PowerMac G5: World's Fastest Desktop Computer

[Fredo Viola]

It was indeed Ives who designed it. You can download the movie in which he hypes the new work. And, I think it looks great! Really understated. They needed to get away from the delicious candy quality of the g4s.

I'm bummed we have to wait until August, though. I want and need to buy a new computer so badly, but want to see how these perform in the real world before slapping down the cash.

How about how these bastards are generally cheaper! Very very smart! Thank you, Apple!

 

[daveL]

Originally posted by idkew
yeah- i'm wondering about the g6.

this g5 really doesn't impress me very much.

only 1,000mhz system bus? that is only a ~60% jump from my 166mhz bus. only 8gb ram? sheesh. apple really isn't working too hard anymore.

Try a 600% increase in bus speed.

I noticed that there's no L3 cache used. With the bandwidth they have now, they don't need it. I'd guess future revs of the 970 CPU may have larger on-chip L2 cache.

 

[beatle888]

this is wonderful. better than i ever expected. this machine will bring so much power in-house. i am very satisfied.

 

[holy MAC!]

only 1 opti?

GREAT FR----KEN JOB, MR. JOBS

now... why is there only 1 optical drive??????? i mean... im amazed at all the other stuff and all...


ok... so im really really digging.......

and they now use the new keyboard and mouse....... so they cut the "pro" mouse?????? talk about ways of cutting expense.....

lolol we now officially can say that macs are more powerful than PeeSees......

-Kz

 

[Scott Laird]

Grumble. Sort of.

Okay, it's cool, but there are a couple weird things.

1. Why do they have two *different* G5 motherboards? The 1.6 only has 4 DIMM sockets and only has PCI slots, while the 1.8 and 2.0 have 8 sockets and PCI-X. Given the slim price difference between the 1.6 and the 1.8, it doesn't make sense to me.

2. Why don't they support 2 GB DIMMs? They've been available (for a big premium) for around a year.

3. Why only 2 drives? That's a step back from the 4 in the MDD case. And 1 optical drive is kinda limiting. At least there's FW-800 and a couple spare PCI slots.

Still, I'll probably buy a 1.8 or 2.0 once they start shipping.


Scott

 

[Veldek]

I like the case, i like the G5, it's unbelievable how cool these systems are. I already configured my system in the store and will be purchasing soon, as I saved my money for this moment!

 

[jeremy.king]

What about 2nd optical

Does the front of this case have "pop outs" if you want to add a second drive? Is it me, or does anyone else think you are limited to optical drive (ie Superdrive)?

I am going to have to find better pics to find the answer here.

 

[trebblekicked]

our day in the sun

what a day for mac geeks.

i just priced my probable G5. a little over 3700.00. i'm going to wait until rev. b, maybe even first speed bumps (i'm moving to chicago in sept, want to be easy on the credit card for a while), but this machine is fantastic. teh case is great, the specs are great, what else can i say!?

*gushing*

 

[macnews]

I do have to say the 2ghz model is impressive, although would have liked to see specs on the lower end models. August/Sept time frame would be a little wait - and dissappointing as it means we will probably not be able to see the G5 in the powerbooks for a while.

I was also a little sad to hear that panther would not ship until "later this year." What the #$%#% does that mean? Aug? Oct? Dec??? I also would imagine that means if I buy a 2Ghz G5 NOW (delivered Aug/Sept) I will get screwed if Panther isn't released by then. Escpecially will feel hosed if Panther is released one month after I get the G5 - which Murphy's law will dictate that happening.

 

[Wonder Boy]

2 things-

1. are they 970's or not

2. what the hell is a g6? didnt we wait long enough for the g5?

 

[Tyler Durden]

G5 design

When I look at the design for the new desktop G5 I think of a highly tuned, super robust muscle car with a serious super charger in those fans. I love it more than anything previously released. I say down with bubble design themes. I want my desktop to look serious and industrial yet sleek and beautiful. I can't wait to rock FCP 4 on that thing..

 

[ddtlm]

rjstanford:

I wonder if you can upgrade the processors without trashing the rest of the system? This hasn't historically been an issue for Apple because, well, G4 evolution was very slow.

I would say that you probably cannot upgrade the CPU because the FSB (so far) runs at 1/2 speed of the CPU and so a faster CPU might require a newer motherboard and chipset. Perhaps 970's will be available some day with 1/3 FSB to core clock ratios... who knows.

patmcfar8:

This ought to put it into perspective for all of the complainers that will be bitchin' about the price: The dual 2ghz G5, $3,000, beat the pants off the Dual 3.09ghz Xeon, $4,000!

