PowerMac Buying Advice

[Sam I Am]

Am I only able to use ichat video through AIM with her and will she have to purchase ichat for her pc?

There is no iChat for PCs.

 

[wiseguy27]

I have recently purchased a 12" in. Powerbook G4. I have two question concerning my mac.

1. When I turn on the computer the operating light above the keypad on the right does not turn on. Is it supposed to stay off or is this a defect?

I have no clue about this.

2. Can I use a webcam with msn messenger to communicate with a pc? My girlfriend has a dell computer and her msn messenger menu bar has an option for video cam. After downloading the mac version I have found that the video cam option does not exhist.

Am I only able to use ichat video through AIM with her and will she have to purchase ichat for her pc?

As the other reply indicated, there is no iChat for Windows. So you could use iChat with iSight while your girlfriend uses AIM with her webcam or you could install Yahoo Messenger for Mac OS X on your Mac and have her install Yahoo Messenger for Windows. I have used Yahoo Messenger with a normal Logitech webcam on my Mac. You need to install the appropriate drivers though (which you should be able to get from the webcam CD or from the manufacturer's website).

Note that although iChat allows you to communicate with AIM users, it does not work with normal (USB) webcams. iSight is a FireWire webcam and is compatible with iChat. If you really want to use iChat with a USB webcam, then you'd have to buy and install a program called iChatUSB - check here for more details - http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20030711094946105

Finally, I haven't seen MSN or Yahoo provide voice chat on their Mac versions. If you want to do voice chat, download Skype for Mac (it's available for Windows too) - http://www.skype.com

 

[wiseguy27]

RANDOM QUESTION: I didn't think you could play .avi movies in iMovie, I've never been able to with Quicktime. How did you play those with iMOvie???

You cannot play a .avi file with iMovie or Quicktime (you need the free Windows Media Player for Mac to do this). BUT, you can import .avi files into iMovie - it does take several minutes (for a 60 minute file) to read it and convert it. I imported a .avi file that was created by a Sony movie application on MS Windows XP.

Note that .avi is not a video format in itself - it's just a "container" for the actual formats.

 

[salmacis]

I did have the chirping noise while resizing or moving windows (actually, anything fancy with the graphics) - the solution to that is to go to 'System Preferences->Processor' and then disable the processor nap feature. The chirping stopped immediately for me. Try this and see if it helps - it's a common issue with many G5 dual Power Macs.

Thanks, I know about this "solution". And it helps, but:

Napping is important for the CPU to reduce power consumption and thermal heat buildup. Therefore it also not recommended by Apple to disable napping.
- maybe it could produce long-term damage to the cpu.
- the CPU uses twice as much power as with napping enabled. This means also the total power consumption raises from about 200W to 350W!
- CPU gets hotter, fans are turning faster, and the PowerMac gets noisy.

Regarding all this, it is NOT a solution. I will get the power supply exchanged next week. Hope this will help.

salmacis

 

[forumBuddy]

I think you should definitely take his advice and exchange the power supply. Even if the new supply also makes noises, you have followed Apple's instructions which means they will have to find you one that's okay.

My box also has the same issue. But seeing it's recently bought PowerMac I doubt swapping power supply will fix anything. I imagine our PowerMacs have the latest powersupply has in stock so they would be swapping it for the exact same problem. I decided to wait half a year and then maybe do it.

 

[eAspenwood]

well my new 2.3 ghz G5 has the problem and so does a friends. Not a large sample size, but I would guess that a very high percentage of powermacs have this issue but many people don't notice it or don't care. I'm also going to wait on it a bit and see if I stop noticing it. If not, i'll go for the powersupply switch.

Other than this, its a great machine. Much better tool for working with 8MP Raw images in photoshop than my 1.67ghz pb. The pb was quite adequate for most everything else I used it for though.

-- J.

 

[Nickygoat]

well my new 2.3 ghz G5 has the problem and so does a friends. Not a large sample size, but I would guess that a very high percentage of powermacs have this issue but many people don't notice it or don't care. I'm also going to wait on it a bit and see if I stop noticing it. If not, i'll go for the powersupply switch.

