PowerMac G5: World's Fastest Desktop Computer

[MhzDoesMatter]

Fibre channel on mb?

Originally posted by VIREBEL661
GOOD POINT!!!! Not that most of us need that, though! Maybe in a future revision?

But wasn't there a question about whether that port was fiber channel or optical in/out? I do remember optical coming up before. Whoever had that one sure guessed well/lucky or might have had an accurate source.

-Hertz

 

[fef]

Re: A Step Backwards in Expandability

Originally posted by mustang_dvs
I just don't understand why Apple decided to take a significant step backwards, especially since PowerMacs have been designed to easily handle more than 2 hard drives since the revision B Blue & White's.

Less than a year ago, PowerMacs came with 40GB HDs... that's 4 times less than the 1.8 Ghz PowerMac G5 which comes with a 160GB HD... and you can even install a second one!

Please compare: 2 HD X 160GB vs. 4 HD X 40 GB... or vs. 1 X 60 GB + 3 X 80 or... (do any combination you like)

Get the point? You don't need more than 2 HD bays anymore...

 

[VIREBEL661]

Originally posted by beatle888
go home contempt....just because the single processors arent as fast as the duals no one should buy them? go smoke another bowl. anyway, anyone who talks **** about these systems are worse off than i am when it comes to being negative. this is a great day, enjoy it while it lasts.

Totally agree... What, are there people working for m$ on these boards??? GO AWAY - we're Mac enthusiasts, thank you very much!

 

[illumin8]

They don't need it

Originally posted by tjwett
New PowerMacs are lacking an L3 Cache. I just noticed this. Does this matter, or is this new system not in need of it?

The G4s needed it, as the FSB of the processor was too slow to feed it adequately. Now that the FSB is 1ghz., accessing memory is almost as fast as accessing L3 cache, so there's really no need for an L3 cache.

 

[illumin8]

Re: Re: Just a couple of observations...

Originally posted by Flowbee
Half the audible volume is not the same as half the decibels. Decibels are measured on a proportional scale (which I don't remember the specifics of).

If I remember correctly, every 6 db is twice the volume. I also believe that normal background noise for a "quiet room" is 40db, which should make this new PowerMac virtually silent. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Abstract]

Originally posted by VIREBEL661
Soooooo... MacBidioulle was RIGHT pretty much, right???? They must have some great sources!!!

Remember that little french guy he talked to with iChat AV? That little snitch.

And with specs the way they are, who actually wants the 1.6 and 1.8GHz models? They look seriously outclassed by the dual 2.0GHz machines. If the other 2 machines were dual proc as well, then okay, the price is cool. But wow, I would pay $1500 for the low end 1.6GHz machine, or $2000 for a DUAL 1.6GHz machine, but definitely not for a single proc. They should have put more thought into the pricing. The 1.6 and 1.8GHz machines aren't worth it, while the 2.0GHz machine is the only one priced fairly, in my opinion. Actually, the dual 2.0GHz is perfect.

 

[crazytom]

Very nice machines...

...and good innovation, too. But I just got my Dual 1GHz MDD last year and will need to wait a couple of years before I can afford to upgrade again...

btw: Why did they just compare specs of Apples to Intels? Why not Apples to Apples? How much faster is the Dual 2GHz than the Dual 1.42GHz? I want to see THOSE specs!

 

[billyboy]

This is very clever stuff by Apple. The guns will be out to blow holes in Powermacs and Panther - as they have been demoed now. Five months later its Xmas sales time, the modifications will have been done to account for the gripes, and bang, a more powerful Powermac and a more polished Panther are re-presented to the world.

Love it.

 

[illumin8]

Originally posted by pyrotoaster
Show me a FibreChannel port on that new Powermac and I'll agree with you.

It's pretty obvious that they mistook the TOSLINK digital audio in and out ports for Fibrechannel. They didn't even say fibrechannel, just said something like "it looks like some kind of fibre connection", which is totally correct if they didn't know what a TOSLINK connection looked like.

I think MacBidoullie was spot on, except for the fact that the machines aren't available right away like they predicted.

 

[beatle888]

Originally posted by frozenstar
Bring back the Intel snail advertisement!

i love the panther / longhorn footage

 

[illumin8]

Originally posted by Cubeboy
The one fishy aspect of Apple's use of SPECmarks was with the Dual Xeon's SPEC rates. At 3.06 Ghz, a Dual Xeon system would score 19-23 on depending on the compiler, this includes GCC compilers like the ones Apple used. Apple's own score is less than half of that which is to say the least, suspicious.

I believe this is because Apple used GCC on the Intel platforms, where if you look at the real SPEC benchmarks as posted on Ars Technica, the Intel platforms used the Intel C Compiler, which is optimized for Intel. Thus, the difference in performance...

