 on your other mac(s) through finder. The after they are connected, go to time machine preferences and select the G5. I do this with all my Leopard+ Macs to my dual 2.3GHz. I also set it to never sleep so that the macs can backup whenever.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's an idea to do it this way.
Thx.
Best option to use the 1.6.
 
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