Other than this, its a great machine. Much better tool for working with 8MP Raw images in photoshop than my 1.67ghz pb. The pb was quite adequate for most everything else I used it for though.

-- J.

I was under the impression this was a software issue not a PS problem. I didn't have this from 10.3.4 through 10.3.9 but have picked it up when I upgraded to Tiger. Anybody else have this or is it just me?

 

[salmacis]

Power supply swapped

Hi all,

OK, brought my PowerMac to a local dealer. They confirmed, that there was an issue with the power supply, and it will be swapped in the next days. I´m curious if it will help - hope that it will.

Will keep you informed.

salmacis

 

[deadfrog]

also have the slight chirping, but knew it was a common thing... so have decided i probably wont do anything about it...

When you guys are talking about "system preferences --> processor" do you mean under energy saver and turning it to never sleep as ive read quite a few times that this should be done in order to prevent errors whilts installing stuff etc.

Well impressed with it though and have decided to upgrade my monitor to the 24" model as i can get it for £450 now....

 

[salmacis]

also have the slight chirping, but knew it was a common thing... so have decided i probably wont do anything about it...

If you don´t mind, why bother. After two week of wait my dealer told me, that a replacement power supply is currently unavailable. No shipping date either... So I took my Mac home, without anything done. They will call me as soon as it becomes available to swap it.

However, this is really weird - no power supplies available for whole Europe? They confirmed to me that every dealer has to wait, since they get it from Apple Europe in Ireland. What´s this? Do they change their supplier / manufacturer? Hopefully a better one...

When you guys are talking about "system preferences --> processor" do you mean under energy saver and turning it to never sleep as ive read quite a few times that this should be done in order to prevent errors whilts installing stuff etc.

No under energy saver -> options -> processor. You mean automatic sleep.

 

[salmacis]

They swapped it...

Hi all,

Just wanted to catch up with this thread again. Yes, finally my dealer swapped the supply, and the beeping is nearly the same now, chirping maybe a little bit less, but now I have a constant hum/buzz coming from my Mac, which is in total more annoying than it was before. So I´m rather disappointed - if I could choose I would take the first PSU, but it was shipped back to Apple... Anyway, I will make another try... at least to kill this humming sound, which makes me crazy... and the odysee goes on... :-(

Anyway a great computer (besides of this inferior PSU), what are your opinions after some weeks of use? Do you feel uncomfortable because of the 970MP dual-core announcements just some days after our purchases?

salmacis

 

[gabriel_uk]

Hi all,

Just wanted to catch up with this thread again. Yes, finally my dealer swapped the supply, and the beeping is nearly the same now, chirping maybe a little bit less, but now I have a constant hum/buzz coming from my Mac, which is in total more annoying than it was before. So I´m rather disappointed - if I could choose I would take the first PSU, but it was shipped back to Apple... Anyway, I will make another try... at least to kill this humming sound, which makes me crazy... and the odysee goes on... :-(

Anyway a great computer (besides of this inferior PSU), what are your opinions after some weeks of use? Do you feel uncomfortable because of the 970MP dual-core announcements just some days after our purchases?

salmacis

I'm sorry to hear that you're having all this noise trouble. My 2.3 is pretty quiet - so I've got almost no notion of what all that beeping and chirping is. My old Epson laser printer is 10 times more noisy than my new PowerMac.

Someone on this forum convinced me that Apple will never release a quad 'coz it would cost too much to build - and therefore to sell at an afforable price. But maybe they weren't taking account of the fact that Apple will need to dangle a nice carrot to keep people buying in the lead up to the PowerMacintel releases in late 2006/ 2007.

No, I don't give a damn about the 970MP dual-core announcements because (a) they won't make that big a speed difference to any of the programs I use, and (b) I can get a hot s**t Macintel dual-core machine when it's time to upgrade again. ...So why be lumbered with an immediately outdated IBM version?

