Thinking about an Apple G5......thoughts?

[Jerricho]

I've always had PC machines and am thinking about taking the plunge into the "dark side: .

Anybody with a spare 5 minutes who has a PowerMac G5 or iMac G5 care to give their thoughts/impressions?

Thanks in advance.

[Evo]

I'd say that a Mac makes a lot of sense as a general purpose computer. I have had a G5 iMac for about a month, and it's fantastic. The Mac way is a bit different at first, but you quickly get used to it. I've had a few niggles, mainly with wireless networking, but all-in it's easier to use and less work to keep running than my XP/Home desktop PC .

It's not quite up there in value for money when compared with a well-specced PC built by a specialist - although it's close, and beats out the typical high-street box-shifter PC. However, it wipes the floor with the PC for ease of use for the average user who just wants to surf the internet, write letters and use their digital camera etc. It falls down in a few areas though. Firstly, games. If games are your thing, don't buy a Mac. Full stop. Secondly, the higher-powered Macs are sexy machines, but don't IMHO offer good value for money. Unless you aren't bothered by price, buy a PC if you need loads of processing power. Finally, if you're reliant on any semi-specialist PC software then you're probably going to have to keep a PC around somewhere.

The latter reason is why I haven't been able to abandon the PC completely - there's assorted software that I can't do without or don't want to buy again. However, 90% of the time I'm using the Mac (he says, typing away on a PC running Firefox ).

[Jerricho]

Thanks for the reply Evo. If I could expand on what you've said about the gaming aspect. I had a little poke around the Apple site and they mention the G5 processor is great for games (using Halo as an example on their page).

[goates]

Halo and Doom3 are about the only big name first person shooters to come out recently for the Mac. You can get America's Army as well, and maybe Unreal Tournament 2004, but after that the choices quickly drop. All of Blizzard's games are available on the Mac, so you do have some choice. Ambrosia Software makes some great Mac only games though.

The G5 processor is great for games, if companies would take advantage of it. A larger problem is that Apple put a horribly outdated video card in the new iMac, and a somewhat less outdated video card in the towers. The choices for better video cards isn't exactly overwhelming either.

If you can afford a G5 Tower, I bet you could afford a XBox or PS2 as well. Use the G5 for work, and the console for gaming. I have many friend's who have pretty much given up their PCs for a console anyways.

goates

[Mac the Knife]

The G5 is an excellent machine and OSX makes life easy.

Dont forget that there is at least one ready-to-roll Linux distro for the Power platform (Yellow Dog Linux - http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/ ) and most of the other big distros have Power versions in the pipeline.

Double boot and you can have the best of both worlds.

[Evo]

Jerricho - goates summed up what I was getting at pretty well. The range of available games is limited, and while the G5 has plenty of power, in the iMac it's coupled to some fairly limited graphics hardware. Any PC costing the same as a new iMac will probably outperform it as a gaming platform. Also, with a PC you just swap out the graphics card in 12 months when something better comes along (unless you've got yourself some crappy broken-by-design box - some Dells, for example). As I can tell there's no easy way to do this with the iMac. That's quite a limitation for a games machine.

I have many friend's who have pretty much given up their PCs for a console anyways.

It's a good way of doing it if you just want to fire something up for a quick blast - I don't play many games, so a PS2 is fine for me. Still, a PC with a good graphics card is a must for a serious gamer (plus PS2 and X-Box of course ).

[goates]

Jerricho,

If you want to get work done and not worry about viruses, Macs are great. On the other hand if you want the absolute fastest gaming machine around, look elsewhere.

Will you be buying this machine in Canada? If so, you should see if you could work it into a trip out here to Alberta. No PST will make it a little cheaper. The online Apple store may not charge PST either, but I'm not sure.

The weather might be a wee bit warmer for you too.

goates

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Jerricho,

There is a review on Anand Tech that makes for some interesting reading:

A Month with a Mac: A Die-Hard PC User's Perspective

Now if you want gaming and you are overwhelmed by all the choices on the PC, then MAC is the way to go. You will have choices that are as simple as the MAC one button mouse.

Here is a video on MAC Gaming:

Mac Gaming.

Take Care,

Richard

[goates]

Richard, what took you so long? I was expecting to see a link to that video in the first 2 or 3 replies.

goates

[amanoffewwords]

He's busy re-filling his drink machines

[BahrainLad]

I 'switched' almost a year ago and I'd never look back.

(Having attempted to configure my little brother's Win2k Sony VAIO for a wireless connection over the weekend, I almost kissed my Powerbook for its simplicity on my return to base.)

An important thing to remember is that G5 towers are mainly used by graphics/music/moviemaking professionals as workstations, and their price premium reflects this.

I can wholeheartedly recommend a visit (2 hours!) to the new Apple Store on Regent Street....it's the absolutely stunning future of retail and an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with the Apple 'experience'.

[Jerricho]

Hey guys!!

Thanks for the replies!

I bet you could afford a XBox or PS2 as well

Already got one of them I was thinking more of getting into the movie making side of things. Thanks again.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Charles,

Drink Machines are all stocked and waiting for you.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. goates, I am slowing down in my old age.