PowerPC Macs, Which one is best?

[originaldotexe]

A PowerPC Mac I don’t have — and wish I did:

A 2.3GHz Dual Core A1117 Power Mac G5, equipped with a GeForce 7800 GT and a pair of Sonnet Tempo E4i SATA cards.

It isn’t the Quad Core, but it would be a step up in speed from my ailing mid-2004 2.0 DP. It would run much cooler, handle 16GB RAM, accommodate several internal SATA II drives (with help from some Icy Dock adapters), and being air-cooled, would generally be one less thing I’d need to worry about.

The GeForce card would let me run dual-link DVI monitors like the 30-inch aluminium Cinema Display (which would be a massive step up from the 20-inch acrylic display running on my A1047). It would also be hardware-supported by the Clouded Leopard builds.

Unfortunately, the A1117s don’t turn up locally very often, or else I’d probably have one by now.

i have the dual processor (not dual core) 2.3ghz one with nvidia 6800 gt ddl, but unfortunately the sata port on the board is broken so it needs a pci sata card like sil3112/sil3114 to use the hdd

i am actually thinking of getting rid of it and some other machines since they take up so much space and i dont use most of them often since i have the g5 quad and g4 mdd, if you are close maybe we can sort something out if interested. i am in central ky

 

[Amethyst1]

i have the dual processor (not dual core) 2.3ghz one with nvidia 6800 gt ddl, but unfortunately the sata port on the board is broken so it needs a pci sata card like sil3112/sil3114 to use the hdd

Or get rid of the optical drive and hook up two PATA HDDs to the PATA bus. Sucks, but still better than having no HDD at all I guess.

 

[originaldotexe]

Or get rid of the optical drive and hook up two PATA HDDs to the PATA bus. Sucks, but still better than having no HDD at all I guess.

ya, well luckily you can buy a generic chinese sil3112 pci card for $15 on ebay, flash it in 5 minutes with an old pc and it works fine on the powermac

 

[B S Magnet]

i have the dual processor (not dual core) 2.3ghz one with nvidia 6800 gt ddl, but unfortunately the sata port on the board is broken so it needs a pci sata card like sil3112/sil3114 to use the hdd

i am actually thinking of getting rid of it and some other machines since they take up so much space and i dont use most of them often since i have the g5 quad and g4 mdd, if you are close maybe we can sort something out if interested. i am in central ky

Thanks for the offer, but I’m nowhere close to Kentucky. I’m in Canada.

 

[Theodore loves apple]

The winner is still Power Mac G5, 38.7%, and 12 votes.

 

[Theodore loves apple]

oh there it is the least is powerbook

 

[B S Magnet]

OK, I’ve spent the week to think it over, and I’m here to finally make my vote.

My favourite PowerPC Mac is the legendary prototype… the P-P-P-PowerBook.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

LOL the ones you own, silly

 

[originaldotexe]

Thanks for the offer, but I’m nowhere close to Kentucky. I’m in Canada.

kk, no big deal, just thought i would offer as i will probably be getting rid of it soon.

 

[originaldotexe]

OK, I’ve spent the week to think it over, and I’m here to finally make my vote.

My favourite PowerPC Mac is the legendary prototype… the P-P-P-PowerBook.

my all time favorite is the g4 mdd powermac. i lusted over that one as a kid and now i own one and am using it as my main desktop computer.

 

[barracuda156]

For example, I think the Quad G5 is one of the 'best' Macs because it is the most powerful. But to me, it's not the best in looks. I find it ugly. I always have.

How-dare-you.jpg

But yeah, Quad is great. Given it feels adequately fast even today, can imagine how much ahead of time it was in 2005.

 

[eyoungren]

How-dare-you.jpg

But yeah, Quad is great. Given it feels adequately fast even today, can imagine how much ahead of time it was in 2005.

I was working for a small newspaper in 2003 and had been anticipating this new G5 Mac. When I saw it, all I can recall thinking was "This is the best Apple could come up with? It looks like a cheese grater!"

It wasn't until two years later in a new job that I came to appreciate what the Mac could do. Over time I've become accustomed to the design and look but it's still a bit odd to me.

 

[z970]

How-dare-you.jpg

 

[B S Magnet]

I was working for a small newspaper in 2003 and had been anticipating this new G5 Mac. When I saw it, all I can recall thinking was "This is the best Apple could come up with? It looks like a cheese grater!"

It wasn't until two years later in a new job that I came to appreciate what the Mac could do. Over time I've become accustomed to the design and look but it's still a bit odd to me.

The very first time I saw the G5, my reaction was, “Braun designed this.”

(Mind you, this was before I knew who Dieter Rams, Braun’s chief designer, was.)

I mean, seriously…

 

[galgot]

Never been a fan of desktop computers. I mean the things like a "box" connected to a separate screen and keyboard/mouse. Found this so clumsy. The Laptop is for me the best form factor , followed by the all-in-one and iMacs.
And the Minis, if one don't really need a screen.
But the MDDs, QuikSilvers..ect ... gawd, these things are so heavy, over "designed" . That said I'm always impressed by the design and attention to every detail put in the G5 case. Looks like it was for compensation to the G5 proc dead end...

Yes Dieter Rams

UltraLinx

Creating exceptional content.

theultralinx.com

I think even prefer his work to Ive's. Just the object for what it's suppose to do, no obvious added aesthetic .

