Why are refurbished Power G5s more than Mac Pros?

[Mr. MacBook]

If you look at apple's refurbished mac section, you'll notice that 2 dual core 2.66GHz Xeon Mac Pros sell for $500 less than a 2.5GHz dual Power Mac G5 quad.


The Xeon has faster memory, more memory, faster GPU, and more L2 cache.

Also, the powerbooks @ 15 inch 1.67GHz refurbished are more than their MacBook Pro refurbished Core Duo 1.83-2GHz cousins.

Why are these old macs so much more expensive when they suck so much more?

 

[iBookG4user]

Why are these old macs so much more expensive when they suck so much more?

They don't suck if you use non-universal apps. They cost that much because some apps like Photoshop and Office aren't universal, as soon as they become universal, I believe that the PowerBooks and PowerMacs will probably see a price drop in the refurb section.

 

[combatcolin]

Unless your photoshopping stay well clear.

The Mac Pro's have a lot more firepower than the Powermac, Powermac does sound better though.

 

[AlBDamned]

They don't suck if you use non-universal apps. They cost that much because some apps like Photoshop and Office aren't universal, as soon as they become universal, I believe that the PowerBooks and PowerMacs will probably see a price drop in the refurb section.

I often wonder the same question as the OP and I see where you're coming from with this answer. If demand is still there for PPC units, why not charge as much as you can for them.

But, do you think there's a consideration for simply unacceptable losses on the PPC units that means they can't just slash the prices completely? On the Australian refurb store for example, a maxed out 15" 2.16 C2D MBP was just AU$50 more than a last revision PowerBook 15". You'd have to be nuts as the MBP would have to be pretty quick with Photoshop, even under Rosetta. Needless to say, the PowerBook is still there, the MBP has gone.

 

[trainguy77]

Also could it be apple is trying to keep machines for spares in case of warranty replacements? So they set high prices so if they do sell they make a good bit. If not they have them as warranty replacements? Makes sense who knows how apple works though...

 

[ReanimationLP]

Because, currently the G5 performs about the same as the Mac Pro with CS2, and its a HELL of a lot cheaper to max out the RAM in the G5 compared to the MP.

 

[AlBDamned]

Because, currently the G5 performs about the same as the Mac Pro with CS2, and its a HELL of a lot cheaper to max out the RAM in the G5 compared to the MP.

Yeah I guess that could be the case too. I wonder how much of a jump in Mac Pro sales we'll see when CS3 comes out.