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)

I've been using this perfect machine since late November '03 for film-quality motion graphics and huge layered Photoshop files and I'm in love.

I really cannot understand a negative review of this G5.
I just don't get it.

I've been a design professional for a dozen years and Apple's technology has made my career fun again.
Period.

OK, I feel I need to let all of you out there in on some information. MacWorld Magazines recently conducted a test pitting the G5 2GHz against an Athlon FX-51 and a Pentium 4 EE and the poor Mac was blown out of the water. The PCI-X in this machine is good for the future, and of course 8x AGP. Could be bundled with a better video card.

After 15 years of PCs, I got a Powerbook last year and fell deeply in love with it. Then decided to get the dual G5. At work, we had just bought all the software developers PCs 8 months before and the bloody HELL we went through when we had to take them from 1GB to 2 of RAM was insane. Since getting my G5, I've gone up to 3 GBs of RAM. Having the room to go to 8 is wonderful. I have NOTHING bad to say about this machine, it's the best setup I've ever used, and I have a database loaded on it, doing Java development, and using Final Cut Express and iTunes, etc. I would like to make a few points though.

Price: I see NO reason to believe that the price point on this is high at all. I would have paid the same price for a PC but it would have been in the trash in 18 months. With the memory capacity on this machine, I should be able to keep this at least 2x as long if not more. Also, Apple machines hold their value. Go look on eBay for old Powerbooks. It's insane, they are selling for a couple hundred less than new ones.

The quietness of this machine is a HUGE bene. For years, I have sat by as my PCs got louder and louder, and the suppliers struggled with more and more fans. Major points for the job done there.

Connectivity is superb. And Panther is a joy, no question the best OS I've ever used.

Apple's ad campaign about switching is kind of comical. Would be like showing Cool Hand Luke eating a steak dinner and saying he switched from raw eggs. This is the best ticket to a Mickeysoft jailbreak on the planet. Amazing how many developers seem to be hopping aboard. There's a reason this was picked tops for technical excellence by PC Mag.

I have worked with Apple computers all my life and had a chance to test the G5 in different configurations at work. I used to love Apple but they lost my trust with their outrageous claim of having produced the "fastest personal computer". Almost inmediatedly Apple's TV Spots were banned from Europe and thanks to savvy consumer watch organizations they have recently been banned in the US too, false advertising has plagued Apple since then. Based on my personal experience, the G5 is not even close to beating the competition neither in speed nor price. This sort of misleading advertising thinned Apple's reputation and sent Steve Jobs closer to the likes of Jeffrey Skilling (Enron's CEO) and DeLorean. The G5 is a fraud, may not be the worst fraud ever, but it is for a young designer who is trying to make it in the competitive world of Digital Design or Music (the very people that made Apple famous). Here is another fact, despite Jobs claims of G5 outrageous speeds, his own company, PIXAR, does not use G5s to render its current 2004 animated features, Steve Jobs uses Xeon Pentiums because they are much faster and cheaper! By the way, Apple plans to cut the G5 prices in half sooner than you think, so if you really want a G5, you may want to wait a little while.

The first G5 we received was dead on arrival. This is apparently not unusual according to a local Apple service center. With several phone calls and several days Apple did send us a sort of functional G5, this delay apparently enabled them to claim that our 10 day money back period was up even though we did not have a functional machine during those days. After many more calls to Apple Care the best qualified support staff member we spoke with suggested trying to sell the machine on E-bay and at minimum reloading the OS yet again would be necessary.
Other interesting features. The Apple Care On-Site support means on their site. This seems like false advertising.
Buy anything else!!!