 

[wiseguy27]

Try headphones

Hi all,

Just wanted to catch up with this thread again. Yes, finally my dealer swapped the supply, and the beeping is nearly the same now, chirping maybe a little bit less, but now I have a constant hum/buzz coming from my Mac, which is in total more annoying than it was before. So I´m rather disappointed - if I could choose I would take the first PSU, but it was shipped back to Apple... Anyway, I will make another try... at least to kill this humming sound, which makes me crazy... and the odysee goes on... :-(

I guess the best way to deal with this (without disabling processor nap) is to wear headphones and listen to something in iTunes while using the Mac.

Anyway a great computer (besides of this inferior PSU), what are your opinions after some weeks of use? Do you feel uncomfortable because of the 970MP dual-core announcements just some days after our purchases?
salmacis

I've moved (physically) and haven't setup my Mac yet, but I might just ignore that sound or maybe place the Mac a little away. As for the dual core Macs, although I'd love to have one, I don't think it'd be feasible because I would want to wait for Rev B, which very likely means next year! So the current Power Mac is good enough for now. Desktops like this live for 5 years or more (with pretty decent performance). Heck, I see crummy PCs with Windows 98 being used even now - bet a G5 dual processor Power Mac can live longer. I can wait for the latest then.

 

[salmacis]

PSU swapped again...

Hi all,

PSU was swapped another time. This one doesn´t have the buzz anymore, but it was similar to the first one I had (beeping/chirping). So I felt I could do nothing about that, and banned my PowerMac under my desk, set the CPU setting to automatic, and lived with it. Rather well, until today: Started my Mac and now I have a constant high-pitched sound coming from the PSU, which is very loud and unbearable. Called my dealer, and they say, they want to look at it again... This is not what I expected from a 2500$-machine...

I think every G5-user would pay 50 or 100$ more for a decent power supply, that is quiet... why building this crap inside this nice computer??

Just installed CHUD-tools and decided to leave it on until I have the PSU swapped again. Works like a charm. CPUs are 10 degrees celsius hotter (on avg.), but thats ok, I think. Fans do not markably spin faster... But anyway this is not a solution just a fix to live with this crazy sounds...

And hey have you seen this:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86523

Apple officially states that the beeping is normal (there are also sound-files attached...). This means, that they´re not willing to change anything about that... No fixes or updated revisions... Their _only_ solution is to set the Energy Saver Preferences to minimal - Nice, isn't it? Especially for a computer that is positioned as a workhorse... Very disappointing.

salmacis

 

[wiseguy27]

sounds bad

Hi all,

PSU was swapped another time. This one doesn´t have the buzz anymore, but it was similar to the first one I had (beeping/chirping). So I felt I could do nothing about that, and banned my PowerMac under my desk, set the CPU setting to automatic, and lived with it. Rather well, until today: Started my Mac and now I have a constant high-pitched sound coming from the PSU, which is very loud and unbearable. Called my dealer, and they say, they want to look at it again... This is not what I expected from a 2500$-machine...

I think every G5-user would pay 50 or 100$ more for a decent power supply, that is quiet... why building this crap inside this nice computer??

That really sounds bad after all the wait and the trouble of getting things replaced. Maybe you should try calling Apple Support and talk to them until they agree to replace the entire machine! I know it sounds too drastic a measure to take, but that could probably help. Don't give up!

Just installed CHUD-tools and decided to leave it on until I have the PSU swapped again. Works like a charm. CPUs are 10 degrees celsius hotter (on avg.), but thats ok, I think. Fans do not markably spin faster... But anyway this is not a solution just a fix to live with this crazy sounds...

And hey have you seen this:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86523

Apple officially states that the beeping is normal (there are also sound-files attached...). This means, that they´re not willing to change anything about that... No fixes or updated revisions... Their _only_ solution is to set the Energy Saver Preferences to minimal - Nice, isn't it? Especially for a computer that is positioned as a workhorse... Very disappointing.
salmacis

It's good that they admit the issue. It's probably not on their list of "issues to fix for now". Hopefully the new Power Macs would be better designed in this respect.

 

[salmacis]

Whistling sound gone...

Hi all,

Today I´ve started my Mac and the weird and annoying sound has gone away. Nothing was changed, it simply vanished... However, I´m quite happy now, and hope that it doesn´t get worse again.