PowerMac G5 Upgrades Announced (Officially)

[guasmoa]

I've been waiting for a while for an upgrade to the line, and today, I just bought a brand new Dual 2.0 G5. I opted for the 256 mb 9650, bluetooth, and airport, while ordering 1 gigabyte of RAM from OWC. Coming from a B&W G3 300, I'm sure this will be one hell of an increase in performance. Some people say the upgrades weren't very great, but they will suit my purposes just fine, as I'm just someone looking for a new mac.

 

[nexusfx]

A Question, and refurbs.

Has anyone else looked through the G5 site at the design page? http://www.apple.com/powermac/design.html

It looks as though they made the RAM Slots and PCI-X Slots White on the new models, I can't get a better picture and I was just curious if any of you could confirm this.

Oh, about refurbs, they're just fine, but you might find a better deal at the local Apple store, they usually sell off the old demo units with all the hardware they left in for a pretty reasonable price.

 

[illegalprelude]

wow....1st time poster, long time reader so im sure im going to hold alot of credibility but ive never heard this much bitching before.

Let me see if i got this right, Prices go down, on more power units or for the same price, we can get a more powerful unit (same thing) and people are still bitching?

Nobody said this was a new G5 or a revamp. you guys hype yourself up, then when the product is released, you sit around and cry about it. Apple promised something and they will eventually deliver it. would u rather have 3ghz out with a lot of problems, or newer systems that are not as fast but stable.

I own a 1.6 G5 and im a film majore and it does my stuff just fine. Would I love to have a 3ghz, sure. hell ill take a duel 2.3 right now but im fine. Im shy of a year with my 1.6 and its a been a blast with it so far.

Did pentiums go from 3.0 to 4.0 in one update? no. they eventually, went to 3.2 then 3.4 and slowly 3.6 in storms. eventually, 4.0 will hit.

Also we forget, if Tiger continues the trend of their other OS releases, the system will better perform with those specs.

 

[FFTT]

After reviewing todays updates, I totally caved.

I took a hard look at what I really need for audio recording and simply
couldn't resist a New Sale Priced Rev B 2.0 dually for $1699. ( edu. )

That's $600 off yesterdays education price.

I still have up to 8 GB's of RAM and PCI-X
where the newer 2.0 has been horribly crippled.

The new 2.3 is a nice setup, but
I simply couldn't justify $2299++ for the 300MHz difference.

I can live with the ***** 64 MB GPU for a while
So I went ahead and upgraded the RAM to 1 GB.

$1699 is a GREAT PRICE for a solid proven quiet machine
with more power than I'll probably ever need.

Now for a monitor.............

 

[sw1tcher]

After reviewing todays updates, I totally caved.

I took a hard look at what I really need for audio recording and simply
couldn't resist a New Sale Priced Rev B 2.0 dually for $1699. ( edu. )

That's $600 off yesterdays education price.

I still have up to 8 GB's of RAM and PCI-X
where the newer 2.0 has been horribly crippled.

The new 2.3 is a nice setup, but
I simply couldn't justify $2299++ for the 300MHz difference.

I can live with the ***** 64 MB GPU for a while
So I went ahead and upgraded the RAM to 1 GB.

$1699 is a GREAT PRICE for a solid proven quiet machine
with more power than I'll probably ever need.

Now for a monitor.............

And with the $600 you saved (over yesterday's edu price), you can use the money toward a better GPU as well.

 

[FlyNolJ]

Agreed.

I'm not sure how much dual-core will help. Dual-core will ONLY help if Apple has all those pro-apps (think FCP/Pshop) optimized for 4 cores by the time they are released.

People are disappointed b/c there is:

1) No new technology. DVD burners are cheap, those don't count. I'm talking about chipset improvements. I'm thinking on-die memory controller. Anything, just surprise us. Clockspeed "bumps" (where the price-tag on that new investment does not constitute a SUBSTANTIAL increase in performance) aren't enough now, especially if they can't even back a ridiculous promise by SJ.

But to put it simply, a band-aid "upgrade" just doesn't cut it. Marketing has their hands tied (spin a .2Ghz bump since the last upgrade cycle). Engineering apparently is going no where.

2) Prices remain high.
If Apple had released something new, something spectacular than it would be nice. We already know that Apple cannot use the "lower prices" trick b/c they would lose alot on the profit margins. Thankfully, they DID reduce the LCD costs, but considering the 20 and 23" models are on LCD tech that is over a year old, they'd better.

