Apple Power Mac G5 Desktop M9591LL/A (Dual 2.3 GHz PowerPC G5, 512 MB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, Double-Layer SuperDrive)

Amazon Customer Reviews

(5 out of 5)

The Best Power Macs Yet!

Ever since Apple introduced the Power Mac G5, in 2003, it has been the top dog, when it comes to Macs. Every Mac fan, geek, or professional wants one. With the October 2005 update to the Power Mac G5, Apple has made its professional desktop more powerful than ever.

Right out of the box one is shocked and impressed, by the Power Mac G5. Its beautiful aluminium enclosure is a work of art, and it strikes all who see it.

Processor - The power, in this Powermac, comes from its dual-core 2.3GHZ Power PC G5 processor. This is the latest technology, from IBM. This single dual-core chip provides significant speed increase over the previous dual processor model. The processor features a 1.15GHZ front side bus. This is a trend that will continue. More and more computers are going to sport dual-core processors, and you can enjoy it in your Power Mac now.

Just how fast is this dual-core 2.3 GHZ G5 Power Mac? Some benchmarks are showing that it is faster than the previous 2.5 GHZ dual processor Power Mac. That shows you the power of the single dual-core chip, in this machine.

Memory - This Power Mac G5 comes with 512 MB of memory. 512 MB of memory might be sufficient, for someone checking their email and browsing the web. However, obviously, buyers of the Power Mac are going to be power users, or at least multitask extensively. For that reason, the included 512 MB of memory is truly not sufficient. However, what's the great thing? This Power Mac supports up to a whopping 16 gigabytes of memory. Once you have your machine, simply pick up an affordable upgrade, from one of the trusted memory suppliers out there.

Hard drive and optical drive - This Power Mac's hard drive is 250 GB. This gives you a tremendous amount of storage right out of the box. Nevertheless, if you find yourself needing more space you can add a second hard drive to your system. The included optical drive is a 16x Superdrive, with double-layer burning support. What more do you need? Burn up to 8.5 GB of data, on a double-layer disk. Fantastic.

Video Card - Apple is often given a hard time about providing what some consider less than the very top, when it comes to video cards. The card in this Mac is a NVIDIA GeForce 6600 with 256MB of GDDR SDRAM, one single-link DVI port, and one dual-link DVI port. This Power Mac provides significant features over the standard graphic card, in the previous mid-range Power Mac. For example, you'll be able to connect an Apple 30-inch cinema display, plus you could connect a 20 or 23 inch cinema display next to that.

Ports - You'll have the standard ports you'd expect on a Power Mac. Firewire 800, 2 Firewire 400, 4 USB 2.0, and 2 USB 1.1 on keyboard. When it comes to networking, Apple has provided 2 gigabit ethernet ports, so they really have you covered there. A Mighty Mouse and Apple Pro Keybaord are included in the box, both of which have a good feel to them.

Mac OS X - If you're considering Macintosh for the first time, you're going to love the Mac operating system, Mac OS X Tiger. It is incredibly user friendly, and you'll quickly find the interface and design is saving you time. Furthermore, Mac OS X is much more secure than Windows, so you can put your mind at rest.

iLife - Although many power and professional users of a Power Mac are going to be using his or her Mac, for a lot of professional work, with professional applications, Apple still includes iLife with every Mac. iLife can still be a great way to manage your personal digital life. Store and manage your digital images in iPhoto, jam to music in iTunes, create music in Garageband, and simple movies in iMovie.

Furthermore, there are convenient applications built right into the operating system such as Dashboard, iCal (a great calendar that syncs up with your external devices including iPod), Dictionary, Expose, Stickies, DVD Player, and more.

Value - This is the mid-range Power Mac, and it has some additional features over the five hundred less low-end model. Faster processor, larger hard drive,and more video memory. It also saves a substantial amount of the eight hundred dollar more Quad system. Overall, its best that you simply look at what you get, in each model and decide, which you need, for your needs. All three models are very capable machine, and this mid-range model offers a lot, for the price.

Overall, the newest Power Mac G5 is another phenomenal product, from Apple. You'll be impressed many times, when you use this Power Mac. You'll be impressed when you pull its stunning aluminum case out of the box, when you use it for the first time and witness its speed, and everyday as you come to appreciate the convenience and joy of owning a powerful machine like the Power Mac G5. Apple has improved upon the Power Mac in several areas, and quite simply, they give you more value, for your dollar. Enjoy the Power Mac.

(5 out of 5)

A Great G5 System - A great OS

I'm a PC/Mac Technician/Administrator by trade. So I have plenty or experience with Windows and Macs. I've used PCs since there were PCs and I always sayI'll use the best tool for the job, and time after time the best tool is a Mac. Whether you're an aspiring programmer, designer, artist, musician or simply just want to surf the web, view e-mail, IM friends or and get your job done easily, a Mac will suit your needs.