But hey, the Steve Jobs RDF is in full effect.

I still would love to have a 2.0 ghz. machine... The "real-world" benchmarks were great.

 

[macsrule89]

thank you / ipdate 2x 2ghz to 3 ghz

first off id like to say thankyou god
secondly i was wondering if i buy a dual 2 ghz will i be abe to update it to a 3ghz when it comes out either way august is my birthday thats one hell of a present



ps did ne1 else noticed the dual 1.42 g4s are gone from the apple store

 

[sonicbaz]

3rd Party RAM

Anyone know much about the RAM? Anything special about it that would stop me buying 3rd party 3200 DIMMS?

G5 Exciting news too, as a PC Logic Plat 5.51 user I am blown away by the performance and see this box as 'the' box to get as a producer etc I am definatley swapping ASAP to LAP 6 - 115 Plat Verbs is just amazing -

In terms of PCI slots I like the fact that they are 64bit on the higher end machines. I am currently running a UAD and could imagine once the drivers are released for OS X I will have 3 of them in those PCI slots.

OMG Digidesign must be going poo poo in their pants...

Baz

 

[mkaake]

hey, do you think someone should send moto a note to let them know?

matt


p.s. sorry if someone made this joke already! didn't have time to read 9+ pages!

matt

 

[LethalWolfe]

Re: Re: A Step Backwards in Expandability

Originally posted by fef
Less than a year ago, PowerMacs came with 40GB HDs... that's 4 times less than the 1.8 Ghz PowerMac G5 which comes with a 160GB HD... and you can even install a second one!

Please compare: 2 HD X 160GB vs. 4 HD X 40 GB... or vs. 1 X 60 GB + 3 X 80 or... (do any combination you like)

Get the point? You don't need more than 2 HD bays anymore...

YOU might not need more than 2 HDDs but other people do. When I saw that you could only add 1 extra HDD internally that made me go Hmmm... and brought a slight frown to my face. Because when you work w/video storing a/v files on the same HDD as your OS and apps is a big no no. So the new PM will only give me 1 internal HDD to store my media on. While not a huge deal it is a bit annoying because it will force people to use external storage. And currently NO FW HDDs are offically "supported" by Apple for FCP, although the vast majority of external FW dirve users have no problems.

Since Apple took away 1 optical bay and 2 HDD bays I wish they would have given us more FW I/O's to make up for it. Maybe 3 FW 400, and 2 FW800 or something.

I'm a bit dissapointed w/the expandiblity of the G5 right out of the box, but overall I am very excited about the new Mac as a whole.


Lethal

 

[Sun Baked]

Re: 3rd Party RAM

Originally posted by sonicbaz
Anyone know much about the RAM? Anything special about it that would stop me buying 3rd party 3200 DIMMS?

G5 Exciting news too, as a PC Logic Plat 5.51 user I am blown away by the performance and see this box as 'the' box to get as a producer etc I am definatley swapping ASAP to LAP 6 - 115 Plat Verbs is just amazing -

In terms of PCI slots I like the fact that they are 64bit on the higher end machines. I am currently running a UAD and could imagine once the drivers are released for OS X I will have 3 of them in those PCI slots.

OMG Digidesign must be going poo poo in their pants...

Baz

You probably have to buy them in matched pairs, though the documents that give specifics much beyond that have not been posted yet. (unless I missed a document or two.)

 

[jaison13]

G5powerbooks far off?

does anyone else think that by the looks of the tower with mesh front and back and 7? fans that this chip ain't working in a powerbook. iy would catch on fire. i think a lot of work is still needed o make a G5 powerbook.

 

[PretendPCuser]

I have an extra G4 400Mhz...

Originally posted by jwtillema
My brother has been using my G4 for a few weeks, and loves it more and more. But his upper lip curled when he saw what he'd have to pay to get started with a mac.

I'd sell mine for around what you quote your AMD machine at.

There's other alternatives. Meaning there's going to be plenty of people rolling their dualies to save for this machine. Tell your bro to buy used!!

On the other hand, this new hardware is just going to be SO worth it!!!

 

[pianojoe]

Re: A Step Backwards in Expandability

Originally posted by mustang_dvs
I really could care less about the looks of the G5 (though I question the ergonomics of getting rid of the mobo hinge) -- what bothers me is the apparently cramped confines of the interior, which limits us to 1 optical drive and two hard drives, according to Apple's PowerMac 'Expandability' webpage.

Also, it appears that it may be a bit difficult to run cables from PCI cards (e.g., SCSI or ATA expansion buses) into the small hard drive bay.

I just don't understand why Apple decided to take a significant step backwards, especially since PowerMacs have been designed to easily handle more than 2 hard drives since the revision B Blue & White's.

