The Good The Bad The Ugly

[phil1984]

I personally wouldn't be suprised to see the low end G5 drop to $1500-$1600 dollars by Christmas.

I feel that the only reason why the low-end G5 is priced so high is too give people some insentive to go out and buy the remaing G4's that are out there so Apple doesn't end up with a warehouse full of Dual G4 1.4 Ghz machines. Another reason is that it can charge the Early Adopters a higher price before lowering the price for a more mass market appeal.

 

[caveman_uk]

I have to admit I like the look from the side but the front is a bit weak style wise. I think I prefer the old G4 case but then I've got one . It's due to engineering necessity. The cases have to be able to cope with not just dual 2GHz but higher speed systems so they need a good airflow system. Not having a mesh front would make windnoise an issue. They do look very industrial but then I'm a sucker for brushed metal on things. I reckon they should have kept the integral side door idea from the old G4 case. I don't care how great and easy to open the new one is. The old door was really smart.

 

[CallmeKenneth]

I think the G5 is incredible. The design is something that is clean, simple and effective. Apple has done what it always does with new products - create something that is radical and unexpected. Having no logo on the front? Has anyone else had the guts to do that? I can see why people think it's ugly, but think about when the LCD iMac came out. That was nothing short of revolutionary, and no other computer manufacturer has even come close to it design-wise (not even that hideous Gateway monstrosity). I remember when i first saw it on the webcast - I didn't quite know what to think. It was so unlike a computer it was breathtaking....

And now we have the G5 which certainly isn't ostentatious. It fuses form and function brilliantly and with subtletly. I love it!

Anyway, my point is, we should applaud Apple for daring to be cutting edge, while the rest of the world churns out dull and anonymous beige boxes. Maybe its because they have a smaller market share that they can afford to be a bit bolder. But - hey! - I'm all for that!

 

[Sabenth]

I have to say that i like the look of it but it kind of reminds me of an over grown cheese grater then again i always did like cheese... ...


No logo on front well its a statment thats down right briliant whats that ???? its an apple cant be aint got a logo on it dose round the side

 

[benixau]

I have two problems with the new design of the powermacs:

I live in australia and cant get one yet (dang nabbit)
They are too much right now (after conversion) for me to get even if i sell my, now massively outdated, DP 1G MDD.

I like the design. The new door is desgined to keep the cases thinner and therefor have less air to move when cooling the things. Here are a few facts:

1.8 G5 makes 36W heat
2.0 G5 makes 41W heat
3.0 P4 makes 86W heat

We ahve to get rid of 82W heat in that top machine. As well as the RAM heat which is faster than a P4s. Apple has done the best looking and most functional design they could do. I along with most reasonable and appreciative mac users applaud them and wish them the best.

The others here seem to think that apple just wanted to make it cheap. Some of it, yes. But mainly it is the underlined.

 

[law guy]

Re: Re: Re: Cheap, beautiful and quiet - a wonderful day for Mac

Originally posted by daveg5
whoa thats good i thought the ati 9800 card by itself was $400 even for pc's

Dell's pricing on cards changes by machine package / line, so it's a little hard to pin down. For example, a card on a suggested system Dimension might be a $50 upgrade and the same upgrade on a Precision 450 might be a $90 upgrade. Dell seems to price like an airline - the Dimensions are coach: folks are most cost concious. The Precisions, or even the Dimensions in the Business section, are pricier for the similar options. I suppose they figure that, like with a business class ticket, it's other people's money that's being spent by an IT dept.

For the Precision workstations - the cards offered (last time I looked) were not the 9800, and co. but were various levels of the very expensive ATI FIRE and some really, really expensive super-pro cards with 256 MB ram. I think the cheap card is something like the ATI 32 MB card on the workstations, moving up to the 64 meg. and on intro the stratospheric pricing from there. I think you have to spend a real chunk of change to get a card in the precision line that actually takes advantage of the PRO 50 or PRO 110 8x AGP slot. Something like $600 more. Perhaps prosumer options have been added recently. The prices remind me of the cards that rasterops (was that the spelling?) used to make for the Mac II FX and Ci... so expensive it's makes you blink.

 

[agreenster]

Re: Re: futuristic?

Originally posted by tjwett
most of those 3D renders are just silly and unrealistic, and most importantly, impractical, which makes them very UNfuturistic. alot of people seem to think that "futuristic" means curvy, flasy, and weird translucent materials and the like. the reality is that as technology, science, the human brain, etc, advances; the major change we will se in all products is improved efficiency. i think the G5 is a very good example of function over form, and as a result they've created a machine that truly is futuristic in appearence. the practice of making something flashy just for the sake of being flashy went out in the 70's my man. the REAL future is all about efficiency and refinement. you'll see.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

Fantastic design in my opinion. Rivals the looks of most modern cars and other high end products.

These people expected a pimped-out Eclipse (with the wing and the decals and bling-bling rims....etc) but what they got was a true Mercedes. Many people cant appreciate that kind of beauty.

And now it has the super-fast engine to go with it.

 

[pwm519]

For accuracy's sake, let's remember that the absolute base model of the Power Mac G5 is $1799, with the combo drive instead of the super drive.

Actually, if your a student or faculty and you get rid of the modem, then the base with a student discount is $1681.00. You can already pickup a couple RAM sticks at Crucial for $69.99 (for 512MB DDR2700). Put in $50.00 for the ATI Videocard and were still $1870.98.

But hey, for $1870.98 you have a very strong performing Mac, with a midrange videocard and 1GB of ram.

Knock off 1 stick of RAM and through in the SuperDrive and your still at $2000.00 That's still a pretty nice machine.