 While looks can often be deceiving, this is certainly not the case for the Power Mac G5. The machine looks like a powerhouse and it does not disappoint.
Running 20 applications at once is no problem for the mammoth machine, even when high-end graphics or audio/video apps are being used. Granted, having 2 GB of RAM helps, but the system performed nearly as well with 1 GB of memory. There is no discernable lag when dragging windows across the screen even when memory usage is near it's limit. The Mac OS runs so smoothly on this machine, it is simply a joy to work with.
The machine is ultra-expandable, supporting 8 GB of 400 MHz DDR RAM, three PCI-X slots, and one 8X AGP slot. There are only two internal SATA hard drive bays, but with external Firewire drives available in abundance, this shouldn't be a problem for most users. I have two Lacie D2 Firewire hard drives hooked up and they work just as well as internal drives. There is also only one optical drive bay, but again, most users should have no problem using an external Firewire CD or DVD drive if they need an additional optical drive.
This is the first tower from Apple that has a Firewire port, USB 2.0 port, and headphone jack on the front of the machine. I use the front USB port all the time for my digital camera, but don't make much use of the Firewire port or headphone jack. If you import a lot of digital video, the Firewire port on the front would be a nice convenience. Personally, I wish there were two Firewire 400 ports on the back of the machine (instead of just one), along with the Firewire 800 port. The G5 tower has optical audio in and out on the back, which is a great feature, but I never use it even though I have digital speakers. The reason being that I can't use the keyboard volume controls to control the volume when using the optical audio connection. (Once you get used to controlling the sound volume from the keyboard, it's too hard to give up that feature.) While the sound from the optical out jack is slightly more clear and brighter than the line out jack, the line out signal is a bit warmer, which I like. So I guess I got the digital speakers for nothing. Oh well.
If you ask me, the value of a computer is measured by how well it performs for the price you paid for the machine. Performance includes the obvious things like speed and stability, but also the ease of the user experience. Things like unexpected slowdowns, spyware and virus infections, and other frustrations take away from the user experience, and therefore, the computer's performance. I am happy to say the Power Mac G5 suffers from none of these. Therefore, though the price of the machine is a bit steep, the value is also high.
Overall, I have had a great experience with the Power Mac G5 and have only experienced a few "kernel panics" where the system hangs up completely. I should note that these hang ups have only been when the computer is waking from sleep mode, never when I am working on something. Fortunately, this problem seems to have been fixed by a few Apple Firmware updates.
The performance of this system is truly something to be admired, by Mac and PC users alike. It doesn't even seem like it's trying when I put it through some processor-intensive tasks in Photoshop. It only uses 15% of it's processor power to play back a song in Cubase SX that forced my old iMac G4 to a halt. I can open just under 3000 3MB photos in my iPhoto library in three seconds. All in all, pretty impressive performance.
While the Power Mac G5 2.0 GHz machine is a solid performer, it isn't for everyone. Its speed is mostly noticeable in high-end functions such as audio/video and graphics production. Typical consumers looking to buy a Mac would most likely find better value in an iMac or Mac mini. But if you are in need of a solid computer with stunning perfomance and great expandability, look no further than the Power Mac G5. |
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