New G5...

[bsodmike]

13:27 up 7:35, 2 users, load averages: 2.96 1.84 1.65

And it still ejects!

I performed an extended hardware test sometime around 5am:



So everything seems alright now

[Red10]

Mike,

Overall what do you think of this machine?
I LOVE my iBook G4, it's a quality bit of kit, but the really good part of it is it's OS.
I don't like Windows XP so i went down the Linux route - it's the next best thing to Mac OS X but it -in reality- is a country mile away in terms of quality; for example, the hardware support, the sometimes tedious installation procedure for software and to be honest the quality of apps in most situations.

I am currently using an AMD Athlon 64 XP 2800+ with 512Mb RAM etc.

Would you go for a G5? over the PC/*nix system or stick with what i've got?

I don't play games, i only need a machine for Music/DVD, Internet, Mail, Office, low level graphic manipulation and scientific apps (not majorly powerful stuff)...

Any opinions?

[bsodmike]

I'd get a G5 right away. Infact the only reason I have my linux box @ home is to play the role of a 24/7 file server. Now this makes sense as a cheapish PC makes a decent server when loaded with Linux.

However in the past few days I've been tinkering with Apache on my G5 and I feel that the G5 here even makes the linux box as home feel a bit redundant, considering I can have Apache and a ftpd running on it. You can install anything 'linux' via fink and either install from binary or compile from source.

How I'd review the G5:

It's a great machine, performs best with a lot of ram and this is cause OS X likes alot of RAM. The more you have the more it caches into it, and swapping from App to app is much faster (as we mac users tend to run a program once and leave it running) rather than having it load it from the swap... A fast HDD I can recommend is the Maxtor DiamondMax 16MB cache drives - it is a must I tell you, performance goes through the roof...

I would suggest that you either sell your box and shift to a G5 OR keep it running linux and buy a G5...

You'll simply love it. Of course I want to know what you think once you make the shift (when you do it)...

I'm thinking of starting a page on my site detailing how shifting to Macs make life so much better. Not the same as Apple as those are PR notes - I'm talking of indepth articles and more tech talk the better...

I sold my P4 3Ghz Shuttle and swapped over to a G5

Now I have my pbook and G5, I'm really enjoying it

Update: I've been thinking about the server idea. I'll still keep my server cause I can tinker with it all I want and even when things go wrong my G5 will be here. Standing.

Cheers,

Mike

[Jonny M]

I'd have got some kind of Mac a while ago I think if they weren't so damned expensive. I don't want / need another monitor, so the only Mac which would be suitable is a G5, which to be honest is a hell of a lot more money than I'd be prepared to spend. The day I buy a Mac is the day Apple make a sub £500 "iMac without the screen".

And how do you afford all that crap

[Elspuddy]

And how do you afford all that crap

gueseing apple finance
i could not realy afford to buy the ibook that i got, but at £70 p/m it's streatched nicele into my buget

[bsodmike]

Apple Finance? lol! Hell no....I'm scared of financing, it's like having a big anvil tied to your neck. Cold hard cash bro

[roders]

Hi bsodmike, do you think you could give us a general review of your G5 and it's performance?
I was going to get a SFF PC (AOpne XC Cube AV 65 or a Shuttle) but now I know the new SP G5 is so quite (due to having no front mounted CPU fans like the othr G5's?) I really want to get one, I just want to know your everyday impressions of it's performance (and any more info on noise) I do game a bit on my Mac's (going to go withy the Rad96XT), as well as a bit of Music/video production and the usual Web/Office/itunes Type stuff, and have used a Dual 2.0Ghz G5 in the past (too noisy and cost me too much money, so it had too go) so your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[Hades]

My G5 arrived yesterday (dual 2.0). I'm frankly stunned by how quick it is and how quiet it is. I love OSX already (but then again I always was a fan of Linux/Unix/BSD etc).

[Red10]

don´t rub it in!!!

I went into the stores at uni today and one of the lecturers had a dual cpu G5 sitting, waiting for him to pick up....

[Lowe]

Just ordered a dual 2.5ghz machine for work

[bsodmike]

The Review

This would be my second G5, my first being the 1.6Ghz unit I got in January this year and is at home in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

I was already quite happy with this machine but as it wasn't my primary machine I never really got to use it to its full potensial.

Once my personal unit arrived in Leeds I noticed the smaller mainboard inside as the first thing I did before even 'testing' it was to remove the side panel and upgrade the RAM to 1.25GB of DDR goodness. Once this was done I set about connecting everything up and went about configuring OS X. Shortly later I ended up running the extended Apple hardware test to ensure that everything was simply perfect, including the RAM. This machine is dead silent but there is an exception. When I was running the test. Why? This is because the test had the fan set to full speed through out, and with it set this way I would say it was close to a mini-hurricane in my tiny dorm room. This isn't a problem as it has never hit this kind of 'rpm' during regular usage.

