PowerMac G5 Upgrades Announced (Officially)

[ArcaneDevice]

I think that many of our forum members do represent the larger consumer opinion. You are correct Apple must sell to stay in business. I also think that Apple is offering the best of what is currently possible to technologically produce.

Most of the forum members already know about Apple. It's the rest of the world who don't know much about Apple who needs to be impressed more. This first G5 was impressive but it's been a while and it's still pretty much same old, same old. The "ease of use" reasoning and "ooh it looks cool" can only sell so much.

If you have $3000 to spend on a new computer those two reasons alone will not always compete with a PC that can pack all the latest high end audio, video and at least 1GB of RAM.

I'd be happier if they just added two more USB ports to the back so I can have my scanner and tablet plugged in at the back instead of swapping through the front all the damn time.

Even more annoying is my PC is sat next to it which was half the price of my Dual G5 and has 6 rear USB2 ports and 2 more on top.

 

[OSPanter]

Larger Hard Drives?

Can my 1 Generation Dual 2 Ghz hold 2 400 gig hard drives as well? Or is there something different in my case?

 

[sd_diver]

Not worth it - get the Rev B 2.0

Do you fellow MacRumors members believe it is worth the extra $500 for the dual 2.3 GHz system with the added hard drive space and the three PCI-X slots (as compared to PCI)? I have never owned a Mac, but I am planning to buy one now. I had been waiting to see if Apple made any announcements.

Thanks for any advice you can offer my way.

Nope - I don't. I just ordered the Rev B dual 2 gHz from the Apple store for $1747. Bummer was that I could not get them to charge me the $9.95 up-to-date to ship Tiger at the same time. My thoughts were a dual 2.3 tomorrow night for ~2250 (assuming a 10% discount at the Apple Event) or one of the dual 2.0 machines. Face it - next year (year after?) when the Next Big Thing arrives, I have a much better return on investment selling this machine for a $300 loss than the 2.3 at a $600-$700 loss.
In the mean time, I have $500 to play with to get a decent video card (I'd have replaced the 9600 just as I plan on replacing the 5200). The dvd drive I couldn't care less about - at least until the double layer medea gets to under a buck. The increased hard drive? I'm getting another internal anyway - it will just be all the more larger!

SD Diver

 

[atp]

I'd be happier if they just added two more USB ports to the back so I can have my scanner and tablet plugged in at the back instead of swapping through the front all the damn time.

Why don't you by a HUB?

 

[jauh]

Can my 1 Generation Dual 2 Ghz hold 2 400 gig hard drives as well? Or is there something different in my case?

There is no reason why they shouldn't, they all are just box standard sata drives. If you know anyone who does have the 400GB drives installed, just get the manufacturer's part number from the 'About this Mac' menu thing and just order it by that from anyone who sells HDs

 

[golfstud]

I bought a 2.7 stock

Well, I've waited and waited. I plunked down the CC and ordered a Dual 2.7 last night. Almost 24 hours later order is still "being processed" this is for a machine that they stated would ship "next business day." So, either they got more orders than they thought, or they lie!
I ordered another 2 gig from Crucial. I'm replacing a Dual MM 1.0 "wind tunnel."
My biggest gripe about it was not being able to put an 800XT card in it, but the 9650 will do for me since I'm not much of a gamer.
OH, my prediction. Apple has GOT to have something cool for WWDC, so here is my take. IPODS that play H264 Quicktimes.(this may wait until Macworld 06 since I'm sure Steve want to offer content via an I-Tunes like store) BUT...I think we will SEE a QUAD machine in the $4,000 range.
Honestly, I can't see how WWDC will play out, Apple move it up to early June this year and I was sure it was going to be...TIGER is under your seats, buy it now DAY as the BIG DEAL. We just got "new" PMs, so...what is the big WWDC thing..hhmmm.

 

[sd_diver]

With the RevB 2.0 on the way...

...any good recommendations on a video card to replace the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra?

 

[AidenShaw]

I never had to *find out* the make and model of my work station, but if you are that ignorant, I *will* post a photograph of the PCI-X graphics card! In fact, if you actually *bother* to read the discussion, instead of picking out random bits and attempt to be a smart arse, you'll find out what graphics card I have...

I finally searched the thread and saw your early reference to XVR. Sorry that I missed it - but wouldn't it have been simpler to say "Sun Blade 2500 with an XVR-1200 card ($3k)" than to call people names?

And, by the way, the Sun workstations don't have PCI-X, and the 3dlabs/Sun XVR series of cards for the workstations are PCI cards, not PCI-X. At least, nowhere did I find any reference beyond "64/66 PCI". If you know of a spec-sheet that shows them to be PCI-X 100 or PCI-X 133 please post the link.

