Why is the Powermac so expensive?

[thejadedmonkey]

Im sure there are pro's outthere holding onto ppc but for the masses( the Consumer) who would want a G5 based machine now? Its a has been, a failed experiment that didnt pan out.

The PowerMac is a professional machine, not a consumer one.

AMDFX60 or 62 for comparison smokes a dual 2.0 G5 in anything.

Yes, perhaps they could. I withhold judgment until I see benchmarks. However, these CPU's also run XP only. Although it was not until just recently that Apple moved over to x86 CPU's, the Quad G5 machines are still the fastest apple machines on the market.

Perhaps but its a obsolete cpu that cant run windows or Vista or all those programs in the PC world.

Who cares? Pros bought PM's because they needed a professional OS X solution, not a windows based solution. Otherwise they would have gone for the AMDFX60 or 62

 

[yellow]

Mac mini - consumer
iMac - prosumer
PowerMac - professional

hm. I would never call the iMac "prosumer". Eye of the beholder and all that.

 

[iGary]

hm. I would never call the iMac "prosumer". Eye of the beholder and all that.

I agree. Try and do any serious photo work on it and you'll want to pull your hair out.

 

[yellow]

Perhaps I was being too liberal with the "prosumer" moniker.
The lower end G5s I consider to be "prosumer", but the upper end models (heretofore known as the GIR5s) are clearly "professional".

For example, I would never consider buying a iMac. As a Mac (IT) professional, it would never cut it for me.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

I have a quad and for me it was worth it - I do 3D Animation and video and there is no substitute - I need power - and until the new PowerMacs come out with Intel chips this quad is still the fastest and it will be a great machine for years.

Price isn't that much of an issue when you consider your performance requirements for the work you do.

So why do you need a quad core? Are you a professional or not? If your making money using your machine, go and get a quad G5 and don't waste time/money waiting for something. If you're not, then waiting shouldn't be that big of an issue.

D

 

[yellow]

I have a quad and for me it was worth it - I do 3D Animation and video and there is no substitute

Speaking of (and OT), whatever happened to that kickass 3D picture you were doing where the viewer kept moving forward into the picture and the picture kept changing?

 

[Scarlet Fever]

for a computer which has 4 2.5GHz Cores, up to 16GB RAM and a terrabyte or 2 of HDD storage, $5K AUD seems brilliant. But for people who want a tower, it does seem steep.

I remember back in the day my folks got a 800MHz 17" G4 iMac, and that set us back about 4k.

If i had the money, a quad would be under my desk faster than it could calculate Pi to 20 decimal places

 

[Chrispy]

Mac mini - consumer
iMac - prosumer
PowerMac - professional

Bingo. I think Apple dropped the single core G5s knowing they could not stack up in performance against the Intel iMacs. Apple usually thinks ahead on product lines and starts making changes well before something else comes to market. I think once the Intel PowerMacs (MacPros) come to market the pricing may change a bit. At the moment it is just an awkward time for consumers looking for expandability in their units.