Everything's value in the PowerMac has decreased ALOT recently. The RAM has significantly decreased in price (as everyone has noted). I keep hearing that the dual-layer DVD burner is "cheap" and not even practical due to the price of one dual-layer disc (granted 16x is nice). The 2.0 Ghz (which was the one I was in the market for) really pisses me off. Apple basically had a bunch of Dual 1.8 boards laying around that they took out the 1.8 processors, put it in the iMac and slapped in a 2.0 processer. I wouldn't be bitching if the EXACT same 2.0 model had been bumped down (with PCI-X capabilities) and the 9600 graphics card (including the 8x superdrive) for 500 dollars. Apple is really f***ing their customers at this point in time.....I think. I think this because this line of PowerMacs is too weak to hold another 10 months. Is this 3 year old technology now or just 2? Either way, it's becoming a little dated. Ohwell, I was only waiting two weeks after my G4 Dual 450 took a dump. I can safely say now that I am preparing for a 10 month- 1 year wait. The iPod can't last forever, if Apple keeps releasing products like this (that should've been released last time around) they will go tits up..or they must have a new bitchin' iPod/consumer electronic project for WWDC. Anyone???

 

[Multimedia]

Dell UltraSharp Alternatives To Apple Monitors

I love it.

Apple has reduce the price on their monitors TWICE in the last 8 months and there is actually someone bitching about it.

My 20" ACD cost 1200.00 a little more than a year ago (old style).

$699.00 EDU for an aluminum work of art and someone's bitching?

The 23" is down to $1299.00 EDU. I'm having to bolt myself down not to buy one. The extra space would be awesome for my photo work.

Shutup already.

I agree with you that if you must have the fixed aluminum frame without the elevator and pivot capability, the price is worth the extra $300 over the Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW that was $1,019.15 this past week. It's a plastic frame, but it has an elevator and the whole screen can pivot (supported in Tiger) 90°. So yes the price drop is a good thing. But I think that Dell's Monitors are still a better choice even now. List is only $1,199 and Dell puts it on the 15% discount block regularly.

I also chose a Dell UltraSharp 2001FP 20.1-inch 1600x1200 monitor that has the same stand features for only $561.75 after a 25% discount off $749 list. I won't miss the other 80 pixels wide that Apple's 20" wide has (1680) as much as I will be glad I have a full 1200 pixels of height instead of only 1050. Now that the OS finally - after far too many years - supports portrait mode, I am really glad I bought both these Dells.

 

[Platform]

Now thart the update finally comes......the SP stays the same not even options for the new stuff, and not Tiger either

Well anyway the Dual 2.0 does not look so bad.....could be worse

 

[jauh]

I'm pretty sure you are wrong about this. If this were true why would Apple be using AGP in its G5s?
PCI-E is definatly potentially faster.

Erm... have you seen the prices of PCI-X graphics cards?

 

[jauh]

Perhaps I'm wrong but the G5 2.3 and 2.7 mobos have 3 PCI-X slots which is a faster interface than PCI Express

PCI-X 533 is faster than PCIe x16, PCI-X 266 is faster than PCIe x8, PCI-X 133 faster than PCIe x4, PCI-X 66 faster than PCIe x2 and PCI-X 33 is faster than PCIe

 

[Platform]

Erm... have you seen the prices of PCI-X graphics cards?

PCIe / PCI-E does not = PCI-X

 

[jauh]

PCIe / PCI-E does not = PCI-X

I believe the original question was if PCI-X is faster then why did Apple go for AGP instead of PCI-X

 

[Platform]

I believe the original question was if PCI-X is faster then why did Apple go for AGP instead of PCI-X

Yes I know but he/she said that PCIe is faster than AGP and then you say look at the price of PCI-X graphic cards

 

[jauh]

Yes I know but he/she said that PCIe is faster than AGP and then you say look at the price of PCI-X graphic cards

perhaps you should go back and re-read https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/1415366/

cubedco
Perhaps I'm wrong but the G5 2.3 and 2.7 mobos have 3 PCI-X slots which is a faster interface than PCI Express

I'm pretty sure you are wrong about this. If this were true why would Apple be using AGP in its G5s?
PCI-E is definatly potentially faster.

 

[Platform]

perhaps you should go back and re-read https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/1415366/

Still don't really make sense but whatever lets not spam....

The new graphics cards are all dual DVI

Is the 50 buck upgrade to the 9650 worth it...... or better to save for something else...herd that some cards like 9600 and 5200's can have slower VRAM in the larger VRAM versions is this the case

 

[JRM PowerPod]

Can you get a PCI-X graphics card? Could they make one?

