G4 Speed
Written: Mar 27 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fast fast fast, expandable, mighty
Cons: Needs something done about CD
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| krucz's Full Review: Apple Power Macintosh G4 Base |
The new platinum-and-white G4's from Apple are scorching fast machines, with huge capacity for RAM and hard drive expansion and a stunning industrial design. There were a few missteps in the design, but overall the machine sets a new standard for speed, ease and reliability in the PC world. The model I used was the PowerMacintosh G4 400MHz (Yikes! to those in the know).
Speed-
At the heart of the whole thing is the PowerPC 7400 G4 CPU. This chip is so fast no one even bothers benchmarking against it. In using this computer the first thing you notice is how apps and windows pop. I thought my G3 was pretty fast...the little window animations (expanding rectangles) are a blur. The thing rips through huge Photoshop tasks in (this is an estimation) about 30% less time than the G3 350 I have across the room.
The machine supports up to 1.5 GB of RAM. Stop for a second and read that over. Okay. Now. You can also install up to 100GB of hard drive space, relatively cheaply with the cost of IDE internal drives nowadays. If yonly I could do that for my apartment! Remember, this is the chip that the good people at Intel used to prove their chips were fast- when their PIII's came out almost (almost) half as fast as a slower-clocked G4's. Nice work there Intel.
The other speed aspect is the FireWire inputs on the back. Anyone who's been stuck using SCSI for high-speed throughput will swoon with happiness when they use a FireWire device (I used a Sony Digital HandyCam with "i.Link" DV camera). With simple plug-it-in operation and outstanding speed, Apple shows us why they make the big bucks...they saw that SCSI stinks, so they changed it. Bravo!
One thing that wasn't perfect about it was the CD-ROM. If you leave a CD in, which many of us do, and let the drive go idle, you have to wait for the drive to spin up before it will continue with your task if you do anything on the desktop. Other than that, no issues, just pure joyous computing speed.
Ease-
You realize how cool Macs are when you go to upgrade 'em. With the incredible little latch opener on the side, it's so simple to open and access everything that it makes me kind of nervous. Luckily it also has a security lock that takes any standard small padlock, or bike-lock style security chain. The G4 doesn't come with a load of applications to start you out- unlike the iMac and iBook, it assumed that G4 users are already established Mac users. That can be a drawback. However, the other ease factors are pretty nice: The built-in 56k modem on most models, the built-in 10/100 baseT ethernet, the built-in 16 megs of video RAM on an ATI Rage 128 card,the built0n airport antenna and the cool integrated handles which really do make it a breeze to move around.
Reliability-
While I do not have a database of side-by-side comparison charts to give you, I do have an office full of Macs ranging from 6 months old to 10 years old, and feel I see a good range of performance and reliability (unfortunately, the old Quadra finally went to the big refurb store in the sky, so I only have PPC's). The G4 is the steadiest, most reliable machine we've ever owned. It is the primary computer in a busy art room, and sees uses at least 8 hours a day, every day, in a huge variety of tasks. The only thing bad that's happened so far is installing the internal Zip drive. we have yet to be able to get the outer bezel to cover the front of the drive, and you can see some beige through there. ick! Now, if that's a real issue for anyone...you're looking at computers for all the wrong reasons. Buy an amusing lamp instead. There were some issues at rollout with Motorola being unable to supply a sufficient amount of G4's at the higher clock speeds, but that seems to have worked itself out. Look for a bump in speed soon for the G4 line.
Overall Impressions-
This is a great machine from all aspects. Though not filling it's intended niche with quite the total perfection of the iMac, it presents an extremely compelling solution for graphics and multimedia professionals. Anyone who needs their computer to make their living should think hard about getting a G4.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
krucz
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Member: Krucz Humble
Location: San Diego, CA
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 8 members
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