Another optimization tip: Buy your self a few of them Maxtor DiamondMax drives with the 16mb cache - woo, watch the G5 fly. Once I plomped this baby in, Photoshop CS flew but I wonder how much faster it would be if OS X was actually on one of these drives. In my case OS X is on the supplied Seagate POS, which I plan to replace once Tiger is out and I make the shift.

Everything else is pretty much bog standard, and couldn't imagine too many people being dissapointed by such a machine.

[Jonny M]

Except for the price of it, cheapest comes in at £1049 for a single 1.8 256 meg of ram, and a tiny 80gb hard drive.

That's nothing for the price. If we work it all out:

256MB PC3200 - £25
80gb Seagate HDD - £45
GeForce FX5200 Ultra - £40
NEC 3500 DVDRW - £40
Apple Keyboard - £45
Apple Mouse - £40
OSX Panther - £85

Which is a total (at retail prices) of £320, leaving £729 for a 1.8Ghz CPU, mainboard, case, and accessories.

Now I seriously doubt that it costs £729 to make those parts, I doubt it costs 1/3 of that.

Apple seem to consider themselves exempt from price drops over time, and exempt from competition. It's not enough to claim to compete on quality, they need to start competing on price. Only then can they expect to see their pitiful market share increase.

[pritsey]

Whilst I agree that the price of Apple machines is higher in comparison to PC's, since I've had my iBook (approx 6 months) it's never crashed. Never. I use this as my main machine now and just my PC for gaming. My PC will crash or give me random reboots almost daily. And yes, I do know how to install things correctly and I tend to never had an XP installation over 3 months old to avoid any issues. So, would I pay over the odds for something that works? yes I would and I will again. The simple fact is that Apples work. Full stop. I realise that there will be many people who say that their PC's 'just work' but I'm affraid I just don't belive it. So, price vs quality? I'll take quality. Same reason I have a VW and not a Ford now as well.

[Red10]

I think i need to add my thoughts...
I wanted a G5 a while ago - i had a lovely iBook G4 and i liked the OS alot too....
For those who don't know, i am a Linux guy - not so much a hacker, as my posts in other threads have shown! but i use Linux all the time, for MP3/DVD, maths/graphics/lyx work - the idea of moving over to a system which basically had the user friendliness and general tidyness of XP (if there is such a thing) with the power/reliability of Unix attracted me.
At this time i was using FC2 as my linux distro - solid, reliable, fast but not particularly friendly. I then installed Ubuntu, (note: i am using an AMD64 (2800) 512Mb RAM). Ubuntu is based on debian, and it's amazing, so much so i would say it edges OS X out of the top spot for best OS...

So, is it worth spending so much money on a Mac? after a rethink, no...
* Macs are incredibly expensive, 1200 quid (easily) for a 64 bit PC - i paid well under half that for my Athlon 64.
* The disparity between what PCs have to offer in terms of an OS and what Macs have to offer is diminishing rapidly, not due to M$ but due to the strength of Linux in all it's many guises..
* If you really, really need to rough it and use Micro$haft software, you can dual boot on a PC...

I love my Mac dearly and as a laptop the Mac hammers IBM-comps (it's small, neat and quick) but for desktop stuff, i can't justify the move to a 1k+ show pony machine..

[bsodmike]

As Red10 pointed out, there are many alternatives out there. Heck you can even run OS X on an Athlon (albeit slowly)...

In the end it depends on your needs and wants and balance them out accordingly. I've been won over by OS X, simply love it and as Red put it "an OS with the user friendliness and general tidyness of XP (if there is such a thing) with the power/reliability of Unix" is what I was after, and OS X covered my needs.

In the end it's what Pritsey said. Do you wanna drive a VW or a Ford?

[bsodmike]

So, would I pay over the odds for something that works? yes I would and I will again. The simple fact is that Apples work. Full stop.

I would also like to comment a little on this as I have been affected by this very topic, twice. There are rotten Apples. Full stop. My first Apple purchase a 15" Ti 1Ghz Pbook ended life in 8months with the LCD going sideways, and I had to fly to Singapore to replace it. At the time the new 15" Alu had JUST come out and I snagged one...in two weeks (I was back home now) the machine (alu) died completely. Keyboard was messed up (controller probably gone rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish) and the display messed up. I had this paperweight for a month till I flew back to Singapore in January 2004 where Apple replaced the 15" for me and I sold the Ti off. Another few months later (around June/July) the latch started giving trouble...and I sold it off (lol not cause of the latch - the 15" Alu was at a good second hand value and I knew that I'd be going to Singapore again and wanted a more portable pbook).

In August 2004 I went to Singapore again and picked up my 12" Pbook an so far it's been great. The new redesigned latch has a much better feel to it, and I'd say I like this machine more than the 15". Compact, cute, portable and not heavy...goes with me everywhere of course.

Rule of thumb: Try and test your new Mac in store, exhaustively. Pay for it, stick around and test it there, heck run an extended hardware test if you can...of course you can't if you order online.