I bought this model the minute it came out and I've not been disappointed. It's fast, responsive and all applications I've thrown at it fly. I upgraded to 2.5GB of RAM and now I can keep all my most used applications open at once and still have RAM to spare. If you only want to surf the web, e-mail, IM, and run Office, save a bit of money and buy an iMac, iBook or Mac mini. Anything I say about the computer usually applies equally to other Macintosh models.

OS X is extremely stable and the hardware is top notch. It is a Unix OS, so advanced users can easily do anything from a command line they can do on any Unix system from a command line using the terminal application. If you don't understand the previous sentence you don't have to because the user interface as easy or easier than Windows and you never have to learn complex commands to unleash the power of the system.

The only time I reboot is when I install software that requires a reboot. (Currently My Uptime is over 11 days -- since I installed an OS Update, and I have no doubt the system could remain on for months without needing a reboot) You can't mess up the system by clicking the wrong button, or putting the wrong file in the trash -- OS X doesn't allow that ands requires an administrator password to change any important settings.

Adding Users is as simple as clicking a new account button, typing in their name and a password. Then you can switch users with a click and be secure in the knowledge that your kids or grandma can't mess up the system or your settings (because they'll have their own set), or applications.

The system is very secure out of the box, and configuring to server web pages is a simple click and drag documents into a folder and flip the Sharing panel switch on. There's a built in Firewall that's extreme easy to configure. Wireless performance is top notch. There is zero downside to buying this machine. It's a no compromise system. In its stock configuration (plus about $200 of RAM) you can do virtually anything 99% of computer users do.

Installing Applications is often a simple process of clicking and dragging the application into any folder or subfolder you want. Uninstalling is a simple matter of dragging thhe program, or program folder into the trash. No messy registry, no dicey uninstall apps that might delete a shared DLL, nothing like that at all.

Adding Other hardware to the machine is also a simple process of double clicking an installer (if it's even needed) and pluggingin he hardware. You never experience hardware conflicts like you do in Windows. You just plug it in and it works.

The box itself looks great. It's also a quality piece of hardware. It's made of aluminum, not plastic. getting inside the system is as easy as pulling a lever and the side just comes right off with no plastic/metal rubbing/friction or ridiculous realignment jiggering to line up to put the panel back on, like plastic boxes have.

If you've never used a computer or want to migrate from Windows or another Operating System, a Macintosh is an excellent choice. I've never had a person I recommended a Mac to come back and say, "This was a mistake, " or "I hate it" or "I can't figure out how to use it." They usually thank me and gleefully tell me they never realized using (and even administrating) a computer could be so easy.

(5 out of 5)

Awsome system with unbeatable processing power and operating system stability.

Pros:
Fast, Attractive, and Stable.

Cons:
Big, not enough standard RAM installed.


I finally made the switch to Mac at home and can't believe I did not do it sooner. I am a Graphic Designer and have been using Macs at work for years, and have always wanted one at home. The PowerMac Dual 2.3 is quite fast, much more so than my old DELL with a 3.02 GHz Pentium 4 with HT. While it is fast, Apple is skimpy with the standard RAM; 512mb is the absolute least you should have in this machine. Thankfully, adding additional ram is simple and cheap.

MAC OS X 10.4 Tiger is an awesome operating system; everything looks great, and runs smoothly. No crashes, no viruses, and no worries that something you've been working on for the last 2 hours will be lost if you forget to save. Almost all of the necessary programs are available for MAC as well; Microsoft Office, most Adobe products, and Quicken. Also, the iLife suite of software that came with system is great. The Mighty Mouse is very useful with the additional buttons, and it is still an elegant Apple design.

My only caveats are with the size of the system. It is quite large, and just barely fits on my desk. However, with all that power under its beautiful aluminum hood that's to be expected I guess.

Overall, I love the Macintosh operating system, and the PowerMac G5. After using them at work for so many years and loving them, I am so glad I finally replaced my home computer with an Apple PowerMac G5.

Also, buy one now before they switch to Intel, there are sure to be problems when they first switch over, and regardless of the advertised GHz speed, I cannot see the new systems being much faster than the IBM PowerPC chips.

About the Intel switch.
Recently a friend of mine said he had the ability to try a prototype Mac with the new Intel chips. He said the chip was a dual core 4.0 Ghz in a PowerMac. He felt that the system performance seemed no faster that the current G5 PowerPC chip. One more reason not to wait for Intel.

(5 out of 5)

G5 Baby

Shipping and packing was great... Love the computer !!!
can't wait to use all the power !!!