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Used G5 Powermac 1.8 or wait till August?

Foxglove9

Foxglove9

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 14, 2006
1,658
284
New York City
Found someone selling a Powermac G5 single 1.8 GHz, 512 ram, superdrive, 160 gb HD, Bluetooth card and Keyboard/mouse..for around $750. Is that a good deal? I already have an ATI 9800pro card from my old system that I could use in that as well.

I currently run a sawtooth G4 that has been upgraded to 1Ghz. While I do use my machine to death, for the design work I do, I could still wait another 6 months (assuming new powermacs will be released).

So do I wait for August and see if something new gets announced, or should I snatch this deal up and then worry about the intel switch in a year or 2?
 
At that price, I would recommend going with the 1.8GHz Power Mac G5.

Plus, then you can wait for a Rev B or C intel Mac and still experience good performance.
 
buy it. at that price, you can probably resell in august for as much or nearly as much and get the intel anyway, if you want.
 
i'll say one thing: i use the dual 1.8 ghz powermac g5s at work (see my sig) and they're the fastest PCs i've ever used. that's an awesome deal.

EDIT: i just read it's a single. i've never used the singles so idk.
 
Thanks for all the advice! I contacted the guy last night and told him I'll take it. That is if he didn't already sell it.

I guess I should bring my copy of Techtool Pro on a CD to run a quick check before I take it?

But it's true, even if I wait until Leopard and/or CS3 comes out I could probably sell the G5 and still get a decent amount of money for it. :D
 
I'm working on a Powerbook 800Mhz that's really showing its age. I just bit on one of the last iMac G5s. Why? Because I heard CS3 isn't coming until next spring. So, I had two choices. Try to limp the Powerbook through another year, then upgrade to Intel/CS3 next year. I don't think I could wait that long. If I were you, I'd bit on the G5. Use it for 1-2 years and then upgrade. Sure you won't have the latest and greatest, but it will run your Adobe apps 10x better than what you're used to.
 
I got the G5 today! To my slight disappointment I didn't realize it was the 600mhz bus speed model with only 4 Dimm slots. I read that is one of the more 'buggy' macs ever made but the guy upgraded to the latest firmware and said its been solid.

I would have liked to be using it right now but I need to track down a cheap firewire cable so I can transfer all my stuff over from this G4 through setup assistant. Stinks it can only be done through firewire.

Also need to buy some RAM too. 512 is just a pain.

But the ATI 9800pro works great in it as does my Lite-On burner which is much better than the stock superdrive. And it also came with a USB 2.0 PCI expansion card and a 200GB hard drive to replace the old 80GB drive. Plus Apple keyboard and Mouse (which I don't plan to use).

As soon as I get some RAM I can start messing around with my Adobe apps and other goodies! :D (crossing fingers, hoping it doesn't 'freeze' ever)
 
Foxglove9 said:
I got the G5 today! To my slight disappointment I didn't realize it was the 600mhz bus speed model with only 4 Dimm slots. I read that is one of the more 'buggy' macs ever made but the guy upgraded to the latest firmware and said its been solid.

I would have liked to be using it right now but I need to track down a cheap firewire cable so I can transfer all my stuff over from this G4 through setup assistant. Stinks it can only be done through firewire.

Also need to buy some RAM too. 512 is just a pain.

But the ATI 9800pro works great in it as does my Lite-On burner which is much better than the stock superdrive. And it also came with a USB 2.0 PCI expansion card and a 200GB hard drive to replace the old 80GB drive. Plus Apple keyboard and Mouse (which I don't plan to use).

As soon as I get some RAM I can start messing around with my Adobe apps and other goodies! :D (crossing fingers, hoping it doesn't 'freeze' ever)
Click to expand...

Congrats on the newest member to your Mac family Foxglove9. I would advise slapping in abother 1GB+ of RAM to help boost your performance (check out www.datamem.com for some great deals on Mac compatible RAM). Mac OS X seems to have a sweet spot of RAM at around 1.5GB-2GB.

I hope that everything works out nicely for you. :)
 
get the G5 you can't miss out on that deal, If you use your computer enogh now then its definatly worth upgrading sooner rather than later, so go for it....

ShadOW
 
shadowmoses said:
get the G5 you can't miss out on that deal, If you use your computer enogh now then its definatly worth upgrading sooner rather than later, so go for it....

ShadOW
Click to expand...

Um, Foxglove9 already bought the 1.8GHz Power Mac G5. :eek: :)
 
dmw007 said:
Um, Foxglove9 already bought the 1.8GHz Power Mac G5. :eek: :)
Click to expand...

Ooops:eek: slightly off form today, i'll admit it, didn't read the whole thread (obviously) Anyway then congrats with the purchase....Make sure you get the RAM going as it makes a huge difference as i'm sure you already know 512mb doesn't cut it......word of warning though pick yoour RAM carefully I have used Corsair with great results (zero RAM related probelms) unfortunatly i cannot say the same for crucial...

ShadoW
 
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