Cons: No Virtual PC on G5, some minor software incompatibilities, EXPENSIVE!
The Bottom Line: If you need a powerhorse that will do everything you need and more AND do it fast. Especially for video/graphic/web/creative people. CAREFUL - MAY GET A DUD.
donovanl's Full Review: Apple Power Mac G5 (M9032LL/A) Mac Desktop
I have had my G5 for about a month. And I really love it.
I went to the local Apple store to get my G5.
I got the Dual 2gHz Model with 512 Meg memory, 160 G hard drive, DVD RW/R/CD-R/RW and Radeon 9600.
OS: OSX 10.3 (Panther)
I brought it home, made my connections to the appropriate periphials, and turned it on.
The welcome screen came up within a matter of SECONDS. This was the first clue that this really IS a fast machine.
I registered and then logged in.
After I loaded all of my software (which took me about 2 hours) I started playing around with it.
I have a lot of graphic intensive and memory hogging software such as Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, etc. ALL of them it handled like butta!
The Plusses:
It's FAST. This machine handles processes SO efficiently and it shows because moving from one command to the next it really does zip. Also, when rebooting, it reboots within 15 seconds - if that doesn't tell you something I don't know will!!
It's FAST. Burining DVDs and CDs are LIGHTENING fast! Seriously, within 3 or 4 minutes in most cases. It's incredible.
It's EXPANDABLE. It's true that the G5 isn't as expandable as one would think for a machine of this caliber and price. But I really don't find it necessary. You can have 2 hard drives, up to 8 GB of memory, it has 4 additional PCI slots on the back for additional expansion cards, it can have only one CD ROM/DVD ROM slot but why do you need more than one anyway? It has 4 USB ports and 3 firewire ports including the 800 Firewire. Optical Digital input and output. And more. I would say it has everything you need. I do a lot of video editing as well as design and I use everything this machine has and I haven't done anything to expand it with the exception of additional memory and a pre-existing Firewire drive I had.
It's Beautiful: It is as sexy as a machine can get.
Keeps its word: It does everything they say it will do and more and does it fast.
THE CONS:
No Virtual PC: I only ever used Virtual PC to use Microsoft Access which is unavailable for the MAC. You cannot use Virtual PC on a G5 due to some technical stuff - the G5 doesn't posess something that G4's had and which VPC ran on. So sorry if you depend on Virtual PC I'd wait until Microsoft comes out with the new version (probably in another year or so) as they are not releasing a patch
CRASHING: The first 3 days I had my G5 it crashed A LOT. At least 5 or 6 times a day. I suspect that it was because of software compatability issues but still it was annoying and disconcerting after spending $3000 on it and I never had this problem on my Powerbook G4. However, that issue seems to have subsided as it no longer happens. Only certain programs would crash and that seems to have been rectified by adding more memory. So now, it works great!
It's BIG: I don't really consider this a plus or minus but I'm putting it here for those with a premium on space.
It's EXPENSIVE: I don't mind paying a lot for something that is worth it and this machine is worth it but it was still A LOT even with my student discount.
Guess that's all I have to say. It's a great machine
UPDATE:
SINCE I HAVE HAD THIS MACHINE, OCTOBER OF 2003, I HAVE HAD INTERMITTENT FREEZES - CONSTANT FREEZES. I have spoken with Apple Care MANY times and all the did is have me run the system diagnostic disks which of course found nothing wrong. They refused to help me since I was outside of my 90 day complimentary phone support but they said it's a hardware issue and that I have to take it in to the Apple Store for warranty repair.
The problem is at the Apple Store all they do is run diagnostics and try to recreate the problem and they won't be able to because the problem happen intermittently. It will run for a month just fine then for a week I have problems and have to reboot 10 times a day. I have never even opened the case, never added/subtracted memory or video cards, etc. yet it still has issues.
Apple's products have always been EXTREMELY stable (as with my Powerbook G4) but this G5 is EXTREMELY unreliable. It's not just me - check out the Apple Discussion Boards under Power Mac G5 and you will see that MANY people have had this same issue and have gotten NO help from Apple in resolving it.
BEWARE.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 2990 Operating System: Macintosh Processor speed: over 1000 RAM: More than 256 Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
Apple's Power Mac G5 is a revolutionary 64-bit desktop system designed to meet the high-performance, no-compromise requirements of the creative profes...More at eBay
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.