Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Would you buy a G5 at this point?

C

Caitlyn

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 30, 2005
842
0
Hey guys!
So, what do you think? Buying a G5 at this point a good or a bad thing? I have been made an offer for a nicely speced 20" 2.1GHz last Rev. iMac G5 with iSight. It's very tempting as I know it would be a nice step up from this 1.33GHz G4, and the 20" screen is enticing. But is going backward a bad thing for me? I mean, will OS X and other applications not work on PPC soon? Any opinions are appreciated. :) Thank you.
 
I would say that it depends on what kinda price you are getting on it. If it is a significant amount below the refurbished/resale cost of an intel imac, go for it.
Right now, you can get a refurbished 17 inch intel imac for $1099, and a refurbished imac G5 17 inch with similar specs is only $100 less.
If you can afford to get a new/refurbished/used intel imac, buy one, unless you are getting a G5 for really cheap. I have noticed that people are trying to sell their G5 imacs for near full retail price, which is absurd because you can get an intel for that much.
Just my $0.02
 
Well, at this rate, especially with Intel's significant losses and general corporate problems, you never know what Steve might say at this years WWDC.

"Today we're announcing that we're going back to good ol' Power PC. Starting today the all new portable from Apple. The new MacBook Pro. But we're kinda done with Intel so we've given it an all new name. We've called it the Power-book!"

And I think that Apple will either switch to AMD or IBM but it's kinda certain that they're leaving Intel. If I were you, I'd wait a bit.
 
applemax said:
Well, at this rate, especially with Intel's significant losses and general corporate problems, you never know what Steve might say at this years WWDC.

"Today we're announcing that we're going back to good ol' Power PC. Starting today the all new portable from Apple. The new MacBook Pro. But we're kinda done with Intel so we've given it an all new name. We've called it the Power-book!"

And I think that Apple will either switch to AMD or IBM but it's kinda certain that they're leaving Intel. If I were you, I'd wait a bit.
Click to expand...


It is obvious the intels are here to stay...

I wouldn't buy the G5. I would buy a refurb intel imac instead.
 
I've got that imac, a 2.1GHz 20", the last revision of the G5 iMac. I added a single 2GB chip and maxed out the ram (2.5GB) in doing so.

It is, without a doubt, a fanastic computer. It handles photoshop CS2, dreamweaver, and a lot of other native programs very well. I love it... its a great machine.

That said, I also have a 1.83GHz macbook with half the above ram (1.25GB). It is a faster machine... but under rosetta the entire CS2 suite crawls. It's not as capable of a machine when you take the emulation into consideration. The iMac will load a 200MB jpeg in a handful of seconds... the macbook drags its feet for a few minutes.

It would depend on your usage, the software you already own... and what you plan to do later down the road. The iMac is a great machine. Superdrive, 250GB harddrive, BT, wireless.... when you max out the ram you have a VERY capable and powerful machine. It beats the pants of an intel machine in any application using the emulation. Windows usage could also factor into it though... I like having a windows install on my macbook for my ASP.NET development stuff.

If you can get it for sub-$1000 I would do it without thinking twice. I bought mine 6 months ago for $1199 and I think apple.com still has refurbs for $1299.

So... how much they asking?

:D :confused:

Caitlyn said:
I mean, will OS X and other applications not work on PPC soon?
Click to expand...

Once programs are re-written for intel machines they'll then be "universal." Meaning, they'll still work perfectly fine on PPC or intel. It'll be a long, long time before any mac applications will be "intel only." (except for windows) :p
 
The only reason I would buy PPC at the moment is if the apps I needed didn't run natively on Intel, and didn't look like they would for ages. So really only if I needed Adobe or Macromedia (Adobe) stuff.

Having said that though if the machine is a bargain why not buy it? It is your money!
 
risc said:
The only reason I would buy PPC at the moment is if the apps I needed didn't run natively on Intel, and didn't look like they would for ages. So really only if I needed Adobe or Macromedia (Adobe) stuff.

Having said that though if the machine is a bargain why not buy it? It is your money!
Click to expand...

Is there any news/rumors about when adobe stuff will be binary?
 
If you're getting a decent price, go for it! PPC will be supported by everyone for at least 3 years+. You are not going backwards, the last Rev. of iMacs are super quiet and have the same design as the current iMacs.
 