Here's the state of AGP/PCI-X/PCIe affair:

PCIe definitly faster than AGP, latest PCI-X versions are faster than PCIe (oh and to stop more smart arse remarks, I do mean PCIe x16 here.

Does any system ship with PCI-X 266 or PCI-X 533? I looked at Dell, HP, IBM, Sun and some others - but nothing that I found ships with faster than 133 MHz busses. If I missed systems and cards (since you need both) please post some links.

PCI-X 2.0 was announced with great fanfare over 3 years ago, but where are the systems? Where are the cards?

Bringing a stillborn technology like PCI-X 2.0 into the debate is a tangent.... It doesn't matter that PCIe x16 is actually faster than PCI-X 533 - since the latter effectively does not exist.

 

[FlyNolJ]

Wrongo Bucko

Why don't you by a HUB?

For 3 grand you shouldn't have to buya hub.

 

[mwatch]

Is a 250GB hard drive and a slightly faster processor worth $500.00(educator prices). Specifically, I am looking at the dual 2.0 vs a 2.3. I am having trouble justifying a difference of $500.00. I am not a gamer and my big use is for working with video. Nothing professional - just for fun. I am looking for some input from the experts.

 

[AidenShaw]

$146

Is a 250GB hard drive and a slightly faster processor worth $500.00(educator prices). Specifically, I am looking at the dual 2.0 vs a 2.3. I am having trouble justifying a difference of $500.00. I am looking for some input from the experts.

A 250GB SATA drive is $146 -
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144179, so definitely don't upgrade for the GB.... Get the 2.0, and add the 250 GB if/when you fill up the disk. It'll probably be even cheaper by then.

The 2.3 supports 8 GiB of RAM, vs 4 GiB for the 2.0.

If you're running with 2 GiB today, and occasionally find that to be a bit tight - it's likely that in a couple of years you'd find that 4 GiB in the 2.0 would be too little. If you use a lot of memory now - buying a system with more room for growth in memory capacity would be wise.

OTOH, if you're running with 512 MiB today, and that seems fine, there's little chance that you'll need more than 4 GiB in the next few years. Save money on the slightly slower system.

The last thing is that the 2.3 supports much faster PCI cards. If you need several more Gigabit ethernet ports, fibre channel and Infiniband - definitely go with the 2.3. If you don't plan on adding more than 1 really high bandwidth card - go with the 2.0. If not, or if you're not sure what I just said (other than recognizing the buzzwords), save money on the 2.0.

 

[TracerBullet]

Happy Owner

I have not even come remotely close to reading through the posts in this thread, but I know the overwhelming majority is not pleased with this recent Powermac upgrade. I, on the other hand, am thrilled.... here is why -

I am now the proud owner of a new Daul 2.7 that I picked up in the retail store near my apartment yesterday, with Tiger preinstalled, and a 23" display to go with it. This represents a pretty significant upgrade from my ti-book 867 that I've had for a little less than three years. This is a kickass machine in my book, and I know I will get many years of work and pleasure out of it, while many in these forums continue to sit around waiting for the next revision. Meanwhile, i will be happy finally having a great centerpiece to my DAW and won't feel held back in my creative endeavors. The look on my brother's face was priceless when I brought this sucker home and set it up with the new display... wow does it look sharp, and runs like a champ.

 

[destroyboredom]

Congrats man!

I have not even come remotely close to reading through the posts in this thread, but I know the overwhelming majority is not pleased with this recent Powermac upgrade. I, on the other hand, am thrilled.... here is why -

I am now the proud owner of a new Daul 2.7 that I picked up in the retail store near my apartment yesterday, with Tiger preinstalled, and a 23" display to go with it. This represents a pretty significant upgrade from my ti-book 867 that I've had for a little less than three years. This is a kickass machine in my book, and I know I will get many years of work and pleasure out of it, while many in these forums continue to sit around waiting for the next revision. Meanwhile, i will be happy finally having a great centerpiece to my DAW and won't feel held back in my creative endeavors. The look on my brother's face was priceless when I brought this sucker home and set it up with the new display... wow does it look sharp, and runs like a champ.

 

[840quadra]

I have not even come remotely close to reading through the posts in this thread, but I know the overwhelming majority is not pleased with this recent Powermac upgrade. I, on the other hand, am thrilled.... here is why -

I am now the proud owner of a new Daul 2.7 that I picked up in the retail store near my apartment yesterday, with Tiger preinstalled, and a 23" display to go with it. This represents a pretty significant upgrade from my ti-book 867 that I've had for a little less than three years. This is a kickass machine in my book, and I know I will get many years of work and pleasure out of it, while many in these forums continue to sit around waiting for the next revision. Meanwhile, i will be happy finally having a great centerpiece to my DAW and won't feel held back in my creative endeavors. The look on my brother's face was priceless when I brought this sucker home and set it up with the new display... wow does it look sharp, and runs like a champ.