 

[B S Magnet]

Never been a fan of desktop computers. I mean the things like a "box" connected to a separate screen and keyboard/mouse. Found this so clumsy. The Laptop is for me the best form factor , followed by the all-in-one and iMacs.
And the Minis, if one don't really need a screen.
But the MDDs, QuikSilvers..ect ... gawd, these things are so heavy, over "designed" . That said I'm always impressed by the design and attention to every detail put in the G5 case. Looks like it was for compensation to the G5 proc dead end...

Yes Dieter Rams
View attachment 2008837

UltraLinx

Creating exceptional content.

theultralinx.com

I think even prefer his work to Ive's. Just the object for what it's suppose to do, no obvious added aesthetic .

Rams the innovator, Ive the imitator. :O

 

[Amethyst1]

But yeah, Quad is great. Given it feels adequately fast even today, can imagine how much ahead of time it was in 2005.

Probably not miles ahead of a quad-core Opteron or Xe-off system of 2005.

Never been a fan of desktop computers. I mean the things like a "box" connected to a separate screen and keyboard/mouse. Found this so clumsy. The Laptop is for me the best form factor […]

If you don’t mind its limitations compared to a desktop. I’m not just referring to performance and connectivity/expansion but also to the tiny LCD. 17” may seem huge for a laptop, but it’s tiny for a desktop. I wouldn’t want to go below 24” on a desktop.

 

[galgot]

Probably not miles ahead of a quad-core Opteron or Xe-off system of 2005.


If you don’t mind its limitations compared to a desktop. I’m not just referring to performance and connectivity/expansion but also to the tiny screen. 17” may seem huge on a laptop, but it’s tiny on a desktop. I wouldn’t want to go below 24” on a desktop.

True. I got so much used to laptops I guess...

 

[Amethyst1]

True. I got so much used to laptops I guess...

I love ultraportables. But for stationary use at a desk, I’ll take a proper desktop/tower system any day.

 

[eyoungren]

Never been a fan of desktop computers. I mean the things like a "box" connected to a separate screen and keyboard/mouse. Found this so clumsy. The Laptop is for me the best form factor , followed by the all-in-one and iMacs.

Laptops are cool, the 17" PowerBook is the first Mac that really drew me to Apple.

But as 'clumsy' as desktops may be they allow a certain freedom. Box goes one place, screens go another, keyboard and mouse in another. You can choose those places. With a laptop…you can't. It's already chosen for you where those things go.

Sure, plug them into peripherals but now I have what is essentially another desktop. But laptops are portable! Sure. And my laptops spend 99% of their time plugged in and sitting on a surface at home. But you can use them anywhere in the house! On the couch, at the kitchen table. Well for a variety of reasons I don't have laptops in those places and I have a large desk (table) for my desktop precisely because I eat there.

Finally, even the larger laptops do not have 30" screens.

Possibly this is a legacy of growing up with various computers that attached to TVs and later on monitors. IDK. But, I'm glad we have choice.

 

[eyoungren]

Rams the innovator, Ive the imitator. :O

Really not a fan of Jony Ive. He designed some great Macs, but the iPhone from the 6 series on when he decided that the camera bump would be a feature?

And let's not forget the Playskool inspired primary color riot of unicorn puke that was iOS 7. But that's what you get when your primary inspiration is Tutor Time.

The Mac Pro trash can was Ive's design too right? SMH.

 

[ww2_1943]

Best as far as modern day internet usefulness and overall performance- Power Mac G5, any dual processor model.
Best as far as best design and usefulness back in its heyday- PowerBook G3 Pismo.

All just my humble opinion.

-Posted from a G5

 

[Amethyst1]

Laptops are cool, the 17" PowerBook is the first Mac that really drew me to Apple.

Yeah, back in 2003, it really was a laptop unlike any other.

 

[B S Magnet]

Really not a fan of Jony Ive. He designed some great Macs, but the iPhone from the 6 series on when he decided that the camera bump would be a feature?

I’ll have to take your word on that. I’ve never used an iPhone, an iPad, or an iPod Touch. I have never found appealing the way Apple handled glass UI-based products.

What turned me off early on was Apple’s aggressive policy to lock the system in place, making it completely closed, and requiring “jailbreaking” to do anything else with the handheld hardware. I long wondered what a more OS X-oriented iteration of the iPhone (or iPad) might have been like, in which extensibility and interoperability in a handheld were prioritized and not branched away from OS X into something else (i.e., a closed ecosystem, walled ”garden“, and app store).

And let's not forget the Playskool inspired primary color riot of unicorn puke that was iOS 7. But that's what you get when your primary inspiration is Tutor Time.

I had to look this up. Honestly, it appears app icons are flattened and redesigned, and the 3D glass dock is removed, but otherwise pretty much what Apple were doing to OS X/macOS around the time of El Capitan/Sierra, right?

Also, I think Ive mostly was tasked with the industrial design of Apple hardware — not so much the skeuromorphic elements of earlier iOS or older OS X, or the flattened, post-Aqua/Marble UI of OS X and, later, the post-Yosemite flatness of macOS. While I’m sure he was invited to chime in as one of the folks in meetings, I doubt he was central to the UI/UX core team behind those design decisions. Of course, I’m only guessing.

The Mac Pro trash can was Ive's design too right? SMH.

Yah, that was one of his, as was the 2015 MacBook (a meme I still love to watch) and the 2016 MacBook Pro. I think all the hardware designs to emerge since Apple switched from Intel to Silicon have been handled by a post-Ive industrial design team.

 

[MysticCow]

Best as far as best design and usefulness back in its heyday- PowerBook G3 Pismo.

It can kind of not really hold its own today IF you upgrade the processor to the admittedly low horsepower G4 upgrade. That is the only G3 laptop where you can do that.