Well said.

And I already have 2 extra IDE drives in my QS 800 DP that I would like to pop into a G5 soon ) . Well, one of them's connected to an ATA-133 PCI card anyway, so that's cool. But it doesn't look like I can squezze 2 extra HD in there...

Anybody know if there are external FW enclosures that hold more than one drive (kinda RAID I would guess)?

 

[mkaake]

my thoughts on 1 optical drive.

my first reaction: cool case! wait a minute, there's no way you can add a second... WHAT!!

second reaction:

that blows.

third reaction. Hmm. I guess with fw800 and 400, you can do it externally just as easy...

then i really got thinking... something's gotta kick start fw800 devices, right? who knows, maybe apple will bring out fw800 external drives that match the new cases. that would rock...

so i guess i can live with it, especially since i'm still using a beige g3 with the stock 12x cd rom drive and a 17 gig hard drive...

oh, and only like 416 megs of ram...

matt

 

[Reed Black]

Okay, cant stand to watch from the sidelines anymore. I'll be the first to say this... and FLAME ME IF YOU LIKE!!! All you IDIOTS complaining about expandability are just that idiots!!! I know this is harsh and rude but I dont care.

First off..this machine offers 500 Gigs!!!!! I'm a professional film editor that dabbles in compositing and effects. How much more do you want!!! 3 pci slots!! Just like one poster said PLEASE someone give me a realistic real life situation in which you would be screwed by NOT having more than 3 pci slots!! Also, 1 optical drive! I'm sure most of you out there still have your old computers with burners in them...use those or buy a new one. They're not expensive at all. I know, this post is harsh but its ridiculous how some of you IDIOTS- YES IDIOTS complain. If these new boxes came with a $500.00 bill inside SOMEBODY out there would complain that it should've been a $1000.00 bill. MORONS. Done ranting...now FLAME ON!!

Straight like that PUNKS!!

reed black

 

[voicegy]

Fast User switching

I'm sorry, but after reading about the Fast User switching method Panther uses, well...it's the little things that really amaze me sometimes.

Johnny and Mary share a computer. Mary is online, doing iChat, cruising the web for new clothes, and writing her homework assignment in AppleWorks. Mary has to help Dad go figure out how to set the VCR clock, so Johnny takes advantage of the lull and logs in.

The whole friggin' interface, upon log in with another user, SPINS AROUND like the "cube" effect in Keynote! When Mary comes back, its spins again and everything is where it was, still running and waiting for her.

Class, sophistication, and superlative ease of use. I think that just rocks.

 

[PretendPCuser]

Friggin excellent!

I'd say it's worth the wait.

I know that you've all been anxiously awaiting my comments, so i won't keep you from them any longer.

1). Hinge doors suck! It's totally cool that you can have that clear slot open to show off the inside of the machine. If i get one, that's what i'm doing. Bets on how long it'll take someone to offer some kind of aesthetic lighting specifically for the G5?

2). Ok! It's the fastest ever! Let's hope it's still that way when it ships.

3). Bus speed. Holy *****. It really was time for Apple to step up here and they hit one out of the park!! All of the subsystems look fantastic. Can't wait to see real benchmarks of every kind of test, not just Photoshop filters a, g, f, 1, 5, and 6, and Quake III scores (Doom III scores? HINT!)

4). The case. I think it rocks. Inside and out. I was kinda hoping that they'd go aluminum. Can't wait to see it for real. I wonder if they are going to have them all over the place at the Create MacWorld NY thingee. I think i have to go to that now.

5). Prediction: New Laptops (15") announced in one month at Create. (no prediction on which chip).

Now that i have given my humble 2c's, the world can spin on again!

This just in! I'm a total dork!!!

 

[Ensoniq]

CentaurAtlas -

Your theory on why the PowerBook G5 didn't get released today seems spot on to me.

Of course, logic doesn't go over well on these forums most of the time. Which is probably why no one even responded to you until now.

But that's okay...it's far better than them completely slamming your theory, even though it's logic would be hard to ignore.

So even though it's just one person, consider yourself the winner of two thumbs up from me.

-- Ensoniq

 

[rjwill246]

Re: Re: Re: A Step Backwards in Expandability

Originally posted by LethalWolfe
YOU might not need more than 2 HDDs but other people do.

Were Apple to build the computer for all users it would be bigger, hotter and costlier. Then there would be the complaints that they didn't make the world's best for $1300 or less and etc.

Apple has plenty of storage solutions if you are in need of serious professional stuff but little Jonnie's dad isn't going to want to pay for a fraction of that capability built into the machine for the rest of us. Soon, if it hasn't already happened, we are going to be seeing complaints about the lack of $499 G5s!