Apple

How common were these systems and how much are they now?
I want to pool up my money and finally go beyond a 300Mhz PowerPC mac and get something real nice that is still "a Mac". Intel processors belong in a pc, not in a mac. A dual might also be reasonable.

Looks like they're around $2000 and up. The duals are still hanging around $1000 which I'd say is much better off put towards an Intel mac. I looked into some quad G5 vs Core2 Duo iMac comparisons and the G5 seemed to generally be faster though not always by a large margin - at least not enough to justify giving up that big-ass LCD in my case Haven't actually bought one yet but I keep eying them at the mall. If more businesses start to switch over to the Mac Pro G5 prices could take a dip but I think just about every Mac fan still lusts after the cool factor of a quad so I don't see the price dropping too far real soon.

So, in other words all polls clearly show the Intel Mac squarely ahead at 42% to 36%. However, a strong turnout by 68k users could turn things around for the G5. Middle-class PC users disgusted with Vista and considering a Mac may also be more apt to lean towards the lower priced PPC options. There will be write-in votes for the Amiga.

Sorry just turned off the news.... Big lesson - less poll results, more discussion/thought! Could decrease the number of annoying graphics. Did you see that nonsense on CNN???

But yeah a quad G5 would be fun

Those MASSIVE 30" apple LCD monitors are an ultimate dream.
It's so big I can't even think of what to fill the screen with.
BTW, how are the G5 processors when it comes to running more modern mac software on them?

pentium wrote: It's so big I can't even think of what to fill the screen with.

Oh it's pretty easy to fill it - I'm thinking about maybe picking up another I posted an "action" shot of what's running on my 30" 2560x1600 display in the "What Next?" thread a little bit ago.

the quads are decent machines (except for some early revs that had a temperamental coolant device (can't remember the name) causing leaks/corrosion/havoc...)

you can still find one with AppleCare around the $2k tag. i own 2 quads (both on AppleCare) and when one of them started playing dead (about 3 months ago), apple gave me back a MacPro...

nekonoko wrote:

pentium wrote: It's so big I can't even think of what to fill the screen with.

Oh it's pretty easy to fill it - I'm thinking about maybe picking up another I posted an "action" shot of what's running on my 30" 2560x1600 display in the "What Next?" thread a little bit ago.

heh, yes screen-estate is never enough...

http://lowendmac.com/deals.shtml

Considering their performance, old PowerMacs do seem to hold their value relatively well compared to x86 computers, really odd but whatever.

D-EJ915 wrote: Considering their performance, old PowerMacs do seem to hold their value relatively well compared to x86 computers, really odd but whatever.

(1) Macs have a slower replacement cycle than PCs (want to see some really wild value-holding? Look at RS/6000 )
(2) For modernish Power Macintoshes (fast G4s and especially fast G5s) you're running into the groups of people that need a Mac to run an old Classic/PPC or Classic/68k app that isn't available under OS X. The fastest machines that will run these apps will command a premium for a while (look at the Quadra 840AV back until PPC performance on emulated apps was able to match it). You see the same thing on VAXen and will probably see the same thing on Tezros and the like.

I think a lot of things in the mac are affected by the reality distortion field, and none more so than the prices of used macs. For some reason the asking prices for 2nd hand macs are fairly insane, but as long as there are people willing to pay those insane prices.

pentium wrote: Those MASSIVE 30" apple LCD monitors are an ultimate dream.
It's so big I can't even think of what to fill the screen with.
BTW, how are the G5 processors when it comes to running more modern mac software on them?

PPC support for Applications and from Apple Inc. will exist (at least) until the next major point release - and supported PPC's run Leopard / recent applications just fine

The Quad G5's are still rather expensive, however, although I've seen them sell for as little as $1250.00-$1500.00. Fast machines with tremendous amounts of hardware issues - we finally retired the last quad at work this summer.

If you are looking for pure-power in a Mac, go for an Intel - can't go wrong with a MacPro. Other wise, the late-model dual G4 MDD make for fantastic multi-tasking / general use systems that will run Leopard very, very well. Look for the 2-meg L2 cache per-processor systems, such as the dual 1.25's and the dual 1.42's. Plenty of upgrade options, and will probably cost between $250.00-$350.00. Just keep in mind that these systems are SUPER loud.

Another option would be an early G5, such as a dual 1.8 or 2.0 - good machines for multi-tasking and general usage as well.

If you are looking for pure-power in a Mac , go for an Intel

Those two words should NEVER be in the same sentence.

pentium wrote:

If you are looking for pure-power in a Mac , go for an Intel

Those two words should NEVER be in the same sentence.

Nope. Those Intel Macs are fast, and they are Mac.

pentium wrote:

If you are looking for pure-power in a Mac , go for an Intel

Those two words should NEVER be in the same sentence.

I agree completely: If you are looking for pure-power in a Mac , go for a 68k

As far as the Mac Intel vs. PPC issue, the only time I've ever found the G5s to be faster is when the software uses Altvec optimizations and hasn't been re-written for SSE. This was a big issue with Final Cut before my old boss got her new software, that the new Intel Macs took 2 minutes longer to compress things than the old G5s. With proper software support, most encoding is now sped up by > 2x.

The dual G5s pump out so much heat, especially when used heavily for video work, I'm not surprised by the "tempermental" quality of the quads.

Finally, a 30" display isn't for everyone. I tried the 3007wfp and couldn't use it, text was too small if I sat at a comfortable distance and I had to move around too much if I got close enough to see. I found the 24" a much better fit, plus it was about $1600 cheaper since I would of had to repace my video card also as my aging ATI can't do dual link DVI. You can get a 24" E248WFP off of Dell for around $410 but its crap. My boss has one and though he loves it, I think the image quality is exceedingly poor. Basically the image head on looks like my 2407wfp if I try viewing at 170 degrees, a little fuzzy, poor gamut, poor contrast, poor brightness. I got my 2407wfp for $540 and think the extra money was worth it. You might want to try for a 2405wfp since its basically the same panel (just doesn't support 1080p via component) and you can get it cheaper.

The G5s have had a dismal track record regarding reliability. My G5 had its main board replaced 3 times during its first 6 months. And none of the G5s at work were issue free during their first year after purchashing. I would not recommend a second hand G5 unless the machine has been under applecare for a while, long enough to guarantee all the boards and components were up to reliable revs.

Ironically, if you look at Ebay for broken G5s, plenty of morons are still buying non functional machines for $500+ Unbelievable.