As others have said depending on price and the apps you want to use it for, an iMac G5 could work.

If it's Adobe, MS Office and Macromedia stuff you use then it could be a great purchase. If you want to run native apps, a refurb intel iMac could be a good bet.

However it really depends on the price.

applemax said:
And I think that Apple will either switch to AMD or IBM but it's kinda certain that they're leaving Intel. If I were you, I'd wait a bit.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but what on earth are you talking about?
 
Not everyone needs to have the very best, i know plenty of people with G5s and they do everything they need them to do!
 
Well, the price they are asking is $1199. It is 20" 2.1GHz with 1GB RAM from Apple and 250GB HD. Superdrive. Yada, yada, yada.

So, what I want to do? Well, I do a lot of the basic stuff such as web browsing, IM, email, iTunes, iVideo, iPhoto, etc. But I also love Photoshop CS and use Dreamweaver 8 every so often. I love Photobooth and use Transmit (FTP client) every so often. I am also hoping to get into Delicious Library and maybe Apeture in the future as I love taking photos. I also like messing around with iMovie and it's effects. :)

With that said, any addition thoughts would be appreciated.
 
Caitlyn said:
Well, the price they are asking is $1199. It is 20" 2.1GHz with 1GB RAM from Apple and 250GB HD. Superdrive. Yada, yada, yada.

So, what I want to do? Well, I do a lot of the basic stuff such as web browsing, IM, email, iTunes, iVideo, iPhoto, etc. But I also love Photoshop CS and use Dreamweaver 8 every so often. I love Photobooth and use Transmit (FTP client) every so often. I am also hoping to get into Delicious Library and maybe Apeture in the future as I love taking photos. I also like messing around with iMovie and it's effects. :)

With that said, any addition thoughts would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

If you want to run Aperture, then I would not get the G5. The graphics card on the intel imac runs Aperture better than the G5's graphics card.
 
Caitlyn said:
Well, the price they are asking is $1199. It is 20" 2.1GHz with 1GB RAM from Apple and 250GB HD. Superdrive. Yada, yada, yada.
Click to expand...

generik, read this quote.
 
The iMac G5 in question is indeed a great computer, but I would go with a Mac with an Intel chip instead if I was you Caitlyn. :)


Perhaps if the price was lower it would make it more worthwhile..... :)
 
Check market place for great G5 iMac Deal...

Needed my 100th post (this is it) to get into market place and this was perfect opportunity. I am selling a 20 inch iMac G5, 2.1 (frontrow model w/built in iSight). Check market place in 10 minutes for great deal.:D

Ok...longer than 10 minutes...still having marketplace issues even after 100 posts....?
 
I'd steer clear. Sure, PowerPC is a dead processor, but you can definitely get an Intel iMac for that price, and probably lower if and when they're updated. It's not so much about whether or not you have PowerPC apps or not. PowerPC apps running under Intel iMacs run just a bit slower than their predecessors, but what people seem to forget, is that apps like Photoshop are going to get INCREDIBLE speed boosts once they are Intel native. I'd personally take a LITTLE slower performance now and a HUGE performance increase later than pretty good performance now and no speed boost later.
 
MovieCutter said:
I'd steer clear. Sure, PowerPC is a dead processor, but you can definitely get an Intel iMac for that price, and probably lower if and when they're updated. It's not so much about whether or not you have PowerPC apps or not. PowerPC apps running under Intel iMacs run just a bit slower than their predecessors, but what people seem to forget, is that apps like Photoshop are going to get INCREDIBLE speed boosts once they are Intel native. I'd personally take a LITTLE slower performance now and a HUGE performance increase later than pretty good performance now and no speed boost later.
Click to expand...


Same here MovieCutter, an Intel based Mac is the better buy in my opinion. I can not wait to see the speed improvement that Intel based Macs will have over PowerPC based Macs when certain apps such as Photoshop go universal. :)
 
Hmm, I guess you guys are right about the speed increase later. So, if I do decide against this G5 20", should I buy a refurbished iMac 17" Core Duo or should I wait for this Merom or Conroe thing to potentially happen? Either way it is an Intel processor so...? Thoughts?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back