Well lets just say that Dell wasn't invited to select the tests that would be run. The whole truth will not come out till people can test the machines themselves.

mustang_dvs:

Yeah drive exandability is dissapointing, but perhaps firewire will make up for it.

 

[analogkid]

seems like the price/performance ratio favors the high end model by a large margin. I wish the price of the low was dropped a little.

 

[Doctor Q]

The era of the "megahertz myth" is clearly over. But now we have the same thing as the "gigahertz myth". We still have an uphill battle to convince casual shoppers that a dual 2GHz G5 really is faster than a 3GHz Pentium.

Funny aside: During the keynote, the live news report at macnn.com had a tiny off-by-a-factor-of-1024 typo: It said (bold is mine) Models start at 1.6MHz ($2000, GF FX5200, 256MB of RAM), 1.8GHz (double memory, double disk, $2399) and dual 2.0GHz ($2999, Radeon 9600 Pro).

 

[Flowbee]

Re: Nice. Very Nice.

Originally posted by rjstanford
Adding memory in pairs is a little annoying, but even if you keep the two 256mb chips you can still add 6 more of your own from crucial cheaply.
-Richard

You have to add memory in pairs??

 

[Flowbee]

Originally posted by analogkid
seems like the price/performance ratio favors the high end model by a large margin. I wish the price of the low was dropped a little.

It will be... in 12 months

 

[ejb190]

I was looking at the speed comparisons posted on the Apple's G5 page. They are showing how the Dual 2 GHz is faster than the current top of the line single processor Intel and ADM offerings.

I always cringe when I see things like this. Part of the story is always left behind. But alas, that's marketing!

But I wonder what happens to those results when you use a dual Intel or ADM chip or a single G5.

"First gather your facts, then contort them at your leisure." - Mark Twain

 

[Java]

Re: Re: 8 gigs!

Originally posted by evoluzione
not quite, ain't no way you're gonna get a dvd drive to read that quick, and no hard drive can read/write that quick either. it's just the memory, it was just to give an indication of how fast the memory etc is.

Oh, I know, but it just sounds cool. Thanks

 

[thies]

as I thought, way to pricey to be able to pull over significant marketshare through switchers given that they target the average user with those ads and noone would want to go for a G4 or even *shudder* G3 now.

 

[jbh001]

Originally posted by idkew
yeah- i'm wondering about the g6.

this g5 really doesn't impress me very much.

only 1,000mhz system bus? that is only a ~60% jump from my 166mhz bus.

Okay, I'm not good at math, but
166MHz * 1.60 = 265.6 MHz.
166MHz * 6.02 = 999.3 MHz.

I think the means more than a 600% increase over 166MHz.

What I want to know is: If the G5 doesn't ship till August, then what is in all those boxes that said don't open until 23 June 2003? ...another box that says don't open till after the August Bank Holiday?

Also, someone said the new G5 looks too much like an oversized electric shaver... and now I can't see it as anything else.

 

[mymemory]

I may get it as long I can arrange all that stuff inside my dual G4 500 enclosure, I mean, the case is a compensation of the technology inside, I can really tell they ran out of budged.

Any way, it is good to be on the top again, I just can't see the day of using it with Final Cut Pro or After Effects.

 

[5]

3 Ghz in 12 months . . .

did steve handicap early sales of the G5 with the hint of 3 Ghz in a year?

Especially when, historically, there have been definite advantages to waiting for the second revs. . .

 

[avus]

Let's begin IBM worshiping, as they are the savior who listened and tailor-made the chip for us (it is ironic that IBM has a little internal use for the 970, really - how many Linux server with the 970 are they going to sell?), and, most importantly, now save us from MOTOROLA HELL - I once thought it would never end, but today I can finally see the end of it!

 

[Billicus]

It all came true...I'm so frickin' happy!

 

[jwtillema]

How come nobody is complaining about the price? $2000 for the low end is ridiculous. At a time when you can buy an Athlon XP 2000+ machine well equipped for <$600, Apple will never increase their market share with this strategy. My brother has been using my G4 for a few weeks, and loves it more and more. But his upper lip curled when he saw what he'd have to pay to get started with a mac. Apple needs to bring its prices down before their market shrinks to a level so low that developers lose interest.

Supurb hardware though. I'd love to have one if it didn't cost a month's salary after taxes.