 

[iGary]

I agree with you that if you must have the fixed aluminum frame without the elevator and pivot capability, the price is worth the extra $300 over the Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW that was $1,019.15 this past week. It's a plastic frame, but it has an elevator and the whole screen can pivot (supported in Tiger) 90°. So yes the price drop is a good thing. But I think that Dell's Monitors are still a better choice even now. List is only $1,199 and Dell puts it on the 15% discount block regularly.

I also chose a Dell UltraSharp 2001FP 20.1-inch 1600x1200 monitor that has the same stand features for only $561.75 after a 25% discount off $749 list. I won't miss the other 80 pixels wide that Apple's 20" wide has (1680) as much as I will be glad I have a full 1200 pixels of height instead of only 1050. Now that the OS finally - after far too many years - supports portrait mode, I am really glad I bought both these Dells.

To each his own. Staring at a Dell logo all day would really ruin my experience, but that's just me. No harm no foul.

 

[jauh]

Can you get a PCI-X graphics card? Could they make one?

3d labs make them XVR- series, but they are *WELL* overpriced, and I doubt OS X supoorts them (although they are based on ati's radeon)

 

[jauh]

Is the 50 buck upgrade to the 9650 worth it...... or better to save for something else...herd that some cards like 9600 and 5200's can have slower VRAM in the larger VRAM versions is this the case

Hmmm... can't get any specs on 9650, if you want raw performance I'd go for X800XT, I think ati is releasing X850XT for AGP as well, but I'm not sure about it's compatibility with G5, I know that my X850XT (on opteron box) takes an extra power supply cable...

 

[NevadaJack]

Think Secret has new information on the PM

Think Secret has posted new information on the new dual core PM's and also indicates consumer units like the iMac are "right around the corner" and could be offered as early as Friday. I hope they have the information correct on the iMac.

I got an email promo from Apple suggesting I upgrade to the new PM G5's. Well Apple until you post the new iMac specs and pricing how the hell can I compare and make a decision. Someone in Apple needs a lesson on how consumers make decisions...don't tell me to upgrade offering me only half the information to make a decision!

 

[840quadra]

Think Secret has posted new information on the new dual core PM's and also indicates consumer units like the iMac are "right around the corner" and could be offered as early as Friday. I hope they have the information correct on the iMac.

I got an email promo from Apple suggesting I upgrade to the new PM G5's. Well Apple until you post the new iMac specs and pricing how the hell can I compare and make a decision. Someone in Apple needs a lesson on how consumers make decisions...don't tell me to upgrade offering me only half the information to make a decision!

That is because the G5 Powermac is not intended to compete with the G5 iMac. They are designed for separate user segments.

 

[Platform]

Hmmm... can't get any specs on 9650, if you want raw performance I'd go for X800XT, I think ati is releasing X850XT for AGP as well, but I'm not sure about it's compatibility with G5, I know that my X850XT (on opteron box) takes an extra power supply cable...

Thanks....know that the X800XT is great but maby a bit too much

Just wondered if the 9650 is any better than the 9600 with what I said

 

[NevadaJack]

That is because the G5 Powermac is not intended to compete with the G5 iMac. They are designed for separate user segments.

When does a "consumer" user become a "pro" user and therefore need to upgrade to a higher end machine? It seems to me that the lower (entry) level PM G5 is a definite competitor with the high level iMac G5, especially if the new iMac 20" is bumped to 2.0. They may in Apple's mind be non-competitors but in real life they are.

Not all buyers of the PM G5 are "pro" users and perhaps that is a fault with Apple assumming they are.

 

[Platform]

When does a "consumer" user become a "pro" user and therefore need to upgrade to a higher end machine? It seems to me that the lower (entry) level PM G5 is a definite competitor with the high level iMac G5, especially if the new iMac 20" is bumped to 2.0. They may in Apple's mind be non-competitors but in real life they are.

Not all buyers of the PM G5 are "pro" users and perhaps that is a fault with Apple assumming they are.

Yes....many of the PM buyers are just people that want a fast computer for haveing a home not nessecarily pro but the SP PM is very close to the iMac

 

[840quadra]

When does a "consumer" user become a "pro" user and therefore need to upgrade to a higher end machine? It seems to me that the lower (entry) level PM G5 is a definite competitor with the high level iMac G5, especially if the new iMac 20" is bumped to 2.0. They may in Apple's mind be non-competitors but in real life they are.

Not all buyers of the PM G5 are "pro" users and perhaps that is a fault with Apple assumming they are.

I agree with you. And hopefully apple will see that as a fact that switchers can come from loyal customers "switching" from one level of Apple equipment to an other.