Home > Consumer Reviews > Apple Power Mac G5 Desktop M9032LL/A (Dual 2.0-GHz PowerPC G5, 512 MB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, DVD-R/CD-RW Drive)

The PowerMac G5 is a nice computer. If you haven't looked at one in person they are very high quality machined aluminum. They are very plain from the outside and whisper quiet, just like all of Apple's other computers.

As for the comparison test that others are mentioning, it should be noted that the Mac base price is cheaper than any of the PCs, the Dual 2.0 GHz was only slightly more expensive than 2 of the PCs and less than 1. The test that the Mac soundly beat the PC in was DVD MPEG 2 encoding. An important benchmark, and it was from 2 to 3 times faster than the faster PCs. Some of the tests were meaningless as well, the find and replace MS Word test? The premier test (not made for Apple anymore)? And other tests that would favor the PC anyway.

If you want a power Apple computer, that is very high quality, runs silently, and is a reliable machine (Apple rated best reliability and service for any computer company from CR magazine in March 04), Apple would be a good choice for you.

First of all, this individual writes 4 or 5 different reviews making completely false statements such as "the g5 was dead on arrival, this is apparently not unusual according to the Apple service centre". Also they claim that the G5 was not the first 64-bit computer, and that the Athlon AMD was. Unfortunately, the Athlon was released AFTER the G5, and it would have been impossible to conduct any preliminary tests to compare the two before the G5's release.
They also pretend to be from various different locations such as Cupertino (headquarters of Apple) and Stockholm, yet never manage to write a review under a different name. This clearly reveals their level of intellect. It becomes quite clear that this person has a grudge against Apple, and as a G5 owner, I can assure you, all of his statements are blatantly false. A little research on google will confirm this.
The G5 is definitely one of the best computers I've owned, and while several PC's that have come out after its release might be slighly faster, they're definitely not as user friendly. In short, watch out for biased PC reviewers who hold grudges against Macs... there's definitely no shortage of them.

I bought one of these back in October, 2003. I've used it daily ever since and have been thrilled with the performance. It's fast, reliable, and stable.

I use it to compile open source software, develop java web applications, and play games, and I have yet to find a task to which this machine was not up to the task.

I have been an Apple user for nearly 20 years and I have found the dual G5 to be the best and fastest machine they have produced.

To the people who want to run VirtualPC or Softimage...go out and buy a cheap PC.
But there is no why I want Microsoft Viruses, Trojans and Worms running rampant on a PC, so I bought the Dual G5 and been in bliss ever since.

I think the never ending PC - MAC battle is lame.
But PC harware fan is correct in his point about Pixar.
See below.
Pixar's new RenderFarm, used to create the digital images for each frame of animation in its movies, will consist of 1024 Intel® Xeon™ processors inside of eight new RackSaver BladeRack supercomputing clusters running Pixar's own RenderMan® software. The RenderFarm features two terabytes of memory and 60 terabytes of disk space. Each Intel Xeon processor at 2.8 GHz is about five times faster than the older RISC-based processors in Pixar's outgoing RenderFarm. Pixar is using the system for its film, "The Incredibles," scheduled for a 2004 release.

Yes, Intel makes an incredible processor but so does Apple.
The G5 Dual 2GHz is my personal machine of choice for all my Graphic design and Photography.

Yet I also have a 3GHz P4 which I love and use for software development - Visual Basic, C++, mainly. It's also a killer gaming machine.

There are things I like about OS X and things I like about XP Pro.
If you are into graphic arts I'd say the G5 is hard to beat.
PS- It put my name as "A PC Hardware Fan" when I went to review so I don't think it is the same person posting multiple times.