Congrats, and I wish many happy years of use to you! Part of me wishes I could afford the new 2.7. My Rev-B 2.0 should hold me for 2 years or so, and I hope Apple is still producing Powermac computers by that point in time. This isn't my first apple, but it is my first ever brand new apple computer!

 

[DakotaGuy]

I am now the proud owner of a new Daul 2.7 that I picked up in the retail store near my apartment yesterday, with Tiger preinstalled, and a 23" display to go with it.

How does that bad boy run??? Any benchmarks to post???

 

[Cooknn]

NEWEST EDITION TO THE FAMILY: Dual 2.7Ghz :: 6.5gig RAM :: 250gig HD ::23" Apple HD LCD :: OS X 10.4 Tiger

6.5GB RAM?! Yikes That had to put a dent in the pocket book...

 

[Platform]

There is no reason why they shouldn't, they all are just box standard sata drives. If you know anyone who does have the 400GB drives installed, just get the manufacturer's part number from the 'About this Mac' menu thing and just order it by that from anyone who sells HDs

The SATA drives on the PM do they have the new power plug or the old....IDE plug or SATA power plug

 

[Platform]

I have not even come remotely close to reading through the posts in this thread, but I know the overwhelming majority is not pleased with this recent Powermac upgrade. I, on the other hand, am thrilled.... here is why -

I am now the proud owner of a new Daul 2.7 that I picked up in the retail store near my apartment yesterday, with Tiger preinstalled, and a 23" display to go with it. This represents a pretty significant upgrade from my ti-book 867 that I've had for a little less than three years. This is a kickass machine in my book, and I know I will get many years of work and pleasure out of it, while many in these forums continue to sit around waiting for the next revision. Meanwhile, i will be happy finally having a great centerpiece to my DAW and won't feel held back in my creative endeavors. The look on my brother's face was priceless when I brought this sucker home and set it up with the new display... wow does it look sharp, and runs like a champ.

Congratulations on your MEGA machine

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I have not even come remotely close to reading through the posts in this thread, but I know the overwhelming majority is not pleased with this recent Powermac upgrade. I, on the other hand, am thrilled.... here is why -

I am now the proud owner of a new Daul 2.7 that I picked up in the retail store near my apartment yesterday, with Tiger preinstalled, and a 23" display to go with it. This represents a pretty significant upgrade from my ti-book 867 that I've had for a little less than three years. This is a kickass machine in my book, and I know I will get many years of work and pleasure out of it, while many in these forums continue to sit around waiting for the next revision. Meanwhile, i will be happy finally having a great centerpiece to my DAW and won't feel held back in my creative endeavors. The look on my brother's face was priceless when I brought this sucker home and set it up with the new display... wow does it look sharp, and runs like a champ.

That's great! I always like to see people that are pleased with a new Mac purchase.

Oddly enough, I'm planning on buying a PowerMac in 2007 (in case you haven't checked any of the other threads I mentioned this in). I think it'll have comparable specs to yours (i.e. top-of-the-line CPU, RAM upgraded, etc.)

 

[jauh]

The SATA drives on the PM do they have the new power plug or the old....IDE plug or SATA power plug

huh? you're saying they don't have the SATA power plug?

 

[Pum]

Power-MacG5 Dual 2.7/Noise ?

HI,

Could anybody tell us his/her experience with the upgraded G5 dual 2.7 GHZ
liquid cooling concerning fan-noise as experienced with the 2.5 Ghz by many people ?
Thanks.
Gerd

 

[Lacero]

For 3 grand you shouldn't have to buya hub.

Just 3 grand? Ha, I paid 4 grand for a 867Mhz G4, and it wasn't that long ago.

 

[AidenShaw]

the question should be....

The SATA drives on the PM do they have the new power plug or the old....IDE plug or SATA power plug

The real question is "Do the PowerMac power cables have the new SATA connector or the old 4-pin Molex connector?

Various models of SATA drives come with the new connector, the old connector, or both....

I've also seen Molex -> SATA power adaptors - short cables to let you plug a disk with the new style power socket into a system with the old style Molex plugs.

 

[Platform]

huh? you're saying they don't have the SATA power plug?

I'm asking because some have the old 4pin and some the new SATA plug or both.....I wass wondering what the PM has

 

[jauh]

I'm asking because some have the old 4pin and some the new SATA plug or both.....I wass wondering what the PM has

phew!.. to be honest, I have no idea about the power connectors on the G5s, although I'd expect it to be SATA, of course you can just always take you old HD out and have a look